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The team continues to wait for good weather before beginning our summit push. Right now our forecast is pointing towards a possible window some time in the May 23rd to 27th range. It's about what we expected when beginning our trip and so far our forecaster has been pretty much right on.
Today there is a lull in the winds up high and a few teams are possibly going for the summit today. We wish them the best of luck.
It's a tricky game judging the best window for the summit. Right now the Jet Stream is split to the north and south of the region. That doesn't mean that the summit conditions will be ideal but a small, fast team may be able to get to the summit. The better bet for us is to wait for more stable conditions to greater ensure that we can summit safely.
So for now we're still in a holding pattern. But we've got plenty of good food and we're enjoying our time here at Basecamp before we head back up the mountain.
All is well here on Mount Everest.
Most of the climbers are up at Camp 2, tomorrow the last wave will make a push up to Camp Three and back to Camp Two for acclimatization if weather and route conditions allow. If all goes well all teams will be safely back to BC by Monday.
Thanks to Jim Whittaker and his Sherpa climbing partner Nawang Gombu for paving the American way to the summit on this day 47 years ago.
This is the Mexico volcanoes expedition checking in from the summit of
Pico de Orizaba! We summited in great time in great conditions! Blue bird skies and 5mph winds greeted us from the top! Stand by for some pictures once we are back in town!
RMI Guides JT Schmitt and Grayson Swingle
On The Map
We got an early start to our summit day. The first section is a steep scree slope, a big bite to chew when you wake up at midnight. As we gained the ridge we were surprised by the amount of snow, making for efficient climbing. The weather was warm for 15,000’+ and light winds allowed us to wear a few layers and stay comfortable while winding up and down the five false summits of Ixtaccihuatl.
With the city lights glowing in each direction and shooting stars across the horizon the Team kept plugging away until we reached the summit.
So many climbs ascend with the sunrise to thier backs. The unplanned benefit to summiting in the dark was that we descended into the rising sun with stellar views of Orizaba poking through the clouds. Alpineglow on the snow flanked sides of Ixta was a nice reward.
We are back down and headed to Puebla for a day of rest, culture and tacos al pastor. Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
May 21, 2014 - 11:16 pm
Today we spent a full day rotating through stations of
crevasse rescue and beacon searches. The team did well grasping the concept of producing mechanical advantage and they ran through the drills multiple times. By the end of the day, I think most ended up with an understanding of how the systems work. Clouds are moving in slowly and may linger for a few days here but that won't stop us from venturing out onto the surrounding glaciers. We have one more day here in base camp to prepare for our move north.
Goodnight to all.
RMI Guide Leon Davis
After almost two days of rest at the lovely Chilcabamba the team is feeling refreshed and excited for
Cotopaxi. We had a leisurely breakfast and then finished our packing before loading up the van and heading uphill to reach the parking lot that allows us easy access to the mountain. The parking lot sits at about 15,000' and the climbers hut is just about a 1,000' above that. Our timing was perfect today as we hiked to the hut just after a small snow squall and shortly before the weather came back in. Lucky for us!
Our plan tonight is to get up around 11pm again and hopefully be climbing shortly after midnight. I'm expecting the climb take us around 7 hours if all goes according to plan.
Keep your phones nearby tomorrow morning. A lucky winner will make a summit phone call if the weather allows.
Wish us luck
RMI Guide Casey Grom and team
On The Map
The Four Day Summit Climb June 16 - 19 led by Seth Waterfall and Gabriel Barral reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning around 7 a.m. PT. The teams reported light winds from the north and sunny skies.
Congratulations to the teams!
The team is enjoying the world famous indigenous market at Otavalo this morning. The huge Saturday market is a shopper's paradise! While Otavalo is known for its beautiful goods woven of sheep and alpaca wool, there is a plethora of other items available here, from paintings to jewelry to 'panama' hats.
After enjoying the market this morning, we will head up to the climbing hut on Cayambe. We will have a light dinner and hit the sack early so that we are ready for an alpine start for our summit attempt tomorrow. I will keep you posted with our progress.
8:13 a.m. PDT
Hey, this is Linden calling from Phakding in the Khumbu. We left Kathmandu early this morning and flew to Lukla. Everything has been shut down for about four days because of bad weather. However, the weather changed this morning and we stormed right on to the first flight to Lukla. It was a gorgeous flight, perfect weather and an easy landing. Lukla had all of our bags successfully. We traded in our street shoes for our trekking shoes and we were ready to hit the trail. We walked for a couple of hours down to our first tea house. We enjoyed great weather all day long. It was great to be on the trail and to be moving. Tomorrow we head to Namche Bazaar and will check in from there.
Yesterday’s perfect weather became today’s perfect weather. Strong sunshine, not a cloud in the sky and no sign of wind. We got good rest last night to make up for all of the travel nights and didn’t roll into breakfast until 9 AM. Murph took excellent care of us with eggs, bacon, pancakes, fresh fruit and coffee. Then we dug into our many packing and organizing chores. It is no small thing to shift from jet-setting in a sleek Gulfstream IV to old fashioned walking on a glacier with a week of supplies on our backs and in our sleds... but we managed just fine. Five rope teams of three set out at 1:50 PM. An hour later, at the first rest break, we all agreed that it was too darn hot in Antarctica. This was partly an illusion. The air temps were still well below freezing, but without a breeze and with plenty of hard work, we were sweating. Conditions were perfect for travel though. We had a well-packed and generally smooth trail in the snow without any open crevasses to negotiate. We took a second break at the start of a 90 degree turn in the glacier and a third under the 2,000 meter great western escarpment of Vinson. By then we were getting good looks at the sharp and dramatic summits north of Vinson. We had great views of Epperly, Gardner and Shinn -the fifth, fourth, and third highest peaks of Antarctica. We pulled into 9,200 ft Low Camp in 4.5 hours time and set to building tents and moving in. Lakpa, Pachi, and Namgya hosted a great dinner of chicken curry with rice in their spacious dining tent. We sat to sip hot drinks and chat for a bit but as we each began to feel the cold, we retired to warm sleeping bags. The tents are good and comfortable with sun projected to be on them until 3 AM -it then goes behind the mountain and we expect the big chill to take over. We’ll rest and do a little training and acclimatizing tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
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Excellent. Get some rest for Saturday!!
Posted by: Jon & Lynda Jones on 11/7/2018 at 12:38 pm
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