Hello from the Khumbu everyone!
This morning we left the tea house in Phakding and headed up this beautiful valley toward Namche Bazaar, which is the largest village in this famous valley. We had a slight rain delay this morning as we woke to some light precip, but hit the trail right around 8:30 as the rain tapered off. Everyone enjoyed the hike, and no one seemed to mind pausing often for the endless mules and yaks carrying loads headed for basecamp as we made our way down, but mostly up this rocky trail. It was reasonably busy on the route with trekkers and climbers, but the traffic seemed to flow pretty smoothly.
The team crossed a number of high suspension bridges without a problem, but I did notice no one stopped in the middle to take photos. Overall it was a really enjoyable day as we climbed up to just over 11,200' where Namche sits. There was a little snow falling as we pulled in, so we'll have a few better photos tomorrow.
That is all for now.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Hello everyone following along back home and welcome to another series of dispatches from this year's summer Cotopaxi Express trip!
After a long night of scuttling back and forth from the airport Jaime and myself finally got the crew settled in last night at our hotel here in Quito. Since everyone is usually a bit bushed from long travel times from the states we typically start out our first day of the program on a city tour of some of Quito's colonial sites in addition to a visit to the exact geographical equator. We were fortunate enough to climb the bell tower in the Basilica (a neo-gothic cathedral), walk the streets of the old town (world's first UNESCO World Heritage Site), visit the Church de la Compañia de Jesús (baroque interior guilded w/ 7 tons of gold leaf and one of the oldest churches in South America), and play with funky coriolis phenomena on the exact geographical equator. Despite the lack of physical exertion, the gang was still pretty tired after cruising around town all day at an elevation around 9,000'. We ran some errands, took a little siesta, and then met up for our first team dinner later this evening. The gang is starting to open up a bit and get to know each other better, a good thing considering the challenges ahead! Tomorrow begins the first of our acclimatization hikes...
Hasta mañana,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
This is Seth again checking in from Camp Muir. After a blustery and cold day yesterday we have been enjoying the warm and calm conditions today.
We began our day with breakfast at 7 and by 8:30 we were heading out onto the Cowlitz Glacier. We then found an awesome set of crevasses for practicing crevasse rescue. Everyone was able to alternately practice arresting a fallen climber, setting up a pulley system and descending into a crevasse. We also had a backup rope set up where we could practice belaying techniques.
After the rescue practice everyone was still feeling good so we lowered folks back into the crevasse and had them ice-climb back out.
It was a great day of training and with any luck tomorrow we'll do the real thing and climb the mountain. We'll check in again in the morning.
Hello, this is Adam Knoff and the Upper West Rib Climbing Team. We are established comfortably here at 11,000’ on Mt. McKinley. We moved up today from our camp at 10,200’ in very nice weather.
The weather deteriorated a little bit this afternoon bringing some clouds and light snow. We were able to climb above camp for a few hours and found a nice place to do some ice climbing and some training. That got everybody excited and morale is good.
Everyone is feeling strong and we expect to make a carry up to 14,000’ tomorrow. Then we will see what the weather is like as the forecast calls for a low pressure system on Tuesday and Wednesday. This puts a little uncertainty into our planning so we'll play it by ear.
As our team gets to know each other we have discovered that the never snoring Mr. James Fitch does in fact snore. And that is one of the fun new discoveries of the trip so far.
We'll keep you posted as our plans for the upcoming days develop.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
James, glad to know you’ve finally gotten up there. It’s worth the wait. Courtney, nice job getting the heavy load hauling done. All spectacular country ahead. Be safe and have fun!
Posted by: Steve Bott on 5/31/2011 at 10:05 pm
Congrats on your progress so far - please continue to keep us posted, thank you. So glad to hear the whole team is doing well. If Peter is James’ tentmate, I’m glad he brought earplugs! If possible, please tell Peter all is well back home and that his friends and family are cheering him on.
A calm and warm night gaveway to another gorgeous morning here at Base Camp. After breakfast we shouldered our packs and set out. The first stretch of walking brought us through a series of steep valleys and rolls just above Elbrus Base Camp that are blanketed in lush green grass and wildflowers. Picking our way amongst the giant protrusions of volcanic rock from the mountain's formation we made our way higher, leaving the vegetation behind and entering the alpine zone of rock and dirt.
By midday we reached our goal for the day - a flat plateau at just over 11,000' below the morraine leading to Camp 1. There we unloaded our packs and cached our gear amongst the rocks. This strategy of caching our gear higher on the mountain and then descending back to camp serves a twofold purpose: it allows us to move a portion of our gear ahead of us, making packs lighter tomorrow when we move camp, and also gives us a jumpstart on acclimatization by exposing our bodies to a higher altitude before descending back lower to recover. This strategy of "climb high, sleep low" is an important part of any climbing expedition to high altitudes and will greatly benefit us tomorrow when we move to Camp 1.
After caching our gear and resting for a bit in the sun, we retraced our steps back to Base Camp, reaching our tents just before a small sprinkling of afternoon rain swept through the valley. Thankfully the rain blew through and the evening is beautiful. We have just wrapped up dinner and are getting ready to turn in for the night. The setting sun has lit up Elbrus' west side in a pink alpenglow as well as the small clouds hanging near the summit. It is a gorgeous night to be out in the mountains.
We will check in tomorrow after moving up to Camp 1.
