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Hi this is Seth at Everest Basecamp. The entire group is down at Basecamp now after a successful final rotation on the upper mountain. Everyone is happy and healthy as we begin our resting phase. We are fortunate that everyone has made it through the acclimatization rounds without suffering any illness. The cycles we go through up high are meant to stress our bodies so that we adapt to the extreme altitude, but the trick is not to stress yourself too much and become ill.
We've made it through the prep and our next step is to recover from this latest effort and then to begin the summit push. We must be patient and wait for the weather to shape up. I find that to be one of the hardest parts, mentally, of climbing here. There's always the temptation to push for the summit when your body is ready, but maybe too soon for the weather. Everest's height, 29,038 ft, is such that it sticks up into the Jet Stream. It's actually just a few thousand feet shy of the cruising altitude of a trans-continental airliner. The winds at that altitude can exceed a steady 160 mph when the Jet is over the mountain. We'll be waiting in Basecamp until we get a favorable forecast that tells us that the winds will be managable enough for a summit attempt.
When will that be? Well, that's the big question. As for now the winds are forecasted to be high for the next several days. But that's ok. We have a great setup here. There is plenty of food and plenty of things to do to keep us occupied so we don't waste precious energy stressing about weather forecasts. Our current diversion of choice is hosting inter-expedition card games. 'Texas Hold-em' is our game of choice and of course the RMI crew tends to dominate the winnings. The games are fun but most of us are already chomping at the bit to get back to the climb. We'll be sure to be rested, healthy and mentally charged up when the opportunity to go back up the mountain arrives. Until then we'll be doing our best to lighten the loads of the other climbers by taking some of their money.
The Five Day Climb June 28 - 2 July led by RMI Guides Jack Delaney and Sam Marjerison reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning on a beautiful day. The teams enjoyed some time on the summit before beginning their descent from the crater rim around 9 am. The climbers will return to Camp Muir for their second night on the mountain and enjoy the views and their accomplishment. Tomorrow the teams will descend the remaining 4,500' to Paradise.
Nice work today team!
Tuesday, June 20, 2023 - 8:20 pm PT
After a night of heavy snow we had an awesome breakfast of blueberry pancakes. We then reinforced our camp in anticipation of the continuing storm. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and so I was inspired to write a poem about our adventure. Here goes:
Denali is the mountain, they call it the “great one”.
Here in North America it’s second to none.
To get to the summit, that is our goal.
Standing so majestic, it captures the soul.
On our way to the top, we have to dig deep.
With courage and strength, a reward we will reap.
On this journey, new friends have been made.
The memories we share will surely never fade.
Each step gets us closer to reaching our dream.
I know we can do it, we have a great team.
Look up to the clouds, the beauty that we see.
Rising so high, its name is Denali.
RMI climber Mark Kulow
With Sergio's 4x4 driving skills playing a crucial role, yesterday our Hyundai van plowed through the 20 cm blanket of new snow over the road to Las Araucarias, a ski area at the base of
Volcan Llaima. It felt like full blown winter leaving the parking lot - snow falling from the sky... We decided to take the optimistic approach and see if we could potentially climb out of the clouds. After an hour or so we were at the top of the ski area, with no reference points above. We were able to fit five of us in a tiny unused lift shack, and I did what I usually so when times are uncertain: put on some reggae. With my iPhone as the sound system and Chronixx filling the air, it was the ideal "out-chill the situation" maintenance break. Properly fueled and motivated, we ascended into the whiteness above. Hours later we found ourselves in the parking lot, this time Sergio's Hyundai as the sound system, Protoje filling the air, cervezas in hand, smiles on our faces... Llaima (and the weather) said no yesterday, but what a positive day in the mountains it was.
Yesterday evening we drove to another mountain, the Hyundai taking us up and up and up a steep lava rock road in 4LO, into a mysterious and remote mountain jungle. Out of the mist appeared Sollipulli Lodge, a place that inspires your childlike imagination. "Eco lodge" is probably the best term to describe this place - each room is its own incredible yurt-like pod situated on a lagoon, with other beautiful alternative structures connected by boardwalks. Mountain jungle living, combined with incredible comfort, and incredibly gracious hosts - the father and son duo Christian and Robert.
Sollipulli is a volcano with an expansive crater that similar to Crater Lake in Oregon and was once much taller before collapsing inward on itself. This morning we had a beautiful ascent to the summit, using a variety of ski mountaineering skills along the way. The weather was in and out, but eventually we found ourselves back in the "viento blanco" - low visibility, annoyingly windy, snowing...
