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Whew. Heavy loads today! Despite the burden the crew enjoyed a second great day in the Alaska Range under blue skies and warm temperatures. Today's walk was a long haul but the crew did great on our first physical portion of the expedition. We've settled into a new camp at the base of Ski Hill which is approximately 7,800'. Not much else to report other than tired legs and full bellies as we snug up for the night after a great meal. Hasta mañana. RMI Guide Billy Nugent and the gang

On The Map

It took all night, but finally the victorious Vinsonites evacuated the continent. At two in the morning we all clambered into a giant open sledge being dragged by a Tucker snow machine. Thus began a surreal hay ride across the endless Union Glacier to the blue ice runway in some of the coldest and windiest conditions of our entire trip. We got to watch the massive Illyusion 76 scream in for a landing, but it was then still a few hours wait to get the big aircraft unloaded. Luckily ALE had a convenient (and spartan) warming hut staged close to the aircraft. I said my congratulations and goodbyes to the gang and watched them jet off the ice at 5:30 AM. In particular, I made sure that Seth Waterfall and Billy Nugent knew the extent of my gratitude for their help and friendship these past weeks. Of course I was a little sorry to miss out on what I'm certain will be a fun victory dinner in South America, but my season on the Ice isn't finished just yet. I'll pass a few days now at Union Glacier waiting for the next RMI Vinson climb (space on the Illyushin is limited and pricey so the best plan is for me to stay put). ALE is hosting a marathon for about 30 runners tomorrow and I have volunteered to assist in conducting the event... It should be interesting. Best Regards RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Well I'm sure you all have been wondering where in the world we are. Forgive the suspense, but it has been an action packed few days. After our last sub-space frequency, we had to re-reevaluate our situation and make the difficult, but ultimately very clear decision to return to lower elevations. After many days at 17,000 feet and over a week waiting for a window at 14,000' camp we were plain out of time for a realistic summit attempt. Often these expeditions make allowances for running over budget on time and our team was prepared to hold out for a workable window to go for the top. However, the weather never did us the favor of cooperating. Such is the way of the mountains and we are wise to read their signals. Our stay at 17,000 feet was marked by deep snow, drifting thigh to waist high outside of camp and persisting for days. Accompanied by high winds that loaded start zones and released multiple full track avalanches that ran down almost to the ranger station at 14 camp, stability seemed far from our reality. Our route to Denali Pass ran several times and when the storm cleared long enough the famous autobahn is positively pregnant with deep windslabs. The weather reports we have been monitoring continue to predict unstable weather, high winds and more snow, followed by a large low pressure system bringing more bad weather to the mountain. Still we didn't want to head down, but staying longer in such weather exposes us to greater risk the longer we stay. Capitalizing on a lull in the weather, we began our descent of the West Buttress yesterday. That is my favorite part of the route and presents some of the most interesting climbing on this route. Our 19 days on this beautiful mountain prepared us well to move efficiently and though I would gladly have gone to the top with such a great team, I was glad to be able to handle the route's namesake feature in windy conditions with safe teammates. Despite the spindrift and new snow, conditions did present us with some pockets of sunshine where we were able to see this mountain in its stormy glory. We made it down to 14 camp where we regrouped and hoofed it down to 11,000 feet for a hot meal and a few hours sleep with some amazing skies on our way around Windy Corner. Three hours of downtime, then it was off again and we raced the warming Lower Kahiltna Glacier's snow bridges to the runway. On our exit we were able to see the upper mountain up the NE Fork and again from the airstrip. It was still socked in with a cloud cap and high winds and our call to escape, though bittersweet, remains sound. Having not heard the sound of planes in the air for days, it was a treat to see the Otters, Beavers and Cessnas amongst the spectacular backdrop of Mt. Hunter and Foraker. Our gear sorted, we were on the afternoon flight and are now back in Talkeetna, magically back to summer and a land where green things flourish and showers imply happiness instead of misery. In a few hours our team will meet again for another dinner, prepared by strangers and without the ambiance of a snow fort. It will be a welcome treat. Thank you friends and family for the support and love on our adventure. We went out not knowing what would happen and we returned safe, but with some unfinished business. I am content that we gave it our all and emerged friends and stronger for the time amongst the clouds and upper atmosphere. Thanks to a great team and excellent colleagues, it was an adventure I am happy to have shared with everyone, RMI Guide Jake Beren

Today our crew took a "rest day," exploring Puebla's Sunday Markets and antiques shops. We didn't do too much up and downhill walking, but no doubt still covered a lot of this colorful colonial market. It was a great day to recuperate after Ixta and restage for Pico de Orizaba. Eating well is an important part of recovery and we also explored the great food and famous Mole sauce that hails from this town. Tomorrow we'll head out to Tlachichuca and get ready for the big one.

Thursday, August 8, 2024

We had a chilly morning packing up camp and weighing out our loads for the donkeys, but were rewarded with ideal temperatures for the short hike from the trailhead to Condoriri basecamp. After setting up tents and a short rest we continued up the trail to the toe of the glacier where we spent a few hours reviewing the basics and practicing some more advanced skills for our attempt on Pequeño Alpamayo tomorrow.  We're back in basecamp at 15,400' now, packing and resting up in anticipation of an early start. We'll be in touch tomorrow when we're back in base camp, and will be sure to share some photos when we're back to civilization on Saturday.

RMI Guide Henry Coppolillo

Team switch day at Union Glacier. The Ilyushin 76 flew today, landing at about 2:45 PM. "V1" ended and "V2" began. There were a couple of hours of overlap in Union Base so that the two teams could mingle and compare notes on Punta Arenas and Vinson Massif. The V1 gang told stories of the cold summit, the good food and the two pure white snow petrels we saw at Vinson Base yesterday while waiting for the airplane (it is uncommon to see seabirds so far from the sea). The V2 folk talked about false starts yesterday and touring town with Jeff Martin. Eventually it was time for JJ to take V1 out to the big jet airplane and head back across the Drake Passage to South America. It is likely that the team is celebrating in Punta at this very moment (11:43 PM). Back on the Ice, the V2ers waited patiently for flying weather to materialize at Vinson Base. Word was that it was socked in with fog. We talked, played chess, ate meals and drank coffee, but none of that made the clouds go away. By about 10 PM we built our tents and called it a night... In the bright sunshine. Tomorrow perhaps. Getting to the middle of Antarctica was plenty for today. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

Jeff and I had a great day yesterday. We climbed from Lake Ann up through the Fisher Chimneys and established camp at the edge of the Upper Curtis. After a nice long lunch, we packed our light summit packs and headed out. We reached the summit via the Southeast ridge at about 4:50pm, and had it all to ourselves. We arrived back at camp at around 7:25 last night. Today we'll likely do some ice climbing this morning before packing up camp and heading back down through the Chimneys. But first, it's coffee time! RMI Guide Mike Walter

Eat until you get sleepy, sleep until you get hungry... That's been our program, pretty much, today. Zach took the record for late sleeping (10am) and Dave took the record for most cafe americanos (4 by my count). But Gerry, Brian and I were no slouches in the rest day department either. We've just finished with dinner and while the rest day was great everyone is getting psyched for el Pico de Orizaba. Tomorrow we'll be headed up to high camp and with a bit if luck it'll be a summit for us early Saturday. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

Jambo! We have descended past high camp and are on our way to our last camp, Mweka. The summit was beautiful with zero wind and sunny skies. We topped out on Stella Point at sunrise and reached Uruhu Peak one hour later. As we descended a cloud layer built over the mountain and we're currently getting snowed on. We're all looking forward to a nice rest. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

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

On The Map