A thick bank of clouds rolled into Namche last night as we left dinner, the fog giving the Himalayan village the look of a Maine fishing village. The cloud bank failed to lift overnight and by morning a light layer of snow lay across the stone streets and blue roofs of Namche with more snow lightly falling out of the mist. The usually vibrant town lay muted beneath the snow as we climbed out of the amphitheater and the world was quiet around us as we walked along the trail out of Namche. Snow continued to fall lightly during the hike and we hardly encountered others along the way, only a handful of porters and trekkers and a few dozen yaks.
For a couple of hours we made a long traverse along the valley's side, the valley floor slowly rising to meet us at the village of Phunki Thanga. There we crossed a brand new suspension bridge built only last year to replace the rickety wooden construction used previously, before beginning the long climb out of the valley floor to the ridge top monastery at Tengboche. Although the clouds never offered to lift, the snow let up for a bit midday before returning half way up the hill to Tengboche. By the time we reached the Monastery several inches of fresh snow covered the ground, capping the white chortens and gilded crests of the large building. We retreated to a nearby bakery where we brushed the snow off of our shoulders and sipped cups of hot tea, gradually rewarming ourselves.
Continuing on from Tengboche, we descended the other side of the ridge for a few minutes to reach our teahouse in Deboche, sitting among the rhododendron trees covered in Spanish moss and new snow. We spent the remainder of the afternoon watching the snow fall and the clouds play among the trees and nearby valley walls. Despite the snow it was a wonderful day on the trail as everything was eerily quiet and calm with few passerbys and the trail largely our own. The team is doing well and sends their best to everyone at home. We have enjoyed everyones comments and well wishes.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Thank you for the beautiful descriptions and for transporting us from our mid-winter storms to your snow covered valleys. We are savoring following your journey! MM
Posted by: Mirte Mallory on 3/30/2011 at 6:34 am
Hi Mark and Karen, H. and a friend and I are just back from a day in Yosemite—not quite Nepal, but quite snowy and sunny—beautiful.Love, MA
Posted by: Mary Ann & Howard Latimer on 3/28/2011 at 7:34 pm
This will be our third night hunkered down at 9,500' on the Kahiltna Glacier. It got snowing around midnight last night and just kept going. We checked the weather every hour or so to see if we could get a lull for climbing, but no. Thankfully the winds never got to more than about 20 mph, but they blew steadily throughout the day. We’d taken the precaution of pulling down the dining/cook tent at 1 AM so it was an easy enough thing to build it again at 8 AM to have a dry and calm space for breakfast. Bagels and salmon and a few laughs together before we climbed back in the tents to ride out the storm. By dinner time the snow was falling thick and fast and we were happy to be high enough to be avoiding rain. With dinner complete we did a round or two of chores to strengthen our camp and then crawled in for the night. According to the forecast, tomorrow should be partly sunny. Until then it will be anybody’s guess as to how many hours of noise we’ll endure as the wind and snow pummel the tent fabric.
An easy and slightly surreal day for the team, after so much walking and dealing with discomfort... to be thoroughly inactive, waited upon and flat out comfortable in the luxurious dining tent at Union Glacier.
The team wasn't visibly anxious to be missing out on exercise, nor did anyone seem worried over whether the Ilyushin airplane would fly on time. We sat, we ate, we concurred. Life is good. There was a persistent and slight breeze blowing all day long at the Union Glacier camp, but the air temperature is so warm (compared to anywhere on Vinson) that we routinely walked from tent to tent without gloves or jackets, crunching along on well-packed snow.
If all goes well, the plane will fly from Punta Arenas tomorrow and the RMI Vinson team will head back to South America and a victory feast with Seth Waterfall. I'll stay in to greet the next RMI Vinson team and get started on a new adventure. Many thanks to those who have followed our trip for the past two weeks. Your comments were passed on to us (we don't surf the web, but we exchange email with RMI headquarters) and produced many smiles on twelve sunburned faces.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Thanks to you Dave & Seth and the whole RMI team. Sterling had a wonderful experience.
