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June 14, 2014 - 4:00 pm PT
It's another rest/weather day here at 14k camp, and we've decided to combat a few hours of down time with a fun dispatch game called add-on! We're going to pass the phone around and let folks contribute their own voice to the blog today...have fun guessing who wrote what!
So there I was tied up to
Denali....eating cheez its, looking for makin bacon. Wondering how long before I will be done piggin out.
Just like our bacon pieces we were fryin.
Hard days are made easier by good company, good food, great views and most of all encouraging blog comments...and Jerry.. Yes, the comments are great and looking forward to those promised margaritas at Amado's.. And the mountain diet will defo put magic into the armadillo hoppyum combo. The coffee could be better too bad there is no Berres brothers coffee.
I would prefer Jim Beam but whatever, I guess better coffee would work for now. I think Charlie Brown ran past my tent. I guess I will go back to the posh and listen to Jimmy Buffett and wait for my cheese burger in paradise.
And there you have it. Some of these may be references to very personal items - we decided it was probably better not to ask too many questions. Time keeps on slippin' by here in advanced base camp, but spirits are high and team No Troubles is ready when the mountain gives us a chance. Hasta pronto!
RMI Guides
Garrett Stevens,
Tyler Jones,
Bryan Hendrick and the crew
On The Map
Blustery, breezy, gusty. These are all words that describe Camp One and
Aconcagua as a whole right now. We are in full Viento Blanco mode right now. The white wind. The team tried to do a carry to Camp Two but the winds kept knocking us off our feet. I'm positive we could have pushed through it but we have time and there is no reason to risk someone getting hurt.
So we turned around and are taking a rest day with the sun shining through the tents listening to the freight train of wind above us. Everyone is doing well and we are keeping our fingers crossed for better weather so we can carry to 18,000'.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
On The Map
We packed up our bags this morning after several comfortable nights in Namche and set out on the trail. The first fifteen minutes are always the hardest; climbing up and out of Namche's steep and narrow streets don't allow for much of a warm up and we were quickly pulling off of our warm jackets as we climbed into the morning sun. Once out of Namche's bowl the trail quickly flattened out and we spent several hours traversing across the mountain sides high above the Dudh Kosi. The morning was clear again and we had wonderful views of Everest and Lhotse, still sailing their giant plumes of snow from their summits.
By midday we reached Phunki Tanga - known also as Funky Town - where we stopped for a pleasant lunch amongst the fir and rhododendrons. During lunch we encountered our first train of true yaks - the legendary shaggy work animals of the high Himalaya. They are noticeable larger than the yak/cow crossbreed used lower in the Valley and we all paused during our meal to admire them, colorfully decorated by their Sherpa herders with strings and even earings.
After lunch we set our sights upon our major climb of the day, gaining the several thousand feet from Phunki Tanga to Tengboche - a ridgetop community that is home to the largest Monastery in the area. The group climbed steadily and we made good time, quickly ticking off the many dusty switchbacks that led us to the top and before long we had crested the ridge and were standing in the open grounds in front of the large monastery. Clouds moved into the mountains by then and swirled amongst the peaks above us, obscuring the stunning panorama Tengboche is known for. After admiring the ornate architecture and colorful decorations of the Monastery we dropped down off of the other side of the ridge into the tiny village of Deboche, tucked amongst a large forest of rhododendron on the verge of blooming. Finding our teahouse amongst the trees, we settled in by mid afternoon to relax after a good day on the trail.
Tomorrow we will stay another night in Deboche, taking time to visit the Monastery of Tengboche and go for a small day hike above the area.
The team is in high spirits and doing well, sending their best to everyone at home.
Monday, May 27, 2024 - 7:05 pm PT
The Denali Bingo card formulated by our team.
1. Get uncomfortably close to filling your pee bottle in the middle of the night.
2.Make eye contact with someone from the next camp while pooping.
3. Stand outside your tent for more than 30 minutes because you want to go pee before you get into the tent because once you're in you don't want to come back out.
