Casey called this morning from the hut after a successful summit of Cotopaxi! The team is packing their gear and will be back in Quito today.
Congratulations to the team after successful summits of Cayambe and Cotopaxi!
Well, I think we can say the 2011 RMI Everest Summit push has begun.
Dave, Linden, Kaji, Dawa, and Tshering left Camp 2 early this morning under great climbing conditions. They have all passed through Camp 3 and are
making good time toward the South Col. Dave and Linden stopped at Camp 3 and strapped on bottles of oxygen while the Sherpa opt not to use O2 at this point. They sure are amazing climbers.
All is good up here. We will keep you posted.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Thnx for the update Tuck. I didn’t get to meet you this season—was on the Island Peak leg with Linden & crew when you rolled into base camp.
Got caught up tonite on all the blog entries. Its 11:45pm PST, Thurs 5/19 my time. I won’t be able to get to sleep now…will be thinking of the boys up high & sending good karma their way.
Namaste & Dzum Dzum!
Posted by: Tim McLaughlin on 5/19/2011 at 11:46 pm
The Four Day Climbs led by RMI Guides Seth Burns and Joe Hoch walked into the summit crater of Mt. Rainier this morning around 6:45 am. The teams enjoyed calm and warm weather on the summit. They are currently on their descent and will return to Ashford later this afternoon.
It was another pre-dawn start... not quite as early or arduous as our Kilimanjaro summit day though. We piled into the Landcruisers and rolled out of Plantation Lodge at 6:30 AM bound for Ngorongoro Crater. The clouds were already low and thick and we were gaining altitude -so by the time we hit the rim of the giant collapsed volcano, we were in fog and murk. Michael and Francis didn’t have any trouble bringing the 4X4’s along the rough dirt road, giving the team the quintessential “African Massage” as we bounced along. Visibility had improved by the time we dropped into the crater with the critters. We began -as we had yesterday- focusing on individual animals, until the scale of this new place became apparent and we started counting herds rather than heads. Zebras caught our attention initially, since they were swarming the road. But Cape Buffalo, Wildebeest and gazelles became commonplace and routine within minutes as we saw them by the thousand. Early on we happened on a big pride of lions resting in the grass. There were two big males and perhaps 15 females and youngsters of various ages. Those included three tiny lion cubs that continually climbed over and under their mom, giving out little yelps and meows. The lions would sit up from time to time looking intently at hartebeest and zebra who were trying to figure out how close was too close in their morning walk to water. We moved on to cross the crater and visit hippos and a million new birds. Our picnic lunch was alongside a bunch more hippos in another corner of the crater. By this point, the clouds were clearing and the day was warming up. Our goal following lunch was to find Rhinos. We scoured the hills at the margins of the crater, we trained binoculars on a hundred distant grey rocks and logs and suspect shadows under trees. But the Rhinos didn’t come out to play. We contented ourselves with finding two mature bull elephants with enormous tusks. In late afternoon, our guides put the cruisers in four wheel drive and took us up and out of the crater. We made it back to the Plantation in plenty of time for sundown in the lap of luxury.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Hi All,
Today was a much deserved rest day in Puebla. The team slept in, did laundry, and enjoyed the sights here in Puebla. Famous for mole sauce, a thick chocolate and pepper salsa, so we had to go to one of the most well known mole restaurants for dinner. Everyone is well rested and excited for the next leg of our journey.
Thanks for following!
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens & Team
Today we awoke to mostly clear skies and got our first views of Cotopaxi (which means the neck of the moon). We had a leisurely start this morning with another fantastic breakfast. Next up was to get things in order and packed for our short (50min) hike to the hut on Cotopaxi.
The hut (Refugio in Spanish) on Cotopaxi is a far cry from anything that I have ever seen in the United States. It sits proudly on the flanks of the mountain at an astounding 15,700'. It's approximately 6000 sq. ft. and can accommodate around 70 people. There are two kitchens with propane stoves, two dinning rooms, and two fireplaces. Needless to say we are not really roughing it!
Our hike to the Refugio was a snowy one, and everyone did great. We had a huge spread for lunch with smoked salmon, cheese, crackers, olives and popcorn.
We are just getting ready for dinner and then it will be off to bed.
A few gusts of wind plowed through camp early this morning. Not enough to really test our First Ascent tents, just enough to remind that we, and those tents, will get all the test we can handle soon enough. On several mornings so far, we've seen big streamers of cloud and snow being ripped from high on Lhotse and Nuptse, betraying some fierce winds aloft. But on just as many other mornings, we've looked up at calm and still summits just begging some eager overachiever to come up to play. Of course, should someone come up to play right now, they'd be dealing with radically cooler temps -even in calm conditions- than we hope to experience in a month or so (when it will still be cold enough, thank you).
