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The Four Day Summit Climb July 24 - 27 led by Andy Bond and Mike Walter reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning at 7 a.m. The team reported cold temperatures and windy conditions. There is a cloud deck around 7,500' with clear skies above.
The Five Day Summit Climb July 23 - 27 led by Linden Mallory was also just approaching the crater rim at 7 a.m. this morning.
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz July 23 - 28 led by Mike Haugen reached the summit at 8:30 a.m.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Hola from the south! Today we left La Malinche and drove to the town of Amecameca where we picked up the last of our supplies for our attempt on Ixta. Leaving Amecameca we wound our way thousands of feet above the town, past Christmas tree farms and corn stalks with an eye on our mountain for the next few days. We rallied our bus up the road of fine moondust to the Altzimoni Hut, our launch pad for tomorrow. We spent the afternoon packing and topped it off with a big dinner. Now its off to bed to get some rest before our move to high camp.
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Seth Burns, Layne Peters, Ben Thorneycroft, Erika Barrett, Mac Nolde, Julian Kral, Brooks Ordway Smith
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI’s Four Day Climb, Aug 11-14 successfully reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today.
They reported 100% of the team was on top enjoying the calm weather and beautiful views this morning.
They are currently descending and will take a short but much needed break at Camp Muir before heading down to Paradise later this afternoon.
Congratulations to all of them!
Posted by: Dominic Cifelli
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Torres del Paine
We have arrived at Refugio Grey!!
Today is one of the hardest days of the trek, certainly the hardest of the “O” portion of the trek. That meant that getting up before the sun, scarfing down our warm breakfast that was mostly coffee, and heading out and up up up. We ascend right out of the gate up a muddy and thin trail as we navigate the last bits of the forest before the tree line. The bitter Patagonian wind woke up before the sun too and was there to greet us as soon as the trees left us.
Wind, cold, rain, snow, but never too much of any. We persevered up the John Gardner pass and over to the other side of the circuit. And my goodness was a view. People are often asking if the glaciers they are looking at are part of the Patagonian Icefield but one good look at the Grey glacier from the pass and it’s clear to all. As dark as the eye can see right and left is rugged, broken, beautiful glacier.
7 more hours of a big descent plus the traverse along the glacier brought us to the Refugio we’re at tonight and although there were no games tonight, there will be plenty of good sleeps.
Tomorrow we continue to Paine Grande, the biggest Refugio in the park and the perfect spot to maybe catch a Super Bowl moment or two!
RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli
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Torres del Paine Trek February 1, 2025
Posted by: JJ Justman, Katrina Bloemsma
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 18,000'
Adversity. It's what high altitude climbing is all about. And here we are, sitting on a rest day at 18,000 feet in a snowstorm. It was predicted and we are actually glad. Because today is supposed to be the last day of adverse weather. Tomorrow is forecasted to be nice and as a matter of fact, the next four to five days. The team is feeling great so in the meantime, Katrina and I have 36 quesadillas to make.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
On The Map
Posted by: Mike Walter
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
After a relaxing stay at Hosteria La Cienega, we're travelling south towards our next climbing destination, Chimborazo. At 6,310 meters, Chimborazo is the highest peak in Ecuador and higher than any peak north of it in the Americas. Due to the earth's equatorial bulge, Chimborazo also holds the distinction of being the point on the earth that's closest to the sun, and the point furthest from the center of the earth. Chimborazo will definitely test this team's mettle over the next few days of climbing.
We will head out tomorrow morning and establish a camp high on the flanks of Chimborazo. We plan to climb on Monday morning and return to camp that same night. We call in to let you know how our climb goes. But tonight we're resting in beds again in the beautiful lodge, Estrella de Chimborazo, with great views of the mountain.
Cheers,
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Enjoy every minute. Stay safe and know we are all thinking of you. Joan
Posted by: Joan on 7/14/2013 at 3:30 pm
anxiously awaiting an update and wishing you all the best
Posted by: Paula Hall on 7/14/2013 at 6:59 am
Posted by: Mike Walter, Solveig Waterfall, Ben Liken
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'
Another day goes by and we are still here at the 11k Camp. The winds have died down for the most part, but it is snowing and visibility is nearly zero. We're still doing well, tent bound mostly. Hopefully the storm passes soon and we can move camp up higher.
Cheers,
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
We seem to be repeating ourselves here in the Khumbu, saying "that couldn't have gone any smoother" over and over. Sure enough we got out of Katmandu right on schedule yesterday morning with an easy flight in a Dornier 228 twin engine prop plane. We all survived the uphill landing in Lukla, had a fine breakfast there and then hit the trail at around 8 AM. There are twelve of us at the moment, plus Raju and Lama Babu (our climbing sirdar). We'll be joined any day now by climber Michael Brown, but for the moment, there are four climbers, four guides, two trekkers and two team managers and everybody is walking well. The gang walked just fine on somewhat crowded trails yesterday, through farms and small villages to Phak Ding. There we moved into Jo's Garden, a traditional "tea house", for the night. It is a peaceful place, with the Dudh Khosi -a river of constant whitewater- flowing furiously past and erasing all other sound. For many of us, the night was our first of full sleep in what seemed like a week -what with the hectic packing, repacking, flying, packing, more flying, early starting and jet-lagging. Today all seemed to be in good moods and good health and so we joined the busy trail again for the walk upriver. By late morning, we'd entered the National Park and found a nice outside table at a cafe for lunch. A few plates of rice and potatoes later and we got back into the walking. We tackled the notorious Namche Hill and cruised past about a hundred trekkers, porters and pack animals all grinding up in low gear. Conditions were just perfect for gaining about 2000 vertical feet since the ample cloud cover and a few gentle breezes kept the heat tolerable. But the clouds did rob us of what could have been a first view of Everest from the trail. No matter, we'll see it soon enough. The team is tucked in at Camp De Base, a fine lodge in Namche, the "Sherpa Capital" as everyone calls it. We'll spend three nights here, trying to get used to the big jump in altitude (we are up around 11,500 ft now) and enjoying the shopping, communications and social opportunities of this bustling and spectacularly placed town. Tonight, since it will be the first at true altitude, we won't be able to drink much alchohol... but if we could, we'd be toasting Mark Tucker's mom, who turned eighty back in California. Happy Birthday from the RMI Everest 2010 team!
