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Mt. Everest Expedition: First Summits

May 18, 2012

Posted by: Dave Hahn

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest

Elevation: 17,575'

Another day of waiting and hiking for those of us at Mt. Everest Base Camp, but an important day none-the-less. The "fixing team" made it to the summit today, taking advantage of stable weather in the morning. We heard that things weren't quite so stable in the afternoon, with wind and snow working over the upper mountain, but climbers pushed on to the mountaintop anyway and then descended safely. The word was that several hundred climbers moved up the Lhotse Face today to be in position for summit bids tomorrow. We wish them all fine conditions for those bids, but we are keeping focused on our own window, which the forecasts still predict to be a good one, several days out. Best regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

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Be safe. You are the best and most experieced guide in the world, so you really don’t need me to say “Be Safe” but we are all hearing about the conditions this year - so BE SAFE. Bill M.

Posted by: bill mcgahan on 5/19/2012 at 10:49 am

Hey Dave,

Mark Gray here. You led a climb on Rainier about 6 years ago where you were called of for a rescue of some other RMI group. It had snowed off and on through the night and we would probably would have not tried for the summit anyway. Needless to say I was amazed to even have been able to climb to camp Muir with you and have followed your Everest attempts ever since. Just wanted you to know you are in my prayers as you once again head for the the top of the world!

Posted by: Mark Gray on 5/19/2012 at 9:29 am

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Mountaineering Training | Strength Training Beyond The Gym

November 4, 2013

Posted by: Lindsay Mann

Categories: Mountaineering Fitness & Training

When most people think about strength workouts, they think about joining a gym and lifting weights to build muscle mass. I grew up as an alpine ski racer and continue to stay involved in the sport now as a ski coach. If you have watched an alpine ski race, in person or on TV, you know that ski racing is all about leg strength. Although mountaineers don’t need to be hitting the weight room to the same extent as a ski racer, strength is a key component to climbing.  Traveling around the world as an athlete, coach, and guide, I do not always have access to a weight room. During the season I still need to do exercises to maintain strength. I make use of local parks or playgrounds (where the entry fee is free) or even my own living room. Below are a couple of key exercises that you can do either in a gym or in the comfort of your own home. Remember, whenever doing strength workouts, it is important to get a proper warm-up and cool-down and listen to your body in order to stay injury-free and get the most from the workout. Warm-Up: This involves 15 - 20 minutes of running or biking to get your muscles warmed up. This is imperative since diving into strength training cold is a great way to hurt yourself. This time can be spent on a stationary bicycle, a couple laps around the neighborhood on a road bike or mountain bike, a few laps around the track or soccer field, or a jog around the neighborhood. Body Weight Squats: Start your workout with two legged squats, feet hip width apart, with no weight. As you up your training, adding weight is a viable option as long as your form and technique stay correct. Jugs of water, rocks, or chunks of firewood all make good weight additions. To maintain form and avoid injury, make sure that your knees are stacked over your ankles. Start with doing three sets of 10 reps. I usually go down for a count of 2 - 3 seconds and up for the same count. One-Legged Squats: These are my personal favorite; still a leg strength building exercise, one-legged squats also add a balance component. In order to protect your knees during any squats, I recommend going no deeper than a 90-degree bend in the knee (doing these in front of a mirror when you first start can be beneficial). Start out with the non-weight bearing leg parallel to the standing leg. As you master this, play around with the position of the leg in the air. It can be in front, out to the side, or back. Now not only are you working on leg strength but you are also working on balance. Work up to 3 reps of 10 on each leg. Depending on your baseline strength you may start with 2 reps of 5 on each leg and then slowly work up. Again as this gets easier for you, add weights in your hand or try these on grass or sand. All of this will change your balance and the difficulty. Wall-Sits: Simply sit against a wall with your knees bent at a 90 degree angle like you are sitting in an invisible chair with your back and butt against the wall. This is a real thigh burner. Start by holding this for 30 seconds to a minute and doing two or three sets, shaking your legs out in between. As you get better at this, increase the time you are holding to up to a few minutes. Another way to increase the difficulty is to hold an object straight in front of you, such as a ski boot or climbing boot. Lunges: With an emphasis on quad-strengthening exercises it is important to incorporate some hamstring-strengthening exercises as well. One suggestion is lunges. The key to these is that they are done slowly; you are building strength as you lower your body weight and raise it again. Make sure that your knees are lined up above your ankles and feet, and do not push your knee beyond your toes. I usually start with my hands on my hips doing 2 to 3 sets of 10 - 15 lunges on each side (20 - 30 total in a set), and alternate which leg is in front. Again, as this becomes easier for you, you can add free weights. Pull-Ups: These are nice because they can be done anywhere. Not only is it good arm strength exercise, but it also involves the core. Pull-ups can be done with a pull-up or chin-up bar in your house, or at the local playground on the monkey bars. Start out with 2 sets of five. If this is hard for you, have someone hold your knees to assist you after doing a few on your own. You will be amazed how much you will improve just by trying them on your own and then going through the motion with someone assisting you. Cool-Down: In order to aid recovery for the following days, do a proper cool-down. Spend another 15 minutes on a bike or finish with a light jog to get out some of the lactic acid. Don’t forget that stretching is also an important aspect of the cool-down process. Listen to your body with any workout. All of the recommendations of sets are exactly that - recommendations; do what makes sense for you. Depending on your starting point you may have to start with fewer and work up. That is okay; continue to work on strength exercises and you will see improvements. Set benchmarks and goals for yourself so that you can see the improvements! Often times the process of seeing yourself improve is all the motivation you need! ______ Lindsay Mann is a senior guide at RMI Expeditions and a NCAA D1 Skiing Champion. She has climbed and guided around the world, from Peru to Alaska. Lindsay is leading a team of female climbers to scale Mt. Rainier on a special Four Day Summit Climb next summer, August 12 - 15, 2014. Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!

