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High winds kept the Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Bryan Mazaika and Matias Francis at Camp Muir overnight. The guides repoted an upper level cloud deck at 11,000' with a lower level cloud deck just above Paradise at 6,000'. 

The team has started their descent and will be back at Rainier Basecamp in Ashford this afternoon.

RMI Guide James Bealer and Henry Coppolillo checked in from camp after their successful summit of Forbidden Peak. Despite rain early on in the program, the team persevered and made it to the top. The team will enjoy some much-needed rest before their walk back to the trailhead and back to cell service.

Congrats to the team for being our first summit on Forbidden this season! 

We said goodbye to Quito this morning and made our way north out of the city. Patchwork buildings turned to patchwork farms and lush green at every turn. We eventually made our way up a cobblestone road to start with our day’s objective - an acclimatization hike on Fuya Fuya. Our arrival on the shores of Laguna de Mojanda had everyone excited to get out of the bus and get moving. We hiked for the next couple hours through the tall grass accompanied by our local Ecuadorian guide, Pablo, and found ourselves perched on the eastern summit of Fuya Fuya feeling strong at almost 14,000’. The clouds and rain were kind to us on our ascent as we took in some amazing views of the lake and surrounding hills. The rain finally caught up with us, but only briefly as we made it back to our shuttle only a little damp and headed downhill. We’re now enjoying hacienda life tucked into a eucalyptus grove in the hills above Otavalo. Tomorrow we’ll visit the most famous Indian market in Ecuador to explore and shop, then point our shuttle southeast in the direction of our first big objective. The team is feeling strong and excited to make the switch to climbing mode. We’ll check in again tomorrow from the lower slopes of Cayambe! 

RMI Guides Mike, Jess and Team

On The Map

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz July 22 - 27 led by RMI Guide Mike Walter reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The team reached the crater rim at 6 am and tagged Point Success.  They will return to their high camp for their final night on the mountain and descend tomorrow to the trailhead.

Nice work 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

Sunday, June 12, 2022 - 10:12 pm PT

Ahhhh, finishing up breakfast at noon. One of the fine pleasures of a rest day. On this day we not only continued to acclimate and gain strength but we also gained FLEXIBILITY! Thanks to our own team member / yogi Rebecca giving all of us an impromptu yoga class! Of course we had to substitute yoga mats for sleeping pads but the views were unparalleled. The class even had a few first time yogis who now get to brag their first class was at 14,000 feet! It was fantastic to limber up after days of dragging sleds and walking with heavy packs. We spent the rest of the afternoon swapping snacks and stories. We currently sit in the sweet spot waiting for our summit window. Below us is all clouds and snow, above us is windy and cloud capped.

Goodnight everyone and since we only do this once a day good morning and good afternoon as well!

RMI Guides Avery, Jack, Liam and the team

Friday May 20 - 11:42pm

We made full value out of our rest day today. We woke late, had a brunch of blueberry pancakes and maple syrup, lounged for the better part of the day, and capped it with burritos for dinner. We have had no problem eating well.

Our main entertainment has been a very large team made up of members of the British military. We are all on a similar schedule, and subsets of their team have been filtering into camp the last couple days. As of today, our camp is encircled on three sides. The main constant in the wide variety of British accents constantly around us is the abundance of the F bomb. That word cuts through all accents and after our informal survey today shows up on average as every third word. There has been general hilarity listening to their banter through our tent walls and it was a main topic of discussion over dinner tonight.

We plan to move up to 14 tomorrow. Rested and refreshed after today, it should be done enjoyable climbing.

Pete, Erika, Leif, and team