Sue
Posted by: Sue Foreman on 12/17/2012 at 9:39 pm
Dear Dave & Seth: Thank you very much for taking the time to write all those informative blogs every day after a hard day of climbing in extreme cold. They were the first things I checked for in the morning and last things I read at night. They made me feel like part of the expedition (albeit in the comfort of our home), living the ups and downs of our loved ones through your postings. Thanks for guiding another successful climb! Happy Holidays! -Fan
RMI Guide Andres Marin radioed from Camp Muir this morning. The Four Day Summit Climb teams were tucked safely in the bunks at Camp Muir after a windy night. The cold temperatures, new snow and wind prevented the groups from making a summit attempt this morning. At 8:30 a.m. they began their descent from Camp Muir to Paradise. They will return to Ashford in the early afternoon.
This morning we woke up to fresh snow as we began preparations for our carry to the 9800 cache. Our duffels and backpacks were able to easily swallow our gear as we only had to carry a load of about 50% of the weight from the previous day. The team ascended, cached everything and then descended in stellar form, ate a nourishing meal and went to bed with full stomachs and tired legs.
Just found your trip and will be following! I climbed this route in 1996 with RMI / Robert Link and you are brining back some powerful memories. One day, one camp, one step, one cut block at a time. You’ll get there!
Hello all. We moved our camp up to about 9,600 ft. Temperatures were perfect for us during the walk. It just started to get hot as we pulled into camp. Everyone did great today. We built a fortress of a camp constructed with cohesive blocks of snow. We used them for walls around our camp to shield us from the wind.
Light snow began falling this afternoon but we are hoping to wake up to blue skies and stable weather for our climb on Kahiltna Dome tomorrow.
That's all for now.
RMI Guide Jason Thompson
The sun took awhile to reach us this morning, the shoulder of Nuptse standing 9,000' above blocked the sun rays and cast long shadows that gradually crept backwards as the sun rose. By the time we stepped out of the tea-house after 8:00 am the sun hit us and almost instantly began to chase away the nighttime chill. We left Gorak Shep in good spirits, eager to complete the final few hours of walking to Everest Base Camp.
The trail becomes notably less defined this far up the valley. In addition to seeing less traffic, the path is ever changing as the loose moraine settles and shifts with the passing glacier and the pull from gravity. Despite Everest Base Camp being a relatively short distance from Gorak Shep as the crow flies, no more than two miles, the trail itself is much longer as it twists and turns over the rough landscape, descending through boulder fields and climbing back up loose scree gullies. We picked our way along it, stepping from rock to rock and occasionally catching glimpses of the tent tops of Base Camp off in the distance.
About two thirds of the way to Base Camp the trail finally drops off of the side moraine bordering the glacier and crosses onto its surface. This low down on the glacier the surface is covered in rock that was pulled down from the mountain side further up and large features of ice, pushed up by the pressure of the glacier above, are interspersed with giant pools of frozen water that sit on the glacier surface from when the ice melts in the warm afternoon sun. The walking, while relatively flat, is tricky as every rock lies atop a sheet of ice below and the footing is continually shifting underfoot. Nevertheless, the group navigated the trail well and by midday we crested the final rocky rise and walked into RMI's Everest Base Camp.
Our Sherpa team has been busy working up here for the past two weeks, hacking away the shifting ice and rolling the rocks aside to create large platforms on the glacier's surface for our tents to sit on. With the creative eye of a designer, they set up a very comfortable camp here. Our dining tent looks right out at Everest, the lower stretches of the Khumbu Icefall filling the view out the door from inside. A series of large stone steps leads from the Dining Tent to the sleeping tents sitting in a semi circle on a small rise above. Just in front of them stands our Communications Tent, with direct sight to the mountain above for the best radio reception and good exposure to the sun as it tracks across the sky for the solar panels that power all of the equipment. The Kitchen and Storage Tents are just below, with a large stone path leading between them and the Dining Tent above.
