Another great day here (barely) south of the equator! We woke up this morning to slightly overcast skies that made me wonder if we were going to see anything at all today on our first acclimatization hike. Nevertheless, the team hopped a few taxis in front of the hotel and headed over to the Teleférico. A short gondola ride deposited us at an elevation just shy of 13,000'. Despite the cloud cover above we enjoyed clear and sweeping views of the metropolis below and even some occasional sun breaks came through to heat us up very quickly as we hiked along. After a little over three hours of hiking and a fun rock scramble we found ourselves standing on the summit of Rucu Pichincha! At an elevation above 15,000' many personal altitude records were broken today. We took some photos, hung out a bit hoping the cloud would dissipate for a split second (no luck), and began our sandy descent. After a mildly adventurous ride back to the hotel the gang has been chilling out while Katie and I did a little grocery shopping. Another team dinner tonight should commemorate our last evening in Quito before we head for the hills.
Talk tomorrow...
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
At 7:44 am today, we received word from RMI Guide Ben Luedtke that the Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons July 12 - 17 team had reached the summit of Mt. Raineir with 100% of their climbers. They will return to Camp Schurman and spend a second night there. Tomorrow they will descend to the trailhead and return to Rainier BaseCamp.
Yesterday, the Emmons Seminar moved up to Camp Schurman for the night! After waking up to a nice warm sun on their faces and enjoying some breakfast, they practiced some fixed line ascending. Then, donned heavy packs for the journey over the rock step to Camp Schurman. After a little rest, they practiced crevasse rescue before making an early dinner and laying down to get some sleep before their climb tonight.
Beautiful weather, light winds, enjoying every moment.
Congratulations team!
PC: Ben Luedtke from their ascent to Inter Glacier on the first day of their climb.
UPDATE: Summit Photos from the Emmons team. 7/16/2024
The weather trend is finally improving for us! Today was a relatively pleasant day at 14,000' Camp. The ridgeline above was showing some wind this morning but that diminished through the day. Rather than jump up there and get cold, chilly, and tire ourselves out doing a small cache, we opted to stay in camp, organize, and prep to move to 17,000' Camp tomorrow. That didn't seem to stop most of camp from taking a run at it, which only reinforced our decision. We'll look to get up early tomorrow, be early out of camp, and be settled in to 17,000' comfortably so that we're ready to summit the following day. The pace of things will accelerate now and everybody is excited!
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Paradise met on August 11 with a full day of Technical training at Rainier BaseCamp. The following morning they loaded their packs and headed for Paradise. The team spent the next several days training on the lower slopes of Mt. Rainier and culminated their adventure by standing on the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. RMI Guide Jenny Konway reported a great day on the upper mountain with some breezy conditions. The team will make a complete descent today and return to Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon to properly celebrate their accomplishments.
Congratulations to the ESS-Paradise team!
As the phone call from earlier today said, we had an absolutely phenomenal day climbing Cotopaxi. The team as a whole was saddened by the withdrawal of Ginger from the climb itself but but we were all so impressed by her selfless decision to remain at the hut and not attempt the climb do to a nagging chest infection. When climbers put their team first over their ego and personal ambitions, it reveals much about their true character. Ginger we missed you today. After descending from our surreal summit, we quickly packed up at the hut and marched the 15 minutes downhill to the waiting van. Our amazing local guide, Jaime Avila went home to Quito to prepare for his return to Chimborazo and the rest of us are now resting peacefully at a 400 year old hacienda south of Quito. I simply can't remember a nicer day in Ecuador.
Voicemail Message: Hello! This is Adam with Casey, Jaime and the crew on top of Cotopaxi! Ginger stayed behind at the hut this morning as she was not feeling well. Everyone else is on top on the most beautiful day we could have asked for. It is almost a fair trade - I would give a day like we had on Cayambe to have a day like this on Cotopaxi. It is a beautiful, beautiful place to be. Everyone is feeling great and all is well. We will check in later from La Cienega.
RMI Guides Adam Knoff & Casey Grom
Well done on reaching the summit - and great to see you had such a fantastic day for it! Enjoy being back to ground level (still higher than anywhere here in NZ!). Brett
Posted by: Brett Vautier on 1/13/2013 at 12:25 pm
Congrats on a successful summit. Good luck on your third MT.
Hello everyone, this is Team 1 on Aconcagua. Well, not just yet. Today the team left the comfort of civilization and we hit the dusty trail towards base camp of Aconcagua.
The trek in is amazing. You are surrounded by giant mountain cliffs, a roaring river and occasionally a soaring condor. With light packs we enjoyed the warm weather while tanning our pasty legs.
After a picnic lunch by the Vacas River we arrived at our first trekking camp at 9500 feet. If anyone can guess the name of this camp I will personally carry your pack next year into Aconcagua's base camp!
The team is doing great! This evening we enjoyed hanging out with the Cowboys who work with our mules and gear to get into base. We enjoyed an authentic asado steak dinner cooked over an open fire, topped off with an avocado tomato salad.
