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June 14, 2014 - 10:37 am PT
Despite a marginal forecast, we awoke to perfectly workable conditions. Packing up our cacheables, we busted moves up the hills Motorcycle and Squirrel to get to the Polo Fields. There it began to snow lightly but never got too bad and we were able to make it all the way to
Mt. McKinley's 14K Camp in great style.
At 14K, we ran into our friends on the other
RMI teams and always great to see some friendly faces in such a wild zone. Tomorrow we plan to rest up and move as soon as the weather allows.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
First and foremost...Todd wants to wish his beautiful wife Kelly Happy Birthday! The team spent their first night at
Aconcagua Basecamp and everyone woke up this morning feeling great! On a rest day the key is to eat great food and drink lots of liquid to ensure proper acclimatization.
We had scrambled eggs with homemade potatoes. This afternoon we will be making homemade pizzas for the team. We even had Grajalas' cook, Griselda, coming over asking for our recipes!
Later today we will set up the shower tent so we can get clean and smelling back to normal. Another camp activity for today is sorting group gear for our carry to Camp 1 at 16,500 feet.
Happy Birthday Kelly!!!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
On The Map
We have arrived at base camp! Our team is in full effect chilling. We had a beautiful last day trekking up the
Relinchos Valley, and guess what!? The Old Spice worked! We had a family of guanacos checking us out as we filled up water bottles at a nearby stream.
The cowboys that have graciously helped us waved goodbye as they rode past. Aconcagua was out for most of the day as we walked in. The team is doing great and it's so nice to unload all our gear without having to pack it all up for the mules. Now, we get to rest and relax at 13,800 feet.
RMI Guide
JJ Justman & Team
The Kautz Expedition Skills Seminar has wrapped things up. We had a fun time in what proved to be challenging weather and we're all happy to be warm and cozy now.
Our trip started in clouds and light precip on day one but due to the fact we had a strong team we were able to set up a great camp for our first night. On the second day we had the best weather of the trip and were able to establish a higher camp at 'the castle'. Here we spent that afternoon digging in and building walls to protect our tents from a forecasted storm.
The storm hit us overnight and we spent the next day in-the-mix as I like to say. Our walls did the trick though and we were in relative comfort as the storm raged all arounds us.
Once the storm broke we hightailed it downhill through over a foot of new snow!
After being pinned down for our climbing bid we were all a bit disappointed but we all agreed that it was a truly remarkable experience. It was all smiles as we said 'cheers' at our wrap up celebration back in Ashford.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Our Four Day Summit Climbs led by Brent Okita and JJ Justman were standing on Columbia Crest at 7:05am PST this morning. According to Guide Brent Okita “It’s a beautiful and clear morning up here with a chilly breeze from the north." The teams will be spending some time on the summit before they make their descent back to Camp Muir.
Our Expedition Skills Seminar - Paradise led by Adam Knoff also checked in this morning their training is going very well. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today for his 100th time!
Congratulations to our Four Day Summit Climb teams and a special congratulations to Seth Waterfall!
This morning we packed up our bags, checked out of our hotel, and headed north. The first stop was at La Laguna Mojanda, a high alpine where the trailhead for our second acclimatization hike is located. We drove through clouds and rain to get there, but when we arrived we where above the clouds and could see the day's hiking objective, Fuya Fuya. Fuya Fuya is a peak that is situated on an ecological reserve, north of the town of Otovalo. The clouds moved in and out throughout the day, and we climbed up through the high-altitude grassland with periods of rain, hail, and wind. The most challenging part of the climb was staying on your feet, as the volcanic soil became quite slippery in the rain. The final 200' of the climb included a fun rock scramble to the summit. Everyone did great, and rose to the challenges that the weather presented.
