Most Popular Entries
Hi RMI this is Linden Mallory calling, it’s about 10 AM on Monday morning and we are calling from Denali Base camp.
We made it down this morning. We woke up about midnight last night and had the beginnings of a descent freeze, so we decided to pack up and see how the glacier treated us. We fired up the stoves and cooked up some breakfast and then we were walking in the middle of the night. It was a long but relatively uneventful walk down the glacier. We picked our way down and made it to Base camp about an hour ago. Right now we just packed up all our gear and we are waiting on the airplanes to come and pick us up. We have some low hanging clouds but we are fairly optimistic, a few planes have made it in.
So hopefully our next call is from Talkeetna. We'll check in and let you know how it goes.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Greetings from La Malintzi, the former Mexican Olympic Team training grounds and our first chance to taste a little altitude. Today we left Mexico City and arrived here, quickly getting ready for our hike up to 13,800 feet. We walked through dry forests before leaving the trees behind and gaining the ridge of La Malinche where we were able to see our future objectives, Ixta and Pico de Orizaba.
Tonight we will get some rest and start our journey to Ixta.
Everything and everyone is in place at the tip of South America... ready for a flight to Antarctica. The past few days have been fun, but also a little stressful and hectic. There were the usual assortment of missed flights and lost luggage, but in the end, our team of five climbers made it down the length of the world intact. I arrived two days ago with the bulk of the team equipment and spent a day shopping for extra provisions and getting over jet lag. Today was the official start to things, as we began at 10 AM with our official introductory meeting with ALE (our logistics company for this trip) This orientation was a two-hour long gathering of all those who will be sharing the Ilyushin 76 transport plane with us to Antarctica. Roughly, there are about 25 climbers bound for Vinson who will be the big Russian jet's final customers bound for the Ice this season.
It has been fun to run into old friends and guiding partners down here, as usual. Mike Sharp, one of the principals of ALE, gave our briefing today and had me reflecting back to my first visit to the continent in 1995 when he and I spent a stormy week in a tent together at Jone's Sound on the Antarctic Peninsula. He showed slides of the operation at Patriot Hills and described the program out at Vinson Basecamp. He tried to impress on those assembled just how far from any government bases they would be and how independent and self sufficient the company and its customers must be. Afterward, I walked with my five climbers (we'll meet our second guide, Namgya, down on the ice, where he is already working with other teams) out into the bustling but friendly center of Punta Arenas. This city of 150,000 is a gateway for tourists coming to see Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego as well as Antarctica, but it is also an industrial town of great importance to Chile. We walked the few blocks back toward Magellan's Strait, and into our hotel at the water's edge. The next task was to get rid of the bulk of our gear and supplies. We brought it all downstairs to be weighed and collected on a truck. ALE will do the heavy work of loading the mammoth IL 76 out at the airport today in the hope that we'll get to fly tomorrow morning.
I got together with the team in the evening to go over maps and pictures of the Ellsworth Mountains in order to get everybody up to speed on which glaciers we'd be landing on and climbing up. We discussed strategies and expected hurdles... but I hope that we also got rid of some of the worry and nervousness that stems from choosing a goal in such a far-off and unique environment.
The work done, it was time for a dinner out on the town and a little relaxation. Punta Arenas has great dining spots... but we don't want to visit many more of them. Our hope is that we get a call early tomorrow telling us that the weather window is open and that we should get our boots on and get set for flying to Antarctica.
El burro sabe mas nosotros?
The mules don’t go past Base Camp but we do. We carried half our supplies and equipment from base camp to Camp 1 today at 16,400ft. Our heavy loads, the elevation and lose footing challenged all of us. We all made it and hopefully will sleep well tonight. The return to Base Camp was much faster and more fun.
The mules do this for room and board. Seven of us paid to sleep in a tent and haul gear/supplies up abd down the mountain.
Personally I am impressed and extremely thankful for the team dynamics. Everyone is so supportive, encouraging, concerned for each other. We met less than a week ago but everyone truly cares for each other. We all have the same goal- for All of Us to have fun and reach the summit.
Some of the mules don’t seem to play as well together, so, even if we are not smarter, we have that over them.
XXOO,
Climber Norm Cognetto
×
New Post Alerts:
Aconcagua Expedition January 12, 2024
Well, today was our
first full day as a team. We met up for breakfast at 9 a.m. and then launched into a good meet-and-greet and a big download of info about our climb. It seems like everyone will be getting along famously and that's always a good sign.
After our team meeting we reviewed the gear needed for the climb and how to pack it all up. Then it was lunch time. The staff here at the Dik Dik has been treating very well and the food is amazing. Lunch today was three courses, dinner was five! We're all carbo-loading for the trek and everyone is psyched to hit the trail tomorrow!
RMI Guide
Seth Waterfall
Sunday, June 23rd, 2013
We woke up with a couple of inches of snow on the tents this morning. No storms or winds, just the friendly June kind of
Denali snow.
We had a very pleasant rest day. We checked in with the camp gossip and watched a few teams head up the fixed line towards 17k. Our plan is to head up to
17,000 ft and make a camp. We have really been doing a great job of sport eating and no one has had any problems with this altitude. We are all very excited because we do not drag any sleds up past this camp.
RMI Summit Team 6
P.S. Lance wants Penny to know that he is keeping up with his dental hygiene. (But the rest of him has not washed in ten days!
Also,
Uchal says Happy 2nd Birthday Lulu!
On The Map
Welcome to the start of the RMI Aconcagua Expedition!
Everybody in the group is in Mendoza and we are very excited. Our plan is to have dinner and try the great Argentinian beef! Tomorrow morning we will get the climbing permits and do some shopping for lunch food and other last minute items. After that we will drive three hours through the Andes Mountains and arrive at Los Penitentes (8200-8500 feet) to spend our first night at altitude and start with the acclimatization.
We will be checking in tomorrow.
-RMI Guide Gabriel Barral and the RMI Aconcagua Expedition
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!
The Four Day Climb Led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Roland Scott reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. Brent Okita reported a beautiful day on the summit with great route conditions. The team is on the descent and will be back at Rainier Basecamp this afternoon to celebrate.
Congratulations Team!
Friday, June 4, 2021 - 3:09 pm PT
After our dry run yesterday, we got to do the real thing today. We landed on to the Kahiltna at precisely 10 am, and boy was it already hot! We were hoping to hit the ground running, but talking to teams coming off the lower Kahiltna and looking at the temps we decided to take the day to review skills, dig a cache and organize.
Due to the hot temps we are switching to a night schedule so we will sleep through the heat of the day today and depart when things firm up! Morale is high and we are super excited to be on the mountain!
RMI Guide JT Schmitt and team
Previous Page
Next Page
Welcome back on low-altitude land! Kudos to the great guides who made it happen.
Alysse in the Forest
Posted by: Alysse on 7/11/2011 at 4:26 pm
Glad to hear everyone is safe and sound, can’t wait to hear all the stories. Thank you Linden for all the reports and getting everyone up and down safely.
Posted by: Toni on 7/11/2011 at 3:50 pm
View All Comments