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The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guide JT Schmitt turned just above Ingraham Flats today. The team had clear skies for climbing, but significant wind loading on the upper slopes made it unsafe to travel on the upper mountian. The team has started their descent and will be back to Paradise early this afternoon.
Congratulations to Today's Team!
Hello world,
We woke up to crystal clear skies last night, which hasn’t been the norm this season here in the
Cordillera Blanca. But this beautiful night so happened to coincide with our climb of Pisco...just our luck! It was a really long day to say the least. It’s a tricky walk for the first several hours just to reach the glacier; up and over the moraine, across a boulder covered rock glacier, and up steep trail and slabs, all done in the dark. The stars were out which made for some wonderful views at breaks. A few more hours of dark while ascending snow and ice and the we finally saw some sun...which proved to be one of those classic Cordillera Blanca sunrises that are hard to describe. Just spectacular! A few more hours and we found ourselves just under 19,000’, on the summit of Pisco. We were above a thick cloud deck and the highest peaks of the Range were penetrating the clouds all around us. It was a special moment for this team who put in a lot of hard work and dedication into their climbing adventure in Peru. We stayed on top and soaked it all in for almost an hour before we walked down into the clouds for a long retreat back to Base Camp. All in all, 12.5 hours, Base Camp to Summit to Base Camp. We took the afternoon to get super tranquilo, as tomorrow, our journey back to civilization begins.
RMI Guide Robby Young, Alfie, William and Team ‘Fuerte’
Today the team explored the city of St. Petersburg, including a beautiful evening canal tour complete with dramatic sunset and hilarious narration from our tour guide. Tomorrow the team disbands, departing in the direction of our various homes or next destinations. A big thanks to everyone for coming together and bringing your A-game to this
Mt. Elbrus Ski Expedition. Till next time...
RMI Guide Tyler Reid
Monday, June 18, 2018 - 9:50 PM PT
Hi all -
We spent a very blustery and snowy day at 11,000 ft Camp. We had wind gusts in the upper forty’s and nearly two feet of snow on top of the more than three feet we walked through yesterday. The team spent most of the day hiding from
Denali’s cold breath of winter. We’re hanging in there and crossing our fingers for a break to go to the airstrip.
RMI Guide Tyler Jones and Team
Good evening from
Camp 1 on Shishapangma. Good day of climbing we had to here today, without a doubt, the most efficient given the stage of the climb in which we are. We're a little concerned about the weather though, as a non-forecasted storm evolved us as we approached the last few hundred meters to camp. With our Sherpa team ahead at Camp 2, we only hope for better weather to continue our upward progress, and wish for not too much new snow. Everyone did a terrific job today, and all rest and sleep comfortably in their tent. Stoves are being shut off as we speak with water melted for the morning. Stay tuned for tomorrow's outcome!!!
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos and team.
It was great to be in Vinson Base last night... Quiet and peaceful (once the airplanes quit bringing climbers in, that is, sometime after 2 AM). We got going this morning at the usual VBC civilized hour of 9 AM. There was plenty to do in getting sorted, getting breakfast and getting some meeting time in with the other climbing guides and the ALE staff. Eventually we got tents down, packs loaded, and our ropes tied for glacier travel. We were first out of camp at 1:43 PM. Conditions were excellent and we made great time, arriving at the 9,000 ft "Low" Camp at 6:30, having traveled 5.6 miles. Sunburn was of more concern to us than frostbite today. The views of
Vinson's giant and jagged northern neighbors- Shinn, Epperly and Gardner, were stupendous. Our camp went up quick and easy. Dinner went down without any hiccups and we were in bed by 11 PM. All were warned that the brilliant sunshine would warm the tents only until 3 AM. Then, although the sun won't set, it will go behind our mountain for about eight hours and life will be cold in the shadows. We'll reemerge from the tents at 11 AM to see what sort of day we have.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
We moved up-valley to Deboche today. Morning in Namche was pleasant but we had places to go and things to see. We hit the trail by 8:30 and walked easily along the traverse trail leaving town. At first we were mixed in with a few trekking groups and strings of pack animals, but after a little while we had the trail to ourselves. We'd have loved to have been able to hang on to our hard-won altitude, but it was necessary to give plenty of it back as we needed to drop all the way down to the river to get across and take on the Thyangboche Hill. We worked slow-and-steady up the hillside trail, gaining about fifteen hundred vertical feet in an hour and a half. Along the way, we got great views of Kangtega with its giant walls of rock topped by hanging glaciers, but these views were surpassed when we reached the hilltop and saw
Everest, Nuptse, Lhotse and Ama Dablam spread out before us and doing battle with the wind and clouds. Thyangboche Monastery sat like a palace at the ridge crest behind elaborate and ornate gates. We took our packs off for a few minutes and tried to take it all in, but we were only twenty minutes walk from Deboche at this point and lunch had taken on great importance to the team, so we shouldered packs once more and set off down through the rhododendron forests to our lodge at 12,200 ft above sea level.
The afternoon passed with food and naps and a break from the distractions of the internet, since WiFi was not readily available. We are not quite in the wilderness yet, but we can see it from here.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
We had a nice dinner, cool temps in the rooms for sleeping, a pleasant night for all. A leisurely breakfast led into a nice hike with grand views as you can imagine. The team pushed up well over
14,000 feet to get the heart and lungs moving. We then returned to our tea house for lunch, and then off to the altitude lecture at the near by clinic. Great insight from doctors offering good info. The team pooled a nice donation for the cause and even came away with a few more souvenirs. It all ended with a little down time relaxing. As they say a pictures says a thousand words!
We are all doing well and plan to move up to Loboche tomorrow, if all seems right.
RMI Guide
Mark Tucker & Team
Hello all
Most everyone slept well last night and we started the day with our wonderful support staff bring us hot tea and warm washing water to our tent this morning. We had nice breakfast of fresh fruit, fried eggs and of course plenty of fresh coffee.
We hit the trail today on
Mt. Kilimanjaro around 8am and climbed up a moderately narrow ridge that lead all the way up to the Shira Plateau where we traversed into camp. It was mostly cloudy today which didn't allow for many views but did make for some really nice hiking temperatures. The team made good progress today on the rocky trail pausing only for some porters to pass and of course taking a break every hour for water and snacks.
We are currently resting in camp enjoying the warmth of the sun and taking in our first views of Kilimanjaro.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Hey, this is Solveig checking in for Billy, Mike, Tim and Drew from Mt. McKinley. Yesterday we packed up camp at 14,000’ and had a great move to our high camp at 17,300 feet. The first part of the move we enjoyed calm winds and warm sunshine. It was a lot of fun to be climbing in such great conditions. However, about two-thirds of the way up to high camp we were hit by 30 -45 mile per hour winds which persisted all the way into camp. There were a lot of teams camped at 17,000’ when we arrived but we found an area to build our camp and spent the next three hours digging ten platforms and building walls to protect our tents. One particularly strong gust knocked over our completed wall.
We began cooking dinner and settling in and the winds subsided. We enjoyed a calm evening inside the protection of our tents and surrounding sturdy walls.
Today we are eating and resting and enjoying light winds and good weather.
Tim wanted to wish his mom a “Happy Birthday”.
RMI Guide Solveig Garhart
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Safe is the way to go. So many aspects to think about when in the mountains.
Posted by: Joe on 5/29/2021 at 3:11 pm
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