Everyone is doing great on day four of our seminar. A hard day up to Muir was followed by a full day of training on Tuesday in increasingly challenging weather conditions.
Today dawned sunny but quite windy. As forecasted, the winds stayed strong throughout the day. Not being one to let a little wind get in the way of some great training, we did have to moderate our plans to cope with the 40-45 mph sheets of blowing snow that swept thru Muir all day.
Sticking close to camp allowed us to bail back to the bunkhouse for the occasional break. There were no complaints about not getting out on the glacier for the day. An earlier exploration by Mike and me proved the winds were just as strong out there as at camp.
Anchors, crevasse rescue, fixed rope work and rappelling filled the day completely. And for the evening: mountain medicine and mountain weather is on the docket.
We're looking forward to another good day of training tomorrow, though we might have to deal with another little storm to keep us honest.
Alas, I'm afraid a summit bid has been shelved due to the increasing avalanche hazard up high. We're safe here at camp, and that's how we'd like to keep it.
All for now.
The crew at Muir
Saturday, June 9, 2018 - 8:43 PM PT
A message written by the team:
"Today we took a rest on the edge. At the aptly named Edge of the World outside of 14 camp we stopped for some great photos. Photos so grand, you’ll never see them. The snow fell gently in the afternoon air. We pondered our favorite planets. Security felt a little lax around camp and with murmurs of winter coming we built some walls around camp. Afterwards, during dinner, we concluded that the sun is the collective favorite planet. Have to be honest, the mountain food is just food. But the guides cooking skills are super awesome. Looking forward to capping off the night with some gentle snoring to keep the local wildlife at bay. Tomorrow should probably be a super epic day."
RMI Guide Tyler Jones & Team
Just want you to know that the 2018 Stanley Cup is off bounds! it’s in the hands of first time
winners - The Washington -Caps!! But don’t despair—the Denali Cup for 2018 - is still available!!
So chomp on you mountain rangers! Sending love, prayers, and long distance hugs -
Your momma
Posted by: Myra Welsh on 6/10/2018 at 7:44 pm
Matt Hill, the Sunnyvale gang is behind you all way. Bubbles even named one of his new kitties “Denali”.
Hello again everyone,
All is well here in Ecuador. We had a slight technical issue yesterday which delayed our ability to send a dispatch.
So let me bring everyone up to speed. Yesterday we checked out of our warm and comfortable hacienda and made our way to the famous Otavalo market. It's the largest market in Ecuador and one of the largest in all of South American. The team spent a few hours negotiating the endless maze of goods for sale and worked on our bartering skills- some did better than others. :)
After everyone satisfied their shopping desires we headed uphill towards Cayambe, our first major climbing objective. The road to Cayambe is long, rough, and an accomplishment in itself. We were amazed that our bus was able to make it so far on what is clearly a 4x4 road. There were several times I was sure the mud was going to win, but somehow Hector, our daring driver was able to make it through. We hiked the final hour to the hut at Cayambe to help with our acclimatizing and spent the remainder of the evening relaxing.
Today the team woke early with a big breakfast and plenty of coffee. We then hiked up to the start of the glacier which is about an hour away, and spent a few hours refreshing our skills for tomorrow's climb. While out on the glacier we were not only amazed at the beautifully clear day, but also incredibly lucky to see a condor soaring not far away! Once back at the hut we reviewed the plan for the upcoming climb and got everything packed up and ready to go. A special thanks to Leon for whipping up one heck of a nice meal for everyone.
The team is off to bed now as we are waking early for tomorrow's climb. Wish us luck!!!
And one more thing... Keep your cell phones handy tomorrow morning. One lucky trivia winner will be making a satellite call from the summit if all goes well.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Good luck tomorrow! Sending good vibes from Cali. Go Dale!!!
Love, Erin
Posted by: Erin on 12/14/2014 at 7:54 pm
So glad you all had good weather today! Hope it continues on for the summit!! Glad to see an update and that besides updating the blog there haven’t been any other issues! Keep on keeping on!
Today was an easy one for our Vinson climbing team. We'd planned a rest day to help with our acclimatization and so, after tearing out of bed at the crack of 11:15 AM, we had a long, slow breakfast of bacon, eggs, hash browns and hot drinks. We went for a short walk in the mid-afternoon to the base of the fixed ropes and climbed a couple of pitches to reacquaint ourselves with steep snow protocols and methods. Then it was back to Low Camp to rest up and sort gear. Weather wasn't perfect today -there were high clouds being blown from the summits of the high peaks, but it was nice and calm where we were. We'll see what we get tomorrow and perhaps we can move to High Camp.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Today the Alpamayo team made a big jump and moved a portion of our group gear up to the next camp, Moraine Camp (16,200'). We moved well and were at the cache site by late morning. Despite feeling good, everyone was breathing hard and we were happy to drop back to our basecamp at 14,200'.
