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Our Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz June 30 - 5 July has enjoyed sunshine and clear skies during their time on Mt. Rainier. Today they made their summit attempt via the Kautz Glacier and stood on the summit of Mt. Rainier around 7:30 am. RMI Guide Jake Beren reported good conditions and light winds. The team will return to their High Camp today and spend a final night on the mountain. Tomorrow they will pack up camp and descend to Paradise. Congratulations to today's Kautz Seminar Team!

June 25, 2023 10:00am PT

It seems surreal that just 24 hours ago we were sitting on the East Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier with our fingers crossed for flyable weather. Kahiltna International Airport (KIA) could have just as easily been our home for the next week but instead we slept easily and comfortably on real mattresses for the first time in nearly 3 weeks. Today and only today the weather cooperated for us to make our escape. How did we get here? Let me tell you...

24 hours prior to the 24 hours that we just experienced...

We woke up to a mix of clouds and sunshine at 14k Camp and casually dismantled camp and packed up all our things. The weather and clouds mostly stayed below us with an occasional surge of precip and wind at camp. The walk down to 11k Camp was uneventful other than a quick reunion with Dominic Cifelli and Dave Hahn's respective RMI climbing teams. High fives were had but we kept moving, we had a timeline to meet.

Once at a 11k Camp again we located our cache, set up tents, made water and ate dinner. The clouds rolled in and out of 11 Camp like the tide on the shore. Like the tide, what was in the clouds was wet and gross. After "napping" for around 3 hours, we "woke up" at 9:30pm to get moving again to catch the lower glacier in its most stable and frozen condition. 

Sadly, the cloud we walked into below 11 Camp was hovering around 33 degrees and raining. The team was quickly covered in a layer of ice and rime. Everything - backpacks, trekking poles, goggles, jackets, pants, were incased in a 1/4 cm of ice. We trudged for several hours through this freezing rain. Eventually we got below the cloud, and everyone shed their icy armor that had accumulated. After a break at the bottom of Ski Hill to recover our cache (and thaw out), we resumed trudging on the lower Kahiltna.

A simple 3 more hours of trudging in what ended up being a fairly direct path across the Kahiltna glacier, we arrived at Heart Break Hill. It was time for the final hour of uphill that must be ascended to return to the airstrip. The team's morale stayed high, and hearts stayed unbroken. We made quick work of Heart Break Hill. Shortly after 5am, we were back at the airstrip; 19 days had elapsed since we were last here. It seemed surreal to be back. Even more surreal the weather continued to cooperate, the cloud ceiling stayed high, the sun showed itself briefly! Around 8:45am the drone of a K2 Turbo Otter was heard. 24 hours after leaving 14k Camp, we were picked up in the most wonderful red plane you've ever seen and whisked back to civilization, Talkeetna. 

Everyone has been awake for 24-36 hours at the time of writing this. There is still much clean up and packing to do before we can sleep.

The trip is over, but our memories and experiences will last a lifetime. This is the final blog from The Bond Girls. If you want to know more, contact your loved ones, they have service now! Even if they're pretending they don't...

Cheers,

The Bond Girls

We had a calm night to begin our climb of Pico de Orizaba. The climb begins with a steep switch backing trail through an old moraine. After a few hours, we entered the labyrinth which was once covered by glacial ice about 25 years ago. Now, a polished slab rock that can be difficult to find your way through, hence its name. Once at the base of the Jamapa glacier, we put on our boots and crampons - 3.5 hours later and we were on top with a beautiful sunrise, summit pyramid shadow, and calm weather.

The whole group stood on top this morning, couldn’t have asked for more. It’s been a great week climbing here with an amazing group. Our local guide Alan and Servimont’s assistance always make these trips special for us. 

We are back in town getting cleaned up, listening to rockets explode, drinking cold drinks and sorting gear for flights home tomorrow morning.

Thanks,

Mike

The Four Day Climb June 6 - 9 led by RMI Guides James Bealer & Jess Wedel reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning.  At 7 am, they were starting their descent from the crater rim.

Congratulations climbers!

Yesterday we went out for a wild storm ski as our introduction to the Southern Hemisphere spring. We rode what lifts were open at Corralco and couldn’t see much. But the feeling of having skis on our feet accomplished the days mission, despite having no idea how fast we were going. Today we awoke to continued dumping snow, roofalanches and a winter vibe here in Malalcahuello. We went up for a ski tour on the lower flanks of Lonquimay with open minds, finding some nice blown in gullies in the monkey puzzle forest. In the afternoon the skies started to clear and we toured up the volcano a ways, enjoying our first real views of the place. A fun day of fresh turns was capped off with a visit to the termas down the road to thaw out. All is great with our team and the weather trend seems to be improving - fingers crossed. RMI Guide Tyler Reid & the Chile ski team

