Thursday, June 6, 2013
If our good luck holds out, this is our last night on Denali. It's just a little bitter sweet. This place has been on our thoughts and in our dreams for so long, and has given us an experience that will forever hold a special place in our hearts.
But now our thoughts turn to home, family and loved ones. Oh, and perhaps to a great meal and beer too.
To get to where we are now, back at our 11,200' camp, we've just descended 6000' feet of steep terrain with heavy loads. Everyone did well getting down the technical part of the Buttress and fixed ropes, then came time to tether the sleds and load up the stuff we cached at 14,200' camp.
And now, finally, we're back at 11,200' camp. A hastily set up camp followed by a quick dinner and we're horizontal. The chores have all been done and even the guides are in bed by 10:00pm. And just as well because we'll be up at 1:30am to get on a night time schedule to travel on snow that's hard and frozen, thereby insuring us safe travels over the crevassed glacier of the lower Kahiltna that warm and melt incredibly fast in the Alaskan summer.
But the best part of the trip is yet to come. Walking down the Kahiltna while the sun is just below the horizon has given me some of the most beautiful vistas I've ever witnessed, with the rosy tint of dawn hitting these hugely majestic Alaskan peaks all around us.
We're hoping to get to the airstrip by mid morning, so with luck we'll be back in Takkeetna tomorrow.
A little closer to you, but a world away from the mountain that has been our focus and challenge for the past couple of weeks. We'll miss her, but will carry with us a treasure of fond memories of our life spent here.
Your guides,
RMI Guides Brent, Logan and Leah
Welcome home and thanks are given for your safe journey!
Posted by: Meredith on 6/7/2013 at 8:10 pm
Congratulations to you all for your wonderful accomplishment!Erich, I can’t wait to talk to you, maybe tonight for the first time in awhile! In the meantime, enjoy a good meal and some brews. LOVE YOU! Happy safe travels the rest of the way!
We are all back at the tents after a beautiful summit day on Aconcagua! The weather was even better than forecasted, with no wind, clear skies, and warm temps. This let us leave a bit later, just as the sun was rising, and we enjoyed its warmth for the whole day. I personally have never had better conditions on the summit than today: just a light fleece, no gloves, and a vista that stretched for hundreds of miles in all directions. Congratulations to the team for a huge effort, and standing on the roof of South America. The guides would like to thank the whole team for such a successful and fun trip. Tomorrow we descend back to base camp, and get ready for the trek out and a return to Mendoza.
Cheers
RMI Guides Pete, Leon, Mike, and the climbers
The RMI Kilimanjaro Team is now the African Safari Team! We have just spent the afternoon viewing wildlife in Lake Manyara National Park. After our celebration dinner last night everyone was happy to sleep in an actual bed for the first time in a week. After breakfast this morning we left the Dik Dik hotel and drove a few hours to Lake Manyara. Once we were there we rolled the tops back on our Land Cruisers for optimal animal spotting. The safaris here never disappoint and today was no exception. Elephants, giraffes, water buffalo and more monkeys and baboons than we could possibly photograph were just some of the animals we saw.
Now we are on the way to the Plantation Lodge where we will spend the night. Tomorrow we are off to Ngorongoro Crater!
-Seth and the Safari Crew
When trekking into Everest Base Camp (BC) two weeks ago, it felt high, rugged, and hostile. Man, what a different perspective this morning, as Viesturs and I returned to BC after 5 days at Camp 1 (19,000') and Camp 2 (21,200'). What fun to enjoy the creature comforts that we did without for the last few days...thick air (yes, 17,500' feels thick compared to 21,000'), a shower, a shave, and a Coke. It never ceases to amaze me how much I appreciate the little things that we typically take for granted. A bit of suffering and "doing without" gives great contrast to our relative comforts of BC, where living on a pile of rocks and ice can seem quite luxurious.
Our 5 days on the mountain went well and we accomplished all we set out to do on this rotation. Our night at Camp 1 was uneventful though light on sleep, as we listened to icefall and rockfall crash down from Everest's west shoulder and Nuptse. Camp 1 is in a good place but you never know "if" or "when" the big one might decide to come down. At daybreak the next day, fueled by high-octane caffeine, we blasted out of there and 2 1/2 hours later arrived at Camp 2.
