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More clouds filled the Ruth Amphitheater this morning when we woke up to check the weather and give a report to the pilot. The mist and low hanging clouds meant no flying this morning but it did give us the opportunity to have a relaxing morning cooking up breakfast in camp and then heading out for some ski touring nearby. This little weather system passing through the
Alaska Range brought us a few inches of fresh snow and we found great turns on the slopes nearby. We spent a few hours making laps, forgetting about the weather and immersing ourselves in the simple joy of sliding downhill on skis.
By early afternoon the clouds looked as if they were beginning to thin and we headed back to camp to pack out the runway for the plane and get our gear in order should the weather break enough for a flight to get in. By the time we finished the clouds were still lifting - albeit slowly - and we entered the waiting game, exerting whatever futile will power we could muster to clear the skies while passing the time telling stories, sharing jokes, and even building a little jump in camp to catch some air on skis.
By 5:30 in the evening the views across the Amphitheater were clear and we got the go ahead that a plane was on its way. Shortly thereafter a red Otter poked over the ridge lines above us, made a few sweeping turns above the glacier and came into land. We hauled all of our gear over to the waiting plane, piled everything in and were soon airborne, flying low over the glacier we walked yesterday morning. We buzzed right down the Ruth Gorge, staying low as the summits of the surrounding peaks were still covered in clouds and followed the winding track of the Ruth Glacier out of the mountains and back into the Alaska foothills. The riot of green spring buds covering the forest tops, intersected by rivers still carrying winter ice, was a little bit of a shock after being in a world of ice, snow, and rock for the better part of the past week and the air gradually felt warmer as we neared Talkeetna.
We landed in Talkeetna and swapped our ski boots for flip flops, our soft shells for jeans (after a nice long shower), and are headed out for dinner. Despite the unpredictable weather, it's been a fun week of adventuring in the Alaska Range.
- RMI Guide
Linden Mallory & Team
Hello from Shira Camp,
When we woke up this morning, it was crystal clear and the mountain was completely visible. The group wasted no time packing up camp and we were walking by 8:00. With the early start we completely avoided all the trail traffic and pretty much had it to ourselves for most of the day. We gained about 2,500' total, reaching our high point at 12,500'. Everyone did extremely well today with both the terrain and the altitude. We stopped en route for a nice lunch before traversing up to the west to gain the
Shira Plateau. We were in camp by 1:00 and had the whole afternoon to enjoy our new camp. We mostly sat around the dining tent talking about past adventures and tried our best to keep up with the tea and snacks that were being delivered non-stop. We'll head back to the dining tent around 6:00 for dinner and then settle into our tents for the evening.
Tomorrow is going to be a big day for us as we are trekking to almost 15,000'. Lava Tower will be the high point for tomorrow, and then we will begin our descent to Barranco Camp. Even though we are gaining almost 2,500' in the morning, we will be back to almost the same altitude that we are right now. And this is exactly what our bodies need and is key for proper acclimatization. We are ready for the challenge!
Best regards,
RMI Guide Jeff Martin
On The Map
The Four Day Summit Climb August 12 - 15 led by RMI Guide Dave Hahn along with the Five Day Summit Climb August 11 - 15 led by RMI Guide Seth Waterfall reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today! The teams were approaching the crater rim at 7:20 a.m. PT. They reported clear skies and sunshine, cool temperatures and moderate winds. The teams will descend to Camp Muir and continue down to Paradise later today.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams and to Seth Waterfall for his 101st Summit Climb of Mt. Rainier!
Hey, this is Dave calling from Denali. We made it from 11,000' to base camp today. It took a long time: we started walking at 3:30 in the morning and got here about 2:30 p.m. Hard weather conditions on route, hard crevasse problems but everyone made it through okay. It's nice to be down. We haven't gotten picked up yet. The weather wasn't good enough to fly in but hopefully tomorrow morning.
Hello, this is Casey Grom calling from the summit of Cotopaxi!
