Most Popular Entries
Posted by: Win Whittaker, Andy Bond, Chase Halbert, Seth Burns, Axel Ryd, Daniel May
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 12,500'
The American Lung Association Climb for Clean Air team attempted their Mt. Rainier summit bid this morning. With an overcrowded route and standstill foot traffic, which would have made continuing on unsafe due to the time of day, the guides turned at 12,500'. The team is at Camp Muir and will begin their descent around 10:00 a.m.
Posted by: Matias Francis, Henry Coppolillo, Daniel May, Ellison Boord, Nick Sinapius
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 10,080'
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir September 8 - 13, 2022 enjoyed a great week of training at Camp Muir. RMI Guides Matias Francis and Henry Copolillo led the team with instruction on ice climbing, crevasse rescue, student led glacier navigation, fixed line travel, intro to multi pitch climbing, rappelling, alpine bouldering, nightly talks about altitude and avalanche awareness. The team is doing a bit more training this morning before starting their descent to Paradise later today. They will conclude their program this afternoon at Rainier Base Camp.
Nice work team!
RMI Guides Dominic Cifelli and Jack Delaney led the entire Mt. Baker - Easton Glacier team to the summit of Mt. Baker today! Dominic reports it was a super nice day on the summit and that "things are going great!" The team is spending one more night at camp before making the rest of their descent tomorrow.
This climb wraps up our 2021 North Cascades climbing season. We loved climbing with all of you this year and are excited for the climbs to come in 2022!
Congratulations climbers!
Posted by: Hannah Smith, Joe Hoch, Lauren Macklin, Lily Emerson, Michael Murray, Evan Sather
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 12,300'
The Four Day Climb for August 1 - 4 led by RMI Guides Hannah Smith and Joe Hoch were unable to summit today due to a descending cloud and gusty winds. The teams reached the top of Disappointment Cleaver but were unable to continue due to weather. As of 7 am the teams were safely back at Camp Muir. They plan leave Camp Muir around 9 am to make the remaining 4,500' descent to Paradise. We look forward to seeing the teams at Rainier Basecamp this afternoon.
Is Chhering Dorjee Sherpa with you at your camp? He has a friend from Castle Mountain, Pincher Creek, Alberta, Canada (Marie Cameron) who is wondering.
Posted by: Chris McSweeney on 4/26/2015 at 10:47 pm
I miss you, Larry! Hope you are safe. You are smart for knowing your boundaries.
From,
Tina from Mt. Shasta.
Posted by: Tina on 4/25/2015 at 5:54 pm
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall, Mark Tucker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
Elevation: 28,700'
On The Map
Damn!! I can’t sit still in my chair. Go guys, go!
-Larry Seaton
Posted by: Larry Seaton on 5/22/2013 at 5:36 pm
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Alan Davis
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 11,200'
The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Nikki Champion and Alan Davis walked to Ingraham Flats and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise. The weather on the mountain is warm and calm. Due to hazardous route conditions the team was unable to climb higher on the route. The team has started their descent and will be back at Paradise in the early afternoon.
Congratulations Team!
Hey good jobs to teams up there giving it a shot. I keep seeing teams getting turned around for “hazardous route conditions” on the last few posts. Can anyone let me know the key hazards turning teams around (heading up this week) Please lemme know good job up there!
Posted by: Tyler on 9/3/2022 at 5:32 pm
RMI Guide Dave Hahn checks in after the team's first night at ABC.
On The Map
Thanks for sharing the adventure of a lifetime with all of us. I wish you all safe travels & good weather. Or at least the best weather that one can expect from the Mother of all Mountains. Looking forward to each & every update. Peace…
Posted by: Sherry Jennette on 5/3/2012 at 2:48 pm
Wish you great spirit and protection on the Mt. Following closely! God Speed…Judy ( Mt Rainier July 25-29 2011) Go Melissa!
Posted by: JUDY DAHL on 5/2/2012 at 8:56 pm
Posted by:
Categories: Mountaineering Fitness & Training
“Do you train?” A climber recently asked me as we descended the Disappointment Cleaver on Mt. Rainier. My answer: “Well, to be honest, training to most guides is a way of life.” We don’t HAVE TO go for a run, lift weights, and bike all day; we GET TO. Training and performing are both mentally demanding to do and to motivate for. My remedy is to remove the need to motivate and intentionally make training part of who I am. There are two ways to view the 5 A.M. wake up to go to the gym: The first - it’s a choice you make every day and the second - it’s what you do. Consciously removing the decision to get out the door and train makes the process easier. I was suffering from decision making fatigue just the other day as I tried to decide which Tillamook ice cream to buy, but had no problem walking out the door to get in a jog because it wasn’t a choice. On days when it seems harder to get moving, I tell myself; “Well, there is no decision to make. Here we go.”
What do many of us guides do for training? You name it and guides are doing it: road biking, mountain biking, rock climbing, yoga, HITT, sprinting, jogging, swimming, skiing, weight lifting, sit-ups, bouldering, and on and on. The guiding lifestyle lends itself well to activity and a solid foundation of endurance, and as a result our training may be less structured. We all make choices around what’s important to us. If I am building fitness for a specific climb however, I will be more organized about my approach, dividing my training into specific categories and foci to more efficiently reach the gains that I’m depending on. This is probably more applicable to many of the climbers I work with, for whom their next climb likely is one of the largest athletic feats they have taken on in their life.
Training takes time in what is often a busy schedule. What if we took 5 to 10 minutes from different ways we spend our time each day (time on our computers, socializing, food preparation, tv watching, house cleaning, shopping, sleeping, social media) and put that into fitness? There is no way I can navigate your personal time management, but it is all a compromise and we can do almost anything but not everything.
There are lots of good blogs here on types of workout and training preparation routines so I’m not going to outline specific workouts here but instead link to some of my favorite references:
https://www.uphillathlete.com/training-plans/
https://www.redbull.com/us-en/lindsey-vonns-training-regimen-will-wreck-you
https://www.rmiguides.com/resources/fitness-and-training
http://www.fitclimb.com/page/6-week-beginner-mountaineering
_____
Christina Dale has led climbing expeditions all over the world - from Everest Base Camp to the Mexican volcanoes to the summit of Denali. She’s skied from the top of Chilean volcanoes, peaks in Patagonia, and across Mount Cook. During the summer, she’s a regular on Rainier. She spends her winters ski patrolling at Crystal Mountain, with her avalanche search and rescue dog in tow.
Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!
You make a insignificant climber like me inspired to handle any incident on a mountain with a new perspective. You make me proud to be affiliated with RMI - so professional and humanistic- making the good decisions when it counts I am proud to have climbed with a group of professionals like you.
Posted by: Elsie Bemiss on 4/29/2015 at 8:57 pm
Thanks for taking time to give us an update. The base camp trek has been on my bucket list for some time. Now I’m more determined than ever to go once things settle down and the people of Nepal begin to rebuild their lives. They’ll need us more than ever to return and be a part of their economic growth.
Posted by: DK on 4/29/2015 at 8:54 pm
View All Comments