Last night we got to spend the night in a very special place - a traditional teahouse with views overlooking the oldest monastery in the Khumbu Valley - the Pangboche Monastery. We had a very quiet and serene night since we were the only team staying there. We woke up early, had our usual coffee, pancakes, some version of eggs (plain omelette? Veg omelette? Fried eggs? We like them all!) and got to walking.
April is one of the busiest months in the Khumbu Valley with Trekkers and Everest climbers all making their way to base camp. While we were one of the few teams walking downhill, we passed team after team after team heading up. A highlight of the morning was FINALLY seeing a baby yak. We’ve been keeping our eyes out and have seen some yak teens but today we got to see a full on baby fluff! We watched him stumble between his mama and another yak and even buck and get a little sassy from what we suppose was a bug or some other nuisance. The cutest.
After nearly five hours of walking, we arrived back in Namche. And boy, does it feel good. We’ve run into lots of friends and fellow climbers, we had a big lunch at Eat Smart (our favorite non-teahouse food of the trip!) and spent the afternoon enjoying the excited energy of this little city during the climbing season. We’re so happy to be back at Base de Camp Teahouse that has hot showers in the room and some pretty incredible views.
One more day of walking to Lukla tomorrow. It’s hard to believe this trip is nearing its end.
RMI Guide Eric Frank and the Mt. Rainier Summit Climb team reached the summit just after 7:00 a.m. The weather is nice with blue skies and winds between 15 - 20 mph. The team is currently on top enjoying the views before they begin their descent back down the mountain.
RMI Guides Brent Okita & Pepper Dee led their Four Day Summit Climb teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The enjoyed blue skies and a great climb. They will return to Camp Muir and then continue down to Paradise.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams.
June 11, 2015 11:17pm PST
What a day! We woke early to begin the day's nowcasting (real time weather) to see if it was workable to put a cache higher on the mountain. Motorcycle Hill stayed more or less visible throughout breakfast, so we decided to give it a shot. As we climbed higher the weather smiled upon us. Little wind and some good reports from our friends up at 14 Camp and we just kept on trucking. Arriving at 14 Camp was a real treat. Hugs from the other RMI teams as well as a pre dug cache hole made for a solid foray to our future home. Thanks again guys!
Now back down in camp at 11, we are about to sleep. Tomorrow we plan to rest. With any luck our forecast for improving conditions (thanks guys) verifies and we hope to move higher soon.
June 12, 2015 3:52pm PST
Ahhhh. It has been a great day today. So far we have had a leisurely brunch followed by some excellent chatting in our kitchen tent. Then some spice sampling followed by headstand yoga practicing. Now the team is napping and reading. The weather has been quite pleasant here in camp, but sure looked windy up high this morning. All in all a perfect day to sit tight and recover after a few big days of climbing. With any luck Denali will let us up a little higher tomorrow. If so, we'll be ready.
RMI Guide Jake Beren & Team
Here’s hoping the great weather continues—sounds like a wonderful experience although I’m not sure about “headstand yoga”? Bill—I know she’s so much smaller but seeing Rainier in the sun down here reminds us of your adventure up there.
Posted by: Wolf & Leilani on 6/13/2015 at 3:25 pm
Really great work Meredith and the whole team! I’m so in awe of this epic effort being put forth. Miss you back home but I love picturing you rockin’ in out up there.
Keep up the great job!
May 20, 2015 - 12:07 am PT
We wanted to get up to 13,500' to cache today, but the weather had other plans. Clouds and snow were moving quickly over the Polo Field and West Buttress above us, and gave us all the clues we needed to guess what would be going on at Windy Corner. After watching the trend for a couple of hours and not seeing any improvement, we decided to sit tight and take a tent day. Sure enough, around noon the wind direction shifted and brought strong, gusty winds to camp, along with a fair bit of snow. The team did the tent time triathlon, competing in three events: napping (best napping and longest), spades, and sport eating lunch food. By dinner, the clouds above us started to break and the sun peaked through. We've got 6 inches of nice new fluffy snow, and the view as we crawled into our sleeping bags was sparkly and beautiful. We'll add some more sleep hours, and hope that we wake up to conducive conditions for getting our cache in tomorrow!
