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Posted by: Tyler Jones, Bryan Mazaika, Nick Scott
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,000'
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
Posted by: Mark Tucker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Yet another stellar Safari. Some clouds made for very pleasant temperatures all day. Tarangire National Park was the place to be. A bit of a terrain contrast from the crater, neither one better than the other, just different. Wide open big sky country out here. Mammals galore, in a very natural setting, as you can imagine. We ended up here at the luxury tent camp called Kikoti. The team has injured their stomachs by over indulgence. We are now sitting around a nice wood fire digesting our pains away. Very peaceful spot, the perfect setting to finish off this adventure.
We will make tracks back through the park in the morning on our way to the Dik Dik Hotel to pick up some gear, than off to the airport.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
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May 29, 2014 - 5:55 pm PT
Winter's grip on North America's tallest mountain stays strong, while climbers surround the flight office in anticipation of what lies ahead. A sudden roar, cough, cough, an engine turns over. A lone pilot off to scout the weather towards Basecamp takes off from the Talkeetna air field. With him he carries the hopes of the climbers on either end. So far, no one has made it in or out, and we stand by, sending good wishes and warm thoughts to our friends currently sitting on the mountain.
Here in Talkeetna we are lucky to have a meal in arm's reach, to enjoy one another's company, share stories, learn new skills and refine the existing ones. A team bonds, creating an experience that each of us will remember for a lifetime. But for now we wait, hope, and learn. For this is just another day of one intrepid group in Alaska.
All the best for now.
RMI Guides Tyler, Garrett and Bryan
Safe travels everyone and enjoy. Looking forward to some great pictures, although I wish I was there in person. Don’t forget a bear souvenir for the best SIL ever.
Posted by: Amy johnson on 5/30/2014 at 9:10 pm
I hope you are enjoying this moment and soaking it all up. Cover yourself with mud and run around. It is good for the skin. Sending love from Girdwood. I will see you in a few weeks.
Posted by: Sarah Johnson on 5/30/2014 at 4:23 pm
We're fortunate to be in the midst of a very stable and almost perfect weather pattern here on Aconcagua: the days are clear and calm and today was no exception. After a great night's sleep at Camp 2 we packed up our gear and left for high camp by mid-morning. The trail to high camp ascends a broad north facing gulley, occasionally intersected by small cliff bands and large boulders. We weaved our way up, crossing sporadic patches of snow and across pockets of yellow dirt and rocks that smelled of sulfur. After a few hours of climbing we reached a small cliff band and followed a natural weakness in it to scramble up and over our final obstacle and right into our high camp.
Sitting at 19,540', Camp 3 is a small flat area ringed by rock towers on nearly all sides. Between the towers we can catch views over the Vacas Valley to the east into Argentina and all the way around to the west over the Horocones Valley and into Chile. Above us stands the final 3,000'+ of Aconcagua with the first portion of our route visible from Camp.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon in camp, finalizing our gear for the summit push and trying to rest up and hydrate as much as possible. We are sharing camp with a few other teams and we traded notes on conditions and forecasts: we all agreed, tomorrow is predicted to be a great summit day!
We've retired to the tents even though the sun is still quite high in the sky in hopes of getting some rest tomorrow. We are planning on making a pre-dawn alpine start tomorrow morning and going for the top! We're all doing well, feeling strong, and excited to make an attempt! We'll check in tomorrow after the climb.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Wahoo! Wishing everyone a safe summit and decent. Merry Christmas!
Posted by: Nookster on 12/23/2013 at 10:52 am
The clouds moved in after dinner last night and left a thin dusting of snow over camp. When I poked my head out of the tent early this morning things were looking ominous: a thick cloud cover hung just over camp and everything was white. But a few miles down the valley the cloud bank broke and I could see morning light hitting the peaks behind. Gradually as I watched the clouds overhead dissipated and the peaks immediately around Base Camp lit up in the pink morning light. With the hulk of Aconcagua immediately to our east, Base Camp sat in shadow while we crawled out of the tents for breakfast. Even by 8:30 with the clear skies and snow there was a nip to the air as we packed our bags but just as we shouldered our packs, the sun peaked over the ridge line high above and immediately warmed us up.
Bound for Camp 1 with loads of gear and supplies for the upper camps, we set out from Base Camp and crossed a small field of penitentes - the sharp snow spires - to begin ascending. The trail zigs and zags across the rocky scree slopes of Aconcagua, occasionally wrapping around rock outcroppings that jut out of the seemingly featureless slope. We made great time towards Camp 1, settling into a consistent pace and watching the brightly colored tents of Base Camp fade to small dots far below us. By midday we reached Camp 1, called "Camp Canada" which sits on the backside of massive stone tower at 16,600'. With the sun still shining and the winds holding at bay, we unloaded our gear and cached it among the snowdrifts and rocks at Camp 1. To our west large clouds were forming and soon after starting our descent the skies began to spit torrents of snow and hail that would come as quickly as they went. Between the snow flurries the sun would come out and it would be down right hot until the next wave of snow. Despite the swings in weather, and our constant clothing adjustments as a result, we made it back to Base Camp by mid-afternoon where we retreated to our tents to hang out and watch the clouds bounce over the mountaintops.
