It was a crystal clear and bright morning in Phakding. We started walking at 8AM along the charging, frothing, roaring river. Before long we could see Thamserku towering 10,000 feet above us. The rock and ice was in stark contrast to the lush farmland we walked through. A couple of hours in, we reached the entrance to the Sagarmatha National Park. The team ate an early lunch at a tea house in Jorsalle before getting on with the big work of the day -climbing the Namche Hill. It began with a walk across a very high cable bridge and then we set ourselves to walking slow and steady up switchbacks in a thick pine forest. Things clouded up -predictably- as the day went on. We gained 2000 feet and finally turned the corner into Namche Bazaar at around 2PM. We were relieved to pull into Camp De Base. Calling it a tea house doesn’t really do the place justice as it has become a fine hotel by any standard. We rested and rehydrated for the afternoon and evening, getting used to life at 11,300 ft.
Sunday, June 30, 2019 - 10:26 PM PT
Storms were forecasted for today... 90% chance of snow. But when we looked at the world at 4:30 this morning, things were just pretty, clear and calm. So we got up and ate breakfast. After breakfast it was still just fine in our neighborhood, so at 7 AM we set off to do a carry onto the West Buttress. The track was well packed and so we made great progress in the shadows, moving up a series of gradually steepening hills until we were at the "headwall" and the ropes fixed in place up it. The start was a little sporty since there was a small vertical wall to scale in order to get past the bergschrund (a particular kind of crevasse at the top margin of a glacier). But with the aid of the rope and some sharp crampons, we each clawed our way up and over the lip to begin the merely steep and never ending slope above. But it did end as we pulled onto the ridge crest at 16,200 ft which turned out to be the perfect place for a rest break at 10 AM. Then we began climbing the ridge itself with spectacular-and still largely clear- views and the cleanest pink and white granite to clamber around and over. One more short section of fixed line took us up the steep flanks of Washburn’s Thumb at 16,800 ft and then it was relatively easy -but exciting- ridge walking with the Peters Glacier far below on the left and Genet Basin 3000 ft down on the right. By this point there were starting to be a few clouds and some wind gusts, but with the mild temperatures the wind wasn’t much of a concern. We cruised into 17,200 Camp at 12:15 and had a brief reunion with Mike Haugen’s team encamped there and waiting for the weather up top to be workable (it wasn’t today... too windy). With the idea of getting lower down before the storm moved in, we cached our supplies and skedaddled down the ridge. We were almost back in camp at 3PM when the clouds formed fantastic waves and tendrils all around the upper mountain. It began to snow heavily just after our six o’clock dinner of tortellini and soup... fulfilling the 90% prophecy. But we got our carry in. Rest is in order for tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
A three hour walk brought us to the toe of the glacier where we spent several hours training on snow and ice in anticipation of our first summit attempt tomorrow. We’ve made a new camp at roughly 15,400’ which sits in the beautiful Condoriri Valley, where we are surrounded by beautiful peaks. We had an early dinner, and we find ourselves trying to get some rest before an early wake up and a long day tomorrow as we look to climb Pequeno Alpamayo.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
May 8, 2014 1:54 a.m. PST
The team woke this morning to the sounds of birds chirping in the trees, which meant that yesterday's rain had passed. The sky was still overcast, but as we assembled for breakfast at the Talkeetna Roadhouse spirits were high and conversation about our chances of flying onto the glacier carried a positive tone.
By late afternoon, it looked like another night might find us sleeping in Talkeetna and dreaming of glaciers, but luck fell our way. We were instructed to "suit up" and get loaded on the plane. Our flight service, K2 Aviation, was going to put us in the air and see if they could punch through.
Six hours later, we were nestled into our camp on the southeast flow of the Kahiltna Glacier. We established a camp and had a phenomenal dinner. Everyone is in awe of the surroundings and the group's cameras are getting quite the workout.
RMI Guides Eric Frank, Leon Davis and the Alaska Mountaineering Seminar crew
Today was a relaxed travel / rest day. After a good breakfast in Puebla we loaded our van and started driving to Tlachichuca. We arrived at Dr Reyes' historic soap-factory-turned-climbers-hostel around 10:30 and began sorting our gear on the lawn. With our gear packed for Orizaba we went in for lunch. By early afternoon we found ourselves bumping along the dirt road in 4x4 truck towards the Piedra grande hut on Orizaba. When we arrived we were surprised to find the Refugio buzzing with activity. A few other climbing teams and a large group filming a documentary will be our company for the night. We ate an early and fantastic dinner of tacos with chicken, veggies, rice, and beans as clouds swirled around offering short glimpses of the upper mountain. We are all feeling good and heading to bed early before our summit bid tomorrow.
We will check in tomorrow from the summit.
Thanks for following us on our fantastic Mexican adventure.