RMI Guides Pete, Josh, Robby, and team
Matt sounds like you are having a lot of fun. I’m staying in touch with mom to see how you are doing. It has been raining here most of the day. Stay warm and be safe. Love you dearly. Auntie Marilyn
Posted by: Marilyn Collura on 5/21/2015 at 7:56 pm
Beautiful photos that have been posted. Hope the weather cooperates - stay safe and smart. Love you Robby (mom) :-)
It's been a few days since I've posted an update. Mostly - ok entirely - because I've been ill. The most likely culprit, in my mind, for this bout of illness was the suspiciously under cooked mutton I had a few nights ago. Today, though, I'm feeling better and my focus is returning to Annapurna.
Mountain news: While I've been tent-ridden not too much has happened. Camp 1 was hit by a massive wind gust produced by a large avalanche originating from high up the mountain near Camp 3. It ripped a few tents from their guy lines and the group that was there when it happened lost some gear. All my on-mountain gear is cached at C2, though, so this hasn't affected me. Progress has been made toward Camp 3 by one team, but nobody has yet reached it. Deep snow on the approach to the crosshairs couloir is the main issue. The team using bottled oxygen are planning their first summit attempt for the 15th or 16th.
My plan is to climb directly to Camp 2 on the 12th and Camp 3 on the 13th. The section between Camp 2 and 3 is the most technically difficult and dangerous area. But time spent above 20,000' is a most important aspect of acclimatization for a no O's attempt. Until then I'm working on kicking this illness and recuperating my strength for this next push up the mountain.
RMI Guide Alex Barber
With a good weather report I have been pushing higher the last few days on Manaslu. Tonight I am at 6,800m camp (22,300ft), my food and fuel are spent. And apparently so is my weather. At 11pm I am woken up by a loud crack of thunder. It is now snowing moderately heavy with light winds and consistent electrical activity. It's a strange feeling up here. I was the first climber to make Camp 3 today breaking trail with some Sherpas working for another group that plans to come up the mountain later this week. And whew, 45-pound pack, knee deep sugar snow, it reminded me of the pain high altitude brings. I seem to have forgotten that aspect of 8,000m ascents.
Tomorrow I'll be descending to BC as my supplies are spent. The next time I come up I'll be summit bound. But for now I'll sit tight and see what Manaslu deals out this night to its highest established camp! Everything in mountaineering has risk involved, and it's up to the climber to judge that risk versus his skill and experience to come up with the safest decision. My camp placement is solid, sheltered by a large bergschrund and with a sub peak of Manaslu not far away. While giant flashes and the associated boom of thunder is unnerving this high up and being alone can heighten this feeling, I know my camp placement is good and my best play is to sit tight for tonight. Mountains deliver a fluid situation, so my decision making reflects the realities of the ever changing environment here.
The long term weather forecast still looks promising though, so hopefully early next week I'll back up here and pushing for the peak! Good morning and top of the world to all of you on the other side of the globe!
RMI Guide Alex Barber
On a cold and windy morning, the climbing teams persevered and made it to the summit of Mt. Rainier. The teams started their descent back to Camp Muir at 8:00 a.m. PST.
Congratulations!
Thursday, June 6, 2019 10:06 PM PT
Greetings from 14,000’!
For the first time all trip, the weather was better than forecasted! We took full advantage early this morning, walking into the clouds for only a brief time before we were basking in the sun above 12,000’. It was a smooth move day up here to 14 Camp. We arrived early afternoon with plenty of time to completely set up camp, take naps, and then indulge in a veggie curry dinner. It was great to see our RMI friends JM and company as well as a plethora of other guides from other walks of life. It’s truly a city of friends up here at 14 Camp and our team is ecstatic to be here, especially given the squirrelly weather we’ve had over the last week. We’re all in the sleeping bags now, as it gets cold quickly up here; but we’re amped and ready to go back and pick up our windy corner cache tomorrow morning and be reunited with all of delicious lunch food and larger huge variety of meals. We’ll keep you posted on our progress.
Robby, Nick, Joe and Team ‘Clean Plate Club’
The Alpamayo team had another great day. Early this morning we caught a bus, along with the Peru - Expedition Skills Seminar, an hour out of town and went for an acclimatization hike to just over 14,000'. The scenery was stunning and sporadic hail from passing clouds added spice to the walk. After a few hours we found ourselves next to an alpine lake at the base of a snow covered face. Incredible! This evening we ventured into the heart of Huaraz to buy a few last minute items, and indulge in locally caught trout on the main plaza.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
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Hurray team! And now for the decent..stay sharp & alert.. it’s not over til it’s over.. can’t wait to hear about the expedition!
Posted by: Donna Greenwall on 8/5/2019 at 11:02 am
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