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Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos, Robby Young
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Peru Seminar
Elevation: 17,800'
Friday, July 4, 2014 - 9:43 AM PT
Hello from the summit of Nevado Urus at 5,497 meters! This is Elias and the crew, we are on top and enjoying the views of the Cordillera Blanca. We had a nice day and are enjoying our time up here. Everybody's doing well and we will be checking in tomorrow on our rest day. We are blown away by the lakes and the glaciers and the summit we are seeing. Are we guys? (team cheering). I don't know if you heard them but they were cheering. That's all for now, we'll be checking in later. Bye.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos checks in from the summit of Nevado Urus.
Wow! The team enjoyed another day of awesome weather for our carry up to Camp 1. Everybody performed exceptionally well on our first push above 16,000' dropping off food, fuel, and supplies.
Upon our return to Basecamp we treated ourselves with prosciutto, fontina, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar baguettes! Then we ate steak for dinner! All in all a great day.
Tomorrow's plans call for a rest day which should line up nicely with some predicted squirrely weather.
We will touch base manana...
RMI Guide Billy Nugent & Team
Posted by:
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Showers was the word of the day! That's all anyone could think about after such a great night of sleep, that and having not bathed in four days.
After breakfast the team descended back down from Elbrus to our hotel in the Baksan valley via the 2 gondolas and single chair lift. The weather continues to be sunny and very warm here in Russia. Tonight we will have a celebratory dinner and I'm sure there will be a little sampling of the local Vodka too. Everyone is smiling.
Coming into the teahouse dining room this morning under low, cloudy skies with a trace of new snow on the ground, it was obvious that we were each ready to be finished with trekking. Enough of the team was battling sniffles or tummy troubles that we were all getting borderline paranoid about sharing germs with so many others in these common spaces. We were ready to make it to our own basecamp and our own dining tent... we were anxious to meet our Sherpa climbing team and get started on a big climbing project.
But for all of our restlessness, Gorak Shep hadn't been that bad a place for our team. A number of us hiked up Kalapathar yesterday evening in order to catch the sunset. In contrast to the ample daytime traffic for this sought-after destination, by 5 PM there was only a handful of folk left on the hill and these were hurrying down while we strolled up. The afternoon had been cloudy with periodic snow showers, but the higher we got, the more the clouds fell away from Everest and Nuptse and Pumori. We took picture after picture as the light changed and then trotted down in the dark when it had all been expended.
We joined the flow of traffic around 8:30 this morning for what we knew would be a relatively short and easy climb into basecamp. The low cloud seemed to muffle sound and it was almost a relief to have our field of vision minimized so that we could concentrate on walking instead of gawking at the great peaks. Our path was, at first, along the rock and dirt of the lateral moraine and then finally we dropped down onto the glacial surface itself for the last half hour into camp. We passed plenty of fully dedicated trekkers, bent over and gasping for breath and I was reminded of how much importance is placed, by so many, in simply getting to Everest Basecamp, with no thought whatsoever of climbing the mountains above. I felt a little sympathy over the diminished views for these folks, but then the clouds began to break and lift as we reached the first tents. By the time we marched into our own camp, we could see plenty, including the rough and intimidating Khumbu Icefall stretching up toward the Western Cwm.
We could also see that our Sherpa team had been hard at work in preparing our camp. We greeted them, as well as Ed Viesturs, Jeff Martin and Linden Mallory who'd come ahead yesterday to help get things in order. We wrestled with duffle bags for a time and moved into neat and new First Ascent tents. I made a quick exploration of a few of the surrounding camps to say hello to old friends but then I hurried back to my own camp for a lunch with my team. We strategized a bit and laid out a few of the normal ground rules that make living so closely for so long, not only possible but enjoyable. Then we gathered outside with the entire team, including basecamp personnel and climbing Sherpas and then each person introduced themselves and said a few words. Some of us chuckled to hear the casual delivery the older veteran climbers gave to their extensive resumes. It is funny to realize that we are in a place where someone might just forget to mention that time they climbed K2 or Ama Dablam or Kangchenjunga. Peter Whittaker reminded one and all that our top priority on this trip would be safety- for which he got plenty of agreeing and understanding nods in return.
Then it got cloudy and a bit snowy again as most took the opportunity for a quick nap. I enjoyed scattering my junk in my own tent and plopping down in the middle of it all, drifting off to the thunder of avalanches as the glaciers around BC pushed one railroad-car-sized chunk after another over great drop-offs. We are in the midst of a crazy tapestry of tents and boulders. At any given time, one can hear cooks chopping veggies, shovels scraping gravel, rocks being moved from place to place, a few tinny FM radios playing Nepali music and an occasional live voice breaking into song. As peculiar as it may sound, this already feels like home and I have to make myself remember that I was anywhere else for the past ten months.
Posted by: Mike Walter, Sam Hoffman
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 6,700'
UPDATE: September 6, 2023 10:59am PT Mike Walter and Team summit Mt. Shuksan via the Sulphide glacier in beatuiful weather. Nice work team!
We had a great day if training on the Sulphide glacier today. We covered snow and ice anchors, anchor systems, crevasse rescue, and did some ice climbing out of a crevasse. The weather forecast looks promising and we hope to try for the summit tomorrow morning. I'll check in tomorrow, hopefully from the top of Shuksan!
