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Posted by: Brent Okita, Leah Fisher, Nick Hunt
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 20,320'
RMI Guide Brent Okita calls in from the descent of Mt. McKinley's summit.
On The Map
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Walter Hailes, Henry Coppolillo, Daniel May, David Shuer, Keeley Rideout
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 11,200'
Today's Mt. Rainier Summit Climb teams, led by RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer and Walter Hailes, turned due to hazardous route conditions. The teams ascended to Ingraham Flats to watch the sunrise before descending back to Camp Muir where they had breakfast. They left Camp Muir around 9:45 a.m. and are working their way back to Paradise.
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Categories: Mountaineering Fitness & Training
Sara, when I first heard about your decision not to summit, I wanted to jump to conclusions however, our friends helped me to understand what a strong person you are and we are all DEFINITELY SO VERY PROUD OF YOU. All of us were waiting to hear the story from you before being disappointed, and we all know the sacrifices you made and if you are happy, we are happy. Although summiting would have been an amazing experience, if you are okay without it, so are we. We are so proud of how far you made it and you will definitely go down in history maybe not for the summit but for the smart decision you made. You will be an example and a legend for future climbers. Hopefully when you come home, we can all catch up and you can fill us in on all of the wonderful memories you have made and you can reminisce on the climb. Yeah, we will wonder what could’ve happened but our curiosity is trumped by our happiness that you are safe and sound at home with us. Just know that we are all proud of you and you are a fantastic person and everyone who is disappointed in you, does not know your story. You know I am a harsh person and I hold you up to the highest standards, and even I am totally okay with your decision and GOT YOUR BACK.
I love you, Sara and hope you have some quick flights home because I cannot wait to see you!
Love, Kathryn M.
Posted by: Kathryn M on 5/20/2011 at 8:14 am
Sara and Bill,
We have all been following your blog and praying for you.
All we have to do is look at the incredible pictures to see that you have ACCOMPLISHED more than most of us ever would dream of even attempting. So, congratulations on your climb and the successes you experienced along the way. I think there are many folks in Atlanta who will be happy to have you back safe and sound a little earlier than the original plan.
Posted by: Jennifer Leinweber on 5/20/2011 at 6:50 am
Posted by: Adam Knoff
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek and Lobuche
Elevation: 11,300'
Today was pleasantly uneventful here in the Khumbu. We are starting to fall into a nice routine up here aided by the familiarity of the food, the daily packing list and what to expect weather wise. I am very impressed with everyone adjusting so quickly and favorably to the Sherpa menu items often eating porridge for breakfast, noodles and momos for lunch and some kind of sherpa stew or rice dish for dinner. We are all leaving the fried food and pizza items alone which I think secretly impresses our local guides.
After that fine bowl of porridge this morning the RMI team, led by Dawn and Denza Sherpa packed our not so heavy day bags and made a lovely two hour trek into the Thame valley to visit an all women’s nunnery which I believe is the only one of its kind in the entire area. We sat in on a stunning prayer ceremony while sitting mesmerized by the cadence and tone of the prayers, all read from a scripture. All of us with technology raised fine western children all asked each other how long we thought our kids would last sitting cross legged on the floor praying through a rhythmic chant while reading a bible. I think the average answer was around 30 seconds. The Buddhist nuns and monks will pray for three to six hours a day for 30 years. What a crazy different world we all exist in!
Once we finished with the monastery we had some tea then retraced our steps back to Namche for lunch and more shopping. I can’t get over how much the village has changed! So many new structures and lodges. I hardly recognized it walking through the gates yesterday at the bottom of the hill.
By 5 pm were practicing some knots and technical skills on the extreme angles of the lodge’s front steps. After everyone displayed ample confidence in arm wraps and figure Eights, dinner was on the table so we wrapped up our day sitting by the fire eating exactly what makes us happy.
Now in bed we are prepped and ready for a nice long hike to Phortse which holds a special place in my heart.
Find out why tomorrow.
Namaste from Hotel Camp De Base, Namche Bazaar.
Wish I could be there with you! It all sounds and looks wonderful.
Posted by: Catherine on 3/25/2022 at 4:02 pm
Glad your team is doing well and continue the great updates on your trip and comparisons to trips past. Thx and Best
Posted by: Jane on 3/25/2022 at 9:54 am
Posted by:
Categories: Mountaineering Fitness & Training
Awesome advice! It all makes perfect sense!!!
