Hey, this is Dave calling from Denali. We moved from 17,000' to 11,000' today. There was a lot of new snow down below and we were post holing through deep snow all the way down the West Buttress, down to 14,000' and all the way to 11,000' breaking trail. It all went really well. Today was a nice day, nice, calm and sunny.
Now we are camped at 11,000'. We hope to get up in a few hours and make our way to the airstrip and perhaps be there and ready to fly out tomorrow morning. So, I'll give a call if that happens. Today is Monday so that would be Tuesday morning that we would be at the airstrip if all goes well on the lower glacier. Talk to you soon.
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.
Hi everyone this is JJ Justman for the Mount Elbrus expedition. Today we had a great day here on Cheget Peak. We had a great acclimatization hike on a very beautiful clear sunny day. We had fantastic views of Mount Elbrus and we topped out at 10,600 ft.
We finished the hike with a wonderful lunch down in town après ski style. After a little rest and relaxation we went over our climbing gear and we are now officially ready to jump on the big hill tomorrow!
RMI Guide JJ Justman & Team.
LeighAnn, great photos of R&R with climbing team in the Cheget ski area. We must have rocks in our blood since I live at 7100ft and you are there looking forward to the next challenge. Say hello to Jim and have a very successful and safe expedition. Dad
RMI Guide Billy Nugent and team were forced to abort their summit bid on Cayambe due to windy and snowy conditions. After resting and trying to dry out in the hut they began an eventful drive down the mountain with muddy roads, lots of snow and a flat tire. The team is resting nicely at the Chilcabamba Eco Lodge at the base of Cotopaxi.
Listen to Billy's dispatch below for more details.
We look forward to hearing from the team tomorrow to see what the weather has in store for them.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent checks in after the team's summit bid and descent from Cayambe.
Hello everyone,
This is RMI Guide JJ Justman checking in. We want to let everyone following our Mexico's Volcanoes Expedition know that we are at high camp on Ixta (14,750ft). The Team is doing fantastic. We are preparing for our summit bid tomorrow, so we are getting our water ready. We are planning on waking up around midnight and getting hot drinks going for our crew.
It is pretty unusual right now, there is a ton of snow that you don’t normally see here on Ixta, but it is actually making for some pretty nice climbing. Weather is calm there is no wind, so we will keep our fingers crossed. It’s looking like it is going to be a great day tomorrow, so stay tuned. We will check in again tomorrow and will hopefully have some great news. We are looking at a nice safe climb of Ixta.
Ciao from Mexico!
We finally after many days of travel, have safely arrived in the Cho Oyu Basecamp at just over 16,000'. We were happily welcomed by our wonderful support team of Lama Babu, Tendi and our cook Kumar. When we pulled into camp, we had a nice lunch with the crew, got reacquainted with all of our gear and settled in to our tents.
This afternoon we went for a nice hike to just over 17,500'. The weather is great and the conditions look good. Everybody is incredibly excited to be here- finally out of the city life and into the mountains. All is well and everyone is in great health. Looking forward to spending a couple days here continuing our acclimatization.
We'll check in another day or two.
Hello Everyone and welcome to RMI's 2010 Cho Oyu climb.
After some really long flights the team has all safely arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal. We are starting this journey here in Nepal which is the launching point for most Himalayan expeditions. The team has spent the last few days getting acquainted, doing some last minute shopping, and finalizing our packing. We will be flying to the capital of Tibet, Lhasa, tomorrow, then driving across the great Tibetan plateau for about a week while we acclimatize before we reach Cho Oyu base camp. Meanwhile all of our food and gear will be driving around with our Sherpa crew via a different route to meet us there. We are excited to have two of the best Sherpas with us, Tendi and Lama Babu. They have been climbing in the Himalayas for most of their lives and have climbed with RMI for the last several seasons. They have been on dozens of expeditions and between them have 14 summits of Mt. Everest! We will also be lucky to have our wonderful cook Kumar with us to help keep us well fed.
We enjoyed tea in our tents just before 7 am and had another enjoyable breakfast of fresh fruit, eggs and toast. We then hit the trail shortly after 8 and made good time up the Barranco wall. This wall is about 1,000' high and is the steepest part of the entire climb requiring hands in a few places to assist us up a few steep steps. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and change of the new terrain. It was amazing to watch the porters easily navigate this terrain with their loads carefully balanced on their heads. We made good time and arrived in a little over 4 hours to our new home sitting at just over 13,000'.
We are incredibly thankfully to all of our porters and crew who have been working so hard to keep us well feed and comfortable thus far.
Looking forward to moving to our high camp tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew.
Looking fabulous - can’t wait to hear about the summit tomorrow - very soon!
Leslita
Posted by: Leslie on 2/16/2013 at 8:11 am
Barbara,
What a fabulous adventure! We can’t wait to hear all about it. Take in the sunrise for us. We will be thinking about you and the team.
Nancy & Tal
Today we enjoyed the first break in the wind we've seen up here and made a very productive carry to Camp 1. This not only put some much needed supplies higher on the mountain, but gave us a chance to taste our thinnest air so far and work on our high altitude techniques for later on. Tomorrow we will move up to Camp 1 if weather permits and be one step closer to higher exploration.
Tonight after our climbing was complete, we had a great (hopefully) last meal for a while here at BC. It really fueled us for a big day tomorrow, but not nearly as much as reading all the blog responses from everyone back home. Thanks.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
PS. Happy Birthday to il Padrino.
Keep going, Josh! I wore a bow tie the last two days at work. I am assuming you’re doing the same up there.
Posted by: Nic on 12/27/2012 at 2:07 pm
I tried to post on Christmas day…now it’s a post-Christmas Merry Christmas, Josh, and the whole team!! Wishing for your safe ascent and trip back down…from the warmth of the indoors :)
Love, Sis, Junior, and Léoni
Posted by: Amanda Gentine on 12/27/2012 at 11:33 am
The Five Day Climbing team with RMI Guides Abby Westling and Ben Luedtke climbed last night and reached the summit as the sun was setting. The team spent their first day on the mountain with an acclimatization climb to Ingraham Flats. On day two they took advantage of a full night’s rest and chose to do a sunset climb, a rare and special treat for the climbers to see the stunning alpenglow on Mt. Rainier.
You’re getting there! Ella says “keep climbing Daddy (and Aunt Lynn and Uncle Peter)”!
Posted by: Sarah on 8/4/2022 at 3:10 am
Wishing you all a wonderful trip. So happy to be able to follow along. Enjoy! Charlotte-friend of Peter, Lynn and Steven’s
Posted by: Charlotte Multer on 8/3/2022 at 8:21 pm
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