Today was our rest day, and that's exactly what we did!
We started the day off with a brief review of how to use our ice axes and crampons just a few feet from our camp at 12,000' on Mt. Elbrus (there's plenty of snow very near). And quickly transitioned into another delicious breakfast with plenty of coffee. Once our bellies were full everyone returned to our bunk space and relaxed till lunch. It is vacation after all! We had lunch and then discussed tomorrows climbing plan so that we could do a little prep work before settling in tonight. If all goes well our plan is to have breakfast at 1am then catch a snow cat ride up to about 15,000ft and begin our climb from where we left off yesterday. I'm expecting the climb to take about 6-8 hours up and about 3-4 ours back down. So, if all goes according to plan we should be on top around 9 a.m. our time!
Everyone is excited for tomorrow.
Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Congratulations to the whole team. What a wonderful view from the top and a great achievement. You all look happy and healthy. And best of all you have arrived safely at the lodge. All our love to Jennifer and the whole team. Thanks for the safe journey. Love Mama Z
A big hello from Kislovodsk -
Wow! What an amazing 36 hours it has been. After leaving Camp 2 yesterday at 8:00 am, we reached the summit of Elbrus at 2:00 pm. Despite a slight wind delay in the morning, the weather cooperated with us all day, and we had clear views from the highest point in Europe. The team did an amazing job climbing the nearly 3000' from camp, and all the hard work really paid off.
After celebrating our success, we began the descent down the mountain. We first made our way back to Camp 2, packed up all of our gear, and then make the final descent to Camp 1. We established camp once again at the toe of the glacier and got a good night's rest at this lower elevation. We got up early for the last day of climbing and retraced our steps to Basecamp, where our ride was waiting for us. It was slow going back to Kislovodsk, but made it in time for a big meal and some much needed hot showers. After nine days on the mountain, we are back to sleeping in a real bed. Life is good!
Wind found its way right down into Everest Basecamp today, flapping tents, tarps and prayer flags indiscriminately. The upside to this was that the air stayed quite clear and sparkly throughout the day, without any haze or smoke creeping up-valley from Nepal's inhabited regions.
Those of us down for rest knew by breakfast that the team at the South Col had not left their camp the night before on a summit bid. Peter Whittaker reported that the winds had actually decreased as the team approached their "go-no-go" decision point in the night, but that clouds had enveloped the peak of Everest and that snow had fallen in the night. Ultimately, Peter said that the poor visibility had torpedoed any attempt last night and that his team would put their hopes into a new bid this evening.
The Col team is spending the day at rest close to 26,000 feet above sea level. This shouldn't hurt their chances for climbing well: in fact, an opportunity to catch up on hydration, rest and feeding will probably make them stronger-provided that they are availing themselves of the bottled oxygen supply from time to time. But that supply isn't unlimited, by any means, and "kicking back" at 8000 meters isn't simple or easy. We are all hoping that tonight will be the night for the team to break free of the tents and go for a climb. Wind and weather need to cooperate, and the game may get a bit more complicated in terms of timing and traffic flow. Our climbers will not have the route to themselves, as several other teams will have made it up from Camp III to the Col today. But I'm certain our team has anticipated that and will make whatever adjustments are needed to avoid bottlenecks and jams.
Down here in Basecamp, it has been a day for reading, reviewing weather reports, playing games and mostly sitting inside, out of the wind. Linden Mallory (our Basecamp manager) went for one of his traditional fast hikes at midday. Tom (the video dispatch editor) experimented today with various odd beard configurations before scrapping the whole thing in favor of the clean-cut look. Erica and Seth went for the post-lunch-leg-stretcher-walk down along the glacial moraine toward Gorak Shep. Melissa is once again enjoying good health and a day to chat with her friend Amber (up to volunteer for several days with the HRA clinic next door). Cherie worked her normal morning magic with sat-phones, emails and BGANs in order to keep the team connected with Eddie Bauer/First Ascent headquarters back in Bellevue, WA. Kent Harvey tinkered with his cameras and heeded my monotonous advice to rest, rest, and rest a little more. Any day now, we'll spring back into action and put in one heck of a hard week of climbing... promise.
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.
