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The clear, beautiful skies made for a cool and frosty night down at Ixtaccihuatl Basecamp. The team woke up to flakes of snow hitting our face, courtesy of the moisture from our breath. We ate our breakfast, packed our bags and were on our way.
The sun was strong, but a cool wind kept our temperature regulated quite perfectly as the team worked their way up. Our months of hard work and preparation paid off as the team was strong as ever. Making the move from 13,000ft to 15,400ft is no small feat, especially with the heavy loads of the day. We made short work of it though, getting to our high camp in around four hours flat. Now we need to move into camp, relax for a bit, and talk logistics for the day ahead. I’m proud of the way the team performed today and it makes me as hopeful as ever for our summit day tomorrow.
RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli
Posted by: Alex Van Steen, Mark Tucker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Carstensz Pyramid
Elevation: 13,900'
On The Map
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Categories: Mountaineering Fitness & Training
As you design a training plan to prepare for your next climb, data about your training and level of fitness is a really useful tool. One of the best ways to get an objective idea of your current level of fitness and to measure your gains is by tracking your heart rate with a heart rate monitor.
There are two main types of heart rate monitors available: watches that use an infrared sensor to your heart rate at your wrist and monitors that use a chest strap with two electrodes to record the electrical pulses from your heart. The infrared sensors on watches measure the change in the size of veins to record your heart beat, and can give a good rough idea of your heart rate trends. Movement of the watch on your wrist can interfere with the accuracy of the sensor however, so the normal movement that comes with training activities can mean that it doesn’t record your workout very effectively. The electrodes on a chest strap pick up the electrical signals from your heart very effectively despite any movement, and therefore and the best way to get a good picture of your workouts, and what we recommend.
Heart rate monitors are effective for a couple of different purposes. First and foremost, a heart rate monitor gives you the ability to track your training more accurately. Heart rate monitors use versions of the 5 training zones that most athletes utilize, so you can begin to build an accurate picture of how much time you spend in each zone and how effective a given period, week, or workout might have been for you.
A heart rate monitor also helps you to hit your target intensity zone for a given workout. This works in both directions; it can help you to tone it down on your long level 2 endurance training if you start to push a little hard, or it can let you know that you need to push even harder to make it to your target L4 zone on a set of intervals. One of the most helpful is setting an upper heart rate threshold alarm during your aerobic building workouts to warn you when you go too hard, which happens to most!
Tracking your heart rate over a period of time can also give you a picture of your overall fitness. As your training pays off, your resting heart rate should drop, and you will find yourself covering more ground and going faster, but at the same intensity. Conversely, a sudden spike in your resting heart rate may indicate that your training load is adding up and that you need to focus a bit more on recovery.
As an added bonus, most of the better heart rate monitors also have the ability to track your workout with GPS, so you can keep track of your training routes. A heart rate monitor won’t make you fitter, but it gives you invaluable information that allows you to create a more informed training plan.
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Posted by: Casey Grom, Ben Ammon, Erika Birkeland, Trevor Katz, Evan Sather, Ellison Boord
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climbs August 7 - 10 led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Ben Ammon reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. As of 7:30 am the teams were at 13,100' on their descent. They will return to Camp Muir for a short break before continuing down to Paradise.
The program will conclude this afternoon at Rainier BaseCamp.
Congratulations to today's climbers.
Thanks for a fantastic adventure! Guides Casey, Erika and Evan were great!
Posted by: Darrell Jesse on 8/11/2022 at 3:06 pm
Way to go Brian! We are so proud! Love, Mom and Dad
Posted by: Joan Schneider on 8/10/2022 at 8:55 am
Dave Hahn and Team Members from the Vinson Summit
On The Map
congratulations Mindy! So proud of your big achievement! You are great. Bill
Posted by: Bill Liu on 12/19/2011 at 1:17 pm
I hope soon I will be able to do what you have done, congratulations on your climb
Posted by: grover rose on 12/15/2011 at 4:13 pm
Posted by: Mike Walter, Taylor Bickford
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Mike Walter checked in from camp this afternoon. Mike reported avalanche conditions and decided to turn due to unstable snow conditions, rain on snow, some natural avalanche conditions and 30 - 60cm postholing.
They hope to climb thru Coleman-Deming and then hike out tomorrow.
Posted by: James Bealer, Josh Geiser
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 10,781'
The Mt. Baker Easton Glacier Team was on the summit of Mt. Baker at 11:24 am today. RMI Guide James Bealer reported a "Blue Bird" day of climbing, with clear skies, and warm temperatures. The team climbed in their t-shirts and only passed one team on the way to the top, perfect conditions. They are on their way back to camp where they will spend one more night before descending to the trailhead.
Congratulations Team!
Posted by: Alex Van Steen, Jake Beren
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 9,127'
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Posted by: Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
There are so many choices with heart rate monitors. Can you make a few recommendations? Thank you.
Posted by: Mike on 10/8/2023 at 9:17 pm
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