Hey, this is Mike Walter calling on Tuesday the 25th of June. We are all at Chilcabamba Hacienda outside of Cotopaxi National Park. We spent two days at Cayambe, sleeping up above 15,000'. Yesterday we went out for our summit bid on Cayambe, we had a great day of climbing. The winds turned us around above 18,000'. We were within about 1,000' of the summit maybe 700' of the summit. But the winds, a cloud cap and some riming ice on our clothing turned us around. We are back at Chilcabamba resting and we'll head to Cotopaxi tomorrow to attempt that one. We are all doing well and enjoying our climbing here in Ecuador.
RMI Guide Mike Walter checks in from Ecuador after Cayambe climb.
Base Camp is a busy place these days as all of the teams have arrived and the route through the icefall is now open. In the daytime climbers and trekkers are constantly milling about camp, checking in with friends and other teams to see what everyone's plans are. It's quite a scene.
Since the Icefall Doctors completed the route to Camp 1 teams have been busy staking claims to the prime sites. At least one team has sent climbers to spend the night there thus starting their first acclimatization 'rotation'. The Sherpas in our team went to Camp 1 the day the Icefall Doctors completed the final leg of the route and marked off an area for our camp there. Today our team carried loads of gear to the camp. This accomplished two things. The first and most obvious is to transport some of our gear further up the mountain. The second is to aid our acclimatization by climbing to almost 20,000 feet before returning to Base Camp to recover.
This was my first trip through the icefall in it's entirety. Of course I've heard about it, read about it, and have had plenty of time to obsess about it over the last 6 days. But there's no way to really get a feel for it other than climbing through it. I have climbed on plenty of glaciers. In fact I've spent weeks on end living on glaciers. But climbing through an icefall, where the glacier drops off of a steep slope, picks up speed and breaks up into crevasses (you can fall in these) and ice towers called seracs (these can fall on you) is not a normal or common thing, even for a mountain guide.
So we got up at 2:15 am this morning and started our climb at 3am. There's two reasons to start this early. One is to get ahead of other people that may slow us down in dangerous sections. The other is to climb in the nice, cool temperatures of the night and avoid the oppressive heat of the day. Well, I must admit the 'cool' night time temps here are really ridiculously cold so getting out of my sleeping bag was the first crux of the day. From our camp it's about 45 minutes to the first big crevasses. The Icefall Doctors use aluminum ladders to bridge crevasses. On Rainier we also use ladders to cross crevasses the only difference is that on Rainier we'll use two to three ladders in a season, here there is about 35 ladders crossing crevasses and climbing up and down seracs. The Doctors do a great job of making things as safe as possible in the icefall. Of course there's the ladders, but they also place tons of rope on the route so you can always be clipped in and safe from a big fall.
Once in the icefall itself there are precious few places to safely stop for a break. The glacier is always shifting and moving so you really don't know when a chunk of ice may come crashing down. Your best bet for safety is to move quickly and to climb in control. Fortunately our team was able to stay fairly close together owing to our early departure. There were not many people for us to get caught behind and separated. We did manage to sneak in a couple of rest breaks, though we did make excellent time and we arrived at Camp 1 at the top of the icefall just before 7:00 am.
Camp 1 is a tricky place to camp. It is sandwiched in between the steep faces of Everest's West Ridge and the north face of Nuptse. Both sides of the valley are prone to ice and snow avalanches. The trick there is to position your camp so as to mitigate the danger from both sides of the valley. Also the climbing route from Camp 1 to Camp 2 currently avoids the big crevasses in the center of the glacier but passes directly under some avalanche paths on Nuptse. We were discussing the relative merits of two different campsites and where the climbing route will be the safest when a large avalanche came ripping down off of the summit of Nuptse. To our shock there was a large group of people on the climbing route, directly under the avalanche. Fortunately most of the snow and ice from the avalanche landed in the 'moat' between the glacier and the steeper slopes of Nuptse and the folks on the route, including some Sherpas from our team were only blasted with a 'powder cloud' from the avalanche. Still, this was a scary event and a reminder to be ever respectful of the power of the mountains.
The gang's all here! There are 12 of us in total on this Kilimanjaro adventure. Everyone is doing well and we've been enjoying the Rivertrees Lodge that is nestled inbetween Arusha and Moshi, and not so far from the base of Kilimanjaro.
Today was officially Day One for us (Day Three if you're following the itinerary on the RMI Website). So we had a round of introductions before discussing the upcoming program for the days ahead. The team spent the remainder of the day getting gear packed up, exploring the grounds of our peaceful Lodge and getting adjusted to the nearly 12-hour time change.
Tomorrow we hit the trail and everyone is looking forward to seeing the mountain and stretching the legs after those long flights!
May 24, 2017
Today began the exercise in storm living. The low pressure south of us arrived and brought with it a foot of new snow. The team entertained themselves with funny stories over a few rounds of hot drinks and a long breakfast. In the afternoon we stretched our legs with a four mile walk on the main Kahiltna Glacier before blowing snow and a disappearing track turned us back. Thankfully a little bit of stormy weather is not enough to lower the morale of this great group of strangers become friends. Tomorrow we anticipate more snow and winds but that will not be a problem for this team. Hope everyone at home is warm and dry.
