Saturday, June 22, 2018 - 9:43 PM PT
All is well at 7,800 ft on the Kahiltna Glacier. At 30 minutes after midnight we fired the stoves at Basecamp and checked with the folks. This time all were feeling good and healthy and ready for climbing. We ate breakfast in the shadows -it doesn’t get dark this time of year, but it does get cool and shadowy without direct sunshine. We packed up and roped up and began shuffling out of base at 3:15 AM. Conditions were excellent -the surface had frozen up enough so that walking was easy and the sleds came along with minimal resistance. Best of all, crevasse problems were nearly nonexistent and the route was consequently more direct than in other years. Partway through our morning, we met Mike King’s victorious team heading for the airstrip. We exchanged handshakes and fist bumps and wished each other well. At 7:45 AM we pulled in to the base of ski hill and began building a camp. The sun was out by then but we had plenty of time to get shelter up before things got intensely hot in the giant reflector oven we call home. We passed the day napping, drinking water and chatting to one another. By evening there was a steady down glacier breeze but we were comfortably sheltered within our dining tent by then.
Tomorrow is another early start.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
This morning our team woke up at one the most impressive haciendas I’ve had the pleasure to visit in this beautiful country. I think what added to the splendor of the place was the outright need for rest after two big mountains in a row. The beds were superb, the food amazing and the amenities top notch. But in mountain climbing, as in life, all good things come to an end.
So where are we now?
Currently I am writing this at 17,500' from my sturdy but noisy tent on the southern flanks of Ecuador’s biggest mountain, Chimborazo. We were just fed dinner by our awesome camp staff so life could be much worse. On the other hand the wind is tumbling down hill at 30+ mph crashing into the tents and buckling them over on a routine basis making the sound of jet engine stuck in place. Not exactly last night’s digs.
But now the full moon has begun to rise, we are wrapped up warm in our bags and the summit cleared up catching the last rays of sun enticing us to venture upward.
Which we intend to do in five hours from now.
Wish us luck as we attempt to reach the place farthest from the center of the Earth.
And Ecuador’s highest point.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
Good Morning- I am anxiously waiting to hear how everyone is doing! If anyone reading this blog has information on this Summit please email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call me at5419482777. Many Thanks,
Beck Condon
Posted by: Beck Condon on 1/21/2019 at 8:06 am
Travel safe, team! Praying for a successful summit. The full moon and new light to guide you all to the summit. Upward bound! :)
June 17, 2015 9:24 pm PT
Good evening from High Camp on Mt. McKinley! Here we are, poised and ready after a smooth move to the high country. The team did great and we are in bed on a beautiful, clear night on the Great One. With any luck we will try our hand at matching ourselves to this stunning mountain if the weather holds tomorrow. Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Hey AJ, I’m so excited to know that it’s finally happened for you. I am assuming you’ve submitted already and it was more fun than what you imagined! Can’t wait to see how you worked your GoPro :)
Great job Team, cheers!
Posted by: Charu on 6/19/2015 at 11:30 pm
You are lucky to have the best guide(s) in the whole company!! i hope someone has taken some pictures. What we have seen is absolutely stellar. By our count you probably have submitted. Congratulations! Job well done.
Richard
Posted by: Richard Anthony on 6/19/2015 at 5:27 pm
Our last day in Antarctica was pleasantly routine. The team strolled into the dining tent at Union Glacier Basecamp to enjoy breakfast and the news that the Ilyushin 76 would be "on deck" by mid-afternoon. We packed our gear and collapsed the tents one more time, then passed the time playing chess and chatting with other climbers. Sure enough, the big plane touched down at 2:45 PM. We were on board and lifting off by 5 PM. Landing in Punta Arenas was smooth and easy 4.5 hours later. We had to work quickly to get checked in, showered and out to dinner before closing, but all of that was quite enjoyable "work". The trip ended with an excellent midnight dinner in Patagonia.
Thank You for following along.
Until next climb,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team
Hello RMI Blog Followers!! This is our last blog from Mexico and I am going to be a writer with no words. Instead...take a look at our summit video of Orizaba. Our team were absolute rock stars!!!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
The great weather continued today as we left the comforts of the beautiful Chilcabamba Eco Lodge and ventured up to the Jose Ribas Refugio at 16,000’ on Cotopaxi were we are posed to make our third major summit attempt of the trip. Everyone is in great spirits, feeling strong and acclimatized, which is not an easy feat when at 16,000’!
