The ALA Climb for Clean Air led by Win Whittaker and our Four Day Summit Climb led by Tyler Jones reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 6 am this morning. Win reported cold and breezy conditions with some high clouds. The teams have started their descent and are now en route to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's teams!
Thank you Win, Gilbert and Josh for passing on your climbing know-how and for a successful summit experience. You were there for us 110% of the time allowing me to enjoy the experience and work harder than I ever have for that last 2000’! And kudos to all on our ALA team - great team work for a good cause, and a good time!
We spent the day visiting the heart of Moscow today, walking through places familiar from a lifetime of hearing their names but only witnessing for the first time - Red Square, Kremlin, Bolshoy...
We left the hotel this morning and crossed the two bridges spanning the Moscow River and walked along the walls of the Kremlin until we reached Red Square. After wandering through the area for a bit we met our Tour Guide, Nina, for a tour of the city. In fluent English tinted by a distinct Russian accent, she spent the next three hours recounting stories, history, and significances of the many places we bounced between. First walking around St. Basil's Cathedral, the ornately decorated church on the south side of Red Square, we then passed through the GUM Department Store, the beautiful former Soviet State Store now turned luxury shopping mall. Between the stores full of familiar Western brands - Levi's, Prada, Jaques Cartier - she also recounted her personal experiences transitioning from Communist Russia to life in Moscow today, explaining the differences in food choices to retirement.
Across from the Bolshoy theater we descended into Moscow's subway system, hopping trains between several of the impressively ornate underground stations, many covered with mosaics, frescos, and hanging crystal chandeliers, before emerging into the sunlight back at the entrance to the Kremlin. We then walked beneath the thick red brick walls into the center of the Kremlin, passing throughout the churches and monuments in the heart of the Russian Government.
By late afternoon we returned to the hotel and spent a few hours of down time before dinner, trying to shake the last of the jet lag. Tomorrow we leave Moscow and fly to the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains to reach the foot of Mt. Elbrus. The team enjoyed Moscow and we are excited to head into the mountains and begin the climbing.
We will check in tomorrow from our hotel in the Baksan Valley.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Today we made our first big move up the mountain as we left basecamp and have settled in atAconagua's Camp 1. Despite a couple hiccups (negotiating with some Russians over tent platforms, some minor blisters, and acquainting ourselves with the bio-bag human waste system) today's move was the smoothest I've seen. The guys are all in great spirits after having a great meal and a hot drink before crawling in for the night. We hope to take advantage of more good weather forecasted for tomorrow by pushing another carry up to our Camp 2, also know as Chopper Camp.
We'll check in again tomorrow evening,
RMI Guides Billy Nugent & Leon Davis
The Mt. Rainier Summit Climb led by Mike Haugen reached the summit in hot weather and no wind. The team departed the crater rim at 8 a.m. Once the team is at Camp Muir, they will regroup and continue their descent to Paradise.
JJ Justman and his Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons are driving to White River to begin their four days on the Camp Schurman/Emmons Route.
Today was a great day. We visited the Otavalo market working on our bargaining skills. Then we returned to the San Luis Hacienda for a great lunch this afternoon. After lunch we drove towards the Cayambe hut in a torrential downpour of rain. Fortunately the rain let up and we were able to make our hike up to the hut on Cayambe (15,300'). Everybody did a wonderful job. The group is super strong and things are going really well. It’s been a great group. That is everything here from Ecuador. We will check in with our adventures from tomorrow. Ciao.
RMI Guide Jason Thompson
Today saw pretty much constant snow all day long. Fortunately, the winds have remained calm and our crew was able to back-carry today despite the precipitation and stay right on schedule. We are now sitting pretty at 14,200' with all of our provisions and fuel. The weather is supposed to remain a little bit squirrelly through tomorrow which will coincide nicely with a well-deserved rest day. We spent most of the afternoon after the back-carry chilling in the posh and sport eating. Good times. The crew is in good spirits and pumped for the climbing ahead!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Hope your rest day was filled with sleep, laughs, and food. Stay well, think of you all the time and each step you take gets you closer and closer. Roger Hector sends his best and is so darn proud of YOU Elizabeth.As always hugs and love. Mom & Dad
Posted by: Maureen Bartron on 5/27/2012 at 9:34 am
just FYI for those at home—you know that these aren’t specifically photos from this trip or this team. the guides only have sat phones, not an internet connection!
these are just generic pictures of the sections they are currently on…
Summer is here this morning, this afternoon that will be a different story.
