Hello RMI followers. This is JJ Justman with the first Mount Elbrus team. Today was an exciting day as we left the tiny town of Azau. After two tram rides, we arrived at the Garabashi Hut, also known as "The Barrels." We are currently at 12,000 feet. The team is enjoying the thin air. We would like to convince you that we are roughing it. However, life up here has some pretty darn nice creature comforts: French-pressed coffee and a full delicatessen, some comfy beds to name a few. It is important to relax and ease into the altitude. That's exactly what we need to do. We're playing card games and listening to electronic dance music, it's thumping in the background as I speak. I'm actually, myself, gonna currently watch culinary video podcast to get some new ideas for my mountain cuisine. We want to say hello to all the friends and family following along. The team is doing just fantastic, having a lot of fun. We will keep on informing you of how we're doing up here, but life is pretty darn nice. Take care for now.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
RMI Guide JJ Justman calls in from the Garabashi Hut.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Our storm got real in the night, with cannon-like broadsides of wind and ice particles assaulting the tents. It was serious enough that the guides were out stumbling around from midnight to 2 AM, cutting snow blocks and building walls, but not serious enough that the whole team needed to be in on the fun. It snowed and blew for much of the night, with the wind changing direction every now and then in order to keep things interesting. Although the alarm had been set early for climbing, it was obvious as the morning progressed that we'd simply have to hunker down and ride out the storm. Around mid-morning we rallied the whole crew to eat breakfast, dig out tents and build more walls. Then it was back into the tents for a few hours. We finished the day with some avalanche transceiver training by Zeb Blais, a fine dinner by Erik Nelson and Mike King, and some tall tales by yours truly.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Hope the weather improves so that you guys don’t have to stay cooped up in tents on the side of the mountain. Hopefully the avalanche transceiver training will be for naught, but glad that you have it.
Hi RMI,
We gathered with about 30 other climbers this morning for our pre-trip briefing with ALE. Mike Sharp, one of the owners, gave a very detailed presentation about what is going to happen over the next few days. As you might imagine, logistics for getting to the "bottom of the world" are complex. Even though we have already traveled thousands of miles to get to Punta Arenas, we have about 2,000 more miles to fly and two different airplane types to go before we get to Vinson Basecamp. Covering everything from flight plans to arial maps of Union Glacier and the climbing route to ways for dealing with the extreme cold, it is critical information to know before we fly out of here and land in the middle of Antarctica.
After the meeting, we weighed our bags and sent them off to the airplane so they can be loaded and ready for our flight.
Weather permitting, we are planning for an early flight tomorrow, with the airport transfer scheduled for 7:00 am. Next dispatch will hopefully be from Union Glacier.
All the best,
RMI Guide Jeff Martin
Hello, this is RMI Guide Jake Beren calling to check in from our Mexico's Volcanoes program. We are happy to report that we reached the summit of Orizaba today at 9:00 a.m. local time. Our team did a great job on the climb.
We are headed back to Tlachichuca to celebrate and enjoy our last night in Mexico. Tomorrow we will return to Mexico City for our outbound flights.
Clouds and light snow are making a perfect atmosphere for a lazy rest day here at 14k.
Strong winds high on the mountain are occasionally visible through breaks in the clouds. The warmth of our tents is conducive to lazing, reading, listening to music, and occasionally drifting off into a dreamy state of consciousness.
Meanwhile, we're hoping that favorable weather allows us an opportunity to climb higher and push for the summit soon.
Until then, we're embracing the tranquility of the mountains.
Go Team! Make it happen! It’s going to be epic!!! You got this!!!! Perseverance and Patience….goal in sight! Hoping for some solid blue sky and perfect climate!!! Cheers from Talkeetna!!! Susan
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.
We experienced the normal sadness about leaving trees today but the thrill of life at high altitude is plenty a replacement. We enjoyed good weather all day, just a bit chilly pulling into Pheriche, our home for the next two nights, at about 14,000 ft it was to be expected. The team was fortunate to visit Lama Geshi in Pangboche. A chant and a blessing for each sent the group out the door in high spirits.
Our path was diverted slightly as a bridge had collapsed. How many times I have crossed that span thinking it had another twenty years of life in it? Not so. The detour was a pleasant stroll by the river with yet another great photo opp on the new bridge. Wishing you all the best
RMI Guide Mark Tucker & Team
A big hello from me to Nancy and Elizabeth! The photos are inspirational. It looks like a great group and I know they are loving getting to know you both! Eliz Christenberry and I talk about you every day. :)
Hey there! This is Billy calling in with our dispatch for July 3rd. The team woke up pretty early here in Quito. We got out of the hotel pretty quickly after a nice breakfast. We headed south of town to the Illinizas which is a really cool park to do another training hike. We ended up hiking for a few hours, climbing up above 15,000’. We made it to a Refugio which sits right in the saddle between Illiniza Norte and Illiniza Sur. We had some hot drinks then cruised on down. The team performed super well and so we were really psyched. After that we descended where Victor, our driver, rendezvoused with us again at the trailhead and we headed up to the Chilcabamba Eco Lodge where we had a fantastic meal and an awesome night! We are really enjoying the super, super bright full moon and amazing views of Cotopaxi which is our next big adjective. Tomorrow we are planning on heading that way, towards Cotopaxi, so we will give you a call and let you know how things are developing. That’s all for now, bye.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Our Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir was a microcosm of mountaineering: athletic, challenging, moments of joy and occasional disappointment, but ultimately and most importantly a safe adventure. Heavy rain on Monday negated our planned ascent to Camp Muir, but we had a productive day at Rainier Basecamp going over numerous techniques. We reached Camp Muir on Tuesday and spent the next three days practicing skills and preparing folks for future climbs. These skills were crevasse rescue, cramponing, ice climbing, beacon searches, rope travel, route finding and more! Conditions at Muir were sunny, windy and icy most of the week. We encountered a layer of hard ice on the surface of the Cowlitz Glacier (and above) which unfortunately prevented a summit attempt. Our high point was the top of Cathedral Gap, approximately 10,500’.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Last night our entire crew met in the lobby of our Colonial-era hotel in the heart of Mexico City, right on the Zocalo or main square. We all introduced ourselves and began the process of turning into a team by all going out to a local restaurant where we ate great authentic food and were serenaded by a squad of Mariachis.
This morning we had a quick breakfast before finishing up our packing and heading down to meet Rogelio, our long-time transportation guru here in Mexico. He will help us travel to La Malintzi where we will begin our acclimatization process by hiking up to 13,000 feet on the old volcano of La Malinche.
Here we go!
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Is that outhouse a 2-holer!?
Posted by: Rick de Dallas on 7/6/2013 at 9:34 am
Keep on swingin’!
Posted by: Julie Marx on 7/6/2013 at 7:21 am
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