We enjoyed great weather and snow conditions yesterday as we moved our camp from 11,200' to Genet Basin at 14,200'. We have a well-deserved rest day on tap today as we fortify camp, eat, drink, and lounge.
This afternoon we will practice some fixed rope travel techniques in preparation for our next task, establishing a cache up high on the West Buttress proper. The weather forecast is looking good, and we may head up the fixed ropes tomorrow to get that cache established. Our team is doing well, taking the challenging work in stride, and adjusting to the lack of oxygen and colder temps up here at our new home. We will keep you updated with our status as we work to get into position for a summit bid. There is still a lot of work to do, a lot of acclimating, and a lot of variables, but so far, we're very pleased with the progress of our expedition and we're not complaining about the beautiful views of the Alaska Range.
We'll be in touch again tomorrow with the latest. Until then, know we are enjoying the rare mountain air.
Hey RMI, this is Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall and Dan Johnson. We're up at Camp 1, and we came up this morning through the Ice Fall in about five hours time. Good moving and great conditions today, just a beautiful morning. And coming into Camp 1, it seemed like we were on a different planet than when we were last here and it was snowing so hard and so cloudy and cold. So today we just had a nice calm, sunny day at Camp 1. Rested and relaxed, drank a bunch of water. And we're a little bit excited because we're moving up to Camp 2 tomorrow. Our Sherpa team established Camp 2 yesterday and built it up. Yubaraj and Lam Babu spent the night up there. It's about dinner time now. The clouds were starting to creep in. Late afternoon clouds, not bad weather. Later this evening we expect them to roll right back out again. So everything is going well on our second rotation. We're hoping to be up here for about a week this time. A little bit longer. But we've been in touch with Mark Tucker down at Basecamp and everything seems to be going well. All for now, bye.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Hello from the Garabashi Hut on Mt. Elbrus (also known as the Barrels Hut).
It was an exhausting day getting up here. First we took a gondola and when we got off we had to walk 175 feet to the next gondola. After our second ride we took a single chair chairlift and that dropped us off at the hut. It was a grueling effort to finally walk up to our private barrel but we are now situated all comfy and cozy.
We had a great lunch and met our Executive Chef Albina who served up seafood salad, hot soup with crackers, cheese and salami. A surprise for me was to see Mariana, who cooked for us back in 2002. That year I brought some Peet's Coffee and a giant smile was on her face when I pulled out another bag of cafe goodness.
The team went for a short but pleasant walk uphill to get our lungs working. Now it's time to relax, drink tea and eat more good food as life at 12,000 feet couldn't be any better.
RMI Guide J.J. Justman
Hi Larry! You bet! Watch our summit video, it was a great day with a lot of fun climbing.Its nice not having to lug a giant pack around all the time. Maybe I will see you in Russia some day.
Keep Climbin’
Posted by: JJ on 7/11/2012 at 10:57 am
Do you do any climbing on this trip? This appears to be much different than Denali.
The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Steve Gately and Josh McDowell reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning! The teams were stepped inside Mt. Rainier's summit crater around 7:00 AM. Steve reported nice weather with light winds and a cloud deck at 9,000'. We look forward to seeing the teams in Ashford later today.
Congratulations climbers!
Today was a rest day for the Mongolia Expedition. After five days off constant movement a little down time was well deserved.
We filled the hours by drying and organizing our gear, hiking to a nearby meadow filled with wild flowers and napping in the afternoon heat.
Things were low key and each team member enjoyed personal time.
A beautiful sunset capped off the evening and tomorrow we will begin our trek back to Ulaanbataar with fond memories of our time in this area.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
Saturday, June 15th, 2013
Today was a busy day at the roof of North America! Our team was first out of the gates from 17,200' camp, with a warm, windless departure at 8:00am. The first stretch of the route above camp is also one of the most technical and time consuming; it's called the "Autobahn" and takes a strong, committed team to single push across the steeply rising traverse to Denali Pass.
Our group crushed it, and we were enjoying the sun on the east side of the pass soon enough. The next few stretches went by relatively quickly, although nothing is lightning fast at 19,000'. By the time we reached the Football Field, a flat saddle just below the summit ridge, we were down to base layers and light gloves. Considering the fierce reputation that Denali has for arctic temperatures and raging wind, we consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have had a such an incredible day.
The last climb up Pig Hill was taxing our legs and our lungs, and just when folks had had enough we reached the final summit ridge. Forty minutes later, our team put the highest point of the continent under their crampons, amid much hugging and celebration.
The trip back down was uneventful, albeit hot. The sun roasted our tired crew all the way back to camp. But as soon as we got back, folks were out of boots and into tents, resting and relaxing as we brought hot water and heaping helpings of ramen with bacon and chicken. We're ready for the long trip back to base camp, but that's for another day. Right now, we're savoring the day's events and getting ready for some well earned sleep. Thanks again and we'll check back in soon!