RMI Guide Leon Davis
HAPPY BIRTHDAY PATTY!!! What a place to be to celebrate your day! You have a text with a birthday surprise when you return to civilization. You must be in heaven with all that snow! Thinking about your smile and hearing your voice in my mind every moment. Love, John
Posted by: John Kudla on 5/26/2017 at 1:32 am
JGH: Hope the weather conditions are getting easier for the group and that you are having a terrific time - see u Saturday though not sure what time?
Hugs, Mia
June 5, 2014 - 11:00 pm PT
We broke camp early today given our usual plan for getting down towards Basecamp and hopefully off the mountain in another day or so, but today not all went to plan. Some equipment malfunctions and mostly general fatigue has us camped again at 14,200', getting recharged for our walk back to the airstrip and closer to a burger, beer, and you.
The forecast looks good for walking down the Kahiltna so we're all hopeful.
Hope to see you all soon.
RMI Guides Brent, Leah and Nick
So excited that mission Denali is almost completed. Great Team and great Guides!!! Hope tonight will be your last night in the snow. Love to Daniel and the entire Team.
Mom & Rob
Posted by: Lena Akerman on 6/6/2014 at 9:57 pm
Sitting between the dogs, drinking a martini while Blair cooks. We are very excited for you and the group! Take care and be safe.
Debbie and Blair
RMI Guides Brent Okita, Zeb Blais and the Expedition Skills Seminar - Winter Team finished up a great week of training. The team has started their descent and will be back at Rainier Basecamp this afternoon.
Congratulations Team!
It was another majestic day here in Africa!
Today we visited the Ngorogoro Crater, considered by many to be the 8th wonder of the world. It's a 2 million year old caldera that over time trapped many animals inside its walls as it eroded. There are natural springs that feed the many bodies of water which keep the animals from migrating. We saw three of the big five and got nearly within arms reach of a female lion.
It was a pretty amazing day being so close to all the wildlife and it has left many of us in awe!
We rounded the day off with a visit to a working Maasai village and have returned to the Plantation Lodge for another great meal.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
If success is defined by waking up, having a good breakfast, climbing to a new height on Mt. Elbrus, getting our cache gear on place, and most importantly, getting down before the rain started, then we had a spectacularly successful day. It was a beautiful climb up to our cache site 11,500', with plenty of great photo opportunities, and everyone got a chance to stretch their lungs out after the last several days of traveling by planes and automobiles. The rain was kind enough to hold off until we got back, and with any luck, it will clear out tonight, setting us up for a move to camp1 tomorrow. We'll let you know how it goes!
Best from Russia,
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Seth Waterfall, and team
Pete and James…Wearing my Elbrus shirt in solidarity with you…Hope it’s clear and you get to see Black and Caspian seas…Spent two hours with Fred Monday…He did it - Fred’s an Iron Man !...Best…Waltero
RMI Guide Brent Okita led the Four Day Summit Climb August 7 - 10, 2013 to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Due to a lightening storm in the area the team delayed their start for the summit. Fortunately the weather cleared and they were able to leave Camp Muir en route to the summit. Brent reported a steady 20 - 25 mph with a cap waiting to form.
The teams will return to Camp Muir later this morning and then continue to Paradise. We look forward to seeing everyone at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's summit climbers!
Thursday, June 27th, 2013
We woke to a beautiful clear morning at 14,000 feet on Mt. McKinley. After a big breakfast, we headed over to the Stanford medical research tent to take part in their hydration/oxygen saturation study. Each person had six minutes to walk as many laps of a set course as they could, and then oxygen saturation was measured before and after. Needless to say, things got competitive. After nap time, we headed back to our cache at 13,500', and retrieved all of our food and gear. It was a short jaunt, and a great chance to stretch our legs. On deck for tomorrow is a rest day with fixed line practice and some wall building! We'll be in touch.
Cheers,
RMI Guides Pete, Geoff, Robby, et al
Tommy, I just wanted to say “hi”, and I miss you,,,,,
Rhonda
Posted by: Rhonda Kitchen on 6/28/2013 at 7:54 pm
Hi Daddy….Did you find the Yeti yet?
Good luck the rest of the way!
Love Maya
Hola Guapo,
I guess the altitude is going to get sharp fast;it appears that you a very close to the top by the map! We are so excited for you!
I hope you did well with the laps! I’m curious to hear how you finished in that scenario.
It’s been raining for two days…we have been napping a lot too!
Animals are all great!
Miss you!
Guapa
Posted by: marion and maya on 6/28/2013 at 9:41 am
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Oh, that sneaky Cayambe. Give the doggy a pet for me at Chilcabamba, and sending good weather thoughts your way for Cotopaxi. xoxo K2 & Kobi
Posted by: K2 on 6/25/2013 at 8:32 pm
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