Hello friends and family of RMI! Spoken word, photos nor video can explain how gorgeous of a day we had on our acclimatization hike. I have been visiting here off and on since 2002. I have never had such a beautiful day.
Mount Elbrus was out in a cloudless sky, which allowed our team to soak up the sun and snap some great photographs. Tonight we will focus on last minute gear items to ensure we are all ready to move onto the mountain.
Enjoy the video from today and if someone could please tell me, "is Charlotte always that clumsy"? Watch the video and you will understand!
Good times in Russia!
RMI Guide J.J. Justman
Remember to get some video of the summit day and technical part of Elbrus for those at home. Anxious to see what it is like up there. Amazing weather and gorgeous area from the photos. Stay healthy and safe. We are all wishing we were there too! Kathryn
Posted by: Kathryn LeBey on 7/24/2012 at 3:35 pm
Hi. Neil,
Cheget. looks absolutely. beautiful.. Would love to snap our fingers and be there.Glad all continues to go so well for all of you.
Blessings,
Pat. and Dan
Posted by: Pat. and. Dan. Nolan. on 7/24/2012 at 11:00 am
Our Four Day Summit Climb Led by RMI Guide Brent Okita reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. The team experienced clear weather, but strong winds. They were able to spend a short amount of time on top and are now descending back to Camp Muir.
RMI Guide Andres Marin and the Expedition Skills Seminar – Kautz Team made a summit attempt this morning, but experienced much different conditions on the Kautz route and were forced to turn back due to strong winds. The team will spend the rest of their time on the mountain honing their mountaineering skills.
Congratulations to today's teams!
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.
The Five Day Climb August 25 - 29 led by RMI Guides Steve Gately and Leif Bergstrom reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning around 6 am PT. The team did some additional training yesterday and previewed the route from Camp Muir up to Ingraham Flats. Today they put their training and fitness to the test and reached 14,410'. Climbers are currently on their descent to Camp Muir, once back at Camp they will pack gear and continue the final 4,500' to Paradise. There program will conclude this afternoon with a celebration in Ashford.
It was time for a big day of hiking. We've been ramping up the activity level, day by day as acclimatization has kicked in. The goal today was to hike back down valley to get busy on Kalapathar, an 18,300 ft "summit" with big views of Everest and pretty much everything else in our valley. In classic terms, it isn't really a summit, just a convenient bump on a ridge which then gets quite technical on its way to the summit of Pumori, a vertical mile overhead. But Kalapathar is accessible and popular. And for us, it would involve some good distance and vertical gain and loss... Otherwise known as training. We went off the main trail soon after leaving Basecamp to avoid the heavy traffic (trekkers, yaks, climbers, porters) and snuck along a quiet and slightly more rugged back path which goes through the abandoned basecamp for Pumori. We clomped through a few snowfields before rejoining the popular route on Kalapathar that comes up from Gorak Shep. And then it was just an easy plod upward to the mass of prayer flags at the top. It is a real treat to be up top without clouds obscuring the surrounding great peaks and today we took advantage of the opportunity, snapping a few hundred digital images in every direction. Eventually, the wind and cold caused us to beat a hasty retreat back down to Gorak Shep and then we started up the normal track to basecamp. As expected, the trail was quite busy, but we were still able to make good time... experiencing the cheap thrill of walking at normal (acclimatized) speed past a hundred panting and gasping (unacclimatized) trekkers.
