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Early season weather kept the Mt. Rainier Five Day Climb from ascending above Camp Muir. The teams, led by RMI Guides Adam Knoff and Andy Bond reported windy and snowy conditions at Camp Muir. The climbers will make their descent to Paradise this morning and will be back in Ashford later day.

Continuous rain overnight at Camp Muir, kept the Five Day climb July 2 - 6 teams from making their summit attempt. RMI Guide Casey Grom reported a slight break in the weather but the rain was continuing.  They plan to leave Camp Muir around 9:30 am for a hopefully dry walk down to Paradise.  The teams should return to Rainier BaseCamp in the early afternoon.

October marks the end of the guiding season on Rainier, and the beginning of some of the best rock climbing weather and conditions throughout the Rocky Mountain West. RMI guides Steve Gately, Robby Young and Sean Collon celebrated "Rocktober" this year by spending their time down in Indian Creek near Moab, Utah. “The Creek” is home to some of the best pure crack climbing in the world, with fissures ranging from too small for fingers up to chimneys large enough for your entire body; running a hundred feet up otherwise featureless sandstone walls. It attracts climbers from around the world and is a popular hangout for guides in the October off-season. Sean, Steve and Robby documented their time in The Creek through film, and recount their experiences: Robby Young: There is no place like Indian Creek. The abundance of stunning cracks splitting through vertical sandstone walls appear otherworldly amongst the beautiful desert landscape of Southern Utah, located just a few hours from my home in Park City, UT. I was very excited to have the opportunity to spend some time in this wonderful place with some good friends, and fellow RMI guides. The vibrancy of the red rock offers a dramatic contrast to the snow and glacier covered landscape of Mt. Rainier in which we spend much of our summer. I was also lucky to be able shoot photographs and capture film of some of friends as they pushed their climbing skills in the never-ending pursuit to become better climbers and alpinists. 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! ______ 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.

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.   

RMI Guide Adam Knoff

The Fisher Chimneys climb led by RMI Guides Matias Francis and Sam Marjerison had beautiful summit weather yesterday. They reported great route conditions and enjoyed the SE Ridge to the top. The team spent last night on the mountain and will be descending this morning. They expect to be back at the cars in the early afternoon. They will conclude their program with a celebratory meal and wrap up! 

A "fun" and challenging training session experienced in military training was the "heavy bag". It took the form of a duffle bag full of rocks, gravel, and sand and the goal was to pick up this bag and carry it over a specified distance. The problem was, it weighed about 120 lbs. Just getting it over a shoulder was a challenge sometimes requiring help. I used to think that the purpose of the training was to cause discomfort for the entertainment for instruction staff, but that training was very effective in helping to reframe the concept of what “heavy” actually means. This can be very useful in preparing yourself to carry a pack while mountaineering. To fit this into your training for climbing, try picking a mid-week stair session and carry a pack which is significantly heavier than your mountain pack for an hour during the session. Exactly how much heavier you choose to make your pack is up to you. Remember to be careful not to overdo it and run the risk of hurting yourself (and be careful to not damage your pack when filling it with extra weight). As a suggestion, if your Mt. Rainier pack will weigh 35 - 40 lbs, try a session carrying 50 - 60 lbs. Remember that the goal is not to see how much you can carry but to train with a weight that will make your regular pack lighter in comparison. Try it out! I’d bet that the next time you shoulder your “normal” weight pack, it won’t feel so heavy and you’ll notice a spring in your step! - John Colver John Colver is a longtime climber, former mountain guide, and certified personal trainer with the American Council of Exercise. Colver introduced outdoor fitness classes to athletic clubs throughout the greater Puget Sound region before creating his adventX brand. Currently, adventX leads training programs in Seattle and Colver presents clinics on outdoor fitness at companies such as Microsoft, Boeing, the American Lung Association, and REI. Colver lives in Seattle. _________ Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!

We made it to the Khumbu!  Normally I wouldn’t sound so excited but this was not an average day of travel.  

Our day began with a modest 3:45 am wake-up call from our comfortable air conditioned rooms so we could get all of our luggage and bodies to the airport by 5:15.  Our flight to Lukla was scheduled to depart at 6 which in theory would put us out of the smoggy Kathmandu valley and into the mountains at 7 am.   Everything is good in theory until a human makes a silly mistake or Mother Nature takes the reins.  In our case it was the later that began to send our perfectly good plan into a tail spin.  

Landing in Lukla, which sits at 9,000 feet literally dug into a mountain side is considered one of the most challenging places in the world to land a plane, so conditions need to be just right.  Today they were anything but.   By 10 am we actually loaded a bus, got transported to the plane, sat on that hot and sweaty bus for 30 more minutes then got word the conditions deteriorated suddenly so all flights were on then off again sending us back to the terminal.   By 1pm, 8 hours after arriving in the terminal we had moved a total of 20 feet.   As reports of continuing bad weather reached us, we knew our chances of flying were dwindling.  

So enter Plan B.  If a fixed wing can’t fly, sometimes a helicopter can.  And fly it did!  After another hour and half of finagling we rounded up two birds to take the entire group, with luggage to Phakding, our scheduled place of rest for the evening.   Wait, wasn’t there bad weather up there? Yes, and because of that we had to make an unplanned landing well below our village to avoid sinking clouds and big scary mountains.   So enter Plan C.  

The group flew in separate helicopters with one group making it on their second attempt and myself and Eva still stuck below.   After much head scratching about how to reconvene the next day, our pilot motioned Eva and I to quickly load up so he could make a last ditch attempt at keeping the group together.   By some blessing of karma, the clouds parted just enough to make it happen and we landed literally as the clouds began to close in again.   With blades still running we jumped out, threw the luggage off the helicopter and off he went.   We were both glad to be on the ground and not heading back into the ensuing white out.  

As the bird disappeared we counted our blessings and began our efforts to find the rest of our team.  Twenty-five minutes after landing we were all reunited drinking tea at the Sunrise Hotel in Phakding.   

A warm fire, big dinner and a couple beers prepared us for a well deserved sleep.  

I was impressed how the team kept a positive outlook and rolled with the punches despite an unpredictable outcome.   

Tomorrow we begin our actual trek towards Namche.   Follow along for hopefully a less intense entry tomorrow.  

Cheers, 

RMI Guide Adam Knoff

Saturday, April 2, 2022 - 6:47 am PT

Good evening all from High Camp on Lobuche.

Today we left the town of Lobuche (I know its confusing) to make our way to our camp on Lobuche. The team hiked in  in great style to 17,400'. Once at camp we made sure our gear was ready for tomorrows climb. By noon our bellies were full from a very large and delicious lunch. With bellies so full it was time for an afternoon nap. The views from camp are amazing! We could not ask for a better place to spend the evening. Tomorrow is the big day we have been looking forward to. An early wake up has us in bed early, winding down and resting up for the big day. Wish us luck and good thoughts!

RMI Guides Adam, Hannah Smith, and team

The team led by RMI Guides Dustin Wittmier and Matias Francis reached the summit of Mt. Triumph today! The team climbed Triumph's northeast ridge to the summit where they enjoyed views deep into the North Cascades, including Mt. Baker. The team is making the most of their time in the North Cascades and plan to climb Thornton Peak tomorrow before their program concludes later this week.

The American Lung Association (ALA) Climb for Clean Air Teams were on the Mt. Rainier summit early this morning….100% success! RMI Guide Win Whittaker called from 13,500’ on the descent  back to Camp Muir.