Well, we barely snuck in a move today from Aconcagua Camp 1 to Camp 2 before the wind started a blowin' and the snow started a snowin'. Fortunately, everyone is tucked away in their tents hydrating, breathing, and getting used to life at 18,000 feet. We are all glad to be here; it feels like the upper mountain is finally within reach. More tomorrow!
RMI Guide Ben Liken
WOW! In awe of your achievement. I have trouble walking the small hills of NEPA.
Not the little girl I remember anymore!
Watching you in awe! Best wishes and travels to you and the team! Stay safe
Posted by: Janet Yontas on 2/10/2017 at 4:19 pm
For ,Dave & Kelly. You are on the cusp of an achievement realized by so few yet admired by many. You climb for more than yourselves. We’re all up there with you and even breathing heavey even at 1500 ft.
Posted by: Nick Lazzareschi on 2/10/2017 at 3:49 pm
"Clear, calm, and reeeeaallly cold!" That was the summary of today's climb. We woke up to a perfectly calm morning, almost even warm (at least for Antarctica). It was shaping up to be a perfect summit day, so we packed our bags and left for the top. We climbed a low-angled glacier, weaving our way through the surface of wind blown ice and sculpted snow, eventually reaching a large amphitheater with Vinson's summit standing at the head. We crossed the basin, navigating a few small crevasses until we reached the slope that leads up to Vinson's summit ridge. Despite the forecast for "extremely cold" we were warm on the climb, climbing comfortably without needing to wear our thickest down layers. The views around us were truly breathtaking (well, nearing 16,000' was also a factor). The higher we climbed the more of the Ellsworth Range came into view - a jagged line of ice capped peaks piercing through Ice Cap spread out below our feet. The size and scale and rawness of the landscape is hard to comprehend, even when standing in the middle of it.
By mid-afternoon we reached the final summit ridge, a thin ridge of snow and rocks with a few small rock outcroppings that require delicate balance to navigate around. Just as we reached the ridge, a steady and frigid wind blowing straight from the direction of the South Pole picked up. Despite bundling up our body temperatures instantly began to slip. We navigated the ridge without much trouble, despite having to stop every few minutes to keep the circulation going in our hands. Onward we climbed, trying desperately to hide from the breeze in layers of hoods, until suddenly there was no more ridge to climb. We had reached the top of the bottom of the world - the summit of the Vinson Massif, Antarctica's highest point. It was amazing, beautiful, and really cold. Despite the effort in getting there, we weren't inclined to stay long, we snapped a few pictures, shared a few high fives, and then set our sights on getting back down the ridge and out of the wind. The sub sub sub zero temps made every move that much more challenging but Penn and Jon climbed beautifully, moving through the exposed terrain without difficulty and soon we were dropping back off the ridge into the amphitheater and out of the cold southern wind. We stopped in the sun, our faces covered in rime ice, and started laughing - we were through the thick of it and it was nice to be heading downhill. We retraced our steps back across the glacier and reached High Camp in the early evening. Tired but happy, we and another team of two climbing rangers a few hours ahead of us, were the first climbers to reach the summit of Vinson this season and despite the chilly summit ridge, it was a very spectacular climb.
Tomorrow we set our sites for Base Camp and hope to move back downhill in search of some slightly warmer temperatures, thicker air, and hopefully some good ski touring around Base Camp.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory & Team
RMI Guide Linden Mallory calls from the Vinson Massif summit!
WOW - CONGRATULATIONS JON, PENN and LINDEN!!!!
Great updates and great coverage - feel like I am there without ever leaving the confines of 70 degrees in Birmingham :))
Send more photos and video - the video from the summit was Incredible !!
Safe Travels and Congratulations!
Lee
Posted by: Lee Styslinger III on 12/4/2014 at 9:35 am
Way to go, Team! Congratulations!!!
( and Linden: SO nice to see you on top of yet another “massif”!!!)
Safe journey home, everyone!
- Dana Marie Buchanan
Posted by: Dana Marie Buchanan on 12/3/2014 at 8:50 am
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir September 15 - 19 led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and JJ Justman reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. Brent reported a beautiful day with no winds and blue skies all around. The team will conclude their week on the mountain tomorrow.
We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp tomorrow afternoon.
The clouds blew in the right direction today. In fact, everything lined up just right in most ways today. It was an auspicious day... so judged by our Sherpa team after a careful reading of the Tibetan calendar. Auspicious enough that our Puja ceremony was held today. Doubly Auspicious because it was Easter Sunday. Thrice Auspicious because it was the nicest day we've had in a week.
Peter Whittaker revealed that he'd stayed up last night with a few of the Sherpa team in the kitchen to decorate Easter eggs. Not so surprisingly, the Sherpas had not gone through that particular ritual before and Peter said they fully got into the task, coloring boiled eggs and attaching bright stickers. They were excited at the convergence of Easter, the planned Puja and a Sunday to boot. Peter kept all of this to himself and arose at 5 AM to hop down the bunny trail to his partners' tents and quietly salt the area with Easter eggs. He said he was surprised to run into another rabbit out there secretly doing the same thing. Linden Mallory had his own egg planting plans for the morning and was busily hiding colored plastic eggs with prizes within.