Life is good in the mountains!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
What a wild storm....... a month ago. I have counted about thirty downed trees near the trail since Namche. Big trees ! Word on the trail was about a three day rain event then a big wind storm and there you have it, lots of lumber on the ground. If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it did it make a sound? How about if somebody writes a fantastic blog dispatch but it never gets posted, is it still a blog? Kim is so nice, at least she is not making me feel too bad for deleting (on accident) her amazing dispatch of yesterday. I thought I was in the dog house, but she seems OK. It could be different after we get the summit of Island Peak and my value goes way down, maybe I will hear about it then. Regardless, she has decided to give it another shot just for you all.
Enjoy,
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
After arm wrestling the two guys yesterday, I finally won a chance to write the blog. I thought it was wonderfully written, but the men seemed unimpressed. The next thing I was told is that it was "lost" in cyberspace somewhere. Hmm. I seem to be outnumbered here. In any case, I'll try a new one today and see if it gets posted this time. . .
What a wonderful day we had! We awoke to bluebird skies and a gorgeous view of Namche Bazaar and the surrounding peaks. We departed just after breakfast and hiked up, up, and more up to Khumjung at 12,475 ft where we visited the Hillary School. We have with us a couple of special "flat" children inspired by the "Flat Stanley" book. One flat child took a peek at the school with us.
After a short stop at the bakery in Khumjung, we descended through an enchanting rhododendron forest down, down, and more down to our lunch stop in Phunkgi Thanga (nicknamed Funky Town by Mr.Tuck) at 10,800ft. With full bellies, we climbed up, up, and more up. During our climb, the clouds rolled in and a blanket of fog made our enchanting hike even more mystical. As we hiked, we could hear the gentle clanging of a yak bell calling out from the fog. An occasional person or yak would emerge from the fog, pass us, and then disappear again. Finally, we began seeing the occasional monk emerge from the fog and disappear, indicating to us that we had reached the Tengboche monastery (12,800ft). We will visit again tomorrow, hopefully when the skies are clear. Finally, we descended down, down, (well, just a little down) to Deboche at 12,325 ft. We are spending the evening warming in the teahouse while the fog begins to lift outside to reveal the surrounding hillsides. --Kim
We had a wonderfully serene rest day today. It started with a prolonged breakfast scramble brunch, transitioned to hours of lounging, and culminated in a few hours of practicing fixed rope travel and running belays. Now we're fixin' for a burrito dinner. Tomorrow we hope to establish a cache up high so we're ready to make a summit bid if and when we get a good weather window, which could come in as little as a few days. The forecast is promising, but we won't hold our breath at this altitude.
Today the team got to stretch their legs and expand their lungs hiking on El Rucu Pichincha. This peak stands at roughly 15k at the foothills of Quito. The nice thing about this hike is we get to take a gondola to 13k before we start walking. The team performed well and looked strong and ready for the volcanos to come.
The clouds rolled in and out through the day, creating some mystery on where we actually were. Were we in Lord of the Rings? Would a dinosaur appear? Who knows! You truly can't beat the beauty out here.
Next, we go to Fuya Fuya to continue to allow our bodies adjust and compensate for the decrease in pressure and less oxygen molecules to suck in. We say goodbye to Quito and hello to the rest of the journey!
Namaste from Gorak Shep.
Happy to post that the team's objective of taking time lapse pictures of the Milky Way spinning over and around the tallest mountain of the world has been accomplished!
Despite the frigid cold and with permission from the ever watching sentinels of Pumori and Nupse, we biouvaked last night at 5,400m on the side hills of Kala Patar. Looking right at the summit pyramid of Everest, we had the clearest evening one can imagine; a crisp sky would merge without interruptions with the sharp, silky white silhouette of the mountain ridges while being lit by a perfect moon.
Half way through the night, we'd experience once more why we westerners owe so much to the local people of the himalaya; our Sherpa Nawang would meet us bring up a 2l thermos of tea as we were experiencing the frost accumulating over our sleeping bags and camera equipment.
Today, with the memories of an spectacular night, we payed a visit to the Khumbu Glacier's morraine where the Base Camp for Everest is set during the climbing season.
We are now enjoying dinner at our lodge, with our minds set in our descent that starts tomorrow. Our first stop will be Dingboche to enjoy again astonishing views of the N. Face of Ama Dablam.
More updates to come in a couple of days from the thicker air villages of the Khumbu.
RMI Guide Elías de Andrés
Pulling hard for you Big Marc!! You got this!
Sending love and warmth from your fans in Seattle! Looking forward to cheersing your success with an ice cold rainier
Posted by: Patrick Smyton on 5/31/2021 at 10:31 pm
It is about six pm Pacific and I’m hoping you are all so snug at 17,000’ tonight. Wishing you all safe climbing and clear skies. Go, team, go!!
Posted by: Bethany on 5/31/2021 at 6:07 pm
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