Yesterday we had a relaxing down day at the base of the mountain with on and off thunderstorms, walking exploration of the surrounding area, and coffee drinking. The day culminated in our celebration bbq dinner with our Russian guide Yuriy, master of ceremonies, pouring one vodka toast after another. Today we’ve just arrived in St. Petersburg after a somewhat tedious journey through Russian domestic air travel. In my experience it’s usually pretty smooth sailing, but today that was not the case. I’ll spare you the details - it’s the same story as you’ve probably experienced in America. We made our flight and the whole team is psyched to be here. RMI Guide Tyler Reid

We opted to go for the summit today ahead of expected precip tomorrow. We called our high point a bit above the saddle. There is a large cornice along the summit ridge and loose, wet snow that was unstable. There is a lot of snow in Boston basin still, no rock to be seen along the summit ridge.

Our plan is to descend tomorrow am, one day early.

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer

Standing in the Taggert Lake parking lot of Grand Teton National Park, we gather for one of the last morning guide meetings of our AMGA Ski Guide Course. Everybody smiles and chuckles as our meeting leader reads the weather report. Over the last 9 days we have received over 80 inches of snow containing more than 8 inches of water equivalency. The avalanche forecast is high and predicted to hit extreme after a rain event starts this evening. We all talk about dialing back our terrain choices…way back. This storm has been relentless for many days, altering our objectives, creating whiteout conditions to navigate, forcing meticulous terrain selection, and making for some great skiing. We have all learned many tools for creating a positive and safe mountain experience amidst a dangerous snowpack. Today we talk about our tour plan, a planned route up a 3000 vertical foot feature in Grand Teton National Park. Through mapping tools, some math, and a little technology, we know what we're getting into and have a plan to manage the risks. We talk about who will take the lead for our group on each climb and each descent, as well as our pacing, timing, emergency plans, equipment, and weather forecast. We break our meeting, beacons checked, skins on, click in, it's time to go skiing!

AMGA Ski Guide Course - Jackson 2017 from Chris Ebeling on Vimeo.

In February with the help of the RMI guide grant I attended this 12-day AMGA (American Mountain Guides Association) Ski Guide Course in Jackson, Wyoming. This is the second course in the four courses and exams that lead to becoming a certified AMGA ski guide. The course covers numerous factors of guiding in the winter environment. Managing terrain, instruction and modeling, and putting clients in the safest, best snow is the primary focus of our techniques on the down. Creating efficient tracks, navigation, and terrain selection is a big focus of our time guiding the climb. We cover many technical factors as well, including adding security in 3rd class terrain using our rope, technical lowers and rappels into steep ski terrain, crevasse rescue on skis, travel with an improvised emergency sled, and construction of winter emergency shelters. Many thanks to RMI and the RMI guide grant for their financial and mentorship support. Another big thanks to our instructors Christian Santelices and Rob Hess for their dedication to growing the professionalism of our guiding community. _____ Chris Ebeling has been guiding with RMI since 2015. He grew up in the Northwest, climbing, skiing, and riding around Oregon and Washington before making the move to the Northern Rockies of Montana. He returned from Montana to join RMI, but still returns to Montana to explore the remote corners of his home range during the winter.

Monday, June 27, 2022 - 10:52 pm PT

This was a fine day of climbing.  We were up at 5 AM and eating, packing and getting ready for almost three hours.  We pulled out of 11,000 at 7:50 AM.  There were steady breezes but it wasn’t particularly cold as we went up Motorcycle and Squirrel Hills in the shadows.  It was blue sky overhead today, so it was definitely one of the nicer days we’ve had (though none have been bad).   Sitting in the sunshine at Windy Corner, we could clearly see the Tordrillo Mountains anchoring the Alaska Range to the Southwest.  Most eyes were on Mount Foraker though as it seems to get bigger every time we see it.  We were around the corner without any difficulties and then out of the wind as we made our way up into Genet Basin.  We pulled into the camp at 14,200 ft to join Andy Bond’s RMI team (who are several days ahead of us) and practically all the other teams on the mountain.  We’d made it up in five and a half not too hard hours.  Despite the fact that we were working at altitude to build a camp, conditions were quite calm and easy, so the work wasn’t too bad.  We climbed into tents to hide from the sun and took our customary afternoon naps.  The team finished dinner (mac and cheese) which is always a good sign.  Tomorrow is an easier day -by design- just a short walk down to pick up our food and fuel above Windy Corner. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Hello from high camp on Chopicalqui! We're perched up here at 17,716' (5400m) after an early start this morning. The early start allowed us to arrive at high camp with enough time so we can give our bodies the rest they need before our summit push tonight. We're currently making dinner and we're shooting to be in bed way before sunset. The weather has changed a bit on us, but we how to have a good window for tonight. Keep your fingers crossed for an update from the summit! RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos and team