The team has arrived at High Camp on Chimborazo, 17,300. It has been a roller coaster of emotion watching the weather. One minute it looks perfect and the next it is cloudy and windy. So we are just doing everything we can to be ready for a summit push tonight. Dinner will be ready at 5:30 pm, with a little charcuterie spread preceding. We be sleeping in tents on a gritty, windy mountain but we are not barvarians! We will eat the finiest dried meats, cheese and olives the Mega Maxi grocery store has to offer.
We will be up climbing under the stars (hopefully) on the switchback deprived trail tonight. It literally goes straight up.
June 26, 2017
Today was a well deserved rest day! Yesterday was quite the endeavor and I think everyone was happy to not have an alarm clock to answer to. We stayed cozied in our sleeping bags until the sun hit our tents and the warmth beckoned us out around 9:45 am. Emerging from our tents we wet straight into a leisurely Quesadilla breakfast, a special request by Pepper Dee, who turned 26 today! Later in the day we took a walk to the Edge of the World and everyone got to strike a pose while peering out over the vast expanse of glaciers and mountain peaks. I may be bias but I think the best picture involved a blow up couch that the birthday boy had hauled up all the way from base camp! We finished the day off with a quick dinner and chat about plans for tomorrow. If the weather cooperates we will be headed to 17,000' camp in order to be in position for our summit bid! Yeehaw!
Good night from 14!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
Julian… AMAZING!!!
Nice work pulling it up to 17K on the big wall and fixed lines.
The photo back down at The Edge in 14 camp is spectacular. Happy that you and your team that have amazing weather. Saturday looks like it might dump metres of snow again, but then you’ll be back in the clear. Best of luck!!! Stay safe.
Stephen
Posted by: Stephen Wright on 6/28/2017 at 11:03 am
What kind of pose did you strike Gloria!
Posted by: Michelle Weekly on 6/28/2017 at 1:11 am
Poor conditions for flying continue to delay the start of our Antarctic expedition. Reports were that snow was in the forecast for Union Glacier. It is already a bit of a tricky proposition to land a large four engine jet transport on an ice runway in the interior of the continent, and so we put up no objections to our logistics company's plan to push back departure.
But of course, Punta Arenas, the jumping off point for our Vinson climb, is coincidentally the jumping off point for exploring the beauty of Patagonia. We rented some cars and left Punta at midday, driving up to Puerto Natales. The sky was pretty well choked with cloud, but we could still make out the foundations of great snowy mountains in the distance, across wide open and windswept prairies. A great many unidentified raptors and other beautiful birds were playing and hunting along the road. We saw no shortage of sheep. Tomorrow, our intention is to enter Torres Del Paine National Park to sight see and hike. We'll keep the main goal -to climb to Antarctica's highest point- firmly in our thoughts, but in the meantime we'll open our eyes to some of the beauty of South America.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
We have spent a few days in Mendoza City enjoying the great weather that this place offers in January (southern hemisphere summer). The swimming pool was the RMI meeting center during the afternoons...
Dinners (Argentinian beef and Malbec wines) have been excellent according to the taste of our team. The team members began to depart to the U.S. today. This was a great trip, with a lot of fun, unique views, amazing people, and a safe, successful ascent.
Cheers and thank you for following our progress on this expedition to the top of South America.
RMI Guides Gabriel Barral, Pete Van Deventer and Garret Stevens
Hello from Quito. We had a great day of climbing today, beginning with an alpine start at midnight. The weather was overcast, breezy, and very humid for the first hour or so of our climb. But, as luck would have it, the clouds dissipated, the wind ceased, and the temperature was perfect for climbing. We climbed swiftly up the glaciated slopes of Cayambe, and arrived at the large summit Bergschrund just before 7 a.m. Without an obvious ramp or snowbridge to cross, we decided that we had had a great climb on a beautiful morning, and that we had reached our summit at 18,700', just 200' shy of the top of Cayambe. We did enjoy a nice long break up top, with great views of the volcanoes and Quito to the south, Columbia to the north, and the rainforest to the east!
After descending, we quickly packed up and headed back to Quito for a shower and some good food.
We will be headed back to the states tomorrow. Thanks for checking in on our progress!
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Congratulations to the whole team. What a wonderful view from the top and a great achievement. You all look happy and healthy. And best of all you have arrived safely at the lodge. All our love to Jennifer and the whole team. Thanks for the safe journey. Love Mama Z
Posted by: patricia Blitz on 7/13/2013 at 2:06 pm
Larry,
Well done, once again!
Howard
Posted by: Howard Norman on 7/13/2013 at 10:58 am
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