The Four Day Summit Climb August 12 - 15 and the Five Day Summit Climb August 11 - 15 both reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. RMI Guides Leon Davis and Geoff Schellens reported they were in a cloud cap on the summit with low visibility and light winds from the South/Southwest. The teams began their descent from the crater rim shortly after 7 am. They will return to Camp Muir for a short break before continuing their descent to Paradise this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
March 29th climbers. 2014. Wishing you a safe and fun trip.!! You are rare birds and we are ALL waiting anxiously to hear your adventures. Be safe, be kind, be happy.
Love you all,
Burdee
Posted by: Rosemary -burdee on 3/31/2014 at 8:01 am
One of the finest groups of people that I have ever met. Great job team, proud of all of you!!
This is Kevin’s wife… Your March 4 breakfast and dinner sounds fabulous. Kevin said he would be roughing it, but now I think he’s really on a spa vacation with Bill.
The thick rain clouds that have been covering the region for the last several days began to dissipate overnight. Leaving our hotel this morning, the sky above was a patchy mix of clouds and blue sky. We loaded our mountain gear into our van and made the ten minute drive up the valley to the tiny village of Azau. In Azau we hauled our gear from the van and through the base terminal of the tram station. A few minutes later the red cabin dropped down from the station above and we piled our team and gear into the tram.
We made two tram rides, going from the green valley floor to the top station, sitting on a rocky morraine along the edges of Elbrus' glaciers. To get our gear the final 700' we took turns loading our duffels, packs, and climbers onto a little single seater chairlift. Despite the slow moving chairs it was still a tricky transfer to put on and pull off the bags from the chairs as they swung by.
Nevertheless, it was a smooth process and by midday we were settled into out bunks in the Garabashi Huts, a series of old diesel tanks that have been converted into bunk rooms. Despite the long cylindrical shape, they are quite comfortable inside, especially when the hail and rain starts up outside.
After a great lunch of borsch, meats, cheeses, and French toast we set off on an acclimatization hike. The clouds once again settled onto the mountain, although with no moisture in them. We climbed for a couple of hours, ascending the glacier right above the hut and getting used to hiking in climbing boots and traveling on snow. After reaching just over 13,000' we turned around and descended back to the hut.
We are resting in the huts now before dinner. Everyone climbed well today, making the transition from low elevation trails to the high altitude snows well. After close to a week of traveling to reach this mountain, we are happy to be here and comfortable in the huts. Tomorrow we are planning on making our final acclimatization hike up to Pastuhkova Rocks at 15,000' before resting on Friday. We will check-in when we return from the hike.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Today the team awoke to a gorgeous sunrise in the mountains. Typically the weather can be sunny in the morning and then the clouds engulf the surrounding mountains including Elbrus. However, today the mountain has been out in all its glory.
After an early breakfast we threw the rucksacks over our shoulders, strapped crampons to our boots and we went for a four-hour acclimatization hike. We made it to 15,000 feet and enjoyed the views as they only got prettier the higher we went.
We are back at camp, after a nice lunch (Albina makes the tastiest soups) we are resting in our hut. As a matter of fact, I hear the movie Dumb & Dumber playing on someone's iPad. Gotta go...
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Last night at high camp, it just didn't seem like we would get a chance to make the top of Aconcagua... it was snowing and socked in when I sent yesterday's dispatch. But then, just before darkness came on, the snow stopped and the clouds dropped. During the night there were occasional waves of intense wind that could be heard coming from miles away, but these were short bursts and sure enough, at 4 AM the stars were out and the wind was gone. Our stoves were cooking by 4:15 and we were walking out of camp by headlamp at around 5:15 AM, bound for the summit.
We had crampons on all the way and were lucky to be on snow for about 95% of our journey. Peter mentioned that he'd done the same climb without once touching snow, just loose rock, so we were happy with the conditions. It wasn't terribly cold and once we found sunshine things were quite pleasant. We lost that sunshine when we began the long, long traverse to the base of the Canaleta. There were perhaps a hundred other climbers going for the top today, but we ended up nearly in the lead by half-way up the steep and direct Canaleta. This broad gulley is about 800 vertical feet... easy at sea level, I'm sure, but beginning at 22,000 ft makes it somewhat challenging. We were challenged, but all did well, the extra nights at high camp had worked in our favor for acclimatization.
We popped out on the summit at noon and enjoyed a sunny and wonderful hour up there. We were victorious and thrilled with the new views... but several of us cried like babies as we remembered our friend Fede and his tragic passing on the summit of Aconcagua all too recently. We left the top at 1 PM and walked quickly into a snowstorm. Not a vicious snowstorm, there was little wind, but a socked-in, steady snowfall. It only took us two hours to make it back to high camp and so we knocked the tents down and set out walking for basecamp. We were anxious to get down and rejoin the rest of our team who'd descended yesterday.