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
RMI Guide Tyler Jones and the team from the Mount McKinley summit!
Congratulations Lori and team members. Great job to the guides who encouraged and fed you and got you to your goal. Dad and I haven’t had internet service for days and have had to rely on Dad’s cell phone. Thus, I wasn’t sending you encouragement in words, but you were never far from our thoughts. SO LOOKING FORWARD TO HEARING YOUR VOICE. Love you, mom and dad.
Posted by: Fern Hansen on 6/16/2013 at 10:07 am
Sweeeeeeeeeeet!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nice work Chickie and team. Congrats to you all.
Hola from Camp 1 on Aconcagua!
We had a good stroll up to 16,500' under clear skies but with a fair bit of wind all day. The team handled the conditions very well and we made efficient work of the stretch. Once at camp we settled in, pitching tents in two big teams to make sure we didn't lose one of our precious homes. Since arriving, the winds have died down a little and our most recent forecast reflects our observations for the next few days!
Looking good from up here in the atmosphere.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Spectacular pics of your Christmas vacation, brother Trev. I’ll eat turkey, you push to the top. Can’t wait to hear all about it. Stay safe. Love you, viv
Hi everybody,
This is the Aconcagua team checking in from Pampa de Leñas camp.
After a few days in Mendoza and Penitentes doing the hardest part of climbing a big mountain (getting the climbing permits, trying to get all the duffel bags that didn't make it to the airport with us, packing a ton of food and gear for the mules, etc), today we started the trek to Base Camp. The mountain welcomed us with a perfect blue sky day. We hiked for five and half hours today and got to our first camp on the Vacas Valley.
Everybody did a great job and we are all feeling good. We are getting ready to sit down to dinner. Pete and Gilbert have cooked a gorgeous veggie pasta, almost as good as the amazing Argentinian steaks that we were eating since we arrived in Mendoza.
That is all for today, cheers!
RMI Guide Gabriel Barral and Team Aconcagua.
Beautiful Lines in a Sea of White
We had another stellar day today in the peaks off the Branscomb Glacier a couple of miles from Vinson Basecamp. There seems to be endless ski opportunities in this area - not surprising since we're on a continent almost entirely covered in snow and ice. But, what has been surprising is the quality of the snow we've found.
Often, we've heard, the conditions for skiing here in the interior are marginal, with variable crust and massive patches of rock-hard, blue ice covered by a thin veil of snow. Hit one of those with some speed and you're down for a home plate slide. Fortunately, some wind events recently, combined with the uncommon snowfall of early season, have created great conditions around Vinson Basecamp.
Today, we moved again to the beautiful ribs outside of camp in the late afternoon when the sun gets low and backlights the whole area. Peter, Seth, and Caroline skinned up to a great location below a terrifyingly big cornice; fortunately, their position was well-protected by a hug bergschrund just below the cornice, and gave safe access to good terrain below.
We all had a great 4 hours shooting under the low-Antarctic sun with perfect snow conditions. We skinned back to camp by 9:00 PM, had a stellar dinner, and started organizing gear again. Tomorrow, our Twin Otter arrives midday. We'll fly around Vinson for a bit, and then go off scouting for an unclimbed and unskied peak. With luck, the 16th will find us in new territory on an untouched peak in the Antarctic.
-Jake Norton
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall checks in after a ski day in Antarctica
Hello all!
The whole team is finally in Mendoza and assembled! Due to several flight delays, today has been a bit chaotic, as we raced around to get through the park permit registration process, and buy last minute lunch food. In the end, we decided to cool our heels in Mendoza for one more night, rather than push up to Los Penitentes. This will allow us to organize, let a few folks get their first good nights sleep in a few days, and finish up the permits for a few folks. So it goes on a major international expedition.
Tomorrow, we get back on track, leaving in the late morning for Los Penitentes. Once there, we will sort gear for the mules, and get ready to begin our trek the next day!
In the meantime, we're going to enjoy another fantastic dinner in Mendoza. Best wishes to everybody back home, and we'll be in touch soon, this time from 9000 feet!
RMI Guides Pete, Leon, Mike, and team
Good Luck James “Kingpin” Beckerich and the rest of the team! I am following your blogs and wishing you all a safe and successful summit.
Thomas “The Hammer” Goham
Posted by: Thomas Goham on 1/27/2013 at 11:56 am
Just wasting some time late at night and found your email about this trip. Don’t know if your home by now or not but look forward to hearing about it all sometime. Enjoy
.jpg)
Keep up the great work! There are a lot of people cheering on your team. Really making headway on the elevation climb. Good luck to all of you.
Posted by: Deb Beaudway on 5/19/2022 at 6:24 pm
Take care all! Great job so far!
Posted by: Tina on 5/19/2022 at 11:47 am
View All Comments