We said goodbye to Elbrus Base Camp and our newly made friends yesterday morning and climbed back into the 4x4 sprinter van for the drive out to Kislovodsk, but not before putting another couple of hours into the hut, finishing the roof. What's left is some trim work and flooring. It was fun to leave knowing that we had left a small mark of our passing, and had helped in some small way.
The drive out was as exhilarating as the drive in, bouncing and grinding our way up the rough dirt track with the steep green slopes of the Caucasus just to the right of our wheels. Once we reached pavement everyone let out a collective breath and settled in. Once in Kislovodsk, we did what every climber does after a long expedition: took showers, shaved, and went looking for food and drink. Those comforts of town feel so much more pleasurable after being deprived of them for a little while. We made merry, celebrating one last night as a full team, and convincing the DJ at the restaurant to bring a little of home back by playing some Garth Brooks.
This morning we will part ways with a few of our team members as they head for home, and the rest of us head to St. Petersburg to spend a day exploring the art, architecture and culture of another great Russian city. We'll try to send some photos!
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Mike Uchal, and team
Friday, July 10, 2015 - 2:14 am PT
Hey, This is Dave Hahn calling from 17,000 feet on Mt. McKinley. It's about 10 minutes after 1 in the morning. We had a big day yesterday, on the 9th of July. We summitted Mount McKinley! It was a beautiful day, start to finish, nice and calm and sunny, clouds down below. It was perfect climbing conditions, but it was hard climbing conditions, we had to break trail. We shared that work with a few of the other guided teams that were up here. That made all the difference; breaking trail through new snow and being able to trade off that job. But it still took a long time, I think we were out for 14 hours today. We were on the the top at 6:45 until 7:15. It was beautiful up there, really wonderful day, and all of our team made it. I believe that means that RMI is 100% for this season; all of the RMI summit teams have made it. That's just about it for the Denali season, the groups that we were going to the top with today were some of the last. I think there's maybe one more team that is a day from being in position. So far so good for us, we're up at 17k for now and we'll head off the West Buttress tomorrow. But, it really turned around, turned nice for us in these last couple days and we're very appreciative.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn calls from 17 Camp after reaching the summit of Mt. McKinley.
Hooray for everyone on Team Hahn. Impressive on any day, but especially digging new trail. What an accomplishment. Peter you rock!
Posted by: Laura Taft Paulsen on 7/11/2015 at 2:39 pm
CONGRATULATIONS to Gary and Team Hahn! Very glad your summit day was so beautiful. Can’t wait to heat the stories Gary. Hope your trek back is beautiful too. - Rob
The Expedition Skills Seminar – Emmons led by RMI Guide Garrett Stevens called from Columbia Crest at 6:56 am, the team arrived at the summit around 6:30 am PT. Garret reported clear skies with a marine layer below at 5,000’, moderate winds and cold temperatures on the Emmons route. The team will return to their high camp for a final night on the mountain.
RMI Guide Casey Grom & the Four Day Summit Climb approached the crater rim of Mt. Rainier shortly before 7 am. Casey reported 100% of the team members would be reaching the summit. He also reported winds from the west and good route conditions.
Congratulations to today summit climbers!
It was all because of our incredible guides Casey, Nick and Nick. They took really good care of me, supported me all the way. Email me and well talk further.what an adventure! Thanks to the whole incredible team for making my 50th birthday my summit day!
Posted by: Amy Daniels on 8/14/2013 at 8:34 am
Congrats Amy and Marc! We don’t know each other but my husband Richard and myself are just waiting for next Aug dates to sign up! I’d love to hear about your guys journey! Hope to hear from you when the dust settles.
Again, CONGRATS!
It is amazing to think that this morning our team watched the sun rise from the summit ridge of Ixta. We climbed strong today, up the moraines and rock leading up to the Ayoloco Glacier that is the "White Woman's" last major snow veil. There we gained the ridge as the the waxing gibbous moon set to our left and we waited for the sun to warm us from the right. It was a great climb and everyone should be proud of a job well (and safely) done.
Back at camp we enjoyed an early morning nap and packed up for the walk out. Pretty solid amount of activity before 11 am. We made it out over rock fields and steep grassy slopes, crossing pastureland before hopping in the vans and heading to Puebla. On our drive through the back roads of Paso Cortes, Cholula and Puebla gave us great views of smoking Popo (Ixta's warrior Romeo) and many angles of the lady herself. Quite a treat to drive through the lights we looked down on a few hours before on our way to hot showers and a triumphant meal in our new home for a day.
Tomorrow we will recuperate and relax in the historic colonial town of Puebla, and reconvene for dinner to recount our day's adventures to the team. Then it's off to get in position for our chance on Pico de Orizaba, rested and ready.
Wish us luck amigos,
RMI Guide Jake Beren
We enjoyed some pretty amazing weather today. We had a relatively easy day retrieving our cache and returning to 11k camp. On our journey we were treated to a unique wildlife viewing, with snow geese flying in formation above us. They landed on the glacier up around Kahiltna Pass, something I have never seen before. Back in camp, the good weather continued and we relaxed and shuffled gear for the next stage of the game. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will establish a camp up above Windy Corner. The forecast looks good and we're climbing strong, so we're optimistic that will happen tomorrow. I'll let you know how it shakes out. Either way, it's good to be in the mountains and we're enjoying our time here.
Good luck Casey!
Posted by: Giulia Graber on 3/21/2017 at 5:00 am
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