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After a great night of sleep, we slowly made our way down the mountain. The team was motivated and made quick work of the descent. Motivated by the thought of hot showers, delicious meals, and communicating with loved ones. A nice evening at Aconcagua Basecamp was had rehashing memorable moments of the trip. We are all very fond of the experience Aconcagua has allowed us to share together.
Till next time,
The weather came around today, but not quite in time for us to make good use of it. The skies had cleared of cloud but at noon there was still wind whipping snow off the high ridges and peaks. We didn’t want to chance having to battle such a wind for the final hours into high camp and for the time needed to build that camp. So we got ready, but we waited for improvement. The winds did diminish but not convincingly enough for us to pull the trigger. The teams around us did go for it and seem to have done just fine, although now, at 9:45 PM there is still wind visible in the high camp area. We’re going to put our efforts into these next two days, Saturday and Sunday, for which the forecast is fine. We have the place to ourselves… not entirely by design, but the quiet is nice.
We’ll set alarms tonight for 4:44 AM… not for an alpine start to the climbing -which would be quite cold- but to catch the solar eclipse. At the time of totality, Mt Vinson will be squarely between us and a view of the sun, but perhaps we’ll see stars -a rarity in an Antarctic summer (like never).
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team
After an early morning and quick breakfast the team was off again. Our first stop, Amecameca, to grab food, water, and of course the street food.
When we get to the entrance of the national park, we generally like to walk the rest of the way. It’s a bumpy, unpleasant road to get to La Joyalita and it’s nice to stretch our legs after a long day of driving. Perfect weather once again with the only clouds being the ones in the valley below us. The business starts here though as we prepare for our climb of Ixta with a thorough gear check, packing demo, and refresher on tent setup. We’ll eat a hearty dinner and try to sleep as best we can at 13,000 ft. We start our first big climb tomorrow and the team is excited and ready for the challenge.
Wish us luck!
Posted by: Pepper Dee
Categories: Guide News Guide Grant
My second mock lead on the course tackled an aesthetic, rambling three pitch climb on the Wind Tower. I had done the climb before, but had never been responsible for three other mock-climbers. I found myself doing nearly everything differently with my mock-climbers in tow--positioning my climbers out of the way of loose rock, breaking pitches up into shorter, up-and-down sections, and rigging lowers down exposed, short steps that I had always simply down-climbed. All told, a climb that had taken a mere hour and a half climbing independently took me three quite involved hours to guide.
To me, that is the part of guiding that I will always love the most--the challenge of using every trick in your toolbox to make a section of terrain as safe as you can for your climbers. My Rock Guide Course endowed me with plenty of tricks, from terrain belays to rigging rappels to rope management systems. The real excitement of the course, though, was getting experience applying these tricks in one of the most complex rock climbing areas in the country.
Posted by: Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
MAW,
Here hoping for clear conditions so you can get to Antartica and start your ascent!!!!
Di
Posted by: Diane on 11/16/2011 at 10:36 am
Good climbing, Big-D!
Posted by: TRACY OWENS on 11/15/2011 at 8:40 pm
Howdy everyone back home.
All is well in Tanzania. We’ve had great weather and the team is humming along really well.
We hit the trail just after 8am and hiked for an hour before taking our usual 15 minute break, then back on the trail for another hour and so on. All total today we hiked for just over six hours before reaching Barranco Camp. Our gracious Kilimanjaro porters have been working very hard and we arrive once again to a camp set up and ready for us.
Along the way we passed around the famous Lava Tower reaching just over 15,000' setting new altitude records for many. We also passed by many of the giant groundsels and towering Senecio trees that made us feel as if we were in some crazy Dr. Suess story.
The team is in good spirits and doing great.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew
Karl, Derek,
Congrats to the Summit!!!! What an achievement! Cheers! Jack & Mary
Posted by: Jack on 9/4/2022 at 6:48 am
To Eric: We all look forward to reading the updates each day and can’t wait to hear all about the trek! We miss you and love you. Stay safe.
Posted by: Vicki Sutton-Beattie on 9/2/2022 at 9:36 am
Posted by: Alan Davis, Jack Delaney, Leif Bergstrom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 9,131'
Our Mt. Shuksan seminar tagged the top of Mt. Shuksan this morning. After many days of training in the rain, the team awoke to clear skies for their climb. The previous five days were spent learning about rope travel, weather patterns, avalanche safety, snow and ice anchors, etc. RMI Guide Alan Davis reported great route conditions and a top out time of 9:30am.
The team is back at the trailhead and will enjoy some good food and drink before starting their journey home.
Nice work climbers!
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall, Mark Tucker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
Elevation: 21,300'
Dave Hahn calls in from Everest Advanced Basecamp.
On The Map
Happy Birthday Mark!
Posted by: Kent Tucker on 5/21/2013 at 9:46 am
such hard news to hear. may you lead your team safely to the summit and back to camp. wishing you well.
best regards,
michelle
Posted by: michelle on 5/20/2013 at 5:48 pm
Congratulations on what must have been a really challenging, yet incredibly rewarding journey. Can’t wait to see pictures and hear stories. Well done.
Posted by: Levert on 2/8/2022 at 5:34 am
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