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Posted by: Dave Hahn, Ben Liken, Sean Collon
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 7,000'
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June 28, 2014 - 10:07 pm PT
So good to be on Denali. So good to be on the move again. With our late flight onto the mountain yesterday evening, there wasn't so much time to be ready for the late season tradition of walking out of basecamp at 4 AM this morning. We built our camp and put priority on getting good rest instead. Our thinking was that with so much snow (30 inches from the last storm) that we might get by just fine without the early start. We'd plainly seen the lower Kahiltna Glacier during our flight and it certainly didn't look like crevasse bridges were going to be a problem. So we got up at a civilized 7:30 AM and did our organizational work and set out for a daytime Denali departure. As we'd allowed ourselves to hope, crevasses were no problem. In fact the glacier was in better condition than it had been for late season in decades. We made three hour-long pulls with some fifteen-minute restbreaks in between. But in the end we decided not to push on to our normal first day camp goal of 8,000 feet. Despite our snowshoes, the walk was getting strenuous due to the great amount of unconsolidated new snow softening with the heat of the day. We camped at 7,000 ft where the East Fork meets the main glacier and we'll happily begin earlier tomorrow to get ideal surface conditions. Nice to see a few of the other late season guides on the move today as well, a bit of a reunion. Especially nice to hear from Adam Knoff at 11K on the radio and Billy Nugent on top.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Jeff Martin
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
Hello,
We had our pre-flight briefing this morning at 10:30 am. There were about 20 climbers from all over the world who met up at the ALE office in Punta Arenas for this very informative presentation about what will be happening over the next day or so. One of ALE's owners, Mike Sharp, covered all the details regarding our 4 1/2 hour flight down to Union Glacier. We learned that due to construction on the runway here at Punta Arenas, there is not enough distance on the runway for our plane to take off fully loaded. The solution: take off with only half the fuel needed for the trip and fly a short distance to Ushuaia, Argentina and top off the tanks. And by topping off the tanks, we are talking 40 tons of fuel. It will add a little time to our flight, but there's no refueling options on the 3800 mile round trip flight to Antarctica.
The plan now stands as us getting picked up at our hotel tomorrow morning at 4:45 am and heading out to the airport. They have already picked up our luggage and it will be loaded on the plane tonight and ready for our early departure.
Remember, it's only a plan at this point, as there are still a few big unknowns, mainly the weather at Union Glacier. Winds with blowing snow and poor visibility will mean that we will stay put for another day or two. But the forecast is looking favorable and we are ready to fly out whenever we get the green light.
Tonight we ventured off the usual circuit of restaurants and found a local's hangout. The food was great and we have Bill to thank for picking up the tab this time. Now it's early to bed because it will be early when we rise.
Hopefully the next dispatch will be from Antarctica!
RMI Guide Jeff Martin
Posted by: JJ Justman, Pete Van Deventer
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
Our Four Day Summit Climbs led by RMI Guides JJ Justman and Pete Van Deventer called from the “tippy tippy top of Columbia Crest” this morning. Pete reported his team reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 6:45 and the teams began their descent just before 8:00am. Pete reported the conditions as: light wind, sunny, clear skies, super nice, and relatively warm.
Congratulations to today's teams!
We woke up to howling winds, blowing snow, and cold temperatures. Not a good climbing day. We stayed in the tents most of the day and did some sport eating to make sure that we are energized for our summit bid when the weather clears. The sun finally came out and the winds died down in the afternoon. It turned out to be a gorgeous afternoon and evening. Keep your fingers crossed for us that the weather holds through tomorrow!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
We have been following your progress and think that you have been fortunate so far in the weather gods! Keep it up! Stay safe and we wish you great luck on your summit climb.
Posted by: Ruthann Rossiter on 7/2/2011 at 8:12 pm
Good Luck. Hope you can summit soon!
Posted by: Mom Haugen on 7/2/2011 at 3:59 pm
Bueno dias from Ecuador. Yesterday our team reached the summit of (the nearly 20,000') Cotopaxi! When we awoke at midnight, it was snowing lightly. By the time we had breakfast and were ready to start climbing, the snow had let up; some clouds lingered, but stars were visible. The weather for our climb remained excellent: mostly clear skies, calm wind, and relatively mild temperatures. Our team stood on the summit at 7:15 a.m., and was treated to excellent views of the 20,700' Chimborazo, the Ilinizas, and the active volcanos, the Pinchinchas, which rise above Quito. After descending, we traveled out of Cotopaxi National Park to our current location of the hacienda La Cienega. This beautiful hacienda was built in the late 16th century, and has a rich and interesting history, including having housed the first volcanological study of Cotopaxi, and a European geographical expedition to measure the meridians.
We all enjoyed hot showers and a great dinner, before getting some much needed rest. Today we will travel north to our next hacienda, Guachala. We'll rest our legs today before starting our next climb, Cayambe. Tomorrow morning before heading to the climbers' hut on Cayambe, we'll visit the world famous market at Otovalo.
We'll keep you up-to-date with our whereabouts.
Posted by: Tatum Whatford, Eric Frank
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
We’re excited to share that the Four-Day Climb led by Tatum Whatford and Eric Frank reached the summit early this morning! The team reported encountering some wind but otherwise enjoyed a beautiful morning high on the mountain.
After taking in the views from the summit, the climbers began their descent and are currently en route back to Camp Muir. They’re expected to return to Basecamp in Ashford, Washington, later this afternoon.
Congratulations to the entire team on a successful climb and summit!