Posted by: Tammy Doppenberg on 4/28/2014 at 8:50 pm
Posted by:
Categories: Mountaineering Fitness & Training
Climbing is a long and demanding endeavor, with a typical summit day on Rainier or Denali stretching for twelve to fifteen hours. Every time you take a step, your muscles require energy in the form of ATP to be able to fire. ATP is created within the muscle cells by mitochondria from two main nutrients: carbohydrates and fat.
For many years, athletes have focused on their carbohydrate intake as the key to performance. Carbohydrates provide a readily accessible and easily digestible energy source for your body, which is the reason that they are the main content in most sports foods; just look at the labels of shot blocks, Gu’s, bars, energy drinks, and the like, and you will see a heavy focus on sugar. There is a good reason for this: your body has a limited ability to digest food while exercising (digestion requires energy of its own), and carbohydrates and sugars are the easiest to digest, requiring little to be done to the glucose components before they enter the bloodstream and are carried to the cells.
The main issue with a reliance on carbohydrates is that your body has the ability to store a finite supply of glucose in the muscle cells and the liver in the form of glycogen. For trained athletes that are efficient with their energy usage, that store still only lasts for about 2 hours of sustained hard effort. If you aren’t familiar with the term “bonking,” it’s that feeling when your performance drops off a cliff; you don’t feel like you are working that hard aerobically, but you can’t possibly go any faster or harder. You’ve run through those glycogen stores and your muscles are out of fuel. Eating while you exercise can help to delay bonking, but your body can only process about 250 Kcal of sugar per hour, far less than you expend over the same period. Even though we are replenishing our sugar fuel, we dip further and further into those reserves as summit day goes on. At the same time, even the leanest among us carries over 24 hours of energy in the form of fat stores. Wouldn’t it be nice to recruit those stores while you are climbing?
Fatty acids are the most energy dense nutrients in our diet and our body stores them readily. They create more ATP per unit than sugars, and our body’s ability to store them can leave us with a huge reserve energy supply. The problem is that when fatty acids and sugars are both present, our metabolisms preference burning the sugars for energy. Julia Goedecke is a sports scientist who has been examining the influence of fat oxidation (metabolism) in endurance athletes. In examining rates of fat oxidation in athletes at different intensity levels, she found a vast difference in overall rates of fat oxidation. Some burned nearly no fat at rest, while others metabolized nearly 100% fat at rest, but while there were differences in overall rates of fat metabolism, those who metabolized more fat at rest derived more of their energy from fat at all intensity levels too. This would suggest that if we can train our metabolism to derive a greater percentage of our energy from fat, it will continue to do that as we up our intensity climbing, and we will use our sugar reserves more slowly, and hopefully avoid the dreaded “bonk!”
Now that we’ve introduced the idea of developing your fat metabolism, stay tuned next week as we get into the details about how to accomplish it.
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For more reading Alan Couzens has a number of interesting blogs on the subject. A good one to start with is Improving Fat Oxidation.
Questions? Comments? Do you have experience applying LCHF nutrition to endurance sports? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!
I have climbed Mt. Rainier twice now. The first time was not good. I did not finish. I had misplaced a contact lense. The second time was much better. I was a lot stronger with the second climb. It was a nice day and we all summited. It was a very nice day. I have climbed Mt. Hood and have climbed Mt Adams now. Both were nice climbs.
Posted by: Mark Brashem on 2/1/2022 at 5:03 pm
Those that burn more than “trace” amounts of fat while at rest or during strenuous output are fat adapted. They have gone through the process of fat adaptation by employing a lifestyle of Low Carb, Keto, etc. You don’t get there overnight and in fact some, despite their efforts, never attain it at all. And once your body becomes fat adapted, you have to maintain it too effectively utilize fat as energy. The use of a blood ketone meter is is good tool to monitor your level. That being said, the problem we face as Climbers, is how do we maintain a fat adapted state while travelling? Have you ever attempted to maintain the 75/20/5 (fat, protein, carb) ratio while in India, Pakistan, Nepal, etc? Good luck. Unless you have your food air-dropped in, or pull off the impossible and transport all of your food you will ingest over the next 4-6 weeks from home, you are stuck with noodles, rice, and junk food snacks, all high carb food, which once ingested, rocket you straight out of your fat adapted state. And back to square one. This dilemma is something i am struggling with for 2023 when i next travel to Asia. I know what i can do here on Whitney, Gorgonio and Jacinto while fat adapted and in ketosis, yes, lower elevations than Asia, but if i can some how figure out the food logistics for Asia, i will be Superman! Doesn’t look promising though.
