We attempted to reach 17,000’camp today but were thwarted by high winds just above the top of the fixed lines. After several days waiting for favorable weather, we were all antsy to get moving, but the risk of frostbite made descending an easy call. We are currently back at 14,000’ camp and are going to assess our options for the coming days.
A climber from Mark Tucker's Kilimanjaro Climb, Mike Wyatt, composed the following poem about his summit day.
BLUE SNOW by Mike Wyatt
The air is cold, burns the lungs deep – Wish I was in bed fast asleep.
Obsidian night – Black as a raven feather.
Buttery crescent moon shepherds in good weather.
Heavy limbs fight the rocky slope – Trekkers tied by an invisible rope.
The echo of fatigue resonates down the line – Fiery meteorite the color of red wine.
The air is cold, burns the lungs deep – Wish I was in bed fast asleep.
Blindly pushing forward, we pass another team – What is reality? What is a dream?
Summiteers from years past whisper in my ear – not give in, for the peak is near.
I chase the heels before me repeatedly catching my breath – One unconscious slip could mean injury or death.
Tangerine pink color accent the sky – It’s pure silent beauty is no lie.
The crater rim now in sight – Ebullient hikers descend in weary flight.
Icy dry wind burns my face – Tired scarred boots don’t leave a trace.
The air still cold burns the lungs deep – I’m glad I am not in bed fast asleep.
For the glacier’s blue snow is still cold, hard and deep.
Today was our time to shine; it was our 16th day on the glaciers of Denali and our opportunity to take a shot at the top of North America. Early sun on the tent at high camp, coupled with the solstice less than a week away had the guides up starting the stoves by 7:30am. With the winds moderate and temps near -15F we stalled our departure for the summit bid until 9:45am with the thought of summiting during Alaska's peak heat of late afternoon. The wind and cold had us in full equipment. We wore face masks, goggles, mittens and climbed in our heavy weight parkas a good portion of the climb.
The guides stressed many times of the importance of self care and the critical nature of getting frostnip or frostbite. All of us had cold hands, feet, and faces a number of times throughout the day, but all of us took responsibility for keeping close eyes on each other and managed to keep the cold injuries at bay.
The climb took our team 7 1/2 hours to reach the summit. Our time plan was perfect as the summit provided some the the lightest winds of the day allowing us to spend just over thirty minutes on the summit expressing emotion, embracing our team mates, and snapping photos of an unforgettable 360 degree view of central Alaska. Given the conditions our team made great time, though we all had to dig deep in our reserves to make an uneventful descent back in our high camp- 11 hours after our departure. Hot drinks, a warm meal and memories from our summit push ended the evening with high stoke and excitement to get down and reunite with our friend, families and loved ones. Every member of the team would like to thank all of you for your support, love, and compassion in letting us fulfill a dream.
Tomorrow we plan to disassemble our high camp and move down the picturesque West Buttress. We will be recovering our cache at 14k and, if weather and energy allow, a descent to 11k for a well deserved rest in what now has become the low country. We look forward to the thick air.
RMI Guides Tyler Jones, Eric Frank & Logan Randolph
Congratulations Team!!! i know it must feel terrific to view 360 degrees from the summit! Can’t imagine the rush! Michael, we look forward to hearing all about it. Mom & Dad
Posted by: Eual/Paula Conditt on 6/17/2012 at 4:45 pm
I am super psyched for you guys. You kick ass Larry!
We've enjoyed a very leisurely day here in Deboche, taking full advantage of our rest and acclimatization day. The morning broke clear and calm. From the windows of the tea-house we could see the summit of Everest and the surrounding peaks and we gazed out at the panorama of mountains over a breakfast of apple pancakes. After breakfast we grabbed a water bottle and few warm layers and walked through the rhododendrons of Deboche to the Buddhist Nunnery tucked inconspicuously off the trail on the other side of the village. We spent some time exploring their Gompa, with it's large prayer wheel and room for meditation and prayer all housed in a small compound.
We then climbed the hill back up the ridge top village of Tengboche, which we passed through yesterday, and continued further up it's ridge to a view point. Following a small path that see little travel, we passed dozens of long strings of prayer flags strung along the ridge, the five colors of the flags fluttering in the wind blowing up the valley, until we reached a small chorten. Below us the Tengboche Monastery stood on the ridge, surrounded by the skyline of sharp mountains stretching off in every direction. We relaxed up there, enjoying the views and the warm late morning sun while also taking advantage of the higher altitude to give our bodies some exposure to the new elevations before dropping down again.
Upon returning to Tengboche, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the cafe and bakery in the village, resting and reading while we passed the time. While there a trekker from Germany came in with a large gash on his head - while he was climbing the hill to Tengboche a passing yak herder threw a stone at one of his yaks to urge it on, however his aim was off and the rock hit the man squarely in the back of the head. Luckily for him, the doctor in our group sprang into action, quickly fixing him up and sending him on his way - relief and gratitude written clearly across his face.
The clouds settled in by later afternoon, covering the village in a thick fog that was punctuated only by the sound of the horns blowing from the Monastery announcing the afternoon prayers. We followed the monks into the large and ornately decorated prayer room at the center of the Monastery, framed around a statue of a sitting Buddha two stories tall. The monks settled into their blankets and poured steaming cups of tea while we found a seat along the edge of the room. Then a deep hum filled the chamber as they began to chant their prayers, each one accentuating a different syllable but beginning and ending each mantra in perfect unison.
Leaving the monastery we descended the fifteen minutes back to our tea-house and settled in around the fire while the clouds blew through the trees outside. It was a restful and enjoyable day, the ideal break from the hiking we've been doing before we head further up the valley to the village of Pheriche at 14,000' tomorrow. We have appreciated all of the comments and send our best to everyone at home.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Team,
Congrats! Sounds like everyone is doing very well. Amazing pictures and impressed w/ the ability to communicate so effectively.
