After one last night in Babylon (Quito) the gang packed up and hit the road for what will become our journey to Cayambe. We passed through several small towns on our way to the day's acclimatization hike on Cerro Fuya Fuya. A small hand-cobbled country road led us up into a deep caldera filled with a beautiful lake. From there we began our march upward through tall grass meadows towards Fuya Fuya's summit on the rim of the crater. A short couple hours of hiking and scrambling brought us to el cumbre at just above 4,100 m. Unfortunately, the views weren't quite as spectacular as our jaunt on Pichincha because of clouds, but they'd occasionally part and give us glimpses of the green slopes and the lake below. After a quick descent we hustled back to the bus and headed back towards Otavalo where we posted up for the night at the beautiful Casa Sol guest house. We're enjoying a last night in a real bed before heading for the big hill tomorrow.
Ciao...
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
We've now recovered from the last round up high. Most coughs are gone and the sunburns have faded. We are each getting stronger now and ready to get on with the climb to the summit. But of course, the weather isn't quite stable enough yet for that last climb. Jet stream winds continue to scour the upper mountain. Basecamp has been uncharacteristically breezy and cool for the past few days, although not unpleasant. There is hope for a break in the winds in a week or so, which... as it turns out... coincides with the dates we've always assumed would work best for our team anyway. A few teams are reportedly up at Camp III now and set on finding a lull in these next few days. We wish them luck and salute their boldness... but we don't envy them. The mountain is tougher in tough conditions. Our team is passing the time with hikes, card games, chess, horseshoes and fine dining.
Last night we were honored to have Apa Sherpa join us for dinner. Apa will be trying for his record 20th summit of Mount Everest as we go for ours and is a great hero and friend.
We are back from Everest Base Camp! All is well and the team is doing great. We had an amazing time and adventure the last few days on the Khumbu Glacier.
Our hike into BC was clear, beautiful and there was big wind high in the mountains that made it a touch chilly. The wind high on Everest was so strong we could hear it ripping across the mountain from several thousand feet below. Once in camp we had a nice hot lunch and then most of the team took naps in the warmth of the tents. We had a big dinner and then it was off to bed after the long trek. Camp is directly on the glacier, although it’s covered in rock and doesn’t seem like we are on ice. However, the constant cracking, popping, and pinging that the glacier makes at night reminds us of where we are.
Our second day at camp we had hot showers, explored camp and then went for a walk to see where the start of the route up the icefall starts. We even managed to see the icefall doctors making their way slowly as they pioneered their way up the endless maze of blocks of ice.
Today the team is headed downhill and we are all looking forward to warmer temps and the thicker air!!!
The walk thru the rainforest from the Machame Gate was nice with typically cloudy skies, but no rain. Freddy, a local guide who has been working with RMI for over 30 years set a perfect pace so we could all arrive in camp feeling good. The highlight of the evening was the surprise birthday cake the mtn staff carried up to celebrate Mike’s special day. We're hoping to get above these clouds tomorrow, but for now our sleeping bags beckon us to rest our tired bodies. The chatter of camp, and laughter of our staff, slowly ebbs as fatigue overcomes us after a good day.
Today's Mt. Rainier Summit Climb teams, which were headed to Camp Muir for their summit attempt tomorrow morning, aborted their climb at 7,700'. As they were ascending, the weather continued to deteriorate. After climbing several hours in the storm, the guides made the call to turn the climb and descend back to Paradise. This afternoon the teams returned safely back to Rainier Basecamp in Ashford.
RMI Guide Mike Walter and Team are checking in with the RMI office as they prepare for their summit bid on Cotopaxi:
June 25, 2014 5:38am PT
We enjoyed a relaxing rest day at the Hacienda Chilcabamba. Today we will head into Cotopaxi National Park and prepare for our summit bid. We'll be in touch!
June 28, 2014 - 3:01pm PT
We we're treated to good views of Cotopaxi and five condors as we drove into the National Park. We are at the hut now, going for the summit tonight.We'll be in touch soon!
Stay Tuned!
Glad to hear you’re all well and rested. Sending love and support! Go team go! One foot in front of the other all the way to the top! Can’t wait for the updates!