Posted by: Al on 3/8/2021 at 9:54 am
Posted by: Andy Bond, Matias Francis, David Price, Augi Fleer, David Shuer, Nathan Delmar
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climb team August 9 - 12 led by RMI Guides Andy Bond and Matias Francis reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The team enjoyed a spectacular meteor shower as they left Camp Muir on their alpine start and climbed toward the summit. Andy reported a beautiful day with calm winds and warm temperatures once the sun came up. The team was starting their descent from the crater rim just after 6:30 am PT. Once back at Camp Muir they will refuel and repack for the remaining 4.5 miles back down to Paradise.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Wow! What an incredible experience. Definitely a special day on the mountain.
Posted by: Amanda P on 8/13/2021 at 11:28 am
Greetings from Puebla! Today was a great day for the team to rest and explore the beautiful city of Puebla. This city is full of history, delicious food, colorful markets and a perfect place to recover for our next climb.
After a day to explore the incredible Catholic Churches built in the 1500s, the team ate dinner together at El Mural de los Poblanos, a fantastic restaurant full of classic local dishes. Puebla is known as the home of Mole.
Our next objective begins tomorrow as we head up to 14,000ft to the high camp on Pico de Orizaba!
Posted by: Robby Young, Sean Collon, Steve Gately
Categories: Guide News
Sean Collon: Rock climbing and mountaineering have a large number of common skills, techniques and physical requirements. Approaching rock climbs with heavy packs full of gear builds stamina, and the climbing itself requires total body strength; all of which contributes to success in the big mountains. When guiding, or on personal mountaineering trips, I rely heavily on the rope skills I have developed largely in the vertical world of rock climbing. But more than all of this, rock climbing, in and of itself, is fun. Like any type of climbing, it is physically and mentally demanding. It can be pure enjoyment, often scary and painful, but always tremendously rewarding.
Steve Gately: After a busy Rainier season, trips like this provide us with some welcomed vacation time, while also allowing us a great opportunity for continued training. With back-to-back trips to Aconcagua coming up this winter, keeping my skills sharp is important to me. One aspect that goes consistently overlooked is not only the mental capacity but also the situational awareness needed for such long expeditions. For me, rock climbing is a way to keep my assessment skills sharp. There is some inherent risk in rock climbing, similarly to anytime that we step out into the mountains. This requires you to be constantly assessing situations, risk, hazards, terrain etc. This level of awareness is invaluable. You can be as strong as the best climbers out there, but without that ability to constantly assess your surroundings and problem solve when needed, well, you won't last very long in the mountains. For me, as a guide, this is one of the most important contributions I can bring to my trips and rock climbing provides an excellent way to stay strong, keep my skills sharp, and have a ton of fun while doing it!
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Robby Young is as talented on rock as he is on glaciers and skis. He is spending the winter ski patrolling and teaching several avalanche courses in Utah and planning on a ski trip to Iceland this spring before his Denali expedition. See more of Robby's photography at www.robbyyoungphotography.com.
Sean Collon is an RMI guide, originally from Michigan, spending this winter season in Utah ski instructing at Canyons Resort and training for the AMGA Rock and Ski Instructor Courses. He has climbed rock and alpine routes all around the Pacific Northwest and throughout the country, and guiding with Dave Hahn next summer on Mt. McKinley.
Steve Gately is heading to the southern hemisphere this winter to guide on Aconcagua. Returning to Park City, UT, he will be found skiing, ice climbing and working on another short film about backcountry skiing in Utah's Wasatch Range before heading north to Alaska next summer.
Great clip! I had the honor of attending a fundraiser last night (Golden,CO) for Jeff Lowe’s “Metanoia” movie. One of the items they were auctioning off was a 3 day climb at “The Creek” with Jim Donini! Jim was there and personally offered the trip. As you can imagine, it went for a nice high bid!!
Posted by: Lori Stewart on 12/18/2013 at 7:30 pm
Leah, thank you for taking our picture on the summit.
Brent, as one of your former clients on a skills seminar I just wanted to say thank you for teaching me the skills to allow me to summit Denali. It was an honor and privilege to meet your team on the football field and share the summit with you all.
Great job team RMI!
Posted by: Dan Crouch on 6/10/2014 at 5:25 am
Congratulations to the entire team. JOB WELL DONE. Continued safe travels in your entire journey home. Godspeed to you all.
Posted by: Mark DiLucca on 6/6/2014 at 8:45 am
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