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The team left Moscow very early this morning and traveled via plane and bus to the beautiful Caucasus Mountains.
Our two-hour flight took us to southern Russia not too far from the Black Sea to a place called
Mineralnye Vody, which is known for its abundant Mineral Waters. Southern Russia is predominately rural and is responsible for much of the agriculture that the larger cities depend on.
We were met at the airport by my friend and local guide Yuri, whom I've climbed with many times. Then hopped in our van for the beautiful three-hour drive up the Baksan Valley to the base Elbrus.
Things went pretty smooth minus a few little traffic jams with cars, motorcycles and cows all humorously trying to use the road at the same time.
The small town we are in is called Cheget, and it doubles as a ski town in winter and converts to a climbing town in the summer. We didn't do a ton of exploring this afternoon due to the adjustment of the time that we are all still feeling and having started so early. However, tomorrow we will do our first acclimatizing hike and do a little exploring too.
All is well here as we are looking forward to a little exercise tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
On The Map
The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides James Bealer and Josh McDowell reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The team had a little bit of weather, so they did not stay on top for long. The team is back at Camp Muir and will be arriving at Paradise in the early afternoon
Congratulations Team!
It's June already. Do you have a Mount Rainier climb planned this summer? If so, you are probably at the peak of your training efforts and devoting a good amount of energy and time to preparing your body for the big climb. Many people ask,
"What's the most important thing for training right now?"
If you are less than a week away from your climb, you'll want to rest. By all means, do some activity — but just enough to keep you moving — not so much that you arrive fatigued. You'll want to maximize your sleep and relaxation this week. Also, be sure that you're eating plenty of carbohydrates to ensure you start the climb with a full tank.
If your climb is still a few weeks or even months away, then you have a great opportunity to add to your endurance.
I like to keep things simple. My recommendation to people training for mountaineering is to include at least one long hike each week. How long? Well, your summit day will start in the middle of the night and you may well be climbing and descending for upwards of 14 hours. So, it's important to condition yourself to be on your feet for that long.
Practically, if you live near Mt. Rainier you can train on any number of long steep hikes in the area, or even hike up to Camp Muir for practice. One big weekly hike is my minimum, but if you can you'll benefit from back-to-back days of hiking, or maybe even sneak in a midweek hike as well. A man I know was out of shape with only two months to go before his Mt. Rainier climb. He realized he was behind on his training, took vacation time, and hiked Mt. Si, near Seattle, eighteen times in one month! I thought it was a bit extreme and advised him to pay attention to his knees and joints, but he did it — and he made it all the way to the summit and back.
If you live in a flat city you can still get in good training. I've done urban hikes before to get in condition for a climb. Once, when I was getting ready for a big climb while I lived in London, UK, I would put a metal weight and some water-bottles in a pack and walk all day, stopping at restaurants to eat and visiting the occasional museum. It's fun and a great way to see a city. This winter in Seattle I set a goal of walking three miles each day. It's great for the feet, legs, and back and it's easy to plan to walk places instead of driving. Arrive at work or a friend's house and tell them you walked — you'll inspire them too! It might be tough to get elevation in flatter regions, but don't let that stop you from building endurance.
If you can't hike or walk anywhere then bicycling is about as close as you can get to hiking as an alternative. It works the same energy-systems and many of the same muscle groups. If you do a lot of cycling, also do jumping exercises, perhaps even get a jump-rope and use it for a few minutes every day. That will help with the coming-down part of the climb. Cycling builds strength and endurance but doesn't replicate the impact of stepping down. The combination of both is very effective.
Top three tips for June:
1.
Make the main thing - the main thing: It's a long endurance climb with a 35lb pack. Go long in training and wear a pack when possible.
2.
Back up your long hikes with shorter sessions: 60 - 90 minute efforts at a higher intensity. Stairs, stair-master, elliptical machine, cycling or spin class are good options.
3.
Mix up your training: Some long and steady 'conversational' pace sessions; some hard and steady; some intervals of 1 minute of very hard effort followed by 1 minute of rest.
A parting thought: I used to get close to a climb and worry that I hadn't done enough of this or of that. Right now you've done what you've done. Its best to take out a calendar, figure out how many long hikes you can fit in, block out those time and then use the other days for shorter sessions. Take a day or two of rest as well, you'll benefit from doing so. As the guides will tell you on the mountain, don't worry about tomorrow or next week, just focus on now. Focus on how you can complete — and enjoy — today's workout. You've trained hard and what you do now will make a difference on the mountain.
Good luck.