Thanks to everyone that have followed along... The team is back in Mendoza and enjoying some of the finer things in life: food, wine, sunshine, hanging by the pool, etc. We had a great team dinner last night and are now hanging out and lazing around while we wait for our flights back to the states and Canada. Despite not getting the summit we had a ton of fun and a hell of an adventure. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the group for being fun, hard-working, and determined.
'til next year,
RMI Guides Billy Nugent, Walter Hailes and Katrina Bolemsma
Jambo!
RAIN, rain, rain. Then we began to get ready in our nice dry tents, and emerged to a cool cloudy beautiful day. If you didn't have ear plugs in you may have missed a little shut eye but the whole team had a great night and a wonderful hike up here to the Shira Camp. Not often can you enjoy the awesome waterfalls that only run during storm time. We were fortunate to enjoy perfect conditions into camp and arrive to a great hot lunch and sunshine.
We are looking at the white, white, summit of Kilimanjaro above so plenty of excitement ahead. We are planning to have the team throw an extra layer in our kit based upon current conditions.
So many trips in the past with team members having some challenges at this point and some calling this their high point but no issues with this team of mountaineers so far. Such a pleasure for a guide to have a team that has done their home work. Mid term tomorrow, final exam just around the corner. Here I go to study up, dispatch ya later.
Cheers
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Good show everyone! I’m folowing the climb because of Steve Evans, my neighbor and friend - so a special “good luck” with all his camera gear and battery life! I’m totally impressed with all of you and this effort!
We had another great day here in Ecuador. Our day started early with a wonderful breakfast full of local fresh fruit, juices and breads. We left Quito and headed into the highlands of the Andes. First on our list was a hike on the Illinizas to further our acclimatization. We hiked for several hours to just over 15,000 (a new record for some). Though the weather did not allow for any amazing views it did provide us relief from the intense equatorial sun. After a quick lunch of soup and tea we headed back down to our van. An 1.5 hour drive through the beautiful rural countryside brought us to Chilcabamba. Chilcabamba is a beautiful hacienda located just outside of Cotopaxi, our first climbing objective. See Chilcabamba for yourself.
We had a wonderful dinner and good conversations to finish off the night. The entire team is doing great and we are anxious for tomorrow's adventure.
Lots of Puja smoke in the air this morning at basecamp, lots of banging pots and cheering. Lots of people walking around with radio antennae held high. Lots of people smiling but bleary-eyed at having monitored climbers through a long night. I guess it was an exciting day for everyone in basecamp...the estimate being that at least a hundred climbers from perhaps 10 teams had gone for the summit overnight, but of course I know for certain that it was an exciting day for those of us on the RMI team.
Not only were we ecstatic to hear each of our climbers check in from the South Summit, the Hillary Step and the Summit in good time and in good strength, we are now more fired up than ever for our own attempt on the top. It was a day of meeting with the Sherpa climbers that will accompany us; taking a final close look at the extended forecasts and a day of getting packs rigged for climbing once again. In between all of that, my team kept listening in to make sure the summit gang was descending safely. Before lunch, we managed to put everybody through the shower one more time and got a little fluff back in the hairdos. I scraped off my fourth beard of the trip...not sure which number Seth and Kent were scraping off, but they were looking sharp and clean...and ready to go. Melissa and Erica are also eager, healthy and packed for an early morning Icefall transit.
The entire summit team is safely tucked away back at high camp now. They'll spend the night there before resuming the descent. We'll meet them at ABC tomorrow at mid-day. Ours is the normal up-at-3-breakfast-at-3:30-walk-at-4 plan...climbing straight through to Camp II with only a pause for rest at Camp I. I expect we'll get some good stories out of the summit team as we share ABC for the night. The following day, they will undoubtedly be down in BC while we take our single rest day at ABC. Then we move to CIII and on the 23rd of May up to CIV...making us ready for a shot at the top on May 24th.
We discussed our priorities today, along with our perceived strengths and weaknesses. We each know the points in the next week at which we'll need nothing but good luck to achieve our goals. We know who is guiding, who is filming and who is climbing and we all are aware that this climb will push of us to our limits. But we are ready. We want to try to climb the highest mountain in the world.
Fatima, This is another great adventure!!!
Posted by: Debbi LaPrevotte on 2/15/2014 at 5:10 pm
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