I learned a new tactic on Sollipulli for terrain reference in whiteout conditions. When you're in the lead, it can be hard to know what sort of terrain you are on, or about to walk into, and guides will use various tricks in these conditions to ensure they're not leading the group off a cornice or into a crevasse. These are low tech solutions like throwing snowballs, casting a piece of cord tied to your ski pole like a fishing rod...or bringing along a pack of three golden retrievers who follow you all the way to the summit, clearly loving every minute of it, while also providing valuable terrain reference. These Sollipulli dogs were amazing, and also very competent in the winter alpine environment.
Our Sollipulli descent ended in a wood-fired hot tub next to a crystal clear river, an ideal place to relax in the late afternoon rain.
RMI Guide Tyler Reid
Hello again!
We are contacting you from a very windy Camp 1 today after we moved supplies up hill to 18,000ft. The team did well with the weight and altitude as we got our first grand views of the Andes range. We could see many glaciated peaks to the north and the intimidating Polish Glacier on
Aconcagua proper. Soon after our descent back to camp another cloud cap formed on the upper mountain which made for a chilly evening. But now we are bundled up in the tents for a solid 13 hours rest before breakfast. Hope these winds calm down so we can sleep for some of that time!
Oye!
RMI Guide Walter Hailes
On The Map
June 12, 2014 - 9:02 pm PT
RMI Team Haugen is at Kahiltna Basecamp. We departed just before 9:00 am from Talkeetna as the weather was clearing and
Denali was looming in the distance.
We have taken the day to organize our gear and get a plan together to tackle the lower glacier. Basecamp is in good shape with all of the new snowfall and we are excited to head out towards Camp 1 at 7,800' on the Kahiltna Glacier. We plan on leaving basecamp very early since it did get pretty warm during midday today.
The adventure begins!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
On The Map
We have finished the final trek from Kilimanjaro's Mweka Camp down to the Mweka Gate with a three hour descent where we met our drivers from the Dik Dik Hotel. Team “Simba”, as we are calling ourselves, did a great job and we had a fantastic climb of Kilimanjaro. After signing out and having lunch at the gate, it was off to the Dik Dik for showers and celebration dinner.
We just finished a briefing about the safari that will start tomorrow. We are looking forward to exploring more of Tanzania with visits to Lake Manyara, Tarangire and Ngorongoro Crater National Parks.
We will check in again soon and let you know about all of the beautiful African animals we are seeing.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
This is Seth checking in from Advanced Base Camp (Camp Two/ABC).
Today and tomorrow the teams will start their third and final rotation for acclimatization. If all goes well with the weather, tomorrow all teams will be at ABC getting ready for a climb up to Camp Three with hopes of spending one night there. We have been receiving several inches of snow over the past three days and conditions on the upper mountain have improved, infact today marks the first summit of 2010 from the South Side of Mount Everest! Nine people on top from three different teams.
The Four Day Climb August 16 - 19 led by RMI Guides Leif Bergstrom and Ben Luedtke reached 12,800' today before high winds and a descending cloud cap forced them to turn around. The teams returned safely to Camp Muir around 8 am. They will repack and continue the remaining 4,500' to Paradise later this morning.
Here we are, day eleven,
Out on the trail, it is only seven.
This morning brought us cans of spam,
Full of that, I’m sure I am.
Uphill we went to carry more,
Full of jokes and riddles galore.
If you think we're done, you're sorely mistaken,
But there's a mountain to climb and we won't be shaken.
1 bag, 2 bag, 3 bag, blue,
No matter the location, we'll have a view.
We start to feel lost without Dulce de Leche,
Alas, we’ll be fine, as this is our heyday.
Tomorrow, we move, up and up,
Did I remember to put enough coffee in my cup?
On to camp 2, we hear it has Wi-Fi,
No matter, we say, because we have bigger fish to fry.
RMI Guide Ben Luedtke
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Aconcagua Expedition January 12, 2024
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Happy New Year to the team. What an exciting way to end 2014 and bring in the new year with a summit ahead of you. Dan, the kids and I love you and are very proud of you. (The B-day boy, Boris) wishes you a successful summit! - cheers!
Posted by: Wendy kolosar on 12/31/2014 at 3:10 pm
Happy New Year Walter! Be safe and enjoy your journey. Hope to run into you again. Thanks for helping me get up Aconcagua…I couldn’t have done it without you!
Posted by: Andy Rodenhiser on 12/31/2014 at 3:09 pm
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