John Colver
Author of Fit By Nature by Mountaineers Books.
www.adventx.com
For more information please see our
resources for mountaineering fitness and training.
Yesterday I decided to end my quest to summit Mt Everest, and although I am still torn and wondering whether or not it was the right decision, I thought that I would try and explain to you why.
Dave Hahn always says that he wants to climb mountains with people who climb with their head. Now, I don't always understand everything that Dave Hahn says (ha) and he says a lot of things (ha again), but what I think he means by this is that he wants team mates and climbers who think about the repercussions of their actions, who think about how they are physically feeling, and who don't push themselves into dangerous situations.
Secondly, my dad ended his trip between Camps 2 and 3 (he says its closer to Camp 3, but whatever - ha). The end result is that after May 3rd he wasn't climbing with me anymore. So, for the first time in all our adventures, I had to be climbing by myself. Its been a bummer. Why I climb is for fun, and to be with my dad. And over the past 3 weeks its turned from being a fun experience to really more of a chore. Dave and Linden are awesome guides and great people, but they are not my dad.
So, part of my job as a climber is to think (I know this sounds funny, but I know that a lot of climbers don't think). I have to think about how I am feeling, how strong I am, how much energy I have, and how much I "want it." As we started out our summit bid climb yesterday (the 17th), I was feeling physically strong, but I started to doubt that risking so very much was worth the summit to me.
I don't expect others to understand why I lost my desire to go for the summit and to take the risks needed to do so. All I know is that you just can't manufacture desire to do this. So, as we got to our first break through the Ice fall I told Dave and Linden about my thoughts, and we decided to re-assess and walk back down. What I also didn't want to happen was to push myself to a very high point on the mountain, say 26,000 feet, have the winds blowing at 40 miles per hour, and me not wanting to go on. Then I would have not only have put our entire teams' summit chances in jeopardy, but I would have also created a huge safety situation. People would have had to put their lives on the line to get me off the mountain, and I wasn't going to allow that to happen.
After we got back to Basecamp yesterday, I knew I had to make a decision. The more I thought about it, the more the right decision became clear - but repercussions of that decision were so scary to me that it took me awhile to make it. I'm was (and am) afraid that people will be disappointed in me, that people will believe that I gave up without trying. As I sit here I struggle with the same thoughts, did I give it my best shot? Am I just giving up? The more I think about it though, the more I am reminded of the reason I love going on expeditions so much, and that is because I love to climb, not because I love to summit. The summit is the icing on the cake, but you can still have a great cake without icing. I've done some amazing climbing here, and I think the difficulty of the climbing and the way I've climbed safely and quickly on this mountain has been as good as anyone.
However, I still have a lot of regrets. The repercussions of my decision have made this last day a hard one. I feel horrible everything that has been "invested" in me over the last year to get me to this point and I will not summit. For a year I have been training, buying gear, ice climbing, backpacking and getting ready for a summit bid on Everest, and then when it comes along I have decided not to go. I know my teachers at school have made great sacrifices and invested a lot of time outside the classroom with me to allow me to go on this trip. I thank all the people who have been rooting me on, and sending me messages encouraging me on this climb.
But I also know that it is the right decision. I do have regrets about this, and I know in the coming months that I will have even more, but I just don't think that I am willing to risk what you have to risk to try to summit this mountain. I also think that it is just too difficult for me to access those risks up high without my dad being there. And if I assess those risks incorrectly, the costs are just too much.
So, all I ask of you is to know that I tried my hardest and please don't be disappointed in me for not reaching the summit. Sometimes its really not about the summit of the mountain, but what you've learned and experienced along the way.
Perhaps climbing a mountain isn't really about the mountain at all.
Sara McGahan
The Five Day Climb April 26 - 30 led by RMI Guides Avery Parrinello and James Bealer completed their Mountaineering School on April 27 and made the ascent to Camp Muir on April 28. The teams spent the last two nights at 10,080' Camp Muir. Climbers were able to ascend to Ingraham Flats but due to adverse weather conditions were unable to climb any higher. Today the team is descending from Camp Muir to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
This is Ed and Seth checking in from 14,200 feet on Denali. Today we dropped 750 vertical feet back down the route to pick up our cache of food and fuel. It took us an hour and a half round trip. The weather has been great all day. We are now well positioned to begin climbing on the upper mountain.
