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The Mt. Rainier Summit Climb teams, led be RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer and Matias Francis crested the crater rim at 8:15 a.m. Although the sun is shining, the skies are a bit hazy. The team will spend some time on top before starting the descent.
Congratulations to today's summit climbers!
Coming off of a big climb or expedition often leads to the question, “What’s next?” The first priority is to take time to
rest and recover. Any adventure in the mountains is a big physical and mental effort, and recovery time is valuable. Some light activity to stretch the legs can be a good idea but it's not always beneficial to jump back into intense workouts right away. In order to come back stronger, you need to recover first. Recovery time not only helps you physically recuperate but also gives you a mental break. When you do return to your training, you can do so with renewed motivation and excitement.
After a few good nights of sleep, take a moment to reflect on your past training and the climb itself: what worked in your training? What didn’t? What were you surprised about in the climb and how can you prepare better in the future? Take the extra minute to dig into this a bit, identify some key takeaways, and note these down.
For example, a few weeks after coming home with my tail between my legs from my first expedition to a remote peak in the Andes, I realized that while I felt aerobically strong throughout the climb, it took only a slight increase in pace or pack weight to send my exertion level through the roof. Additionally, the loose rocks of the lower mountain, fields of penitentes, and hard ice of the route were challenging to move across in a fluid manner, constantly testing my balance and ultimately wearing me out after a long day. In my training following the expedition, I focused on incorporating more interval training to increase my anaerobic threshold and to give me a larger aerobic capacity. I also incorporated more balance exercises into my gym routines, aimed at improving my ability to climb comfortably and efficiently despite the uncertainties of the terrain. On my next expedition, I was amazed at how much I gained by focusing on my weaknesses in my training.
With these area of focus noted, consider what you want to do next. If you’re eager to get back in the mountains, where do you want to go and what are the appropriate steps to get you there? Maybe it's to climb
Mt. Rainier by way of another route? Are your sights set on 18,000’ or 19,000’ peaks like those in
Mexico or
Ecuador? Perhaps it’s the goal of climbing one of the
Seven Summits like
Aconcagua or
McKinley?
After identifying your goal, do a little digging into what that climb looks like and what physical efforts are needed. What are the defining characteristics of the climb in terms of altitude, length, weight of pack, and technical skills? What kind of training do you need to focus on in order to tackle those challenges? Multi-week expeditions like Aconcagua or Denali require different preparation than a climb of several days like the North Cascades, Mexico, or Ecuador.
Take a look at your takeaways from your last climb and compare them with the challenges of your next climb. If it's a long expedition with heavy packs, maybe you need to build your aerobic strength and endurance to handle the extended exertion of the climb. If it's a shorter trip, perhaps it's improving your overall aerobic capacity while also increasing your strength and flexibility to meet the needs of the climb.
Completing these mental exercises helps bring your training path into focus. Continue to be
strategic in your training, and it's not a bad idea to build
benchmarks along the way to keep track of your progress.
Most of all, keep having fun. As climbers, it’s not just the summit day that generates the passion and excitement for us (although that’s often the most recognizable aspect to others), it’s the entire process of dreaming of a climb, working hard to plan and prepare for it, realizing it as you set foot on the mountain, and relishing in the memories afterwards.
________
Linden Mallory is a senior guide at RMI Expeditions.
Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the
RMI Blog!
Today's Four Day Climb May 31 - June 3 reached 11,400' today before deciding to turn around due to high avalanche danger and deteriorating weather. The teams returned to Camp Muir and packed up. They started their descent to Paradise at 8:30 am. RMI Guides James Bealer and Josh McDowell reported that the winds were high and it was snowing hard as the team left Camp Muir on their descent. Once back at Paradise the teams will be shuttled back to Rainier BaseCamp for a closing ceremony.
I've just returned to Washington after taking part in a six day Avalanche Level 3 course in Jackson, WY. 'Avy 3' is the highest level of formal avalanche training in the US. It is a professional level course designed for
Guides, Ski Patrollers and other avalanche forecasters. One of the best parts of the course was interacting with the other participants who all came with a high level of experience. The instructors were top-notch as well, but the best learning opportunity came from the weather. Our course began with a huge winter storm dumping several feet of snow on top of a very weak base. This was a perfect recipe for avalanches and over the remainder of the course we were able to study the cycle as it progressed. It was fascinating to say the least and we were able to sharpen our skills while closely examining the highly unstable snowpack. The ability to take weather reports and our own observations, then build a hypothesis of how the snowpack should behave, followed by then going out into the field and testing our predictions was invaluable. It was a very productive week to say the least! I'm also very thankful for the professionalism of the instructors and the participants. We were able to keep the course very safe while also being able to get the most out of the time we spent in the field.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Long time RMI Guide and Owner Joe Horiskey may have 235 summits of Mt. Rainier via nearly a dozen routes in forty-two years of guiding, but he was even happier to congratulate his 19 year-old son, Robert, who successfully reached Columbia Crest for his very first time on September 8th! Congratulations, Robert! (And congratulations, Joe!)
100% team success on Pico de Orizaba!! We really had to dig deep for this one, but the months of training, hard work, and discipline landed us on top of the third tallest peak in North America today.