All well here. I won’t tell you how warm it is, but Spring is in full bloom. Should be a beautiful Easter and everyone will be here—including Cookie.
Posted by: john on 3/21/2012 at 6:38 am
Getting great reports. Amazing how well the communications seem to flow. Congrats to all and good luck on next phase.
All is well here. I won’t tell you how warm it is, but Spring is in full bloom. Should be a pretty Easter w/ everyone home.
Hello everybody. This is Jake, JJ, Fernando, Mike, Mav, Bob, Jim, Peter, April, Cyrus, Christopher and Matt. We are all on the summit of Orizaba! Everybody did super well. We got 100% of our team up. Everyone climbed super strong. Light winds, beautiful day. We can see all the mountains in Mexico that we've been around and everyone is doing super great. Wish us luck on the descent and we'll call in later. Nice job everybody. Thanks a lot!
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Success! That's right we did it even despite the adverse conditions we have been experiencing. The weather has been less than desirable. However when we woke this morning we were greeted with beautifully clear skies. After a quick breakfast, we walked out into a calm Ecuadorian sky that spanned from the Big Dipper to the Southern Cross, one of the few places on earth you can see both. Our climb started up a rocky buttress before transitioning onto the glacier, and we enjoyed the warm night after our last few days in the snow and rain. The climb went rather smoothly and we reached the cumbre, or summit in English, just after 8 this morning. The climb took just over seven hours to reach the top with mostly low angle snow climbing and a few steep pitches to keep us on our toes. Though we walked for some of the morning in a cloud, the weather cleared just briefly as we crested the summit, allowing us views of the Avenue of Volcanoes that spans Ecuador. We could even see the Amazon!!
Currently we are rejuvenating here in La Casa Sol just outside Otavalo. Everyone is in good spirits and looking forward to resting.
Missing all of our families and most of our friends. Hasta manana!
RMI Guide Casey Grom
There is no better way to start a day than sleeping in. After some long days of climbing, we have earned it. This morning we slept late, had breakfast burritos and started the work day at a leisurely 11am. While 23.5 hours of sunlight a day is a bit disorienting at first, hard work has been a great sleeping aid for the team.
Our crew is getting stronger every day. After our leisurely morning, we completed a back carry from 10,000' with no problems. We now sit at our 11,000' home, hiding from the beating radiation and gorging ourselves on goodie bags of food we recovered from our cache this morning. This afternoon we plan to meticulously re-pack the kit for a cache at 14,000' camp. We look forward to caching and moving up in the next few days, if weather allows.
Thank you to all for your comments and words of encouragement.
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
Way to go everyone! Michael, I’m sure you are having the time of your life! Enjoy it and stay full! I will go run around my neighborhood while you climb!
Posted by: Scott on 6/6/2012 at 4:36 am
Thinking of you all. Team Snyder loves and misses you Rolf!
A rest day! Yay! We did such amazing things as sleeping in, more turbo tanning, sport eating, walking out to the Edge of the World, more sport eating, fixed line practice, and packing for tomorrow's carry up the fixed lines. Per the norm, the team is in good spirits but perhaps a bit anxious for tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be in and out for the extended forecast so we are planning to stick to our schedule until we are forced to wait.
Hoping for a great day tomorrow, once we get this cache in we will be on standby for good weather and hopefully pulling the trigger on our move to high camp and subsequent summit push...
RMI Guide Billy Nugent and friends
Hello GRD from AOMS in Tucson Arizona. We are thinking of you and tracking your progress. Your almost to the top!!! WooHoo!!! Looking forward to the Summit pictures, stories and your safe return!
Enjoy every moment!!! :)
Posted by: Robin Alexander on 5/29/2012 at 9:22 am
Hi Donny. We are so proud of you. The whole family in St Louis is following your team’s progress. Uncle Jim
Jambo from Plantation Lodge,
When you see Ngorongoro Crater for the first time, it almost leaves you speechless. It is massive; the crater is 26 miles in diameter, and you look down almost 2,000' to the crater floor. There are countless little black spots scattered throughout the 125 square miles of the crater floor. You can't really make out what animals they are from this distance, but there are thousands of them, with most estimates claiming 25,000 residents.
We have to drive about 1/2 way around the crater rim before we come to the "descent" road, with impressive views the whole way down.
The luck from yesterday continued today as we saw so many interesting animals. From new born wildebeest and zebras, warthogs, lions and lion cubs, cheetah, cape buffalo, black rhinos, ostrich, elephants, to hippos, and gazelles, we were very fortunate to see them all.
We ended the day with a visit to a Masai village and then headed back to the lodge for a little relaxing time before dinner.
Tomorrow is our last stop on the safari circuit, ending at Tarangire National Park. While not too far away, it is very different from the first two parks we have visited, and should give us our best chance of seeing leopard.
Good night,
RMI Guide Jeff Martin
The Five Day Climb August 30 - 3 September led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Drew O'Brien reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The team first checked in at 7:30 am from 13,300' on their ascent. They reported good climbing and clear skies. A little after 10am they let us know they had reached the summit, enjoyed some time in the crater and now were starting their descent from the crater rim. The teams will return to Camp Muir in a few hours and get to rest, relax and enjoy some time on the mountain. Tonight they will spend their second night at Camp Muir, but they will get to sleep until a reasonable hour, not an alpine start. They will descend the remaining 4,500' to Paradise tomorrow and end their program with a small celebration.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal; It is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston Churchill
Posted by: Jami L on 5/28/2022 at 8:53 pm
We are so proud of you Michael! Keep on keepin’ on!! We are all rooting for you! Love you lots!
Posted by: Anne P on 5/28/2022 at 6:47 pm
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