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens
Rest Day
First off, my apologies at not getting a dispatch off last night. After downloading images to my netbook, I encountered some issues with both charging the computer and a corrupt driver for the satellite phone. Fortunately, I brought a backup laptop with me; unfortunately, that laptop had been left at Vinson Basecamp. So, last night from 10:30 PM until 2:30 AM, I had a nice journey back down to Basecamp to swap out laptops, pick up some additional gear, and head back to Low Camp. Not what I had in mind, but being out during the "night" was a great time, albeit a long one!
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Rest days are always nice.
This morning we awoke leisurely, mainly because here at Low Camp we're in the shade from 3:00 AM until 11:30 AM while the sun is behind Vinson. As a result, the temperatures drop from reasonable and pleasant to painfully cold during those hours. It's best to stay inside.
Seth and Caroline - after making another great breakfast - left to make an additional carry from Vinson Basecamp to Low Camp of some additional food and equipment. Meanwhile, the rest of us went about our day. Peter and Ben began with ice sculptures, carving a great First Ascent "A" out of the ice. Kent and I moved up the glacier to do some shooting with Ed.
The highlight of the day was our journey up to a nearby Col which was part of the original route used by the 1966 first ascent team on Vinson. It was the common route until about 15 years ago. From Low Camp, a short, 30 minute walk leads to the Col, and immediately a stunning landscape is laid out ahead. An ocean of white, pockmarked by black-rock peaks, and bounded on one side by the giants of Shinn, Epperly, and Tyree. It is a stunning sight to behold, and one more of what will be many happy memories of this special land.
- Jake Norton
We got up early this morning to make use of the night hardened snow to review cramponing. We then rolled into breakfast and just relaxed until lunch. After lunch we reviewed a few more basic climbing skills and began preparing for tonight's departure. Everyone and everything is looking good so far. If all goes well we hope to be climbing just after 2am. The climb usually takes between 6 to 8 hrs to reach the summit and just about half the time to descend.
We will have dinner early tonight and get to bed by 7pm, and hopefully the team will get a little rest before we head out to summit Elbrus. We'll check in as soon as we are safely back down.
Wish us luck!
It was cold at 14,000' this morning because we didn't wait for the sun to get around the mountain. But the cold was nowhere near what we'd experienced up high. We ate breakfast, packed and got on our way. Back to pulling sleds. We pulled them around Windy Corner, through the Polo Field, down Squirrel and Motorcycle Hills. Down at 11K, we dug up the cache of gear and made our switch to snowshoes. It was a treat to be the only team left on the lower mountain (there are perhaps five or six teams still above us). It was pretty easy going down the Kahiltna Glacier until we reached Ski Hill where the combination of mushy snow and crevasses made things less fun. Even so we made good time reaching 8,000'. We set up camp as clouds rolled in from above and below. Our hope is to have things freeze up in the night to make for safer and easier travel, but with cloud cover, that doesn't always happen. We'll see what we get. Basecamp is potentially just four hours away.
Bummed you guys didn’t summit.
Was of course hoping you would on July 1st.
I was fortunate enough to summit on July 1st 1994 with Craig John, Ford Huntington , and Jennifer (?) as our guides.
Guess there is always next year.
If any of you see Joe Horiskey tell him Hi for me !
The bad weather hadn't finished, but we made our break for 11K Camp just the same. What is Denali without some wandering in whiteouts?
It took about four hours and that put us into 11K at 3PM. So nice to see our friends in Mike Walter's group. We dug in right next door to them. Still light snow falling and a lot of cloud, but we are delighted to have different scenery when we can see it. Tomorrow we'll go back down to retrieve loads.
While you are at 11K with deep snow & cold on Denali;
The weather conditions are quite different in the Lower Forty Eight!
In the west including CA, WA and OR temperatures are flirting with
100 degrees F. For the next few days in Boston Ma temperatures
will be in the 90 to 100 degree range! Much of the US has similar
conditions,
Our best to all! Joe & Marion McEttrick
Posted by: Joseph P McEttrick on 6/27/2021 at 8:11 pm
May 8, 2014 10:20 p.m. PST
The team took advantage of bluebird weather today by training on various mountaineering techniques near Kahiltna Base. We did this in anticipation of an attempt on the Radio Control Tower tomorrow. Now that the group has all of the necessary skills under their belt, we can safely travel up the glacier and, hopefully, climb to our first summit!
RMI Guide Leon Davis
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Bummed you guys didn’t summit.
Was of course hoping you would on July 1st.
I was fortunate enough to summit on July 1st 1994 with Craig John, Ford Huntington , and Jennifer (?) as our guides.
Guess there is always next year.
If any of you see Joe Horiskey tell him Hi for me !
Posted by: Don West on 7/1/2024 at 8:15 pm
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