Tsering, Kaji, and Dawa left Camp 2 a half an hour before Dave, Sara and Linden for the climb up the Lhotse face to Camp 3. Lam Babu has now arrived at Base Camp after going the other direction from Camp 2. Dave reported good conditions ,weather and route wise on the face with incredible views of the surrounding mountains.
Up above he could see some people going for the summit of Everest, yet another wave of climbers getting a chance at standing on top. It is great to see the groups getting a shot at the top over many days. instead of a lot of teams concentrated on the same window of time. I have started a push to the top a couple of times with eighty or so other climbers leaving high camp at about the same time. It's always a struggle thinking about what the near future could bring. More than often things work out but if they don't it can make for an even tougher day. Enough good experienced mountaineers can be a good thing to have around on the summit push, the right amount is a bit by chance.We will have a tight strong group that can handle most anything.
Dave and Sara have decided that 23,000 ft, a good chunk of the way to Camp 3 is going to be enough for today. They have prioritized the next rotation as the objective, the idea of sleeping at Camp 3 tonight was a good plan, but the decision we make out in the field, are the ones that make the difference. They have just radioed in that they are off the face, heading to Camp 2. Linden is still climbing toward Camp 3 to get familiar with the route and location of Camp 3, another altitude records for Linden today. He will also come back to Camp 2 for the night.
The Sherpa team worked all morning chopping and digging into the ice for tent platforms which will be used in the future. Instead of putting up the tents today they have then in a duffel bag secure to the site and will set them up on the summit push. No sense in subjecting them to wind and snow for now.
So a good day for training and working hard up high. Back to Basecamp tomorrow, for the final resting period, with the summit push as the new focus.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Sarah, I just wanted to send you a quick note to let you know how proud we all are here at Westminster. I have no doubt this is just the beginning of a list of amazing experiences for you in your life. We are thinking of you and wish you the best. Take care. Buen trabajo! Felicitaciones! Sra. Russell
Posted by: Maria Russell on 5/12/2011 at 6:03 am
Sara, we are so proud of you. We’re thinking of you all the time and enjoying the incredible pictures. Dave, the audio was great - thank you for posting it - and the blogs help those of us closer to sea level live this with you. How are the poker games going, Bill? Much love.
May 30, 2017
Our unseasonal snowfall over the past two days set the team up for a wary summit bid in the wee hours of the morning. Leaving High Camp at 17,000 we found ourselves in boot high fresh snow. Yet, after two hours of uphill, we quickly came upon wind deposits well over a meter deep and made the tough but safe call to walk back to our refugio amongst the clouds. However, our morning wasn't quite over, for as we peeked back down through the cloud ceiling we were just in time to watch the entirety of an absolutely spectacular sunrise. The sun rose behind Huayna's sister to the east and lit three levels of clouds in hues of pink and gold. One rope team simply stopped in the middle of the boot pack and watched for 45 minutes as the valley below us slowly filled with light. Right as the sun finally crested the peak to our east, the valley clouds rose up around camp and engulfed us in a glowing mist. Despite not getting the chance to climb higher, I'm afraid we would have missed the sunrise being stuck in the high clouds and honestly it was all any of us could have asked for.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
Sounds like a fabulous experience despite the disappointment of not summiting! As an aside, a predator fan was arrested at the game in Pittsburgh for throwing a weapon in the ice - a catfish!
