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May 26, 2015 - 11:13 pm PT
We woke to a swirling cloud cap above, that left little doubt that it was unpleasant in the
West Buttress. We decided to wait the day yet again and see what tomorrow brings. We did take advantage of a break in the clouds to walk to the "Edge of the World', where Genet Basin drops almost 7,000 feet to the Northeast fork of the Kahiltna. The views from here are unsurpassed and everyone took turns being belayed out to the edge to snap photos. We'll give another shot at caching on the buttress tomorrow. We'll let you know how it goes.
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Robby Young, Josh Maggard, and team
On The Map
After a delicious breakfast at Dr Reye's historic soap factory bed and breakfast, our team is on our way home.
A little more on the
Orizaba climb:
We arrived at the Piedra Grande Hut on Friday afternoon. After a brief walk to help our bodies get used to the thin air, we settled into camp. Robby and I cooked the best chicken tacos Orizaba has ever seen. Fresh tortillas, guacamole, sautéed onions and peppers, rotisserie chicken and limes made for a great pre-climb feast. After the taco feed, we tucked into our tents for a few hours of sleep.
When we woke, the thick cloud that had engulfed camp before bed had cleared. It was a beautiful night without even a breath of wind.
We climbed through a maze of rock known as the Labrynth to the Jamapa Glacier. At over 16,000' we donned crampons and ice axes and roped together to work towards
Orizaba's stunning summit crater.
Rest stepping, crampon technique and pressure breathing were the cornerstones of success as our team made switchbacks across the peaks northeast face. Our entire team climbed well until we were on the summit celebrating a hard fought ascent.
We enjoyed perfect, warm weather on top. After we had captured some photos and soaked in the amazing view, it was time to tackle the other half of the climb : the descent.
In keeping with the style they showed on the ascent, the team descended with great form and attention to footwork. Without a hitch, our team made it back to Piedra Grande.
A few hours of packing and 4x4 riding led us to a tasty meal and celebration at the Reyes soap factory. Sharing stories and jokes with the team was a terrific way to end a great climb and a rewarding trip.
Thanks to everyone on the team for their huge efforts and great attitudes!
Until the next climb ~
RMI Guides
Zeb Blais &
Robby Young
Our team is back at camp now, after a successful day. We cached food and fuel at ~13,700', got some great views of the upper mountain, and stretched the legs on our climb today. Now we are in position to move to Camp 4 (14,200') when the time is right. Everyone is doing well and the team climbed strong today.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
RMI Guide Seth Burns and Team were on the summit of Mt. Baker this morning. They enjoyed some great turns on the Squak glacier during their training yesterday. Their training came in handy to help them get to the summit of Mt. Baker today.
Nice work team!
The Mt. Rainier
Four Day Climb August 9 - 12 led by
RMI Guide Casey Grom reached the summit this morning around 7:15 AM. The guides reported a beautiful day with light winds. They will enjoy some time in the crater before starting their descent. Once back at Camp Muir the climbers will have a short rest to refuel and re-pack. The hike down from Camp Muir will take the team around 2 and 1/2 hours and the shuttle will then return them to Rainier BaseCamp where they will enjoy a bit of celebration.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
We flew out of
Union Glacier at 3:30 AM the day after Christmas, arriving in Punta Arenas at 8 in the morning. Under ordinary circumstances, we’d have slept the day away and celebrated in the evening with a big dinner. But we’d enjoyed a fair number of big dinners at Union and my gang had families and lives to get back to. We showered in town and repacked, had a nice lunch and then headed for the airport again. Sure enough, we started saying goodbye to each other in airplane aisles and security lines and before long, the five of us were flying in different directions. We shared plenty on this expedition, and although we were ultimately in different places, I’m positive that we were still sharing exhaustion at the end of 36 hours of constant travel.
There was plenty of relief at being done, but there were also a thousand new memories of challenges met, storms and delays endured and of five steady companions who got through it all while still laughing and smiling and loving Antarctica.
Thanks for following our adventure.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Wednesday, June 6, 2018 - 4:43 PM PT
We were all set to climb to 17,000' Camp this morning but Denali had other plans for us. By 8 am this morning we could see strong winds blowing across our climbing route on the Buttress. We decided to put the move on hold until the winds slowed. Luckily, Mike Walter's team at 17 Camp provided hourly updates on the weather situation and we eventually decided that the weather was too severe to climb into today.
Not all was lost though, we took some time to remodel our mountain kitchen and built a new outhouse. Obviously important facilities when waiting out bad weather.
We will wake again tomorrow planning to move and see what the weather allows.
RMI Guide Walter Hailes
RMI's Four Day Summit Climb teams September 1 - 4, 2014 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning around 7:30 am. RMI Guide JJ Justman reported great views from the summit with calm winds and a very nice day. The teams were able to spend some time on the summit enjoying the views and crossing the crater to Columbia Crest. The teams began their descent around 8:30 and will return to Camp Muir before continuing down to Paradise.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens just called from the summit of Sahale Peak! The team had a great climb and ended up above the clouds with great views of the surrounding North Cascades peaks peeking out.
The seminar team has had a fun week of training and climbing, reaching the top of Aiguille and
Sahale Peak. Tomorrow they will finish their training and descend back to the trail head before parting ways.
Both the Four and Five Day
Mt. Rainier Summit Climb teams tagged the top! RMI Guides
Mike Haugen and
Pete Van Deventer reported a sleet/snow mix and moderate winds. At 8:45 a.m. they radioed basecamp to say they are beginning their descent.
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Incredible photo!!, well done to all. Feels like you’ve been gone for a lot longer than 18 days renee, I’m sure it feels like a long time for you also :) , have been keeping an eye on your teams progress and letting everyone know updates including nan ron. she misses you like we all do but we are all incredibly proud and pumped for you to accomplish your goal! Cant wait to chat all about your trip. stay safe, loads of love xxx love leigh.
Posted by: Leigh on 5/28/2015 at 4:52 am
Team PRJ… wow sounds like mother nature is flexing her muscles. Hope you are keeping warm and well fed… especially Renee. I miss you so much! Work is not the same without you here! Each morning I read the blog to Cam in the car on the way to work… he is so impressed with your progress and is sending you his love and best wishes. Its Thursday arvo here in Oz and I have just had lovely Kenny’s for lunch (jealous much.. hahahaha) and Paul baked a Banana Cake (which will never be as good as Cameron’s let’s be honest) I hope that you are getting all these messages of support and cannot wait to get an email from you when you are off the mountain. Love you lots hunny bunny… stay strong, the final stages are now in your reach! Love Kath & Cam xxxx
Posted by: Kathy on 5/27/2015 at 9:28 pm
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