It was fine to relax away what remained of the afternoon in camp after five and a half good hours of walking and scrambling.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Another early start and another straightforward move up in perfect conditions. We got up at 3 AM and ate breakfast in the cool shadows blanketing our 7800 ft camp. On our second day of climbing, it was already becoming routine to knock down the tents and get packs and sleds squared away for travel. We were roped up and moving up Ski Hill by 5:45. The hills were big and the loads were as well, but we slowed the pace and worked our way up. Again, we found the surface frozen hard and easy for sledding and walking without sinking in. Distances weren't terribly significant and it only took us three and a half hours to reach the top of the hills at around 9500 ft. We built a camp and dove into the tents just as the sun started heating the giant reflector oven of the upper Kahiltna Glacier. Afternoon was spent in slumber, or in reading, or in watching iPod movies, or in snacking and drinking water. Some did it all. We sat in our "POSH" dining tent chatting for a few hours at dinner. At 8 PM we tuned in our radio to catch the mountain specific weather forecast (which calls for a little bit of snow at our elevation tonight). Far more entertaining was our conversation with the other RMI teams on the mountain. We were excited for Mike Walter's summit and safe return to high camp and to hear that Adam Knoff and his gang are good to go for moving to 17,000 ft tomorrow. If our good luck holds, we'll cruise on up to 11,000 ft tomorrow with our strong and steady team.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Our Four Day Summit Climb led by Jason Thompson was able to climb up to Cathedral Gap early this morning, but they not reach the summit due to avalanche danger. Visibility at Camp Muir was good with winds of about 15 – 35 mph. The teams have left Camp Muir and are en route back to Ashford Basecamp.
The Five Day Climb July 27 - 31 led by RMI Guides Steve Gately, Nick Sinapius and Mike Bennett, reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning at 5:15 am. The team is currently around 13,000' on their descent. The weather is clear and calm. The teams will return to Camp Muir, then take a bit of time before continuing the remaining 4.5 miles down to Camp Muir. They will conclude their program this afternoonw with a celebration at Rainier BaseCamp.
We made it in to base camp last night. We landed at our new home in the Alaska range around 7pm and got to work building camp. It took us about two hours to get settled in, and then we had a late dinner consisting of Talkeetna’s finest Mountain High Pizza Pie. It’s hardly ever a bad call to fly on to the glacier with four large pizzas.
This morning we had a leisurely start, waiting until the sun hit our tents around 8am. We drank some coffee and ate some toasty bagels, and then we got to work. Today was a skills focused day. We worked on footwork, rope travel, knots, and anchors. We didn’t venture too far out of camp, but we did do a little tour of the new neighborhood. Along the way we scoped out some crevasses that should work nicely for practicing rescue in the next few days.
We’re turning in now, tomorrow we’re going to get up a little earlier and put our newly practiced skills to use on a smaller climb close to camp. We’ll let you know how it goes.
Hello from the "Himalayan Hotel" at Pheriche!
Another incredible day in the Himalayas, dear friends... And we can certainly say now we are going to spend the first night at high altitude, having hiked above the 4,000m benchmark.
After a rather cold night in Pangboche, we were greeted by another cloudless sky, whose sun made us ditch our layers just a few minutes after the start. Headed towards Pheriche Pass, we enjoyed astonishing views of Kantega, Tamserku (two of the most radical 6,000m peaks in the Khumbu,) and of course Ama Dablam. Like on the previous days, the mystique of the landscape is only disturbed by the heavy downhill traffic that we encounter from time to time.
While we await our dinner and as I write this post, we're also getting ready to set up for another session of nocturnal time lapse pictures before the evasive crescent moon we have vanishes.
The plan tomorrow is to rest here, to continue to acclimate taking a short hike, to visit the Himalayan Rescue Hospital next door, and, of course, stay well nourished with the momos and tea that (among other things) make us look forward to every meal.
On a side note, we celebrated on the trails a rendezvous with fellow guide Lakpa Gelu and RMI office staff Bridget Schletty.
Regards to everyone,
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos
Remember to get some video of the summit day and technical part of Elbrus for those at home. Anxious to see what it is like up there. Amazing weather and gorgeous area from the photos. Stay healthy and safe. We are all wishing we were there too! Kathryn
Posted by: Kathryn LeBey on 7/24/2012 at 3:35 pm
Hi. Neil,
Cheget. looks absolutely. beautiful.. Would love to snap our fingers and be there.Glad all continues to go so well for all of you.
Blessings,
Pat. and Dan
Posted by: Pat. and. Dan. Nolan. on 7/24/2012 at 11:00 am
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