After three consecutive days of carrying load up the mountain our sore limbs couldn't have been more grateful for the well earned rest day. We started the day late with eggs hash browns and bacon which could easily give local diners a run for their money. Most of the group relaxed in their tents enjoying their digital and analog ways of entertainment as we waited for dinner as we all know rest days come with a feast. We had pasta.
The chess pieces have been moved by us and mother nature and we have reached a stalemate. We have the three musketeers to help us reach the top in style. With Dom leading the wolf pack who would happily fall in the crevasse to save the rest of us; Seth always doing the needful without expecting anything in return and Dan lightening the mood of the group after a hard day with his cheeky one liners. All we need now is the good karma of 10 souls to give us a 72 hour window to summit the mountain. No matter what the future holds, our place will never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014 - 4:10 PT
The first real weather day for us this trip. The overnight temps dropped to -7F not including the wind chill. Our early morning plans to move a few items for caching up to our high camp were foiled by the high winds -- 35mph winds at 17,200' and negative temps! Not to mention the squalls of crystalline snow flakes flying in all directions.
The sun peered out from the flanks of the west rib shedding enough solar rays to warm the tents. With the brim of a ball cap we scraped the tent walls free of the frost of our night's breathing. Lighting the stoves in our kitchen tent soon brought the smells of coffee, bacon, and cream cheese with bagels.
This motivated our spirits to make our camp a fortress. We spent two hours building large block walls and remodeling the bathroom -- which, I might add, could be the best one currently on the mountain featuring a snow free enclosed taj ma-stall! Not to mention the fact that RMI Guide Bryan Hendrick took on a project to expand and improve an igloo just outside camp...soon we'll have a monstrous underground lair for additional resting and wind protection. Sick!
We are now taking a rest, drying out and warming up after a great session. The wall building serves as great acclimatization through light exercise, team building, and making camp even better for this time we're spending in this harsh Arctic environment.
We will keep our hopes high for lighter winds, less snow, and a bit of warmth.
RMI Guides Tyler Jones, Garrett Stevens, Bryan Hendrick, and the crew!
Daveed, You guys are all crazy (amy) however Bud wants to be there, he thinks it is hot here. Hope you are having fun. I can’t send you too much warm weather or I will freeze (amy). See you soon.
Posted by: BUD/AMY on 6/12/2014 at 6:11 pm
Dave, We’re waiting for summer to start, but our chilly 62 degrees must sound balmy to you. Think summer thoughts. Stay safe…
Good evening from Pangboche.
It has been a couple of days since our last post, but electricity and internet have been unreliable above Namche. We arrived today to the village where the trail splits between the Ama Dablam and Everest Base Camps' trails. We came here after a short hike from Deboche, where we arrived yesterday after our rest day at Namche.
The clearing skies we have encountered as we have climbed higher have provided the first great opportunities for time lapse pictures of both sunrise and sunset over Ama and the Everest-Lotse-Nuptse group.
Our plan is to hike up to Pheriche tomorrow where we'll continue to acclimatize taking at least one rest day.
We are on schedule for full moon at Kala Patar. We see lots of down traffic as the season comes to a close but we continue up in pursue of the crisp skies of the early winter for the time lapse pictures we're after.
We'll try to report again from Pheriche. Best regards from the Himalaya!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Hello from Namche. This is the Everest Base Camp Trek and we are calling after the second day on the trip. Everything is well. We will try to send more detailed updates tomorrow, even with some pictures as we were having some internet connection problems today. All is well and we will try to update you more tomorrow.
RMI Guide Elías de Andrés-Martos
RMI Guide Elías de Andrés-Martos calls in from Namche Bazaar.
Today started out clear but cold and breezy. I’d say we picked up about a meter of snow in the past couple of days, with lots of wind transportation and deeper drifts. The winds abated and it was quite pleasant in camp today, which was nice as it afforded us time to reinforce our snow walls ahead of the storm that is forecasted to move in tonight. We’re anticipating more snow and strong winds tonight and tomorrow. Winds of seventy miles per hour are likely at high camp (17,000'). We’re at 14,000', so we expect lower wind speeds here. We’re dug in and ready for it.
The hope is that we’ll have a few days of good weather in its wake in which we can move to high camp and make a summit bid. We’ll keep you posted as this storm materializes.
Danielle I bet you don’t miss him as much as we do! The kids keep saying daddy needs to come home soon :) Love you Daddy!