Camp 2 is in a much nicer place on the lateral moraine of the Khumbu glacier and is free from objective dangers...icefall, rockfall, etc. We still slept poorly, though not from worrying about things falling from above, but from the significant altitude jump we had made from BC to here...about a 3,500' increase over the last 36 hours. Altitude symptoms affect everyone, even Ed Viesturs, and I was happy to know I had a partner to share my mild discomfort with. The next two days we made forays up to 22,000' on the southwest face of Everest and to the base of the Lhotse face. These two morning climbs were not only great for acclimatization, but let us soak in the amazing beauty of the world's highest peaks. We would start walking by 8 a.m. before the sun crested Lhotse, when the entire Khumbu is arctic blue and silent...and COLD. Then, within the hour, the brilliant sunlight would ignite the snow, rock, and ice around us and our world not only brightened but warmed up considerably. Up here there are two sources of heat...what your body generates and the sun, and you quickly learn how to maximize both. At the end of our stay at Camp 2, we were feeling pretty good. Our bodies had adjusted to the altitude and we were falling into the pace and cadence of high-mountain living.
Ed and I are now back here at BC for 2-3 days of rest. Melissa stayed at Camp 2 for another day of acclimatization, and Dave Hahn and his team just headed up to Camp 1 for their first rotation on the mountain. I'm really pleased that all team members are on track and making steady progress.
Next we will head up for another rotation up high, which will include spending a night at Camp 3 (23,500'), climbing above to about 25,000' and then descending all the way to BC for more rest prior to our final push. We are one month into this expedition and so far, so good. Each day is its own challenge. My mantra is "short-term focus on a long-term goal." One step at a time, literally. But hey, I'm down here at BC resting my body and my mind, so I'm going for another Coke.
The Five Day Climb July 19 - 23 led by RMI Guides Henry Coppolillo and Mike Bennett reached 11,300' today before strong winds forced them to switch their ascent to a descent. The teams have returned safely to Camp Muir. They will pack gear and enjoy the morning sunshine from 10,000' before continuing down the remaining 4.5 miles to Paradise later this morning. There adventure will conclude this afternoon at Rainier BaseCamp.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Greetings from beautiful Talkeetna, Alaska! The team arrived yesterday afternoon with big bags, bigger smiles, and high hopes for our Denali expedition. After a round of introductions, we hit the road and headed north from Anchorage. We stopped for last minute food and supplies in Wasilla, and pulled into town about 8 o'clock last night. We transferred all our luggage into the hangar, had dinner, and headed to bed in anticipation of an early start today.
Our morning started with a delicious breakfast at the roadhouse, and rolled right on into a massive gear sort/pack session at the hangar. The team gear piles started out big but have been trimmed down to nice tight kits for the mountain. This afternoon will be occupied by our briefing with the Park Service and a final round of packing, so we should be in great position to fly tomorrow morning (provided the weather cooperates, of course).
Blue skies and sunshine prevail today, so keep your fingers crossed that the high pressure will hold for tomorrow. More to come, stay tuned!
RMI Guides Tyler Jones & Garrett Stevens
Hi this is Seth Waterfall checking in from the Union Glacier camp in Antarctica!
All is well with the team. We had a great day of activity outside of camp. After breakfast this morning we headed out in a 'track van'. This is a 4x4 Ford Econoline van that is fitted with snow tracks instead of regular wheels. It is basically a 4 wheel drive snow mobile that keeps you protected from the elements. We took the van for a five mile ride from our camp to a spot called the Wave. The Wave is a huge wind deposit of ice that has formed a wave-like feature around a mountain called Mt. Charles. It is one of the most interesting and bizarre glacier formations that I have ever seen. There is no glacial erosion from solar effects or air temperatures here so the glacier has formed a curl around Mt. Charles that looks exactly like a barreling ocean wave. The only thing different is that this one is over 200 feet tall and stationary.
