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June 6, 2014 - 8:37 pm PT
Today we woke to a grand flurry of climbers packing and moving up to the fourteen thousand camp. For us though, it was a day of rest and we crawled out of our sleeping bags after the sun warmed the air in the tents. We ate another great breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, and bacon, firing our spirits for a day of organizing our gear for tomorrow's carry up to the
14,200ft camp. We'll once again be separated from a few of our goodie bags and the gear we will use on the upper mountain.
We had a great review of advanced crampon technique, ice axe use, and general efficiency skills needed for our continued success at altitude as we move higher up. The real climbing starts from here, and we'll don our crampons and ice axe for climbing steeper, more technical terrain and entering the more challenging altitudes.
With this day of rest, light activity and acclimatization our carry should be no sweat for our crew. Send some more nice weather our way and we'll let you know when our cache has landed at its next destination!
Cheers,
RMI Guides Tyler, Garrett, Bryan, and the crew
On The Map
May 28, 2014 - 10:18am PT
Good morning from
Base Camp!
We are listening to the snow fall while we sit in our tents, and although it seems bright and cheery from inside the orange nylon walls, this weather system has settled in and the South East Fork is thick with clouds.
We made quick work of the walk down from 14 yesterday, stopping in at 11 Camp to dig up our cache and say hello to Brent, Leah, Nick, and their team.
It's much warmer down here, but consequently the snow is wet, heavy, and saturating, so we are all enjoying more time sitting "indoors" of sorts.
Hopefully we get a break in the storm soon and K2 Aviation can get us back to Talkeetna!
RMI Guide
Mike Walter & Team.
Thick clouds rolled into the
Alaska Range overnight and when we woke up shortly before 3am, we found ourselves in the midst of a thick fog bank. It was thick enough that we even needed our headlamps to get around camp, an uncommon occurrence in Alaska this time of year. The fog bank acted like a thick warm down comforter, keeping the temperatures hovering around freezing, even at the coldest part of the night. We caught several glimpses of breaks in the clouds above and decided to venture out of camp to see if we could find some colder temperatures and more supportable snow above the valley floor. We set out through the mist, following the track that we scouted yesterday evening, and navigating the crevasse field that guards the entrance to the side valley leading up to 747 Pass.
The scene was awe inspiring while we climbed the valley. As a flat light began to illuminate our surroundings, we passed the foot of huge rock faces that stretched vertically into the air above us until they disappeared into the clouds. At the head of the valley loomed the headwall and seracs that mark the top of the pass. The views would come and go with the clouds, occasionally spitting hail and almost rain on us. After climbing a little more than a 1,000' up that pass we were dismayed to find that the temperatures had not cooled and we were sinking to mid thigh in the soft isothermic snow when we climbed the steeper pitches. Around us running water ran down the cliff faces, telling us that even the snow slopes high above had not frozen overnight. With more clouds blowing in and spits of rain coming down, we knew that today wasn't our summit day as the conditions made for exceedingly slow progress and the warm temperatures and rain increased the chance for rockfall and snow sluffs above us while also weakening the snow bridges that allow us to cross the heavily-crevassed glacier.
We pulled our climbing skins from our skis and descended back down our route, making a few fun turns in the soft, punchy snow and returned to camp. We spent the rest of the morning catching up on the few missed hours of sleep from our early start, reading, and keeping a general light-hearted banter going in the tent.
By mid afternoon the clouds lifted a bit and we decided to stretch our legs with a little tour across to the east side of the Ruth Glacier before returning to camp for the evening.
We are hoping that the clouds will continue to lift and bring in some cold temperatures to provide a good freeze for the glacier. If we get a cold night and a good freeze of the snow surface, we will make another attempt on Mt. Dickey tomorrow morning. If the weather stays warm we'll pack up camp and move back up the glacier towards Mountain House to get some ski touring in on some of the more gentle slopes in that area.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory & Team
It is the end of a long, long day that technically began yesterday. I know this sounds a bit odd but my alarm was set for 10:45 pm last night, the 12th. This is one of the least appealing parts of climbing big mountains, knowing you have a huge day to come on average with three hours of sleep. But lucky for the guides and each other, our team was totally motivated. So began the ascent of the equators only snow covered place, Nevado
Cayambe at18,997 feet.