4. Wear your bootys instead of your boots outside and almost slide to your death (or fall into the kitchen tent)
5. Have more than 5 blisters.
6. Read out loud to your tent mates for entertainment.
7. Read all the books you brought/watch all the shows you downloaded before day 16.
8. Eat 3 servings of breakfast/dinner.
9. Drink your warm food bowl cleaning water (gross)
10. Get very frustrated when you realize that all the music you downloaded on Spotify isn't working.
11. Eat a questionable snack.
12. Get woken up from condensation drops on your face.
13. Dig yourself out of your tent after a storm.
14. Be thankful for all the life choices that brought you here
15. Regret every life choice that brought you here.
16. Taste your last meal in your current meal.
17. Use your pee bottle for warmth.
18. Skip brushing your teeth because it’s cold outside
19. Use pee bottle as spit bottle when brushing teeth.
20. Tent yoga.
21. Finish packing your pack and then fully unpack because your gloves are at the bottom
22. Unusual shaped sunburn
23. Eat a pound of cheese in 3 days.
24. Get blasted by snow in the kitchen tent during an entire dinner
25. Wear the same pair of socks for more than 10 days
Denali bingo brought to you by Sharon and the team. We are all winners in this one!
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Denali Expedition, May 12, 2024
We had sunshine and calm conditions at 7 AM in highcamp today... which was better than the forecast called for. There was still plenty of cloud about, but we decided to go for the summit. It took until 9:50 to get fully fueled up and geared up for climbing, and by then a few more clouds had rolled in though we still had a good feeling about the day. Vinson put up a fight, of course, and a few of the team were feeling effects of the altitude and so not everybody topped out. Those that did, made it up in about 8 hours, spent nearly an hour on the summit and came down in just a couple more for a respectable round trip under 11 hrs. The conditions swung between sunny and calm, breezy and cloudy and everything in between... all at temps of about -20 to -25 Fahrenheit, so our rest breaks were short and business like so as to keep fingers and toes flexible. We enjoyed views of the tall and jagged peaks to Vinson’s north, and when the mountains were obscured, the sculpted cloud formations covering them were spectacular. On top of Antarctica’s highest mountain, the team lucked out with calm and sunny “gloves off” conditions for photos, fist bumps and flag waving. By 8:30 PM the gang was all back together at high camp. We spent a few hours brewing up, eating, drinking and laughing. A most memorable New Years Day was had by all.
Best Regards
RMI Guides Dave Hahn
On The Map
Saturday, July 6, 2019 - 10:38 PM PT
We got it. Only slightly ashamed that it was such a nice day. We didn’t have to worry about frozen faces or fingers or toes. We didn’t have to battle winds. We didn’t have to watch clouds building or encroaching. A lot of the normal stresses just weren’t there today as we cruised to the top of North America and came down to high camp safely.
The stoves were burning just after 5 AM this morning and conditions were exactly the same as when we’d gone to bed... clear and calm. We hit the trail at 6:55 and did battle for two hours with the steep and intimidating Autobahn -the route from 17,200' High Camp to
18,3000' Denali Pass. We found the sunshine up at the pass and then worked a series of steep snow rolls to reach Zebra Rocks, the dramatic black and white rocks along the ridge line. Then it was up and over the ridge formed by the Archdeacon’s Tower and into the Football Field at 19,500'. Things got steep again as we worked 600 vertical feet to attain the summit ridge. The views were overwhelming with no real cloud in our gigantic slice of sky. Just a bit of smoke still, but that didn’t prevent our seeing mountain chain after mountain chain and about a thousand glaciers. We cruised out the summit ridge to gain the absolute high point at 2:10 PM for a very respectable 7.25 hour ascent. There wasn’t any wind to speak of at the summit and the temperature was probably 15 or 20 above... balmy. We limited our very pleasant stay of 40 minutes and began working downward at 2:50. Only one other team went for the top today and we high-fived them on our descent to the Football Field as we passed them still going strong for the top.
We put together a few hours of careful steps and reached camp at 6:25 PM. We were tired but plenty satisfied as we ate dinner and secured things for the night. Several of our gang shattered their altitude records today.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
The Five Day Summit Climb Teams led by RMI Guides Robby Young and Andy Bond reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. Andy reported clear skies, light winds and cool temperatures. The route is in great condition, the team took just under five hours to reach the summit.
Congratulations to today's team!
June 15, 2017
Every once in a while in the mountains, things work out juuust right.
Our team woke up today in Talkeetna to bright blue skies, a view of the high one from town, and a scheduled flight in to the
Kahiltna Glacier at 9:00 AM. And just like that, after a full breakfast, we found ourselves waving goodbye to the greenery of the Alaskan low country and saying hello to the towering masses of ice, rock, and snow that make up the Alaska Range.