At the Wave the group split up. Some of us were busy taking photos and video for the First Ascent clothing company while the others in the group got to climb Mt. Charles. The weather was fairly poor today with a cold wind and a bit of snow so we didn't stay out for much more than a couple of hours. The climbing party met up with the filming party just after lunch time, piled back into the track van and headed back to camp. However, Jake Norton and myself decided to stick out the bad weather and go climbing in the area. We were inspired by the free ride out to the other side of the Union Glacier, but the problem for us was that we would have to ski the five miles back to camp after our climb.
That said, we were really psyched up to climb some of the local peaks as most of them have never been climbed. The Union Glacier camp is in it's first year of operation and this part of the range has seen little visitation prior to this climbing season. Due to the poor weather we decided on a fairly small but steep peak
that had caught our eye from camp. Jake and I unloaded our gear from the van and were soon left alone in the cold and blowing snow.
We set off to the base of the mountain and after an hour of skiing we reached the base of the mountain. There was a steep snow ramp on our right that lead directly to the summit and a rock ridge on the left. We decided to split the difference and headed straight up towards a plateau near the summit. The snow was nice and firm, perfect for cramponing, as we started but soon deteriorated to any icy crust over unconsolidated sugar-snow. This made the climbing more difficult so we switched over to the rock ridge. The rock quality was good and we enjoyed excellent climbing to a flat notch just below the summit. From there we had excellent snow conditions to the top. Amazingly we had a lull in the weather for most of our climb and our time on the summit. So we were able to enjoy a few moments of 'top-time' before descending back to our skis.
We then had a quick snack and headed off back towards the marked trail leading to camp. After an hour of skiing we reached the trail, this meant that we only had 5 miles to go to camp! Checking our watches we realized that we would have to hustle to make it back for the 7 p.m. dinner call. With over 100 people in camp the food does not last long and neither of us had eaten much since breakfast. The wind had picked up again but it was blowing at our backs and after and hour and a half of flat skiing across the glacier we arrived at camp... with 20 minutes to spare before dinner! The food was excellent. The A.L.E. staff really goes out of their way to treat us well here on the ice.
We are all settling into various games or books for the evening's entertainment. We'll check back in tomorrow with the latest from our adventure here in Antarctica!
Hey Jake - I was on your rope team on Rainier in 96… Its good to see that your still living the dream. Congradulations to you and the rest of the Vinson team
The Five Day Climb August 19 - 23 led by RMI Guides Leif Bergstrom & Dan May left Camp Muir around 2 am to make their summit attempt. The teams climbed to the top of Disappointment Cleaver (12,300') before high winds and deteriorating weather conditions forced them to descend. The teams will return to Camp Muir where they will spend another night on the mountain. If weather improves they may be able to do some additional training before descending to Paradise tomorrow to complete their program.
Well we did it! The team has successfully made it to Everest Base Camp on a beautiful day. We had a relaxing start to allow the day temperatures to rise enough so that the hike would be pleasant. The team hiked for almost three hours to reach Base Camp or EBC as we call it, stopping along the way many times to take pictures and just enjoy the stunning views.
Once here, we were greeted with some of the best food thus far for lunch and then all team members enjoyed a well deserved hot shower while it was still warm and sunny. Although the temperature wasn’t high, the intensity of the sun at this altitude made it feel quite warm to us.
Everyone is doing great and looking forward to a good nights rest after all the days trekking to get here. We are sleeping on the Khumbu glacier in a campsite chopped out of the ice. Our camp is surrounded by mountains and glaciers in nearly all directions. It’s incredibly breathtaking to say the least.
The Mt. Rainier Summit Climb teams, led by Dave Hahn and Andy Bond, reached the summit at 6:30 this morning! The teams had some wind and clear blue skies on their ascent. They are currently working their way back to Camp Muir and we look forward to congratulating them at Rainier Basecamp this afternoon.
.jpg)
Welcome home and thanks are given for your safe journey!
Posted by: Meredith on 6/7/2013 at 8:10 pm
Congratulations to you all for your wonderful accomplishment!Erich, I can’t wait to talk to you, maybe tonight for the first time in awhile! In the meantime, enjoy a good meal and some brews. LOVE YOU! Happy safe travels the rest of the way!
Posted by: Amberly on 6/7/2013 at 12:43 pm
View All Comments