In Basecamp by about 6:30, we had a fine reunion dinner and made plans for our walk down-valley begining tomorrow.
An improbable summit became a treasured moment with great friends close to 23,000 ft above sea level. All are safe, all are down the hard part of the mountain.
Hi, this is Seth. We're all back down at basecamp. It was a bummer to walk down today without the summit but that's the way it goes sometimes. Everyone was in good spirits even though we didn't top out.
The weather has just not cooperated with us for a summit bid. We were never able to reach high camp and that forced us to try to go for the top from Camp 1. Even then the winds pushed us back after just a few hours.
Like I said, that's the way it goes sometimes. The important thing is that we've all descended safe and sound. We have some great stories that is for sure.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
I just returned from Burning Man where we battle wind and dust instead of wind and snow. I’m sorry to hear that Elbrus has been throwing up roadblocks for you guys. Sounds totally different than when I was there in July. St. Petersburg is a fabulous city. You’ll all love it.
Seth - Looking forward to seeing you and Dave down at Vinson in 3 months.
-Larry Seaton
Posted by: Larry Seaton on 9/3/2013 at 12:31 pm
James and team
I hope you have a wonderful time in St. P!
I am rEally looking forward to hearing your stories, learning more about the partcular challenges you faced and safely addressed, and hearing about your next mega-goal and adventure. Your couageous acts and actvities are very inspiring and motivational to me!!!
Thursday, June 13, 2013RMI Guide Mike Haugen called from Talkeetna, Alaska this morning. The weather is beautiful and the team is packed and ready. They are loading their planes at the K2 Aviation Hanger and will be flying to the Kahiltna Glacier today.
We wish them a safe and successful expedition on Mt. McKinley!
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Hey everyone, this is Billy. I'm checking in here with our group. We are at 11,000' part way through our descent. After our big summit day yesterday, we packed up our camp at 17,000' and then moved on down. Brent Okita's crew was kind enough to cook us up some dinner at the 14K Camp, and we continued on down to 11,000', where the crew is all, actually snug as a bug, in their sleeping bags out in the open because it is so warm compared to where we've been living. We plan on getting up in the middle the night tonight and making a run for the airstrip hoping to get a flight off tomorrow sometime before the weather takes a turn for the worst. We'll give a shout when we reach Basecamp. That's all for now.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Howdy from Pheriche.
Today we walked in bright sunshine out of shady Deboche, crossed the river and cruised into Pangboche. There we met with Lama Geishi, the
trusted and friendly high lama that so many of the Sherpa climbers revere. Lama Geishi was very kind to bless our Everest team... he wished us each luck, gave us prayers to bring to the summit of the world, and tied ceremonial red strings around our necks that we'll each keep on for the duration of the trip. I've had a number of meetings with him through the years, and he has always welcomed my teams... but we were definitely worried that he might not be able to see us this time. The word was out that he'd just been released from the hospital in Kathmandu. Sure enough, he smiled as he acknowledged the serious nature of his illness. He laughed in telling us (with Lam Babu acting as interpreter) that just a week before, he hadn't thought he'd survive.
We left Pangboche and quickly left behind the world of trees... entering instead the land of rock and ice as we turned the corner toward the North and Pheriche. It is significantly colder now and the animals are mostly rugged four-wheel-drive yaks these days whereas down lower they were mostly cows. We are all feeling great and are ready for our first night at 14,000 ft. Nearly the height of Mount Rainier.
Best,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
I hope you are getting my e-mails Mark and Karen. Saw your birthday this am when I got on the computer. That was great of you Karen. Sounds like you are headed for the base camp now. What an experience meeting the Lama. Lots of prayers are for you all. Love Mom
Posted by: Cornelia Miller on 4/2/2011 at 7:54 am
Bill has always dreamed of a meeting with the Lama! He has had a limetime search for total consciousness. Don’t forget to bring some home.
Hello from Piedra Grande, our high camp on Pico de Orizaba at 14,000 feet. Today we left La Malintzi and traveled to Dr Reyes's (our host and outfitter) and prepared our equipment for the climb. Then we loaded up the trucks and made our way to camp. Kind of nice to drive so high and save our legs for the climb.
Now it's off to bed to get our last full night's sleep before the big one. Hope everyone up north is doing great.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
March 29th climbers. 2014. Wishing you a safe and fun trip.!! You are rare birds and we are ALL waiting anxiously to hear your adventures. Be safe, be kind, be happy.
Love you all,
Burdee
Posted by: Rosemary -burdee on 3/31/2014 at 8:01 am
One of the finest groups of people that I have ever met. Great job team, proud of all of you!!
Posted by: Rob on 9/17/2013 at 9:30 am
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