Posted by: Zeb Blais, Billy Nugent
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 6,700'
The guide team monitored weather conditions throughout the night, only to find snow and poor visibility each time we looked out of our tent. With our time frame and weather forecast, our plan for the day is to pack up camp and take as much time as we need to get down the Chimneys safely. We'll send another dispatch from town.
Until then-
RMI Guide Zeb Blais & Team
Posted by: JJ Justman, Elias de Andres Martos
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Elevation: 17,340'
Hey everyone, this is Team Mexico, and believe it or not! Well, you should believe because I tell what this team is you rocking and rollin'! Hey team on the summit of Ixta what do you say? "Whaoo!" Yeah, I tell you what, that says it all. The team did just a fantastic job. We are on top of Ixta 17,300+ feet! It's a beautiful day, the sun us shining, there are some low lying clouds out in the distance. You can see Orizaba which is our next objective, but the team had a good a good day to get here on top, they did a great job. We are doing a little hydrating, and taking some hero shots on the summit by the crosses here on top, and that is about it! So, Elias, myself and Ulises, our guide here in Mexico all say hello to everyone back home. Hey gang, just give a big shout out to anyone and everyone you want to say hi to back home. (Shouts & Cheers from team)
RMI Guide JJ Justman
JJ and Team checking in from the Summit of Ixta
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Hello everyone:
It was a pretty mellow day here in Cheget. The team spent the day resting after our big climb. We mostly just relaxed around town doing a little shopping and catching up on some emails at the hotel. Everyone is packed up and ready for our trip to St. Petersburg tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
No sooner had I proclaimed a "season of no snow" than it got busy snowing. About three or four inches our first night at Lobuche and then another two inches yesterday afternoon. Both days were sunny to start and then gave way to big dark cumulus clouds with thunder and lightning to finish. The snow hasn't made the walking any more difficult for those of us with ski poles, boots and gaiters. The ultra-bright new snow surface, combined with intense high-altitude sunshine, can be hard on uncovered skin or eyeballs, but all of us are taking great care in those departments.
New snow down in these parts doesn't necessarily mean that the upper reaches of the big peaks are getting it, but one can hope. There isn't much question in my mind that the normal Nepalese route to the top of Mount Everest is easier and safer with ample snow cover. Particularly if it will be a busy and "crowded" season as this one shows every sign of being, then it will be best to have the loose rock covered with snow and frozen firmly in place. We can worry about such things more in a month or so. For now though, I won't mind if it snows each afternoon.
These last days on the trail have been extremely busy and congested, not quite like Interstate 5 through Seattle, but busy as heck with foot traffic nonetheless. Much of the Khumbu Valley is focused -in these weeks- on the Everest business, and as we come within a day or two of the mountain, all of that "traffic" becomes concentrated on a single segment of trail. Our expedition is one of perhaps thirty trying to move tons of gear by porter and yak-train to the head of the valley right now. Additionally, numerous and large trekking groups along with Everest climbing teams are all on the same trail and in the same few teahouses now. That isn't all a bad thing. Last night, the dining room of our Lobuche teahouse felt something like a school reunion for me, what with Scottish David Hamilton -the leader of the Adventure Consultants team- showing up. I'd last seen him in December in Antarctica. Ang Dorje, who has been living with his family in Eastern Washington and building wind turbine towers since I last saw him on Everest, was in the room. So was Austrian Walter Laserer, who was skiing around the upper reaches of Alaska's Kahiltna Glacier when I bumped into him in July. There was Lobsang, who'd led a trek I was on in the year 2000. Passang, who'd led the Hillary Step and been key to my tagging the top in October of 2006, was over standing by the stove.
Yesterday, I accompanied Ed Dohring on a round-trip hike from Lobuche to Basecamp. His GPS calculated that we moved over 11 miles in the process, and we did it in pretty good time, considering that we stopped nearly every 200 feet for me to say hi to another friend or acquaintance from the mountains. It can be a lot of fun, but at times it can be overwhelming to meet casually and between yak horns and tails for a moment with a climber or Sherpa that I've shared life-shaping expeditions with. Ed Dohring is now on his way home, as was planned all along. We finished his trip with that exploration of Basecamp, which is already quite impressive with tents popping up in every direction. While there, we sat outside eating plates of rice (our Sherpa team already has things up and running and ready for the team's arrival tomorrow) and gazing up at the jumble of the Khumbu Icefall. We could see the Icefall Doctors pushing the route of ladders and rope in the upper "popcorn" section, perhaps a third of the way through the Icefall. We dropped back down to Lobuche in the swirling snows and rejoined the team for a last night together. Ed and Erica said goodbye to each other this morning, as he left for Namche and we left for Gorak Shep.
A gorak is a big black bird that lives up high, a lot like a raven. Gorak Shep then translates to "dead raven," which doesn't truly do the place justice. Or maybe it does. Not much of a "town" up here in this large, sandy, dusty flat spot on the lateral moraines of the Khumbu. The place is important to trekkers, as it is the jumping off point for the short hike up Kalapathar. KP -at around 18,500 ft- is the lowest part of a ridge which merges into steep and sharp Pumori, and when one finishes hiking all of that ridge that can be hiked without specialized tools, one can get a big and famous view of Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse. Or... one can go to an internet cafe... at 17,000 feet and 25 rupees per minute... the web is in the Shep.
Our team is spending a final night on the trek. Tomorrow we'll go into Everest Basecamp and begin focusing more on the climb.
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Hello McKinley-Team!
I hope the weather stays well and that all of you are in a good mood.
Wish you all the best and special greetings to Hans!!!
Ute
Posted by: Ute Novak on 6/30/2014 at 10:48 am
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