After a few snowy days at our 11K camp, we hoped for some kinder weather for our move to 14,000'. We all agree we got too much of a good thing. Yesterday's move validated the old mountaineering saying that "you either freeze or fry." Wednesday morning was clear, but quite cold at 11K. We ate our warm breakfast, anxiously awaiting the sun to warm our tents before we packed up to move. The cool morning climb up Motorcycle Hill quickly turned into a sweltering overly sunny slog through the Polo Fields and around Windy Corner which lacked the then desired wind of which it got its name. After refueling and rehydrating the well-oiled machine we pulled into camp 4 (14,000') at 5 pm. We were welcomed by our other RMI team, light snow, and many other climbers at this small makeshift alpine village.
Today (Thursday), we returned to Windy Corner to retrieve our cache of food and equipment in much of the same weather conditions as the day before. We are now resting back at 14,000' awaiting our possible carry up the fixed lines to 16,000' tomorrow.
To our many fans out there who are leaving messages on our blog, rest assured they have reached us!
Tuesday night over dinner we passed the iPhone around for all to read the kind words from friends and family. Keep them coming!
Until tomorrow,
RMI Guides Mike Uchal, Adam Knoff, Zeb Blais, and our team at 14,000'
Stay classy lower 48!
Hi to Mike R and fellow climbers. I am soo amazed by your courage, strength, and perseverance, you should be very proud of yourselves as I am of you Mike!I luv reading all the messages including the other teams as well, Its absolutely unimaginable to me, what you must be experiencing. Enjoy what you can. Thinking about you. Love Cheri
Posted by: Cheri on 6/29/2012 at 6:54 pm
Greetings John!
We are all so excited about your amazing adventure! Deann is on the phone with me right now and we are still talking about you! Enjoy your travels!
The weather moved into Everest Base Camp yesterday afternoon, the clouds settling in around the peaks and snow beginning to fall. It continued to snow on and off again all evening and into the night. The weather did have a welcome side effect thought: the clouds above and snow on the tents made temperatures a bit warmer and it never got too cold last night. When we woke up this morning everything was blanketed in a couple of inches of fresh snow. We packed all of our gear up, said goodbye to the Sherpa team at Base Camp, and headed back down the valley.
The new snow on the trail actually made the walking on the glacier easier, filling in between all of the loose rocks and smoothing out the trail. After a cold morning in the shadows packing up, we quickly warmed up not long after Base Camp when the sun finally found us and we made good progress. We followed the trail back to Gorak Shep and onwards to Lobuche, where we stopped for lunch. Finally, we descended from the glaciers, rocks, and new snow above back down into the valley of Pheriche, reaching our tea-house here by late afternoon. It was a long day on the trail, with many miles to cover across difficult terrain at high altitudes, and the tea-house was a welcome sight when we finally reached it. The team was amazing today, toughing out the difficult sections of the trail and enduring the long final hours of walking to get here. We are all tired from the walk, and the many days up high, but happy to be here and heading downwards. We had a blast reading all of the comments on the Blog and want to thank everyone for their thoughts.
Tomorrow, part of the group continues descending to Namche as they make their way home while the Island Peak team heads up the neighboring Imja Khola Valley to Chukung, near the base of Island Peak, to begin our climb. We will check in tomorrow from Chukung. The connection up there is sporadic so we will likely be checking in via satellite phone for the next few days.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Corell and team, I just googled Island Peak…...WOW!! Go slow, be steady and dont look down! Im praying for a safe and successful climb. You are amazing and a lot braver than me! Ill be glad when you get home.XXOO,Nancy
Posted by: nancy on 3/28/2012 at 2:31 pm
So relieved to hear that all were well at Base and that you are headed back to Namche and Lucy, Corell and DM are on to Island. Please take care of yourselves and know that we are all thinking of you and praying for you. Truly amazing. Kathryn
Thank you Win, Gilbert and Josh for passing on your climbing know-how and for a successful summit experience. You were there for us 110% of the time allowing me to enjoy the experience and work harder than I ever have for that last 2000’! And kudos to all on our ALA team - great team work for a good cause, and a good time!
Posted by: John Granen on 7/15/2012 at 10:05 pm
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