After breakfast and before the Puja began, the team (those who had not been bunnies) chased around searching for eggs. Jeff Martin and Linden made things interesting by mentioning that two of the eggs held special prizes. Ed Viesturs quickly tracked down the one that granted its discoverer the free drink of his choice from Gorak Shep. It took Seth Waterfall a bit longer to hone in on the bright blue egg that held the $20 cash prize.
And then it was Puja time. The Puja is a ceremony quite important to our Sherpa team, and thus to us as well. In it, we ask the blessing of the mountain gods before setting foot on this sacred -and dangerous- mountain. A lama came up from Pangboche in order to read the correct prayers and chants. Our Sherpa team had worked throughout the morning to prepare a stone chorten as a sort of alter for the ceremony. Incense and juniper were lit as a way of sending fragrant smoke upward in offering. Partway through the three hour observance, a prayer mast was erected and flags unfurled in all directions. Our First Ascent team sat drinking tea and taking pictures of the colorful scene... but also contemplating the seriousness of an undertaking that requires so much blessing. The latter stages of the Puja involve a good deal of celebrating and toasting and tossing of rice. Finally, everybody grabs a big handful of Tsampa (barley flour) and tosses half of it in the air while saving half to smear on the faces of ones climbing partners. As you'd expect, this gets out of hand... and into hair, cameras, eyes, ears and everything as one and all laugh, shake hands and fist bump.
Our Sherpa team then invited us to join them in linking arms for a last half hour of carefree dancing and singing. We sang along and nobody seemed to mind that we didn't know either the words or the dance steps.
The word is that the last 200 meters or so of the route to Camp I are giving the Icefall Doctors a special challenge. We are hoping each day now to hear that they've forged some sort of passage. Tomorrow we resume our training at the foot of the Icefall. We'll be rested, blessed and ready.
Hey, this is Brent Okita with the RMI Kilimanjaro team. We are on the summit of Kilimanjaro right now. It's, oh, I don't know what time it is, a couple of hours after sunrise. We have a beautiful day up here. Everyone did great and we are looking forward to coming down and celebrating. Congratulations to the whole team. All right, that's all for now from the summit of Kilimanjaro, 19,340'. We will talk to you later.
RMI Guide Brent Okita calls from the summit of Kilimanjaro.
Wow that’s awesome, congratulations! That’s an altitude few people outside an airplane ever achieve! Impressive hiking. You’ll remember this day forever! Well done.
Posted by: Judy Woellner on 8/6/2023 at 12:58 pm
Yahoo!!!! So excited to hear you achieved the summit. What a great feat for you all. Proud of those brave hearts that follow the sport of climbing. I give you all a a lot of credit for the commitment to challenge these mountains and volcanos you so love to conquer.
Have a safe and fun trip on the descend. Can’t wait to see photos of the summit.
Cheers,
Barb
Today was bitter sweet. On one hand, we made our move to 14k camp. On the other,we said goodbye to one team member as she headed down hill having tested positive for COVID. You can't escape COVID, even in the mountains. Our climber is doing well and will be enjoying a margarita, clean clothes, and a flushing toilet soon.
For the rest of us, it was a big day moving to 14k camp. Gaining 3,000 feet with heavy packs and a sled is no small feat. We started in a cloud and only in our base layer but quickly walked into a breezy snowfall. The snow fell on us walking to our camp for half the day. By the time we got to our cache site, we had lost the snow and gained some heat. The sun's solar intensity was immense the last hour. You could feel your right side burning up. Our sunglasses felt hot. Heat panic was a thing. The team preserved and we rolled into 14k with a feeling of air conditioning as the clouds rolled back in and we lost the solar intensity. Moving in was quick since our tents were already set up and left by Avery's team. Some Ramen for the tummies and hot cocoa bring us to bedtime.
Everyone's bodies are excited to lay down and relax after our day and it is well deserved. We will see what the weather brings tomorrow for our agenda.
So excited for you to be at 14!!! We’re sending positive healing thoughts to your teammate with covid :( and strength to the rest of the team for the days ahead! Love you all and grateful for this blog! PS - can we follow CJ’s garmin too?? Haha
Posted by: Ellen Lewis on 6/19/2022 at 8:15 pm
Love keeping up with your journey. Wishing Nathan and Yvonne an incredible experience as newly weds!
Posted by: Reagan and Richard on 6/19/2022 at 1:50 pm
After an early breakfast In Talkeetna we loaded our gear in the single otter airplanes and changed into our mountain attire before taking a scenic flight into the Alaska Range, with the final destination being Kahiltna Base Camp. After another round of shuttling gear, setting up a quick camp and enjoying a quick dinner, it was an early bedtime as we will be getting up in a couple of hours to start our journey up the mountain to Camp 1.
The Four Day Climb August 1 - 4, led by RMI Guide Casey Grom reached the summit of Mt. Rainier just before 6 am today. The team reported a beautiful, sunny day with a light breeze. The team began their descent from the crater rim just after 7 am. Once back at Camp Muir they will continue down to Paradise and return to Rainier BaseCamp for a little celebration before concluding their adventure.