The Sherpa team greeted us enthusiastically when we arrived, showing us around before we settled down for lunch. Kumar, the Expedition Cook, pulled together an incredible meal complemented with fresh baked rolls and steamed veggies. The change of pace from the typical tea-house food is refreshing and the food was excellent. After lunch we settled into camp, unpacking our gear in our tents and relaxing in the warm afternoon sun. We are all very happy to be here, pleased that we don't have to turn around and walk back to the tea-house this evening and enjoying the life around Base Camp. Everyone continues to adjust well to the altitude and hiked well today. We are spending tomorrow here in Base Camp, enjoying this place for a bit and covering some climbing training in preparation for those of us that are headed to Island Peak next. We want to thank everyone for the great comments on the Blog, we read them aloud over dinner last night and enjoyed hearing the snippets from home.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
RMI Guide Linden Mallory checks in from Everest Base Camp.
Congrats to the whole team - what an accomplishment. Hopefully the good weather and fortune will continue for the trek back and for the girls climbing Island Peak.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Hogan on 3/27/2012 at 3:48 am
You did it!!!! And look at all of these wonderful and encouraging comments! You ladies sure are impressive. So proud of you, Mom. Happy yu made it safely to base camp and enjoyed a yummy meal. Stay safe! Xoxo
We got out of the tents at 6:30 this morning to find the clouds had returned. It was still calm though and not terribly cold at our 10,000 ft camp. We ate breakfast and hit the trail shortly after 8 AM. The trail was a good deal more rugged than yesterday’s with about a million rocky steps to negotiate as we steadily gained altitude through the giant heather forest. The morning rush hour was something to see, with porters from a half dozen expeditions charging up the path all at once. “Traffic” normalized after a few hours and the angle eased as we reached a ridge crest.
We found ourselves above the clouds once more as we moved along the ridge toward Kibo -which was not only visible again, but a good deal closer than it had been at our last glimpse. We made a big left turn to the North and began the traverse out toward Shira. The terrain got more interesting as we needed our hands on rock to pass a number of ledges. The vegetation changed as we closed in on 12,800 ft -our high point for the day- we saw more giant senecios and lobelias as things got higher and drier.
Finally, we turned the corner onto the Shira Plateau and began walking downhill toward camp. We pulled in at about 2 PM… just in time for lunch and an afternoon nap. By dinner at 12,500 ft, things had cooled considerably and many of us had several warm clothing layers on for stargazing before bed.
Ady Peterson
I summited Mt. Rainier a few years ago with RMI. I won’t lie to you: it is to date the HARDEST physical challenge I’ve ever taken on (even as a collegiate athlete, and a yoga, barre, and spin instructor). But, I can also tell you, it was COMPLETELY worth it.
And I can tell you what got me to the top: the right preparation.
First of all: STAIRS, stairs, and more stairs. Whether you find them at a local stadium, in your apartment building, or even the stair climber at the gym, stairs are a must (I lived in Seattle when I summited, but I’m in Texas now. I know that you might have to get creative depending on where). Put some weight in your pack (immediately) and just start climbing. You can increase the weight in your pack as you get stronger.
One thing that I wish I had known as I trained on all those stairs is the “Rest Step”. The Rest Step is exactly what it sounds like: you take a step, rest, take another step, rest. Over and over at a quick tempo-- rest, step, rest step, rest, step. If you’re not familiar, do a quick search on YouTube for “Rest Step Climb” for a visual. With just a little practice, you’ll have the Rest Step down—it’s a vital technique for conserving energy, and that’s what an endurance climb is really all about.
Which leads me to my next training tip: YOGA. Yoga helped me develop a greater awareness of my breath and lung capacity. When the air gets thin 14,000 feet up and you feel like your lungs are collapsing, you’ll be grateful for your practice breathing deeply and evenly. I was doing yoga about 3 times a week leading up to my climb, and I had very little trouble with altitude.
Speaking of altitude—that’s what breaks new climbers down the most. It shows up as shortness of breath (see above), but also as fatigue and nausea. For these last two, help yourself: pack REAL FOOD—ideally food that you LOVE, so that you’ll be willing to eat, even when you don’t want to (trust me, at times you WON’T want to).