Now we're warm, dry, and comfortable at the beautiful hacienda San Luis. A big dinner and a good night's rest is on tap for tonight. Tomorrow morning, we'll head to the Indigenous town of Otovalo, and spend a large part of the day enjoying the world famous Otovalo Market. After a leisurely day at the market, we'll head to the climbers' hut on Cayambe for the night. We'll spend two nights there during our summit attempt.
Ciao for now,
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Hello,
This is Adam Knoff checking in with the Upper West Rib Team checking in from 14,000' on Mt. McKinley. After making a descent from 17,000' to Genet Basin at 14,200' and regrouping, we are feeling like reaching the summit is a possibility again. We left much of our gear at 17,000' anticipating a return, we’ve just had the most spectacular rest day, and now with the weather improving, we have decided to head back to 17,000' tomorrow on another summit shot.
Although descending to 14 and then ascending again represents a lot of hard work, from an acclimatization standpoint, it’s the bomb and we’re psyched!
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
We made it to Piedra Grande!
After getting blasted by snow on Ixta and hearing grim reports of bad roads, we're pleasantly supprised to have a bit of good luck today. The sun came out this morning as we left Puebla and we were treated to an excellent view of El Pico de Orizaba as we aproached the village of Tlachichuca. After packing and a late breakfast we headed out in four wheel drive trucks, hoping to get at least half way to the hut at Piedra Grande. Fortunately we were able to get within a few miles and a truck with our gear made it to within 1.5 miles of the hut. We had sunny but cool weather as we hiked the road, which made for pleasant walking conditions. We have just finished dinner and we're all looking forward to roping up and trying for the summit tonight. I'll check in tomorrow. If all goes well, we'll be on the summit.
The highlight from our walk to Lukla today was the Rhododendron. On the way in, a few trees were blooming here and there but now, it is full on Spring. Almost every tree had buds or flowers in every shade of pink imaginable. It was a sight to see. At one point on the trail, I said “it’s so quiet and peaceful today” and one of our members said “not quiet, serene” and that was spot on. We passed many teams heading uphill but we also had hours to ourselves with birds chirping, the sound of the Dudh Kosi river flowing, and our little feet hitting the ground in a rhythm we are all so familiar with now.
It was a perfect day to reflect on the trip and to tuck away some of these sights and sounds and feelings of serenity somewhere deep in our minds to be able to recall when we need them as we head back home. We made it back to Lukla and tomorrow we fly to Kathmandu, but tonight we had a very special last dinner with our Sherpa guide team and our infinitely strong porter team. We thanked them for letting us be able to experience their country and their beautiful mountains. We would not have been able to do this trip without them.
With full hearts and tired feet,
RMI Guide Jess Wedel and the Lobuche Team
PC: Jess Wedel
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Everest Base Camp Trek & Lobuche, March 16, 2024
We got a casual start on our day knowing that the storm was raging on
Villarica. That summiting was not going to be an option for today was glaringly obvious in the forecast, but the skiers mind is slightly different from the climbers mind: stormy conditions yield a bunch of new snow, and a bunch of new snow equals powder skiing. Powder skiing equals the polar opposite of defeat. So like yesterday, we set off into the storm, the only skiers on this mountain crazy enough to go touring (the ski areas on these Chilean volcanoes are above treeline, thus relying on good visibility and not too much wind to stay open).
Yesterday was Volcano Storm Skiing. Today was just plain storm skiing. We stuck below treeline for most of the day and found some great tree shots. With over a foot of new, dense, fast, springy pow, we put in a skin track, and one lap turned into two laps, then three laps, four laps, five laps... To be skiing in an early succession forest with a cauldron of lava bubbling 5,000' above your head feels exotic.
At the end of the day we toured up into the storm to get a sense of how windy it really was in the alpine (and to line ourselves up for a nice glide back to the parking lot). It was windy. Really windy.
RMI Guide Tyler Reid
Dawn, good job! Proud of you and team!
Posted by: hye on 6/15/2014 at 12:00 pm
Oops the view!
Posted by: Heidi on 6/15/2014 at 9:32 am
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