A quiet day for us at 16,000 ft in Lobuche. Things are certainly colder up at this end of the valley, but the sun was good and strong this morning and so we ventured out for a short walk along the lateral moraine of the Khumbu Glacier to stretch legs and catch views. Nuptse is front and center and ridiculously steep when viewed from Lobuche (and from any other angle as well, come to think of it) but our eyes kept straying toward Everest Base Camp and the peaks that surround it- Pumori, Lingtren and Khumbutse. It isn't very far away now... We'll be there tomorrow with any luck. But first things first, we made the most of this rest day with a short visit to the Italian research "pyramid" a few minutes away and up a side valley. One of the staff gave us a fine tour of the facilities and described the atmospheric and glacial science being conducted. Then it was back to our tea house as the sky clouded up yet again. Snow started falling after lunch, which made it just that much easier to kick back and rest away the afternoon. We've got cards, chess and scrabble... Books and naps worked pretty good as well.
Last night in a tea house... Tent life begins tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
July 9, 2014 - 10:34 pm PT
It wasn't such a bad day to start. There was plenty of blue sky overhead at 6 AM and a little wind to contend with up high, but the day had potential to be just right for moving to 17,000 ft. The team was feeling good and ready. But we held off, talked some on the radio to friends at 17K (teams up there were staying put, not going for the top) and we watched the weather deteriorate. The winds increased, a cloud cap formed on the mountain and the rest of the sky began to cloud up. Before it clogged up completely, we roped up and took a short walk to "The Edge of the World" to look down on the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. We belayed each other out onto the overhanging prow of rock for hero shots. Then we headed back to camp and hunkered down in the tents for an afternoon of light snow and heavy cloud. We'll hope for better weather tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
June 29, 2014 - 9:51 pm PT
Hello to everyone out there in blog land. We all wish, in some selfish way I suppose, that there was a sure fire way to teleport any curious individuals straight to our location here on what is commonly called the Polo Field of the West Buttress. As I mentioned yesterday, a move to 14,000 foot Advanced Basecamp was on the ticket and we were gonna "make some hay" while the sun did shine. Oh how the "High One" can take any given plan and turn it into any thing she wishes. Like the oxymoron I spoke of about a "windless" Windy Corner. Can you say JINX! As it turns out, not only was the corner as windy as a Dave Hahn Everest story, the sun only shined for a few minutes before it started dumping snow again. Combine this with heinous trail breaking in the multiple feet of new snow and out pops a midway camp spot used only when the going gets tough. So tomorrow the tough will get going again and try for 14,000 feet once more.
Wish for warm toes, a better trail and quite winds.
Until Tomorrow.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
Hey, this is Dave Hahn from Lobuche with RMI Everest Climb. Not much in the way of internet here in Lobuche, so I am giving you a call to tell you that everything is good. We have a rest stay here in Lobuche today. Went for a light hike, and everybody's feeling good. So after tonight, which will be our second night in Lobuche, our intention is to move up to base camp tomorrow. All the way to 17,500 feet. Tonight we're still at 16,000 feet. A beautiful evening here in the Himalaya... (transmission lost)
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Leon Davis reached the top of Disappointment Cleaver before route conditions forced them to turn around. When Dave called to check-in around 7:15 am, the teams were descending the lower third of the Cleaver en route to Camp Muir. They will be back in Ashford later this afternoon.
Travel day to Altzimoni hut.
The roads were great as we drove from La Malinche to Amecameca to do a little final food shopping and check out the colorful local market.
Then we finalized our approach to the Altzimoni hut and spent the afternoon sorting our gear, setting up tents and taking a walk to scope our route on Ixtaccihuatl.
Tomorrow we will move to our high camp and prepare for our summit attempt.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Greetings from Everest Basecamp! I still have to pinch myself to make sure I'm really here. To come here and climb has been a longtime dream for me, but it's only been the last four or five years that I thought it would be possible. I never really imagined I'd be doing so as a part of this amazing team.