Posted by: Jen Jezak on 5/29/2021 at 3:18 pm
Praying for warmer weather, NO wind and NO snow, strength, mental toughness and above all SAFETY for everyone! We are having a big party when you get back. All y’all are invited! Come visit us in Scottsdale, AZ.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Last night's snow shower turned into the "heavy fall of snow" that we've been promised on a daily basis by our forecasts these last ten days. It snowed, it snowed and then it snowed some more here at 14,200 ft. We estimated that it was coming down at a rate of 3 inches per hour. Zeb got out at three to rally a shovel brigade in retaking the camp from the tent-bending powder deluge. We could hear great avalanches roaring repeatedly down the steep and icy flanks of the West Buttress. It didn't ease until around nine in the morning, by which point we figured about 24 inches had fallen overnight. Needless to say, today was not a climbing day for us. The wind was still pulling huge streamers of snow off the route we'd hoped to trace along the crest of the Buttress. And the slopes leading to the ridge were now all suspect in terms of snow stability. So much snow falling so quickly doesn't give the stuff a chance to settle. One of the ways it settles on a mountainside is to avalanche. There was plenty of visual evidence (when the clouds parted for a minute here and there) that a number of avalanches had already occurred on the route to the fixed ropes, but there were also still vast stretches of undisturbed deep new snow. We needed a hot and sunny day to glue things in place and to make it all safe again. But you can't always get what you need. Our day was mostly cloudy with light snow showers. Zebulon gave a great lesson in basic snow science, demonstrating how to identify weak layers in the snow pack, how to compare the hardness of those layers, and in how to conduct a "compression test" on an isolated column of snow in a study pit. Our climbers then dug their own pits and made their own observations as a way of understanding our challenge in these next few days. We need to figure out the level of hazard that exists on the slopes above us without exposing ourselves to that very hazard. And we don't have much time to do it in. We only have a couple more days of food available. Our greater cache of food is now the one sitting above the suspect slopes... In perfect position for our summit bid, but out of our reach until we determine that the avalanche hazard has diminished. Lots to figure out on Denali. We aren't alone though. The other teams, mostly at 17 camp have similar dilemmas What we all need, first and foremost, is a break from continued bad weather. As is normal, we need a little good luck. Despite the challenges, the team is still in good spirits. Today, we went over the blog comments together. We can't surf the web with our setup, but the RMI office was kind enough to cut and paste the comments into an email for us. Thanks, from the entire team, for keeping us in your thoughts.
Best Regards
Dave Hahn
Thursday, June 20th, 2013
We made the move. The wind was blowing most of the night last night. I set my alarm for 2:30 a.m. just to see if the weather was going to allow us to move up camps. Right when my alarm went off, it was as if someone hit a switch and turned the wind off.
We got up, packed up camp, and headed up another 3,000 feet. The move only took us about six hours to hike, but we had to work hard building snow walls once we arrived at Denali's 14k camp. This camp, as much or more than the other camps we have been in this far, can receive huge winds that pick up at a moment's notice. We used snow saws to quarry blocks of snow to make walls that surround our tents.
All of this hard work will pay off with a full rest day tomorrow. The sun does not hit this camp until around nine in the morning. I am pretty sure that none of us will be out of our tents until he sun warms us up!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen and the RMI Summit Team 6
What is the temperature range at 17,200? Is it balmy? (“No such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing”?) We’re hoping for both to be good, and for all the luck possible!
Posted by: Kathy Uchal on 6/22/2013 at 6:23 pm
Great to see your progress!! Hope the weather holds up. Mtn Mo
Today our winter team made it to 11,500 feet on Mt. Rainier! It was tough going at the end. We had thigh deep snow and we decided to make the safe decision to turn around.
The weather is beautiful but the conditions are tough. However, that didn't stop the team from having a great day up high.
It's a unique feeling being up here in the winter. We are all alone and we are enjoying Rainier's pristine beauty that can only be enjoyed in winter.
RMI Guide Jason Thompson is now giving a lecture in snow science and avalanche awareness.
That's all for now.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Awesome! HIGH FIVE, FRANK AND TIM!! I cannot wait to hear all of the stories. You guys look great out there. XOXOXOXO Jenna
Posted by: Jenna on 2/8/2013 at 12:37 pm
WOOOOHOOOO!!! Rock on guys!! **Dan- I can’t wait to see you again, I missed you so much! Hope you got some majestic pictures ready for me; I got beer ready for you <3 Stay safe out there.
Buenas Noches from Quito!
Today was a great day by all accounts. We hit the trail early today, catching a ride to the teleferico for the first can up the mountain. A quick ride and we were perched well above Quito, looking down from 13,500 feet above the sea. As we readied ourselves for our hike, Cotopaxi even graced us with an appearance. Solid start to a day.
Walking towards Rucu Pinchincha we spent a few hours ascending to 15,500 feet. The team did a fantastic job today, brushing up on some skills and generally impressing Ben and I. A great day of acclimatizing is never complete without a cup of coffee for the ride down to town, so we obliged happily.
After an afternoon rest it was dinner time and we enjoyed our best meal so far, carbo loading like champs in fine style and waddling home to rest up for our trip to the Illinizas tomorrow. Off to a great start over here.
RMI Guides Jake Beren & Ben Liken
Waking to perfect conditions, clear and near windless, we decided to saddle up and move on up to Genet Basin and make a new home at 14,000 feet. Our hard work yesterday really paid off, leaving us with a perfect trail to camp. It was even downright hot as we pulled into camp and we found a great camp left to us by our friends now living at 17,000 camp. Thanks.
It was still tough, but our team held together well and turned in early for some much needed rest. Tomorrow we will most likely retrieve our cache and spend the afternoon relaxing and preparing for the fixed lines higher up. Cross your fingers for some high pressure. A week would be plenty.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
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Daveed, You guys are all crazy (amy) however Bud wants to be there, he thinks it is hot here. Hope you are having fun. I can’t send you too much warm weather or I will freeze (amy). See you soon.
Posted by: BUD/AMY on 6/12/2014 at 6:11 pm
Dave, We’re waiting for summer to start, but our chilly 62 degrees must sound balmy to you. Think summer thoughts. Stay safe…
Patty
Posted by: Patty on 6/12/2014 at 5:37 am
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