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Mexico Volcanoes: Team Ready for Pico de Orizaba

October 15, 2021

Posted by: Grayson Swingle

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico

Elevation: 14,000'

Hello from 14,000ft on Pico de Orizaba! Today we left the comfort of Puebla behind for our final objective. A two hour bumpy 4x4 ride in the back of a pickup truck took us up to our basecamp on Orizaba. The team is feeling well rested for one more climb tonight.

We have clear skies at the moment and the forecast is calling for a clear summit bid tonight. We are looking forward to watching the sunrise from the side of an 18,491ft volcano. For some folks this will be a new altitude record previously broken on Ixta earlier this week.

Wish us luck for a beautiful morning of climbing. We will check in again tomorrow!

RMI Guide Grayson Swingle

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Mountaineering Training | Make The Most Of Rest Breaks

April 21, 2014

Posted by:

Categories: Mountaineering Fitness & Training

How do you utilize rest breaks in your training and climbs? Do you take a break to eat? And another when you are thirsty? Perhaps when your legs get tired and uncomfortable? A quick bathroom break on the side of the trail? It's important to take care of all of these needs but they need to approached strategically to prevent rest breaks from turning an otherwise long endeavor into an epic. Learning to manage your rest breaks and keep them efficient makes a big difference on summit day. At RMI, the oft-used cliché is that we take "maintenance breaks," not rest breaks. Consider all of the needs that need to be taken care of mid-climb: you need to relieve yourself, take in enough calories to maintain your energy output, hydrate, adjust your clothing layers to changing conditions, perhaps take care of a hot spot so that it doesn’t become a debilitating blister, get a few minutes off of your feet, and just maybe snap a couple of photos. This list can easily turn into a half an hour of tasks, even if each only took just 4-5 minutes to accomplish. After thirty minutes your legs will likely start to stiffen and your temperature start to drop, not to mention that a few half-hour breaks together can turn a 10 hour day into a 12+ hour day in the mountains, stretching the limits of how long we can climb safely and maintain our focus. The moral of the story is that efficiency is key: we want to try to take care of all of our needs in the span of ten minutes to leave a few minutes to relax before getting back on the trail and making progress towards the finish line. Ultra marathoners do this with "walking breaks," slowing to a walk every hour to make sure that their body is primed for the next hour. Mountainous terrain doesn’t let us take breaks on the fly, but the principle remains the same. Taking short, deliberate, and consistent breaks keeps us climbing strongly throughout the day. Making rest breaks efficient takes practice. Learn to multitask in your breaks: take a couple bites of food while you shuffle clothing layers, relieve yourself before you sit down to start your other chores, and sip on water throughout the break. As you get better at it, you’ll find that you’ve taken care of everything in the first few minutes, and you can relax and let your legs get a bit of recovery for the rest of the break. No matter how efficient you are, the time rest breaks take add up. Taking efficient breaks too frequently can drain just as much time as taking a couple of long breaks. In the mountains, we try to maintain a consistent pace for an hour or so before stopping for ten to fifteen minutes to refuel and take care of ourselves. This proves to be an effective interval for our bodies in terms of replenishing depleted stores yet still allows us to reach our destination. Practice this interval in your training too and by your next climb it will feel like second nature. Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!