All those goop packs you can get at REI are great, but they’re not meant for 2-4 day adventures. I’m gluten-free and vegan, so I packed dried fruit, trail mix, LARA bars (or homemade date balls! My favorite!), and pre-made quinoa. I also had some rice tortillas. Remember, this is mountain climbing, not a walk in the park—calories are your friends: get a good balance of sugar, carbs, and protein, however works for you. I’ve done quite a bit of hiking, so I had an idea of what go-to foods I’d want on the climb. If you don’t, I’d recommend taking some test-foods out with you on a few hikes or stair workouts, so you can see how your body reacts to certain foods or proportions in the middle of long workouts.
Stairs, Rest-stepping, breathing, and food prep. If you’ve been preparing with marathon runs and Olympic weightlifting, these training methods might sound like small things. But then…“It’s not the mountain ahead that wears you down, it’s the pebble in your shoe.” – Muhammad Ali
_____
Hi! I'm Adrianne. I've been an athlete my whole life, starting as a dancer at age seven. Eventually, I danced at the Olympics in Sydney 2000, but after juggling dance and soccer for years, I eventually chose to focus on soccer. Soccer got me a college scholarship, and I played for four years as I earned my degree. After college, I desperately sought to maintain my sports brain (and body) and soon I discovered yoga. Before I knew it, I'd completed three yoga teacher trainings--I've been teaching yoga since 2010! My love for teaching grew exponentially during this time, so I sought other ways to grow as an instructor. That's how I discovered FlyBarre--on the first class, I was HOOKED! I then began teaching Indoor Cycling at Flywheel in Austin and cannot imagine my life without a coaching aspect to it.
I summited Mt. Rainier in the midst of all of this and can honestly say it was the hardest thing I've ever done and my 3rd most accomplished (after the Olympics and soccer scholarship). I love the outdoors and anything to keep me out there is always forefront in my mind. I would love to help you on your journey to summit ANY mountain you have your sights on. You can follow me on Instagram @thirtyish_ and check out my blog thirty-ish.com.
Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!
I’m glad somebody finally realized that actual stairs need to be done, not just walking on a Stairmaster since it doesn’t reproduce the motion of lifting one’s whole body against the gravity exerted by Earth, just the legs. But while I’m on legs, think of adding ankle weights to this workout to simulate the weight of boots/socks/gaiters/crampons/whatever else you’ll have on your feet.
Posted by: Jim Pasterczyk on 3/4/2019 at 10:00 pm
Thanks for these comments from the two re: climbing Mt. Rainier!! I have done hot yoga for a few years, awesome to hear it will be helpful :-) It helps and enhances EVERYTHING; so…great news re: that. I do have a question re: Ady saying “throw weight in your pack now”. I am JUST getting started on working on my leg and back muscles to strengthen them…I have questions re: do I go rent/buy a pack now (was planning on renting one for the hike), or? I have heard another good way to train is a weighted vest…Anyway..a little feedback re: the rationale of throwing weight in a day pack now…I don’t think it would be distributed evenly, etc. I have NEVER backpacked; and honestly carry any weight when bike riding on paniers/ NOT on my back if I can help it..thanks!
Posted by: Shelby Schneider on 10/1/2018 at 5:14 pm
The Five Day Summit Climbs June 21 - 25 led by Seth Waterfall and Win Whittaker were unable to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier today. The teams climbed to 10,500’ before deciding to turn around due to snow conditions and high winds.
The Five Day Kautz Climb led by Adam Knoff moved up to their High Camp at the western edge of the Turtle snowfield between 9,400' - 10,500' yesterday. They will spend today training at the Castle.
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons led by Billy Nugent arrived at Inter Glacier yesterday afternoon. They will be moving to Camp Schurman today.
Expedition team…..missed having a blog from you today! (6/26) Hope things are going well and you’re having a great climb despite the weather. Looking forward to seeing you soon. Love you…..
Thank you for the beautiful descriptions and for transporting us from our mid-winter storms to your snow covered valleys. We are savoring following your journey! MM
Posted by: Mirte Mallory on 3/30/2011 at 6:34 am
Hi Mark and Karen, H. and a friend and I are just back from a day in Yosemite—not quite Nepal, but quite snowy and sunny—beautiful.Love, MA
Posted by: Mary Ann & Howard Latimer on 3/28/2011 at 7:34 pm
View All Comments