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Posted by: Nikki Champion, Taylor Bickford, Emma Lyddan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 20,310'
Thursday, June 9, 2022 9:42pm PT
RMI Guide Nikki Champion let us know that their Denali Team was 100% on the summit! They are back at camp resting and will give us full details of their climb soon!
Congratulations Team!
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
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Taylor Bickford, Emma Lyddan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 17,000'
Wednesday, June 8, 2022 - 8:33 pm PT
With favorable weather for the next few days, we took the opportunity to rest without missing our weather window. We woke up to the sun, and ate a mellow breakfast of oatmeal and poptarts. The rest of the day was spent napping, and adjusting to our new High Camp. With good weather our plan is to climb tomorrow. The rest of the evening will be spent eating an early dinner, filling water bottles, and getting our beauty rest in.
Wish us luck, tomorrow should be the big day!
RMI Guide Nikki Champion
Woohoo! Good luck guys!
Posted by: Jerey Wilson on 6/9/2022 at 12:08 pm
Best of luck as you prepare to summit!! Hoping for weather and elements to be in your favor :-) it’s been so fun following along on your journey
Posted by: M on 6/9/2022 at 11:49 am
Posted by: Ben Liken
Categories: Guide News Guide Grant
Over the next three days we practiced and perfected rescue and rope skills as the rain fell nonstop all around the pavilion we were under. It was fun to focus purely on the timed drills and creating one handed hitches as they were called out. Looking out we could see the rock getting wetter than it had been in months. The sandstone in Red Rocks is porous and thus absorbs water like a sponge. Even in the warmest months the rock needs 24-48 hours to dry after a soaking rain and we had a lot of soaking rain with cool temps and low sun. The issue with climbing on the damp rock was not going to be its slipperiness but rather the danger of holds breaking and a leader falling onto protection in that same type of rock that just broke. As the sun rose for the last three days of the course we had to turn down perfect climbing weather because of poor route conditions. I sympathized with the climbers I work with on Mount Rainier: they come from across the country after months of training, time, and money spent, only to be shut down by avalanche hazard or icy conditions on a beautiful, sunny day. All was not lost however; we were able to learn and practice new skills in the horizontal plane, on very sunny aspects, and in steep off trail terrain. We agreed that we learned just as much if not more in this manner than we would have high on the rock.
This was my first AMGA experience and it could not have been a better one. It solidified many skills that I can put to use in my current guiding and climbing. It was a great opportunity to develop myself in my profession and has opened the door for more courses and certifications. These courses and certifications are not required for guiding in the United States and many great guides are fully qualified through experience. This program and others offered by the AMGA however, get guides on the same page and forces us to be the best we can be, whether it be on Red Rocks sandstone, Mount Rainier Glaciers, or a remote peak in the Andes. Thanks to RMI, Eddie Bauer/First Ascent guide grant, and all the guides on the course for making this possible. Climb On!
Visit & Discover Morocco
Posted by: brahim ait on 9/15/2017 at 3:20 am
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
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Mike King, Dominic Cifelli
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
We went for it today! Another absolutely beautiful, sunny, calm and clear day. It was something of a long shot for our entire team to be fully acclimated and ready for this serious push to 16,000 ft but we decided it was worth the try. That summit or not, we wanted to give it a go. And so we set off at 9 AM. It was cold at first, but rapidly becoming evident that -without even a hint of breeze- we wouldn’t suffer so much from the low temps. In fact, many of our team were pealing off down pants and bibs in the first uphill hours. We made steady progress, but the altitude took a toll and ultimately we formed turn around ropes. Those of us coming down early put our hopes and best wishes into those continuing to the top. Those pushing on got determined and efficient and topped out at 4:45 PM with inspired help from Scott, from Conrad Anker and from Hannah. Our entire team was reunited at high camp by 7:30 PM and enjoyed several easy, comfortable New Years Day hours recounting the adventure and looking out over the precipice of Vinson’s great western wall. We blew out candles on cookies for Sarah’s perfectly timed birthday and called it a day. An incredible day in a wondrous place.
Best Regards
Congrats team glad you all made your dream come true. Glad everyone is safe. Special shout out to our son Michael Altenhofen way to go . Hope all have a safe return to your homes and family’s. God Bless. Boyd Donna
Posted by: Boyd Donna Altenhofen on 1/3/2022 at 8:57 am
Thank you for a great story of your journey. Congrats!
Posted by: Terri L. Jennings on 1/3/2022 at 7:32 am
Posted by: Mike Haugen, Henry Coppolillo, Seth Burns, Jess Wedel
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 11,000'
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RMI Guide Mike Haugen and the Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz team have returned from the mountain. The team spent three nights on the mountain and were able to do a lot of great training. The reached 11,000' before deciding to turn around due to poor route conditions and high avalanche danger. The team descended to Paradise and is back at Rainier BaseCamp to celebrate their accomplishment and close down their program.
Greetings from Vinson High Camp @ 12,500. Much nicer day. No wind. Up in 6 hrs 15 min. We are looking good for top tomorrow. Other teams rested at high camp today. Forecast is for continued good weather. We caught the 99.2% total eclipse this morning at 4:44 am. We were able to see Venus, but no stars. Still pretty bright out, surrounded by ice and snow, but a different light. We enjoyed it. Team is psyched for tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Best Regards,
Posted by: Joe Hoch, Devin Guffey
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climbs led by RMI Guides Joe Hoch and Devin Wilkinson climbed above the clouds to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier. Joe reported sunny skies and light winds with a cloud deck at around 9,000' this morning. The Weather was holding and provided the team will good climbing conditions.
Congratulations to today's team!
Way to go Howard and howie. Stay safe today.
Posted by: Favorite sister of Howard on 8/7/2021 at 4:07 am
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Melissa Arnot
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
Jeff-Rob! What a tremendous accomplishment to be proud of! Wishing you and all your team a safe descent.
Lynn
Posted by: Lynn on 6/11/2022 at 7:04 pm
Congratulations Erik! Awesome job, now come back to work!
Posted by: Marc Taylor on 6/10/2022 at 4:39 pm
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