The food on this trip has been phenomenal. Everyday our cook, Raul, impresses us with his culinary prowess. From veggie omelettes to grilled trout to fresh cut fruit salad every night, we have been eating like kings. I suspect the amazing food has a strong correlation to how good we all feel.
All for now. Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Eric Frank and the Alpamayo team
June 2, 2014 - 9:56 pm PT
We woke up early this morning, broke camp and set off down the southeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. By 7:00 AM we turned to the north and began making our way up the main flow of the Kahiltna, snowshoeing through some of the towering mountains of the great Alaska range. We arrived to the 7,600' camp at the base of Ski Hill at 11:30 AM with a light wind helping to keep us cool during the heat of the day. The afternoon was spent snacking, drinking water, and napping. We just finished a delicious burrito dinner and are enjoying the views over a cup of hot cocoa.
Good night everyone and thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
Saying hello from our final day at Camp 1. Currently we're resting up for a big push up to Camp 2 tomorrow. The team is acclimatizing well and getting stronger by the day. We're really starting to feel like we're getting up there. Wish us luck as we push higher and begin staging for our summit bid later this week!
Not too many of us got good sleep last night. Waves of wind rolled through, driving snow and rattling nerves. The alarm clocks went off at 4:30 AM but the wind hadn't let up by that point. It did eventually calm down with daybreak... just a little too late for us to go for Aconcagua's summit. We all crawled out for breakfast and to dry out and stare at the storm's leavings. There was still some sign of wind up high, but all-in-all, we enjoyed a calm morning. The decision was made for part of the team to descend and wait things out at Basecamp while the rest of us tried for one more lucky day. All were sorry to see Melissa, Gerry, Rachel and Kelly walk out under big packs a little after mid-day. The clouds were already building by then for the next storm and sure enough, by mid-afternoon it was snowing and we were resting quietly in our tents... waiting patiently for another chance. Dinner was in steadily falling snow, but at least there wasn't a puff of wind to mess with the team's enjoyment of their mac-and-cheese-supreme. We'll hope that the snow quits and that the stars come out at some point tonight... we turn in ready to jump all over a summit bid tomorrow.
Stay tuned.
The break in wind we had hoped for materialized and this morning was gorgeous. We got going early to take advantage. The Autobahn was chilly as always, but good walking thanks to the efforts of the multicompany guide effort yesterday. We had a bit of wind as we approached the Football Field, and were a bit worried about the winds streaming over the summit ridge. A passing friend described the ridge as savage. As we climbed Pig Hill in relative protection, they seemed to abate and as we crested things were relatively pleasant. We worked our way along the exciting terrain of the summit ridge and around 15:30, stepped onto the top of Denali. We shared some hugs and photos, and then scooted back across to beat the onrush of traffic still coming up. We had a pretty casual walk back, and 12 hours after we started we were back in camp in sunshine, recovering from a mighty day. We'll sleep well tonight, and then start to work our way to the airstrip tomorrow. We will be moving quite a bit with little rest until we reach base camp and the planes arrive to bring us to town. We'll try to stay in touch, but we will be home soon!
The high pressure system ended abruptly with rain and wind this morning. The team got up earlier than they’d like after the long day over the pass. There was a glacier hike to get up for. After a short briefing they zipped out on a RHIB for a four hour walk on the Grey glacier, the consensus was it was very picturesque and the glacier water tasted good.
We still had to hike four hours to Paine Grande. This section of trail is rocky and when raining can be slick in some places. The area between Grey and Paine also reflects the wildfires that have swept through the park. Barren landscape at first glance, but upon closer inspection there’s wild flowers, nice rock formations and a lot of blue ice floating in Lago Grey. We got soak, 4 times and the Patagonian winds blew out the squalls and dried us out. We are at the Refugio eating dinner, enjoying the many views out the windows. Will likely get to watch some of the Super Bowl and we have 26km tomorrow if our side hike into the French Valley goes the distance.
Incredible photos!!! Chris’ son, Bodhi, says that “Dada is silly for jumping in the air!” We look forward to the next update. Thank you for keeping us updated. Safe travels!
Jim & Paul and all you Ice Chompers,
Just want you to know that the 2018 Stanley Cup is off bounds! it’s in the hands of first time
winners - The Washington -Caps!! But don’t despair—the Denali Cup for 2018 - is still available!!
So chomp on you mountain rangers! Sending love, prayers, and long distance hugs -
Your momma
Posted by: Myra Welsh on 6/10/2018 at 7:44 pm
Matt Hill, the Sunnyvale gang is behind you all way. Bubbles even named one of his new kitties “Denali”.
Posted by: Paul Downs on 6/10/2018 at 3:20 pm
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