Tom and Thomas climbed remarkably well today, tackling the new terrain and altitudes with little fanfare and all the while keeping me entertained with unending stories. We are all feeling good after the day and looking forward to our planned rest day here in Base Camp tomorrow before we move higher on the mountain.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
The Four Day Summit Climbs July 16 - 19 led by Seth Waterfall and Pete Van Deventer reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning just after 7 a.m. PT. The teams reported high and low clouds with blue sky showing above and very little wind. They will enjoy some time on top today and then make their way back to Camp Muir and all the way down to Paradise this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's summit climb teams!
Posted by:
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
Hello again everyone
Today we had a very beautiful hike to help with our acclimatization on a nearby peak called Pichincha. It is one of the many local peaks that is situated above Quito and is used by many climbers to help adjust to the higher altitude here in Ecuador. We made use of the gondolas to help us gain access to around 13,000' then hiked the additional 2,500' to the summit. It took our team roughly three hours to gain the top after a little scrambling up the final bit to reach our high point thus far. It was a personal high point for a few of us, and the entire team did a fantastic job. After spending a bit of time on the summit and getting some photos we descended all the way back to our hotel for a brief nap before dinner.
Along the way we ran into an old friend Carla Perez! A real mountain superwoman, as she is 1 of only 7 women to have summitted Mt. Everest without supplemental oxygen.
Everyone is in good spirits and looking forward to tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew.
Posted by: Tyler Reid
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Chile Ski
Volcan Villarica warm up day...
Our goal for today was to have skis on our feet, and driving through the lush lowlands in the rain, there was a sense of disbelief circulating through the van that we would soon see snow, let alone be skiing. Next thing we knew, with Sergio at the helm (our Chilean outfitter) we were fully utilizing the Mitsubishi's 4-wheel drive capabilities to precision glide past stuck vehicles on the steep access road. High snowfall intensity from the sky, high psych intensity from our crew.
We spent the afternoon Volcano Storm Skiing. Not to be confused with below treeline storm skiing, where the forest provides terrain definition and the ability to see; Volcano Storm Skiing involves using rocks, closed chairlifts, other skiers, and/or their tracks for definition. When in doubt, have someone else go first. If your hat says 'Guide' on it, that means you are the sacrificial lamb.
Get blasted by the wind on the way up, seek refuge in a closed lift station high on the mountain, look up at your teammates and see huge smiles, transition to ski mode. Random outbursts of laughter. Volcano Storm Skiing is awesome. Especially the part about skiing in September.
Ski bag = reunited with Jonathan. Sergio was invaluable in solving the logistics of getting it to Pucon. He lent Jon his gear for today and we never missed a beat. Tomorrow looks even stormier...
RMI Guide Tyler Reid
Posted by: Linden Mallory, Pete Van Deventer
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
A thin covering of clouds rolled into the Ruth Glacier last night just low enough to brush the summits of the surrounding peaks. The clouds acted as an insulating layer, preventing the previous day's heat from fully dissipating overnight and we awoke early to relatively mild temperatures. The warmer temps softened the blow of waking up early and breaking camp - not the most pleasant experience when the thermometer hovers in the single digits - and soon we had everything packed into our backpacks and sleds and were skiing down the Ruth Glacier as the first ray of sunlight reached us. We spent the day traveling downhill, dropping from Mountain House northwards into the center of the Ruth Amphitheater before veering to the east and making a large 180-degree turn until we were eventually headed south down the Ruth Glacier and into the heart of the Ruth Gorge. This early in the season the glacier is still covered in a thick layer of winter snow, smoothing over the crevasses and undulations in the glacier and among the travel very smooth and straightforward.
Soon we entered the Ruth Gorge proper, a "narrow" stretch of glacier (still almost a mile wide) that is reported to be close to 3,000' deep, and walled by massive rock walls on both sides, the highest being the East Face of Mt. Dickey which rises an impressive almost 5,000'+ above us, whose summit remained shrouded in clouds. We traveled down the Gorge, occasionally stopping in awe to admire the landscape around us, until we reached an altitude of about 4,600' at the entrance to a side valley that is framed by "747 Pass" - a gap in the rock walls purported to be large enough to fly its Boeing namesake through. Here, we established our camp, just as the temperatures warmed enough to begin softening the surface snow and slowing our progress across the glacier. We spent the remainder of the afternoon establishing our camp in the center of the flat glacier that runs through the Gorge and brushing up on various climbing skills and techniques. If the weather holds, we are in a good position to make a push through 747 Pass and climb the glaciated West Face of Mt. Dickey tomorrow morning before returning to our camp here in the Gorge.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory & Team
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Praying for safe passage for the team ❤️
Elisa, Dayton and Elliotte.
We miss you Nicholas!
Posted by: Elisa on 6/19/2018 at 6:26 pm
Lei and the team,
Sorry that you did not go all the way due to mood swings of the Mother Nature. But don’t for one second think that you failed. You all spent months even years training and preparing for this adventure. You survived weeks of snowy, icy, windy wilderness, which only a few can endure. You went to “ the edge of the world” and back. You are all stronger both physically and mentally. You have achieved a lot. Be proud of yourself and safe trip home!
Hao
Posted by: Hao on 6/19/2018 at 6:15 pm
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