For me personally, this couldn't be a better opportunity. I get to pester Ed Viesturs with pretty much any question I want about climbing in the Himalaya, and learn how to guide these peaks from Dave Hahn. I can't really see me ever having access to this kind of brain trust again in my guiding career. To add that in with climbing in gear that we have all helped develop from the ground up makes this truly a once-in-a-lifetime trip.
It was just over a year ago that I was doing a normal guiding rotation at RMI. For me, that has meant starting in May on Rainier, then heading to Alaska to work on Denali then back to Rainier until August, then I head over to Africa to guide on Kilimanjaro. When my boss Peter Whittaker invited me to be a part of this team, I had no idea what it would lead to, yet here I am at Everest Base Camp getting ready to head into the Western Cwm.
This is our third day in base camp and I'm still trying to judge the scale of the mountains here. I'm used to the feeling of getting my bearings in an unfamiliar mountain range. It's one of the best parts of climbing somewhere new. With no trees or buildings or anything familiar to give you reference, you can get vertigo trying to approximate distances or elevations. Typically, the novice will underestimate distances drastically. I've spent enough time in the mountains though to have a healthy respect for this trickery.
The difference here is that there is no grander scale. When I first saw Everest from Namche Bazaar, I couldn't believe how big it was or how far away we still were. Now that we're closer and the satellite peaks of the Everest massif block the summit from view, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't even more intimidated.
But if there's one thing I've learned over the years from all of my mentors and climbing partners, it's how to tackle big objectives. In a sense, this one is no different... wait, what am I saying?! It is different. It's the biggest mountain in the world. Step by step, that's how we'll do it. With a healthy respect for the mountain.
In a few days, we'll head into the icefall for our first real physical test of the trip. I'm really psyched to put the boots on and get the crampons and ice axe out. My job on this trip is really just getting started. I can't wait to get going.
The North Cascades continue to deliver! RMI Guide Ben Luedtke and team ventured to the Picket Range in North Cascades National Park over the weekend for a successful climb of West McMillan Spire. They enjoyed great climbing conditions and blue, windless skies.
Day 1: We left Ashford at 7:30 this morning and enjoyed good views and generally cool weather on our approach to the kautz. We’ve made an excellent camp on the lower castle and are batoning down the hatches for rough weather tonight—an essential expedition skill. - RMI Guide Eric frank
Day 2: Today we practiced a variety of skills including fixed line travel, crevasse rescue and avalanche beacon searches. We even took a little time for yoga before our summit talk! - RMI Guide Tom Skoog
Day 5: SUMMIT! The Kautz Seminar team left camp and ascended the Kautz Ice Chute and reached the top of Wapowety Cleaver before gaining Point Success and then contining across to Columbia Crest. The team enjoyed some time in the crater before starting their descent. The team climbed strong with 100% of the group reaching the summit. They will return to camp and enjoy some rest and a final tent night. Tomorrow they will continue their descent to Paradise and conclude their program.
This morning, we woke up early, had our last teahouse breakfast and headed for the helicopter pad.
It was a busy day at the airport since the weather was clear. We saw planes and helicopters land, take off and finally, it was our turn.
After a 45-minute flight, we landed safely in Kathmandu.
We got together for one last team dinner tonight. Reflecting on our nearly 3 weeks in Nepal and enjoying a delicious meal at Le Sherpa.
Some of us fly home in the early hours of the day tomorrow and the rest soon after.
What a trip! Thank you for following along and we can’t wait to see our friends and family to share more about this incredible adventure when we get home.
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Hey Robbie and Erin!
Hope you guys made it up to Base Camp today - congrats if you did! Enjoying all the updates!
x, Laura
Posted by: Laura Massie on 4/4/2015 at 2:36 pm
Hope that all the climbers will find their own little shining star this year in this cold magical Everest constellation. Good luck everyone
Posted by: Chrystel on 4/4/2015 at 10:34 am
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