From Piedra Grande we head straight up an old aqueduct turned trail with loose rock and scree covering the winding trail. Ixta had us prepared for this though and the team made short work of the trail and up to the base of a feature called the Labyrinth. True to its name it’s a winding maze like feature made of rock that ascending teams must scramble and navigate in order to gain access to the glacier above. Once there, the never ending descending escalator begins. It takes us about three and half hours to climb from base to top. With no good place to take a break, it’s certainly a marathon. The team dug deep, pulled together and summitted the highest point in Mexico.
RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli
This is Seth and the safari crew checking in from the Kikoti Camp at Tarangire National Park. This was our last full day of safari and it was a good one. We managed to see several big cats again including a leopard. That was the last one we needed to complete our finding of the 'Big Five'. The Big Five includes: lions, elephants, water buffalo, leopard and the rhino. The game viewing has been outstanding for us. Tomorrow we are heading back to town as several folks have an afternoon flight from Arusha heading home.
Our trip has been awesome and we will enjoy this last day before we board planes tomorrow and head back to our friends and family.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Update: 4:04 am PT
RMI Guide Mark Tucker reports from
Everest Base Camp that the climbing team has safely returned to Camp 2 (ABC). They will spend the night resting, eating and recovering from the summit climb. Tomorrow, Mark is looking forward to welcoming the team back to Base Camp.
On The Map
Greetings from Puebla! Today was a great day for the team to rest and explore the beautiful city of Puebla. This city is full of history, delicious food, colorful markets and a perfect place to recover for our next climb.
After a day to explore the incredible Catholic Churches built in the 1500s, the team ate dinner together at El Mural de los Poblanos, a fantastic restaurant full of classic local dishes. Puebla is known as the home of Mole.
Our next objective begins tomorrow as we head up to 14,000ft to the high camp on Pico de Orizaba!
RMI Guide Grayson Swingle
Thankfully, it was another sparkling sun and blue sky day. We got out of Pheriche by 8:15 AM and got walking out of the alpine zone and down into the land of the living. Helicopters continued to buzz back and forth overhead, traveling to
Everest Base or to Gorak Shep, most likely. We encountered a few more trekkers and porters still heading up valley today, but drastically fewer than normal, which made for another quiet and easy day on the trails. We took our time, stopping in Pangboche to check on acquaintances and to pay respects to victims, but then we moved on across the river to Deboche and up to Thyangboche, which was abnormally calm and quiet. The classic and grand monastery was visibly damaged and seemed abandoned for the moment. We sat and rested in the quiet for a time before heading down the big hill and into waves of blooming rhododendrons. Then it was up the next big hill and along the dramatic traverse trail to
Namche. We saw plenty of eagles and lammergeiers, Himalayan Tahr... And lots of evidence of massive rocks having crossed the trail in the quake. We've found our way back to our favorite place in Namche... Camp De Base. Damage in Namche seems slight, but we have been reminded that the earth isn't through moving yet. There have been aftershocks that we apparently haven't noticed in our tent environments. But here in town, everybody seems much more aware of them in a place where buildings shake.
We'll keep our guard up, but we'll also avail ourselves of some quality 11,000 ft sleep... The kind we haven't experienced in a month.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Its with great humility that I thank Pete and Matias (ma-TE-us, get it right, and sorry for teasing you about it) for taking me, my children (Josh and Molly) and my children’s friends (Dylan, Bri, Brett and Luke) up that morning and congratulations to Josh and Dylan (and the other 4 climbers that morning) for summitting. Also, Special thanks to Josh Hankin for the great instruction, Augi Fleeras for guiding my daughter and Bri down and for Nathan Delmar (sorry about the macramé Joke-I’m sure it gets old and for bringing me down and not dropping me into a crevasse) and David Price (you are just an all around good dude). You guides do something amazing and I’ve seen amazing. Not only do you shoulder the responsibility for taking mostly unprepared climbers up this mountain and protect our lives, but you also trust us tourists to belay you and trust us not to make a lethal mistake and cost you your lives. And you do it every day and not for the money (pizza joke really not that funny). Pete, Matias and Josh especially, you guys are truly the most professional, mature, confident and athletic people I have every known, a special breed of individual who loves and appreciates the beauty of mountaineering so much that you go to extreme lengths to share it with others, many of us who have no business seeing it first hand, yet you do it with confidence and poise knowing that when we fall off or fall in, you can save us. Pete, thank you for recognizing that I needed to turn around and sending me down with Nathan. Also Pete and Matias, thank you for not stopping until Josh and Dylan were at the top in spite of the route conditions. To Peter and Kerri Whittaker, only got to say “hi” momentarily to you but it was both an honor and a pleasure. Thank you for finding guides like Pete, Matias, Josh, Augi, Nathan and David so a kid (old kid) from Kansas who has always dreamed of the mountains could experience Mountaineering first hand.
Godspeed,
Chris Banwart
Posted by: Jon Banwart on 8/31/2021 at 7:50 pm
Great job everybody!!!!!
Felicitaciones Nicko!!!!!
Posted by: Jose Fulginiti on 8/28/2021 at 1:13 pm
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