Normally, the winters in these parts don't produce a lot of snow. The pattern is for the Everest region to be raked by cold, jet stream winds through much of winter and spring. Nobody I know wants to be going for Everest's summit when the jet is near. The summer monsoon, which hits in June, (and not in May, please) is the phenomenon bringing big moisture -in the form of snow- to these mountains. The monsoon is not a popular climbing season since most climbers don't enjoy the avalanches that accompany big snows in big mountains. When we come over here for the Spring, or pre-monsoon, climbing season, the hope is that we can get our acclimatization/rope-fixing/load-carrying cycles completed in the tail-end of the windy/cold winter season. There is then normally a period of relative calm when the jet stream pulls north away from Everest and the monsoon hasn't yet moved in. Ideally, we jump all over that hypothetical window in the second half of May and get our carcasses to the summit and back. Some years the window is open for weeks... some years the window is open for fifty-seven minutes.
I've been encouraged so far this season to believe that the big peaks aren't continually being blasted by an organized jet stream stuck in the vicinity. Less wind up high means the route can be fixed earlier and people can start going for the summit earlier, thus alleviating some of the hazard that would exist if everybody is forced to go for the top in one narrow and congested window of opportunity late in May. We do receive excellent weather forecasts via our satellite email system, but at this early stage of the season, there isn't much to be gained by obsessing over the weather. Working, as we are, down low on the mountain and within giant valleys like the Western Cwm, we don't need forecasts much. If the weather is good, we climb, if the weather is bad we either sit or descend... simple.
Peter Whittaker and Ed Viesturs took their half of the climbing team up above ABC today for an exploration of the starting zone of the Khumbu Glacier. They got a good look at the immense and icy Lhotse Face from its base at around 22,500 ft. and then returned to ABC... working high, sleeping low... it is a repetitive theme in smart acclimatization. Melissa Arnot did the same thing today down at Camp I after her first night there. She tested the ankle that has been giving her trouble and previewed the route to CII for a little distance before getting back to rest another night at CI. She'll hope to join her team at ABC tomorrow.
Way down here at basecamp: Erica Dohring, Seth Waterfall, Kent Harvey and I have been packing and preparing to make the big move to Camp I tomorrow morning. Ang Kaji will be part of the crew, since Kent the cameraman has far more gadgetry than can be reasonably carried in one pack. Technically, we are resting today, but as usual, we are all keyed up and jittery and ready to get this party started. We sat with Linden Mallory and Jeff Martin, strategizing and coordinating. I laid out a plan that could put us up the hill for the next five days. We went "shopping" in the supply tent for yummy and familiar goodies from American supermarkets. We packed a few things for the Sherpa loads that will go up tomorrow. I talked with Tendi about whether to go the old route (from two days ago) in the icefall, the new route (from a day ago), or the new, new route (from today, detouring a section of the new route that fell out yesterday). We've got fresh batteries for our radios and an order in with Chef Kumar for an early breakfast.
We are physically fit and rested. It is time to get in the game... weather permitting.
Big moves today. We bounced back and forth on whether to move this morning, as it snowed all night and was still when we woke up. After a bit of waffling we decided it was time. Though it was pretty cloudy and white at 11,000', it was dead calm, and it looked much the same above. We stayed in that cloud until Windy Corner and it was HOT. It acted much like a microwave and we were sweating, both from heat and loads. The theme was pretty similar to yesterday - our travel was smooth, it was hard work, but the team was strong and we clipped right along. Six hours after leaving 11,000', we walked into our new home at 14,000'.
VERY excited to hear the summit word!!!! Hoping for good weather behavior and smooth climbing.
Lots of folks here in “the middle” are watching and pulling for you all.
We came, we carried, and we crushed it! Today the entire team performed the incredible task of carrying half of our food and gear to Camp 1 at 16,400 feet. Every climber carried the weight up steep and loose terrain without faltering and made it safely back to Basecamp with plenty of energy leftover. We have one more rest day at Plaza Argentina Basecamp before we leave all the comforts behind and begin our slow ascent from camp to camp over the next week in an effort to make the summit.
Hello -
We are checking in live from the huts on Mt. Elbrus at a grand altitude of 12,001 feet. We have settled into our cozy home with gear and clothing splayed out all over!
The team took a hike up to 13,104 feet today and we returned for a great lunch made by our Executive Chef Masha. I'm not lying when I say we had caviar...we did.
We are slowly adjusting to the new altitude. After doing this adventure year after year after year I firmly believe the reason why our teams do so well is our relaxed itinerary. Everyone is doing great and we are soaking in the beautiful mountain views.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Thnx for the update Tuck. I didn’t get to meet you this season—was on the Island Peak leg with Linden & crew when you rolled into base camp.
Got caught up tonite on all the blog entries. Its 11:45pm PST, Thurs 5/19 my time. I won’t be able to get to sleep now…will be thinking of the boys up high & sending good karma their way.
Namaste & Dzum Dzum!
Posted by: Tim McLaughlin on 5/19/2011 at 11:46 pm
View All Comments