RMI Guides Ed Viesturs and Seth Waterfall
On The Map
Saturday, June 25, 2021 1:18 am PDT
Everything we worked for all came together today. We woke to nearly perfect weather conditions. It was game time. We packed and tied into the rope. A quick downhill gave away to steep terrain up the autobahn. Step by step we worked our way up the mountain. A breeze here and there kissed our cheeks, but all things considered was pretty calm until the summit ridge. One final steep uphill up pig hill brought us to the summit ridge. This is where the winds picked up. But we dug deep and pushed forward to the tippy top. What an accomplishment! The team trained hard, and it showed. They gave it their all and came out on top.
Congratulations team!!
Tired legs and bodies brought us back to our camp where we are resting up for two more big days walking to the airstrip.
Night everyone,
RMI Guides Hannah Smith, Kiira Antenucci, Daniel May and Team
After a week of unexpected park closures and a wonderful spring storm, our first Muir seminar of the season has concluded. Despite the less than stellar weather conditions, the team was able to shift gears and make the most of their time on the mountain. Climbers learned important skills like route planning, glaciology, snow sciences and spent several days practicing and honing their crevasse rescue skills.
Congratulations team – we hope you enjoyed your time on the mountain!
The Five Day Climb May 1 - 5 led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and JM Gorum has returned to Camp Muir after making their summit attempt today. The team reached 12,600' today before being forced to turn around due to route conditions. On Tuesday the group ascended to Camp Muir and spent time yesterday getting in more glacier training and exploring parts of the route before morning their attempt this morning. The group will pack up their gear and decend to Paradise this afternoon.
Another surreal day of spectacular hiking and beautiful mountain vistas... mixed with up-close and sad recognition for the cost of lost homes and disrupted lives in the Khumbu Valley. I suppose it is surreal because we would never have chosen to be "tourists" in a disaster area... But here we are. We left Namche at around 8 this morning under perfectly blue skies... And fervently hoping that this meant that the fixed wing planes were coming and going freely from Lukla... Dispersing the crowd we'd heard so much about. The first part of the day was spent in the forests... Where there was little sign of the earthquake. But the bigger portion of the day was spent in the succession of farms and small villages in the valley bottom outside the National Park boundaries. Of course, many houses and buildings were untouched... but a significant number were cracked and damaged beyond reasonable repair. Very few had collapsed... And we were told that there had been few injuries and few deaths in these areas... Probably because Sherpas would have been outside and working hard at midday when the quake struck. And sure enough, the phenomenally strong work ethic in the area had men out moving rocks, plastering and repairing damage wherever possible when we strolled by. People without any form of insurance stood in front of ruined structures, in this fabulously beautiful setting, and smiled and bid us "Namaste" as we passed. Those that we knew, asked us first if we were all ok before acknowledging that they themselves would need to start over completely. We walked until about 2:30 PM to reach Lukla just as the raindrops began to fall. The town and the airstrip appear largely intact... And thankfully, the crowds (mobs...as we'd heard them described a few days ago) seem absent. So far, so good with our plan for coming down the valley slowly so as to allow things to normalize in front of us.
One of our Sherpa team startled me today as we took tea in his sister's place in Monjo... He thanked me for saving his life. I was baffled and embarrassed until he explained that my decision (which had actually been made in consultation with Jeff Justman and Chhering Dorjee) to have the Sherpas drop the loads they were carrying for Camp II at Camp I on the day of the big shake had meant they weren't in the Icefall later in the day at the exact wrong time. As I say... I was startled... Hadn't done the math myself. We'd asked them not to carry on to CII because of the threat of snow and avalanches off Nuptse... Not because of imminent earthquakes. But I'm now so incredibly glad that they were well down the icefall and safe for whatever reason. I deserve no credit whatsoever for getting lucky... But our team can take generic credit for having put safety first, once again, and having reaped unexpected benefits.
We are "scheduled" for the first wave of flights to Kathmandu tomorrow. Perhaps luck will still be with us.
Best Regards,
Dave Hahn
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Treadmills and stair machines only work your legs against the earth’s gravity, not your entire body’s weight or even the weight in the pack. They also don’t really do much for the downstroke of the leg, just the upstroke. It’s Newtonian mechanics, guys.
Posted by: borisjimski on 7/4/2012 at 1:30 am
Bodyworks, which partners with AAI, says that one needs to be able to go on a treadmill at 15 degrees for 45 minutes at 3.5 mph with a 40-pound pack in order to be in sufficient shape to climb Mt. Ranier. There is no way I can do that. Are they exaggerating? On a good day I can go at 15 degrees at 2.5 mph for 45 min with no weight.
Posted by: Larry on 6/19/2012 at 6:45 am
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