RMI Guides Mike Walter, Sam Hoffman and the Team on the Sulphide
Go team go. So glad you are all doing well. Big shout out to Jodi and Chad !
Posted by: Tina on 9/8/2023 at 8:21 am
Posted by: Hannah Smith
Categories: Guide News
Today the team walked to two of our team members' villages. First we stopped at Laxmi's village. It took us 1.5 hours and we were greeted by Laxmi's daughter and family. They made us noodles, showed us a game that resembles pool and we were on our way. Next we stopped at Sangita's village, which is four hours from Laxmi. She is the last village in the valley. Her father is the chairman of the village. They greeted us with tea and a feast for dinner. We started with fresh veggies and local apples. Next they made us French fries. The main course consisted of fried blue sheep, greens, yogurt, and millet bread with local honey. It was delicious. Custom to their culture is treating their guests as gods and we sure felt like one. It's been a great day exploring more of far western Nepal. It is quite beautiful.
Tomorrow we explore more,
RMI Guide Hannah Smith
Posted by: Robby Young, Alan Davis
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Peru Seminar
Elevation: 17,600'
Greetings!
This morning around 9am, your ESS-Peru Team stood on top of Nevado Urus Este! What a beautiful morning it was; light breeze, mostly sunny skies, and some high clouds over the neighboring giants made for some incredible morning light. With an unknown summit elevation somewhere between 17,600’ and 18,028’, Urus gave us a great taste of true Alpine climbing with some steep snow and a bit of rock scrambling. After a tranquil sun filled descent, we made it back to the comforts of the tents in time for lunch. We spent our afternoon eating the remaining delicacies from our cook, Raul, including pancake pizzas, more delicious soups, and the main course of Lomo Saltado and Jello. Our stomachs are full and our muscles are recovering from a weeks worth of great climbing here in the Ishinca Valley. Tomorrow morning, we bid this beautiful valley farewell and head back to the comforts of Huaraz City for a night of rest and recovery before our next Cordillera Blanca adventure.
We’ll keep you in the loop!
RMI Guides Robby, Alan, William and Peru Team
Posted by: Leon Davis, Bridget Belliveau
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 7,300'
May 5, 2015 11:27 pm PT
Hi everyone.
Another beautiful sunny day on the glacier! Perfect to go out for a bit of climbing and training. We left this morning in the cold shadow of Mt. Hunter and made our way up into a small basin on the north side of Horiskey's Hump. Stopping periodically to study the glacier and identify some key features that make this frozen river so interesting. The team made great time and we were able to stand on top while getting some good practice on fixed line travel. By late afternoon the team was back at camp building a few more walls and celebrating Cinco de Mayo courtesy of John and his guacamole. Good night.
RMI Guide Leon Davis
On The Map
hi Papa!I got on purple two times in a row this week! I miss you very much .I hope you are having a good trip. I LOVE you!
Posted by: Evelyn on 5/6/2015 at 4:52 pm
Posted by: Mike Walter
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Well, we're all safely out of the mountains after a great week of climbing and training on Mount Shuksan's Sulphide glacier. Our climbing team gained proficiency moving in diverse terrain in the mountains, including crevassed glaciers, steep snow and ice, and 4th & 5th class rock. We also practiced lots of knots and hitches and crevasse rescue systems.
We packed a lot into the past week, and the weather was perfect throughout. Our team was strong and cohesive and we all reached the summit Mount Shuksan in good style. It was a pleasure to climb with everyone. Nice work team!
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Hi everybody back home... We just finished our first official day on our Cotopaxi and Cayambe program. The team met up this morning for a quick breakfast at our hotel in the Mariscal district of Quito before setting out on a tour of the city. At over 9,000', Quito is the second highest capital city in the world behind only La Paz in Bolivia. Makes for great acclimatizing while still hanging out in town! We visited a bunch colonial churches, homes, and cathedrals in the colonial district of Quito known as the Old Town. Actually a UNESCO world heritage site, Quito's Old Town has many buildings dating back to the early 1500's. In the afternoon we lunched at a typical fritada restaurant and then headed out towards the geographical equator. At the "Mitad del Mundo" there's a small museum where a local guide showed us experiments with Coriolis forces on and near the actual equator in addition to some taxidermy of exotic species from the Amazon. Almost a tiny natural history museum meets Ripley's Believe It or Not, there were preserved specimens of terrifying spiders, boa constrictors, anacondas, barbed fish that will swim up your urethra (crazy), and a legit human shrunken head! After our city tour and a brief team meeting we capped off the day with the first of many team dinners to come.
Now we're back at the hotel watching Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom on late night TV. Awesome.
All for now,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
We miss you dad. Have fun on your climb.
Ken, Alex and Sophia.
Posted by: Veronica on 2/14/2014 at 9:20 pm
Hi Aunt Kim!!! Way to go on your first summit- yay!!!! I had the best time in Nashville while mommy and daddy were away… I am so independent now- pretty soon I can start climbing mountains with you !!!!!
Lots of Love
Sophia & Crew
PS I taught daddy how to catch fireflies
Posted by: Sophia Rose on 7/5/2014 at 7:00 pm
Congrats on one of the summits. Can’t wait to see photo of the view that is described. Sasha and I are spending our days at the beach and jungle trail and thinking of you all in your fleece. Hope the food on this Peru journey is as good as in September.
Posted by: Kathryn LeBey on 7/5/2014 at 10:09 am
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