We are waiting for our local, in-house (or should I say in-hut) chef to complete our dinner feast of soup, chicken, crackers, and rice; the wafting smell is oh so enticing right now. This sustenance will get us through until the alarm beckons us to rise and climb.
Tomorrow is our summit day on Cotopaxi. Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
What goes up, must go down! Our uphill travel is over and it is now time for us to make our way downhill. What took us 12 days to get up to, would only take us a handful of hours to get back down. We broke down our camp at 19,600' and began our walk down to the much thicker air at 13,800'. It was a fantastic sight to see the Grajales staff welcome us back to basecamp. They greeted us with yummy snacks and a bottle of sparkling wine to celebrate our achievement. We could not ask for a more friendly group of people. After enjoying sitting in chairs and filling our bellies with fruit and various snacks, we had some chores to do. We sorted our gear and packed our duffles for the mules tomorrow. Our journey and long days are not over yet. Tomorrow we have a long hike to Pampa de Lenas. The promise of a carne asada BBQ will keep the team going and a promise of showers will keep us going the following day. The end is near where we can wash off all the dirt.
I am betting there will be several enjoyable showers and a full plate for each of you! What a wonderful adventure! A lifelong memory! ENJOY!
Posted by: Judy & Dale Collins on 1/23/2020 at 6:48 am
Enjoy those well-deserved rewards! The carne asada and showers are probably particularly enticing and will lure you downhill. :) So happy to hear you’ve made it to Base Camp. Safe travels.
Posted by: Heather Collins on 1/22/2020 at 7:10 pm
Hello once again everyone
This was a marvelous day as we visited the famous Ngorongoro Crater, considered by some to be the 8th wonder of the world. We started early with hopes of catching more of the elusive wildlife.
Today we saw more Zebras, Cape buffalo, wildebeest, gazelles than anyone expected, in fact at such close range that we could almost touch them. We also saw plenty of hyenas, ostrich, Impala, hippos and got very close to a few lions, which was a highlight for everyone and even managed to spot a Rhino off in the distance. Needless to say it was a wonderful day of well deserved safari.
We then wrapped up the day with a visit to a working Maasai village. The Maasai are the local nomadic people that have inhabited this area for more than a thousand years and still try to exist with their same way of life.
Finally we returned to the amazing Plantation lodge to relax and enjoy another wonderful meal.
All is well!
RMI Guide Casey Grom
We had a mellow morning at Base Camp today, enjoying the extra time we had to brew up fresh coffee and watch the sun creep across the glacier and bring with it warming temperatures. Not content to hang around for too long, we pulled on our ski boots and headed out for some touring above Vinson Base Camp. The rolling ridge-lines descending from the Massif offer phenomenal skiing and we took full advantage to get out and play. We climbed a couple thousand feet above Base Camp to a small summit and found spectacular views of the surrounding terrain before setting our sights back downhill and skiing some great light Antarctic snow back to camp.
As we were relaxing in the evening we received the call we'd been waiting for: the plane from Union Glacier was on its way to get us. We packed up camp and as we closed the last bag the Twin Otter came in with a soft and smooth landing on the glacier. We said goodbye to Vinson and were soon airborne on our way back to Union Glacier camp, our eyes glued to the windows as we watched the massive landscape of snow, ice, and rock flow by beneath us.
We're now back at Union Glacier, enjoying the warmth of their large mess tent and keeping our fingers crossed that an Ilyushin flight can come into tomorrow evening to give us a lift back to South America. We're hoping to spend a few hours checking out the mountains around camp in the morning before getting a weather check about the flight tomorrow midday.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory & Team
July 2, 2014 - 12:09 am PT
Thank you for all of the blog comments. It is great to hear from everyone back home and it is always reinvigorating.
Today we got to sleep in and then scurried down to our cache above Windy Corner. It was nice to be reunited with our food, clean underwear and base layers that we left buried in the snow for a few days. We then spent the afternoon doing some kitchen redesign, fixed line training and more sorting of food.
Tomorrow is an exciting day! We will get to see some more challenging and exciting terrain-- carrying to the top of the fixed lines!
RMI Guide Adam Knoff and Team
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Good Morning- I am anxiously waiting to hear how everyone is doing! If anyone reading this blog has information on this Summit please email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call me at5419482777. Many Thanks,
Beck Condon
Posted by: Beck Condon on 1/21/2019 at 8:06 am
Travel safe, team! Praying for a successful summit. The full moon and new light to guide you all to the summit. Upward bound! :)
Posted by: Chrissy on 1/19/2019 at 9:56 pm
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