We are just now standing on top in perfect weather with no wind. It has been a great day but a pretty tough day with deep snow and steep ice climbing to get us to the top. Our summit attempt took almost 7 1/2 hours and we have five out of nine climbers standing on the summit with Billy and me. We will be heading down soon and will check in later today from our next hacienda.
Billy and his crew were 100% on the top of Orizaba today! We received the good news while they were traveling back to Senor Reyes' in Tlachichuca for a hot shower and home-cooked meal. Way to go team!
Today began with a team meeting at breakfast. Last night there was a possibility that mud slides in the Vacas Valley would prevent us from coming down the mountain the way we came. Fearless leader Dom confirmed we would not be able to backtrack the way we came and instead would go down the other side of the mountain to the Mulas base camp, a route known as the "360." Since we would not be able to go back to our original base camp, we'll have one of the helicopters pick up our duffels and bring them to us at the Mulas base camp.
Our carry day to Camp 3 today brought many us to new high points, with Camp 3 at nearly 19,600ft. Since we would have to carry all our gear up and over the mountain, as opposed to caching it at Camp 2, we all had pretty heavy packs. As we climbed today, the air got thinner and thinner, for most of us requiring a breath every step. Even though we have been at 18,000ft for almost two days, it still required significant fortitude to keep climbing.
High elevation does a number on your body. As you climb higher, the decreasing oxygen makes it difficult to even do the very basic tasks, you loose your appetite and have to force yourself to eat, and for most climbers there is a point where they need start taking Diamox to help prevent high altitude pulmonary and cerebral edema.
After a few days at a particular elevation, we get acclimatized and start feeling good. But we can only bring so many supplies and we have only so many days to get to the summit and back. So our schedule keeps us moving to a new higher point just as we were getting used to our current camp. This is mountaineering and one of the many things that makes it so difficult and the act of doing it so rewarding. Getting to a rest stop on a hike or the next-higher camp on a carry or move day brings a sense of relief that is hard to find in any other activity.
As we approach our last uphill move day, and followed soon after by our summit bid, it's important to remember what a great feat we have accomplished so far, and how lucky we are to be up here with the best climbing team you could ask for.
Climber Andy Green
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Aconcagua Expedition January 12, 2024
Tuesday, May 16, 2023 - 7:40 PM PT
Our life inside the snow globe continued today but got more comfortable as we dug in more completely. We dug our cooktent down further this morning so that standing puts us level with ground. Down that deep the wind cease to matter as much and we have sealed ourselves into a quite cozy spot. We moved through breakfast before retreating to the tents for the majority of the day. We made a lot of progress on our reading lists and did a fair bit of napping and eating to pass the time. We are hopeful that the trend will improve tomorrow and allow us to jump back down to 9,600 to retrieve our cache. Then we will have more exciting news to report, but for now, we are warm, fed, and happy, patiently waiting for the mountain to say we may pass.
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
The
Four Day Climb September 5 - 8 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning led by RMI Guides
Pete Van Deventer and
Andy Bond. The guides reported cold temperatures this morning with winds 15 mph and a dusting of new snow on the upper mountain. Mother nature put on quite a show last night with thunder and lightning throughout the area followed by some serious rain. We are glad the timing of the storm happened once the teams were at Camp Muir and cleared enough for them to make it to the summit today. Once back at Camp Muir the teams will continue to Paradise and transfer to Rainier BaseCamp. This afternoon they will conclude their program with a short celebration.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Very comfortable night out in the bush. Not until sunrise when the bird alarms went off did anything but a lullaby come from our surroundings. A couple hours of game driving brought us out of the park but not before some lions, elephant, giraffe to name just a few bid us farewell. Fpur of the team stayed for one more night at
Balloon Camp while the rest of us are back at Arumeru Lodge getting ready for a transfer to the airport. Another fine expedition is now in the books.
Thanks for following!
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Keep it up Daddy!
Posted by: Samantha Golomb on 1/30/2014 at 3:47 pm
Pole Pole Barrie and good luck to the whole team from Team KuWaz. And best regards to Jeff Martin from all KuWaz’s!
Posted by: Wheat McDowell on 1/29/2014 at 2:02 pm
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