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RMI Guides Travel to Nepal To Climb Manaslu Without Supplemental Oxygen.

September 17, 2022

Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Dominic Cifelli, JT Schmitt

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Guide News

Elevation: 16,000'

RMI Guides JT Schmitt, Dustin Wittmier and Dominic Cifelli are in Nepal on an expedition with the main objective to climb Manaslu without supplemental oxygen. They departed the United States on September 1st and are able to check in from basecamp:

Hello,

We arrived at Manaslu basecamp on September 11th after four days of trekking through remote valleys in Nepal. Most days were spent shrouded in a cloudy veil, but we were treated to the occasional view of rugged glaciers clinging to high mountains. Staying in tea houses, we were immersed in Nepalese and Sherpa cultures through conversation and enjoying traditional foods together.

Six days after arriving in basecamp we are well established at 16000’ and have made our first rotation on the mountain. We spent three days moving to as high as Camp 2 at 21,000’, setting up our tent and caching gear. On that rotation we spent two nights at Camp 1, letting our bodies acclimatize to sleeping at 18900’.

Currently we are on our third rest day, waiting out torrential rains; and the report from higher on the mountain is that there is significant snow accumulation. It is beneficial that Wi-Fi is available in basecamp so we can continue to monitor weather forecasts, waiting for a window to make a second rotation.

We are hopeful we will be able to push through some marginal weather tomorrow to take advantage of a small, upcoming window. Our second rotation will hopefully allow us to reach Camp 4 at 24,300’, to cache some gear and set us up for a summit push.

RMI Guides JT Schmitt, Dustin Wittmier & Dominic Cifelli

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Stay strong team! Love you Dom. Uncle artie

Posted by: Art cifelli on 9/21/2022 at 4:30 pm

Hey Dustin!!!
This is So Awesome!! You Are Strong!! You can do this!! After all you pulled my old farmer a$$ to the top of Cotopoxi!!!
All the best for Strength and Stamina Dustin!!!
Farmer Dave

Posted by: Dave Kestel on 9/19/2022 at 7:17 am

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Mt. Rainier: Teams Turn due to Wind and Precipitation

August 11, 2022

Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Alex Halliday, Sam Hoffman, Sam Marjerison, Cal Seeley, Brian Walters

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier

Elevation: 12,300'

The Four-Day climb led by Pete Van Deventer and Alex Halliday turned around at 12,300’ this morning. The teams were facing 45 mph gusts as a wet cloud cap descended on them. They reported that the weather at Camp Muir was far more favorable with a light breeze to welcome them.

The teams are on their descent back to Basecamp, with warm showers and good food in their sights.

Mt. Rainier: Summit Climb Teams on Top!

August 28, 2021

Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Matias Francis, David Price, Nathan Delmar, Josh Hankin, Augi Fleer

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier

Elevation: 14,410'

The Mt. Rainier Summit Climb teams, led be RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer and Matias Francis crested the crater rim at 8:15 a.m. Although the sun is shining, the skies are a bit hazy. The team will spend some time on top before starting the descent.

Congratulations to today's summit climbers!

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Its with great humility that I thank Pete and Matias (ma-TE-us, get it right, and sorry for teasing you about it) for taking me, my children (Josh and Molly) and my children’s friends (Dylan, Bri, Brett and Luke) up that morning and congratulations to Josh and Dylan (and the other 4 climbers that morning) for summitting. Also, Special thanks to Josh Hankin for the great instruction, Augi Fleeras for guiding my daughter and Bri down and for Nathan Delmar (sorry about the macramé Joke-I’m sure it gets old and for bringing me down and not dropping me into a crevasse) and David Price (you are just an all around good dude). You guides do something amazing and I’ve seen amazing. Not only do you shoulder the responsibility for taking mostly unprepared climbers up this mountain and protect our lives, but you also trust us tourists to belay you and trust us not to make a lethal mistake and cost you your lives. And you do it every day and not for the money (pizza joke really not that funny). Pete, Matias and Josh especially, you guys are truly the most professional, mature, confident and athletic people I have every known, a special breed of individual who loves and appreciates the beauty of mountaineering so much that you go to extreme lengths to share it with others, many of us who have no business seeing it first hand, yet you do it with confidence and poise knowing that when we fall off or fall in, you can save us. Pete, thank you for recognizing that I needed to turn around and sending me down with Nathan. Also Pete and Matias, thank you for not stopping until Josh and Dylan were at the top in spite of the route conditions. To Peter and Kerri Whittaker, only got to say “hi” momentarily to you but it was both an honor and a pleasure. Thank you for finding guides like Pete, Matias, Josh, Augi, Nathan and David so a kid (old kid) from Kansas who has always dreamed of the mountains could experience Mountaineering first hand.