Hello again everyone,
The team awoke this morning to the soothing sound of rainfall. After a quick breakfast of cream of wheat and fried eggs we headed out into the downpour to test our waterproof pants and jackets. We had hopes of going on a long hike to help start our acclimatization, but after a short walk and a few rides on ski lifts we were greeted with more rain that eventually turned to snow. Although our adventure was short lived, everyone enjoyed riding the lifts, seeing the new snow and we even managed to climb just over 10,000 ft. We are excited for Elbrus.
After our brief and wet exploration we head back into town for a little last minute shopping, lunch and to make it back to our hotel just in time for a quick nap before dinner.
Dinner was nice and the team is adjusting to the fine Russian cuisine. Ever wonder why you don't see Russian restaurants in the States. Well, I assure you there is a reason. It almost seems as if there is an over abundance of Dill and the locals are attempting to eradicate it by ingesting it. For some reason they have volunteered us to help them with this.
Dill-icious!
That's all for now. The team is doing great and we are looking forward to moving further up the mountain tomorrow.
Down in the shadowy forests of Deboche, we passed an easy bunch of hours yesterday. The sun was blazing at midday, but otherwise, we were under lowish grey clouds. Many of the team made their way back up the hill to Thyangboche to see the large monastery or to sample the food at the bakery or to hook up to the web at the cyber café. Then it was back down to our place next to the nunnery in Deboche. The woodstove in the common area of our tea house kept the place cozy and hard to leave.
We left it this morning at 8 AM in seemingly perfect weather. There were wind-sculpted lenticulars and cat's paw clouds hovering over Everest and Lhotse, but the other hundred mountains in view were cloud-free. We crossed the river to the sunny side of things and walked gradually up the track with Ama Dablam straight ahead and apparently welcoming us with her outstretched arms. The "Dablam" is the jewel that sits in the hollow of the mountain's throat, as if on a necklace. This jewel is composed of ice; a hanging glacier discreetly sized and sitting improbably on the face of a great mountain. I was curious to see it again, since I'd heard so many stories over the winter about its demise. During the popular season for climbing Ama Dablam, in the Fall of 2008, the Dablam had calved off massive avalanches and everybody I spoke to claimed that one could easily see the difference. Sure enough, while still beautiful, the jewel seemed half its former size.
Of course not many people register such a marked change in the "health" of a glacier without wondering if the world is changing too fast and whether there will be glaciers enough to climb on forever. So it was, burdened by the weight of the universe and the health of the planet that I, along with Ed Dohring, Erica and Seth joined the rest of the team in Upper Pangboche at Lama Geshi's house. We'd come to seek the blessing of perhaps the most revered man in the entire Khumbu region. Lama Geshi, although he doesn't sit in some grand temple or cathedral, is a man of great significance in the Buddhist religion of the Sherpa people. It is quite normal for climbing Sherpas and the Western teams they assist to seek his blessing before approaching Chomolungma... the Mother Goddess of the Earth... or "Everest" for short.
Lama Geshi greeted us -basically in his living room and got right down to giving each one of us a friendly head-butt as he tied a specially blessed and knotted gold string around our necks. I felt immediately happy to watch him go through a brief prayer ceremony for us. Although I tend to be slightly cynical about such things, that is a hard attitude to maintain around Lama Geshi as he always seems to take such a genuine interest in the climbers that visit him. Their summit pictures (at least a hundred) are on his walls and he must have seen thousands over the years, but somehow he still seems interested and enthusiastic. Such prayers... basically asking for his help to keep us from killing ourselves... might be a heavy thing, except that Lama Geshi always breaks out laughing as he utters them. His joy is infectious and welcome and seems to put us all in the perfect frame of mind for continuing our walk toward the mountain.
After leaving Pangboche, we gathered again about an hour up the track at Shomare for a rest and some refreshment in another fine tea house. The clouds were steadily rising up-valley and covering the big hills as we set out for the final push to Pheriche. This meant that we could only see about fifty unbelievably beautiful mountains (rather than a hundred) as we turned the big sweeping corner around Tawoche and headed north into town. We were all stunned to see our lodging for the next two nights: The Himalayan Hotel, a beautiful new and spacious building of stone and wood. It didn't take long for each of us to find a comfy spot in either the sun or sitting rooms. There are hills aplenty around to keep even Ed Viesturs content as he "rests" and acclimatizes.
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Dear, Ken McKenna/Dad.
We have a five day weekend from school because of the holiday. So, we’re having a McKenna PJ Day Marathon. Day 2 is going well! It looks like you’re having a PJ Day, too. Miss you a lot and hope you are having fun.
Love, Aidan
Posted by: Aidan on 2/16/2014 at 3:49 pm
Best wishes as you continue to the top, especially you, Frank. Blog sounds good. Be Safe
Fred
Posted by: Fred T on 2/16/2014 at 3:35 pm
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