Today we waited out the snow by having our own avalanche course right here on the Ruth glacier. Skies cleared to a beautiful evening during dinner. The team is excited to go explore some new terrain tomorrow under blue skies!
Fresh off our successful summit of Malinche dodging thunder storms, our Mexico Volcanoes team pulled into La Joya, our basecamp for Volcan Iztaccihautl, to find dime-sized hail falling and lightening cracking just overhead.
We overheard a trip report from some nice climbers who had camped at 15,500'. “Our hair was buzzing. We threw everything metal out of the tent, then the lightening struck! I still can’t feel my thumbs!”
This pretty well made our decision for us to not walk out into the storm to our high camp on a ridge. Easy decision, but it meant that summiting Ixta the next day would be anything but easy, and could only be done in a single push from La Joya.
We discussed with the team that this would be a very long and demanding day, and they were all excited for the challenge.
And they crushed it! We left camp at 1am and walked the normal three miles and 2,000 feet to high camp, then turned to the upper mountain, and no one flinched. Eight and a half total hours of climbing later we all stood in the sun on the 17,169' summit of Ixta.
Our total time on the climb was a little over 14 hours, with somewhere around 5,500 vertical feet. Half of which we normally do in a big day the day before. Strong work by our whole team!
As we pulled into Puebla around 6pm for our much needed rest day, there wasn't an open eye in the van.
Last night a large electrical storm passed over Mt. Elbrus. It brought hail, strong winds, and shaking thunder. We woke up this morning to find a few inches of fresh snow at our doorstep and a lack of electricity flowing through our local power grid. After our standard 8:00 AM breakfast, the winds and snow picked up considerably until it became unpleasant to venture beyond the impenetrable comfort of our repurposed shipping container homes. The forecast for tomorrow showed no improvement in weather.
We decided that instead of sitting in the wind and snow doing nothing for two days, we would ride the lift back down to town, eat pizza, and sleep in real beds. That’s precisely what we did, and it has been nothing but enjoyable. We’ll spend the tonight in Cheget, and tomorrow afternoon we’ll ride the lift back up to camp in preparation for our summit attempt on Sunday.
RMI Guide JM Gorum
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. :)
Well after some long travel days getting to Mexico City the whole team met tonight, thus our adventure is underway! We are all excited to be here and get going. After introductions and a trip briefing we all went to La Opera, a beautiful restaurant in historic Mexico City. Enchiladas con salsa verde were fantastic.
Now for some packing and prep for tomorrow and a good night sleep. I can already tell this is a great climbing team.
That's all for now.
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens
Hello RMI blog followers. I wish we had something really really exciting to report. I guess the biggest thing is the entire team smells like peppermint. You see, our Dr. Bronners soap is made with organic peppermint, good for the environment. With the winds picking up we all took showers and broke down our Cabela's shower tent.
With team fresh and clean we spent the rest of the day triple checking our food and gear that we will carry up the mountain. Our route on Aconcagua will utilize three camps. So you can imagine, we need a good amount of food, fuel and personal gear. So tomorrow we begin the process of acclimatizing and caching gear higher up the mountain.
On a health note, the entire team has high oxygen saturation levels, which is fantastic. We are all acclimatizing very well. The forecast is for stronger winds, which I like...you might as well get the bad weather out of the way down low.
Stay tuned and we will let all of you know how our carry to 16,200 feet goes. For now, this is JJ saying ciao from 14,000'.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Hey RMI, this is Linden Mallory calling from 14,200' up on Denali. The team made it from 11 Camp to 14 Camp today. We woke up pretty early at 11 Camp and had a cloud deck right about at camp. Everything above us was clear and everything below us was socked in. So we packed up camp and it was pretty cool in the morning as we are on the shaded side of the mountain. Got everything thrown in the bags and started climbing and just had a spectacular day of climbing. Got above those clouds and stayed above them all day. It was a long day getting to 14,000'. We made it in by late afternoon, got settled and had a big dinner and crashed in the tents. The team is doing well. Everybody is healthy and we're all happy to be here.
The plan for tomorrow is to head back down to Windy Corner if we can and retrieve that cache we put in a couple days ago and then come back to 14 Camp. So it shouldn't be too big of a day. We'll try to check in tomorrow and let you know how it goes. Thanks.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Good work! It’s great to hear that everyone is healthy and enjoying the trek. We are so glad to have your entries to follow
. Keep up the good work.
Posted by: Lorraine on 7/1/2011 at 6:40 pm
So glad to hear you are all healthy! Lots of relatives are following you along your route…(via this blog). We are all learning a lot and joining in the excitement!
Posted by: Laurie Colaneri on 7/1/2011 at 12:18 pm
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
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.
Hi from St. Petersburg,
We finished our adventures in Russia by exploring the wonderful city of St. Petersburg. We began the morning by walking along the Mokya Canal, one of the city's many canals, to St. Isaac's Cathedral. Then we climbed the 211 steps to the rotunda where we were afforded fantastic views of the city's skyline, from the spires of the Admiralty and the original churches of the city to the cranes of the busy port city. Afterwards, we ventured across the historic center to the Church of the Savior of Spilled Blood, whose magnificent mosaic frescos are built around the very cobblestones upon which Tsar Alexander II was murdered. We wrapped up our city tour at the Hermitage Museum. Containing over three million pieces of artwork, the museum's size is daunting. But the building's incredible beauty, with its ornately decorated rooms, is enough motivation to explore all of its halls.
After a delicious dinner at a traditional Russian restaurant we ended our day by boarding a canal boat and navigating the city's waterways as the setting sun lit up the sky in a fiery red. It has been a memorable two weeks of adventures in Russia, from the cobblestones of Red Square to the snowy reaches of Elbrus, Europe's highest point, to the canals of St. Petersburg, we have had a trip to remember. Tomorrow we board our flights bound for home and look forward to sharing our stories with you in person.
Congratulations, Christian! Very proud of you. And thank you to Joe and team. Onward and upward to Orizaba! —- Dad
Posted by: Geoff Culbert on 2/8/2025 at 8:44 am
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