Godspeed,

Chris Banwart

Posted by: Jon Banwart on 8/31/2021 at 7:50 pm

Great job everybody!!!!!

Felicitaciones Nicko!!!!!

Posted by: Jose Fulginiti on 8/28/2021 at 1:13 pm

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Mexico Volcanoes: Cifelli & Team Enjoy Last Team Breakfast, Conclude Trip

March 6, 2022

Posted by: Dominic Cifelli

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico

The team met for one last breakfast this morning. Recalling our climb of Pico de Orizaba and our other exploits from the trip while laughing and drinking coffee. Only 24 hours ago we were standing at the summit and oh what a difference a day makes. It’s a great way to end a great trip and seems like yesterday that we met up in Mexico City as strangers. I’m impressed and proud of this group on and off the mountain. I look forward to climbing with each and every one of them in the future, but for now, we’re excited to get back to our families and friends. This is the RMI Mexico team signing off for the last time of the trip and season.

RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli

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Mt. Shuksan: Smith & Expedition Seminar Team Reach Summit

August 29, 2022

Posted by: Hannah Smith, Evan Sather

Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades

Elevation: 9,131'

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Shuksan August 26 - 31 reached the summit of Mt. Shuksan via the Sulphide Glacier today around 11 am PT. RMI Guides Hannah Smith and Evan Sather are leading the six day seminar and reported a beautiful day with a light breeze. Prior to their summit attempt the team conducted basic mountaineering skills training. Their training will continue and expand to include anchor placements, various self and team crevasse rescue techniques, belays, rappelling, knots, route finding and fixed rope travel. Thus giving them sufficient skills to continue their mountaineering persuits.

Congratulations to today's climbers!

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Mt. Rainier: Five Day Teams Descend from Camp Muir

June 13, 2022

Posted by: Eric Frank, Alex Halliday, Erika Birkeland, Tatum Whatford, George Hedreen, Cal Seeley

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier

Elevation: 10,080

The Five Day Climb June 9 - 13 enjoyed a beautiful sunrise from Ingraham Flats and Camp Muir this morning. Route conditions did not allow the teams to ascend above 11,200' yesterday or today but the team got in some good training and enjoyed two nights at Camp Muir. The teams descended to Paradise arriving around noon today and will conclude their program at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.

Photos: RMI Guide Eric Frank

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We did training ascend on June 11 and went up to 11,000’ around 4 pm. I didn’t see any route conditions that did not allow to go further, I don’t have much experience though. Could you give more details on what route conditions stopped the group?

Posted by: Nick R on 6/15/2022 at 12:55 pm

What were the route conditions that did not allow you to go above 11k? Avalanche? Deep snow? Heading up this weekend and wondering what the current risks are from most recent teams.

Posted by: Kahlie Gleason on 6/13/2022 at 1:58 pm

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Most Popular Entries

Mt. Everest Expedition: First Summits

Mountaineering Training | Strength Training Beyond The Gym

Mexico Volcanoes: Team Ready for Pico de Orizaba

Mountaineering Training | Make The Most Of Rest Breaks

RMI Guides Travel to Nepal To Climb Manaslu Without Supplemental Oxygen.

Mt. Rainier: Teams Turn due to Wind and Precipitation

Mt. Rainier: Summit Climb Teams on Top!

Mexico Volcanoes: Cifelli & Team Enjoy Last Team Breakfast, Conclude Trip

Mt. Shuksan: Smith & Expedition Seminar Team Reach Summit

Mt. Rainier: Five Day Teams Descend from Camp Muir

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