The team took full advantage of the clear weather on the flight in to snap photos and marvel at the jaw dropping scenery. And then before we knew it, we were digging in camp at 7,300 feet at Kahiltna Base Camp. We passed a relaxing day snacking, sorting out our gear, and brushing up on glacier travel and crevasse rescue skills. After a tasty burrito dinner, we have finally settled in to our tents to get horizontal before an anticipated early morning push up to ski hill camp tomorrow.
Mount Horiskey, here we come!
Love to all,
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
On The Map
Happy Thanksgiving from 78 degrees south of the equator on the Vinson Massif!
The sun finally slipped behind the mountains around 3am last night and the temperatures here at
Vinson Base Camp instantly dropped even further, causing us all to stir from our slumbers to burrow deeper into our sleeping bags. Despite the cold we all slept soundly. After reluctantly crawling out of our bags we set about preparing for the day: melting snow, boiling water and sorting gear to carry further up the mountain. We took our time this morning, waiting for the low hanging clouds that hung over the glacier to break but they never did and by midday we set out up the Branscomb Glacier with our packs full with food and fuel for nearly a week above Base Camp.
The climb out of camp ascends the gently rolling glacier before entering a minor crevasse field that guards the entrance to a large flat bench at about 8,400' on the glacier. Snow at very cold temperatures is known to be "crunchy" or "squeaky" as the crystal is break and fracture instead of bending or bonding and we settled into a routine on the climb out of camp, listening to our skis glide across the cold snow and settle under the weight of our feet with an audible crunch. As we approached the crevasse field our hopes to break through the clouds to clear skies above dissipated and we navigated our way through the cracks under a world lacking any sort of contrast. Glimpsing only occasional wands or tracks left from a previous group. We climbed another hour like this until we lost all visibility completely. We were in a world of white with no ability to differentiate the sky from the ground or near from far. Climbers refer to this as being "in the ping pong ball" - like being inside an sphere of impermeable whiteness. Having crossed the plateau and nearing the second notable crevasse field for the day we opted to drop our loads there, near a no longer used camp spot called 1/2 Camp, instead of pushing forward navigating only by feel. We unloaded all of our gear into a large duffel bag, lashed it securely to the ice, marked its location, pulled the skins from our skis and turned our sights toward Base Camp.
We were able to retrace our skin track without too much difficulty, following the telltale marks of pole tip plants and skin tracks (and keeping an eye on the map and gps just to be sure) back down the glacier. A couple of hundred feet above Base Camp the clouds thinned and we could spot our tent alongside the airstrip. We skied back into Base Camp grinning. Despite the poor visibility today, it still felt good to be on skis in Antarctica.
We celebrated a southern Thanksgiving swapping stories of traditions back home and sharing a package of Oreos. We're wishing all of our families a Happy Thanksgiving and just so there's no confusion: Tasty Bites are no comparison for home cooked Turkey!
RMI Guide Linden Mallory & Team
We had an alpine start this morning, waking up in the middle of the night for our summit attempt on Cayambe. At midnight the winds were moderate and there was a beautiful, clear, and starry sky above us. We were psyched to see the clear sky, and we hoped that the winds would subside a bit throughout the day.
By the time we left the climbing hut (15,300') at a little before 1 a.m., a cloud had settled in on us and it was raining lightly. As we ascended, the wind and rain increased in intensity and the temperature kept dropping. After about a thousand feet of climbing, we were soaking wet and the wind speed was strong enough that it made climbing difficult. With another couple thousand feet more to climb, we turned around and headed back to the comfort of our climbing hut. Wet and cold, we drank some hot tea and then crawled in our sleeping bags for a few hours of well deserved sleep.
We are all off of the mountain now and headed for the
Hacienda Chilcabamba, located just outside Cotopaxi National Park. We will take a rest day there tomorrow, drying out our clothes and getting ready for our climb up Cotopaxi.
We will be in touch again tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
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The writing style is very engaging and easy to follow, which makes the article enjoyable to read while also being informative.
https://waktogel.livejournal.com/
Posted by: https://waktogel.livejournal.com/ on 4/4/2026 at 12:56 pm
I just wanted to say “Happy Father’s Day”. We woke to pouring rain this AM. (It rained all night last night too.) It cleared up about 1:00 and was beautiful here! We’re hoping that the mountain is “nice” to you guys so that you can complete your climb soon! Best wishes, and stay safe.
Love Ronda, Al, Meeka and Max (Did I mention one of your furry friends (no names mentioned) tried to eat your pillow? I think I saved it (Most of it). Haha (I think they miss you)
Posted by: Ronda Kinneberg on 6/15/2014 at 7:16 pm
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