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Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Alex Halliday
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer and Alex Halliday reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Alex reported windy conditions on top. The teams will descend and return to Ashford later today.
Congratulations climbers!
Posted by: JT Schmitt, Joe Hoch, Ellison Boord, Lily Emerson, Evan Sather, Charlie Harrison
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climb July 13 - 16 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today led by RMI Guides JT Schmitt and Joe Hoch. The teams reported winds around 45 mph towards the summit. That means they didn't spend much time on top today. As of 7 am they were on their descent and headed back to Camp Muir. The teams will continue down from Camp Muir later this morning and return to Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon for their celebration ceremony.
Congratulations to the Footprints of Fight climbers!
Posted by: Hannah Smith, Devin Guffey, Keeley Rideout, Jess Wedel
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Mt. Rainier RMI and SheJumps Climb, led by Hannah Smith, reached the summit today at 5:40am with 100% success! They have started their descent from the crater rim and will return to Basecamp later today.
This team humbly crushed the route and completed in style!
Posted by: Number one fan on 7/13/2021 at 11:38 pm
Congrats!!! What an amazing accomplishment!!
Posted by: Kimberly Austin-Ellis on 7/12/2021 at 3:45 pm
Posted by: Mike King, Camille Leininger, Leif Bergstrom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 10,781'
The Mt. Baker Coleman Deming team July 23 - 25 reached the summit today around 6:45 am. RMI Guide Mike King reported a warm night and great views north to Vancouver of the North Cascade peaks. The team returnted to Camp before noon. They will continue their descent to the trail head and conclude their program this afternoon.
Nice job team!
What a great climb with a great group of people. Truly appreciated our amazing guides that were flexible with the route.
Posted by: Heather on 7/26/2021 at 7:48 am
How Awesome of a challenge Jake! Great job Team! Looking forward to seeing pics and hearing about your climb
Posted by: Jodi Walny on 7/25/2021 at 6:15 pm
Posted by: Kiira Antenucci, Joey Manship, Augi Fleer
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 10,781'
RMI Guide Kiira Antenucci and Team reached the summit of Mt. Baker via the Easton Glacier. The team had a great three days of climbing. The Easton Glacier Route of Mt. Baker is perfect for the beginner looking to learn about climbing on glaciers, or the experienced climber seeking to stand atop a northwest classic.
Congratulations Team for taking on the challenge!
Congratulations to all Army hikers who have found their grit again. You made it!
Posted by: Vickie on 8/2/2022 at 2:21 pm
On The Map
Strong work! Congrats to The Team and our main man Larry. Get back safely. The Shasta “Guys”.
Posted by: Tom F. on 1/26/2012 at 11:49 am
Larry,
Hope all continues to go well. It’s terrific!
Holly
Posted by: holly seaton on 1/24/2012 at 8:59 am
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer
Categories: Mountaineering Fitness & Training
The ability to measure your gains throughout a training program is a great way to stay motivated and identify areas that you want to work on more. In college I raced on the cross-country ski team. On the team, we had several different benchmark sessions throughout our summer and fall training seasons. These sessions helped measure strength, anaerobic threshold, race speed, and endurance. While the demands of nordic ski racing are somewhat different than mountaineering, these categories still apply directly to mountaineering. If you incorporate tests into your training plan early, you’ll have a benchmark to compare each subsequent test to. With a tool to identify your progress, you’ll be amazed at the progress you will make in getting faster, stronger, and fitter!
As food for thought, a couple of the events that we used were:
A Strength Test: The test encompasses three different core exercises that isolate different muscle groups: sit-ups, push-ups, and dips. Starting with sit-ups, do as many complete sit-ups as possible within a 1-minute span, rest for 30 seconds, and then repeat. We did the same with both push-ups and dips, keeping track of the numbers. When repeating the test later in the season, you are able to track your gains in core strength.
3000-meter running test and time trials: Both allowed us to compare times over a consistent course and test aerobic thresholds. The 3000m is long enough (7.5 laps of a standard track) to attain a good idea of how you can push and maintain over an extended distance. Time trials are the same, though distance and mechanism can vary (20 kilometers on a bike or a 45 minute uphill run). Longer courses focus on aerobic capacity (endurance), while shorter events move more towards the aerobic threshold (the ability to process lactic acid and maintain aerobic respiration).
Uphill sprint test: Running uphill as hard as I could pushed me into the anaerobic zone and measured maximum performance. Alpine ski areas, a local uphill grind, or even a long set of stairs are a great place to do this test. Find a section 2-3 minutes long, duck your head, and give it all you have.
Be creative with creating your own benchmark tests! Enter a 5k race periodically, use your local stadium stairs as an anaerobic test, and create a strength test that works for you. The options are pretty limitless, and when you see how much time you’ve dropped on that uphill run, or how many more sit-ups you can do over the period, you’ll be that much more psyched to keep getting after it. As always, be careful, especially at the beginning. Training only works if it’s making you stronger so train smart and stay injury free!
_____
Pete Van Deventer is a senior guide at RMI Expeditions. A former collegiate nordic skier, Pete climbs and guides around the world, from the Andes to Alaska. Pete is leading an expedition on Denali's West Buttress in May. Also an avid skier, Pete has sailed and skied on several occasions through Norway's Lofoten Islands, read about the adventure on the RMI Blog.
Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!
Posted by: Jake Beren, Avery Parrinello
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 10,781'
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Melissa Arnot, Mark Tucker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
Elevation: 17,575'
Mark,
Thanks so much for all the updates and a hearty congrats to you, Dave, Melissa, and your team! You may not remember, Mark, but my wife and I met you on Everest 2010 and most recently coming down the Mweka Route on all of our last day on Kili last August. We enjoyed chatting with you.
Best,
Brandon & Kristine Chalk
Posted by: Brandon Chalk on 5/29/2012 at 2:36 pm
Great news! Thanks for the update.
Posted by: jeff d on 5/28/2012 at 4:18 am
Posted by: Christina Dale, Dominic Cifelli
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 12,300'
The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Christina Dale and Dominic Cifelli turned at the top of Disappointment Cleaver early this morning. The team had clear skies above, but due to recent winter-like storms, route conditions on the upper mountian are unstable. The team is in route to Camp Muir and will be descending back to Paradise in the early afternoon.
Congratulations to today’s team!
Congratulations A&R
Posted by: Mk on 7/17/2022 at 7:40 am
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