The Alaska Range draws hundreds of climbers every year. Guarded by Foraker, a seldom climbed 17K ft peak, and by Mt. Hunter, the most difficult 14er in North America, Denali, "The Big One", is without a doubt (and for well-deserved reasons,) the main climbing goal of intrepid mountaineers from all over the globe. Dozens of other smaller, but no less beautiful peaks, are overseen by most of those whose dreams of the altitude are set on reaching the roof of the North America continent. Right at the start of their journey, across from the landing at the South East Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier, lies Mount Frances, a satellite at the very terminus of Denali's South Buttress.
This year, climber Brian Phillips, came with his mind set on Alpine Climbing in the Range; a good plan to tackle fun, full body climbing involving the implementation of the techniques practiced over the year of ice, snow and rock climbing. With our current conditions and weather forecast last week, we decided to put our eyes on the South West Ridge of Frances. An objective that can be done in a long full day of climbing. After all, we had one week to climb (another of the beautiful things of Alpine Climbing in Alaska, is that one doesn't need to plan for an entire month, and 7-10 days allow for a great deal of fun!!!)
Upon landing on the glacier, we started our decked-out camp. When you know you're constructing your home for a full week, it better be good! Beyond fortified walls around our flattened tent platforms, making a decent kitchen, with snow benches to sit, eat and socialize on is key. A good two hours of digging, and our crafted living space was ready to be enjoyed. We didn't get too comfortable that very first night, as the forecast, unlike what the predictions said, was too good to let go, and after early bed, we woke ready for action.
The SW Ridge of Frances is a moderate route that involves steep snow climbing, only separated by pitches of fine, moderate rock climbing. While none of the steps are very difficult, it is very sustained, and for hours on end you are always "game on" mode. An early start granted frozen snow to move on on the lower part of the mountain, which made us gain progress fast. Soon enough we'd be climbing rocks, and without realizing, the alternation of both terrains, was the constant for the day. Plotting along, the early evening would come, and high on the route, we could keep an eye at the Denali Base Camp, and the many climbers that eventually circumnavigated us, at ground level, totally unaware other human beings were up there. We tackled the last rock pitches as the sun wanted to dip behind the horizon, but in the "Land of Midnight Sun" it never would. We continued the progress now towards the summit, on the frozen ridge that connects the false one to the true one, tip toeing around cornices, a couple crevasses and long ice cliffs beneath us. It was dinner time when we got to the top, and even though we knew that descending the East Ridge was a mere two hours back to the comfort of our Base Camp, we stuck to the plan of bivouac on top. How special could it be to see the alpenglow of both sunset and sunrise over Hunter, Foraker and Denali? It was almost cloudless, and we had carried a small bivi tent, sleeping bags and a stove anyways. So we stayed. Tired but accomplished and cold but warm inside, the night blended with the day, and sooner than we noticed, the bright sun was again over us and now, time to head back down before the snow softened further. The East Ridge, our descent route, had been climbed several times the previous week, even a ski descent, so with a good track, we were back at our camp in a mere two hours. We had gone up and down, in style, fully climbing up a peak and we were proud of it! Alpine Climbing in Alaska at its best.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Back down at 8,000 ft on the Kahiltna Glacier. We packed things up at 14K this morning with the usual mix of clouds and clearing. Nobody was looking upward any longer even though the peak was out. Our focus became getting down safely. We went into the clouds and murk as we came around Windy Corner. Walking in fresh powder with big packs and sleds was a challenge, but we were able to find the remains of a packed trail under the powder for much of the day. We took a good rest at 11k as we dug up our cache there and switched out crampons for snowshoes. Travel on the upper Kahiltna was much less complicated than the steep hills we began the journey with. We found excellent glacier conditions and even came out of the clouds a little below 10,000 ft. At the base of Ski Hill we set a quick camp, had dinner and dove in the tents for a few hours of rest. We'll give the glacier surface a chance to freeze up hard before we aim for the airstrip in the morning.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Mark, well done to you and the entire team for this endurance test. Sometimes the weather wins in this business. Your team fortunately had the best leader out there to give it the best shot, and still get you back safely. Aconcagua on my radar, and would be proud to do that with you some time in the future. Bill
Posted by: Bill Hill on 7/18/2012 at 7:45 pm
Dr. K -
I guess this means we’ll get to see you in class next week! Sorry to hear the summit remains elusive, but that just means it would like to invite you back for another expedition :) May you have a safe journey back to the airstrip and to Santa Barbara, and we all look forward to seeing you next week.
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For Shannon Walsh
WOW! In awe of your achievement. I have trouble walking the small hills of NEPA.
Not the little girl I remember anymore!
Watching you in awe! Best wishes and travels to you and the team! Stay safe
Posted by: Janet Yontas on 2/10/2017 at 4:19 pm
For ,Dave & Kelly. You are on the cusp of an achievement realized by so few yet admired by many. You climb for more than yourselves. We’re all up there with you and even breathing heavey even at 1500 ft.
Posted by: Nick Lazzareschi on 2/10/2017 at 3:49 pm
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