From the hut, our route began with an hour and half of rocks and scree ascending 1,000 feet to the start of the glacier. Once on the glacier, newly accumulated snow, which had softened and then frozen, provided perfect climbing conditions up the long sustained glacier. By the time we reached the summit head wall, the temperatures were in the low teens, the wind was blowing and we all climbed to the top in our down parkas. And people thought we were going to
Ecuador to get out of winter.
The summit was beautiful offering grand views of our next two mountains, Antisana and Cotopaxi, as well as Quito and Chimborazo. This is what makes the early wake up call, freezing temperatures and exhausted bodies worth it. We took seven hours to get to the top and rallied down in three. Unfortunately, both phones carried by
Nick and me died in the cold before the top so a group photo will be coming later.
After getting down and packing up, we hiked 30 minutes down to meet Victor and the magic bus to be carried off to our next accommodations, Papallacta. Here we enjoyed a fantastic meal but most importantly, natural thermal hot tubs. Which reminds me, it's time for a soak.
We are off to
Antisana later today. Wish us luck.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
On The Map
Jambo
Our team arrived safely in Arusha, Tanzania on July 24th. We spent two nights at the beautiful Dik Dik Hotel resting and recovering from our long flights and adjusting to this new climate and time zone. After sorting our gear, repacking our bags are readying ourselves for the mountain, our trek of Kilimanjaro has finally begun. The Dik Dik hotel is fantastic but it is great to get started on the mountain. We enjoyed perfect climbing conditions today. We drove from the Dik Dik Hotel to the Machame Entrance of Kilimanjaro National Park. We donned our day packs and started out, enjoying the feel of our feet on the trail after so many hours of travel. From the entrance to our first camp, the Machame camp, we gained about 3,800'. We pulled into the Machame Camp (9,800') in good style. We are resting, eating popcorn in our nice dining tent and enjoying each others company.
Everybody feels great and did just fine today. We are looking forward to a good nights sleep and another good day on the trail tomorrow.
We will check in again soon.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
This is Seth checking in from Mexico City. Seven of our nine climbers have arrived safely. The other two have fallen victim to flight cancellations, but we have arranged special transportation for them. They will meet up with us the day after they arrive in Mexico.
Everything else is going well. We enjoyed a fantastic dinner at Cafe Tacuba complete with mariachi band. Now we're settling in for the night. Tomorrow we'll have breakfast overlooking the Presidential Palace and then head for La Malinche, the former training site for the Mexican olympic team.
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!
Today we woke to sound of rain on our tents and hoped it would fade before hitting the trail. Sadly it didn’t, and we left camp clad in waterproof clothing. We hiked for a few hours before we got our break in the weather.
We hit the trail once again around 8:30am 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 6 hours before reaching camp which is set up and ready for us.
Along the way we passed around the famous Lava Tower reaching just over 15,000ft setting new altitude records for most of the team. Everyone had a great attitude and managed staying dry thankfully.
Hopefully tomorrow brings some sunshine!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew
On The Map
The Mt. Baker Easton Glacier team led by RMI Guide Andy Bond reached the summit of Mt. Baker today. Andy reported beautiful weather and a fun route. The team is en route back to camp where they will spend the evening before descending tomorrow.
Congratulations Team!
RMI Guide Mike Walter and team climbed both Sahale and Sharkfin Tower yesterday. The team reported great climbing and 100% to the top for the two peaks! Today, the team climbed Forbidden Peak by its iconic and classic West Ridge and were standing on the summit at 10:20 this morning.
Way to go team!
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Thinking of you Jen and this incredible adventure you are on. Praying that the weather holds up and you will reach the summit soon. Lots of love.
Posted by: Aunt Marie on 6/7/2014 at 8:18 pm
Great job. Thinking of you, Dave and the whole crew.
Have a safe climb. Can’t wait to hear all about it.
Posted by: Bonnie on 6/7/2014 at 3:15 pm
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