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Today was an unexpected rest day at
Kahiltna Basecamp. We were up just after 12:30 AM and had breakfast under clear skies, just as we’d hoped for. The glacier surface was freezing up nicely. It turned out that one of our team had a rough night and seemed to be in the midst of some acute illness. Fairly quickly it became clear that we needed to push back our travel plans in order to let the illness play through. Despite all being freshly caffeinated... we unpacked our sleeping bags and went back to bed. It became a day of brilliant sunshine and blue skies... just what the doctor ordered in terms of restful, easy conditions. Our patient improved and we seem to now be on course for tomorrow’s early departure. It was a test of our team’s patience and flexibility... which we passed with flying colors. But it also must be admitted that it was nice to simply rest after a bunch of busy days getting to and then onto Denali.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
La Casa Sol means The house of sun in English. This happens to be the name of the beautiful hacienda we were staying at before leaving to go into Otavalo and then transport to the high mountain hut located at 15,000 feet on the southern flanks of Nevado Cayambe, Our first “big” objective and the highest equatorial point on the planet. Luckily the house of sun lived up to its name and for a few brief hours we were blessed with the hot Ecuador rays we had been lacking most of the trip.
With a nice morning shaping up we left Casa Sol and headed into town for our shopping extravaganza. The market in Otavalo is unique in many ways. Cooking stalls, spice merchants, local goods and unlimited crafts make this shopping experience hard to do in 90 minutes. But the team did well not filling the bus so by lunch it was off to meet the 4x4 trucks that would drive us all up the
Cayambe road which makes New York potholes seem like cereal bowls.
Of course the sun didn’t last long and by midway through the drive the skies opened up and the rain poured down. So like all mountain weather just wait ten minutes and it will change. Which it did. To snow. And then to clear and then back to snow.
By dinner we had a few great views of the mountain which got us excited to train the next day. For the rest of the evening we will focus on hydration and breathing to keep us feeling healthy at this new head throbbing altitude. Once again the team is doing great and getting along famously. We look forward to another mountain day together.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff & Team Ecuador signing off.
The Team had a restful night and woke feeling good after a delicious dinner of tacos and calm weather. The morning consisted of sorting and packing gear for our carry to Camp 1 tomorrow. With winds picking up the Team went for a short hike to stretch their lungs and legs.
Plaza Argentina Base Camp is located on an undulating glacial moraine that is covered in scree. The camp is comprised of four large outfitters that provide logistics and meals. There are 10 large geodesic dome tents per outfitter and a few buildings for the Park Rangers. Hot showers, internet, pizza and cold drinks make the living up here pretty rough. While everyone is enjoying the amenities, after a few more nights here they will be itching to get going on the upper mountain.
We are currently resting and watching the clouds pass. Plaza Argentina is starting to get busy as 3-4 groups have walked in.
Casual day and there is some nervous energy about the first heavy carry day tomorrow. The guides are all pleased with how everyone is acclimating and getting along. With clouds covering the upper slopes we are anticipating some snow and cooler temperatures for the remainder of the day. Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
The
Mt. Rainier Summit Climb teams, led by
Seth Waterfall and
Ben Liken, reached the summit at 6:45 a.m. With some wind and snow falling, the teams began their descent shortly after tagging the top. As of 7:50 a.m. they had descended to 12,500' and are moving well back to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's summit climbers!
This morning we woke up early had breakfast, packed and then waited. We experienced some logistical snafus in communications with our donkey drivers and horse handlers, but only a minor hiccup. We started hiking down valley and in a couple hours came across our animals. While the donkeys continued on to base camp to collect our duffle bags we mounted our horses and began riding down valley. It turns out our team of expert climbers are also amazing rodeo cowboys. We all laughed and hollered riding our horses we named Mr Ed, Alpa- caballo, EFrank, Stumbles, and Chuck.
We arrived to
Cashapampa, the trail head, a couple hours before our donkeys and found a beautiful shady porch to rest on and enjoyed a couple cervezas. A three hour van ride had us back to our hotel in Huaraz where we quickly showered and are currently enjoying a delicious dinner.
Thanks for following along on our incredible trip.
We'll see you all soon,
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens
Hey everybody!
Checking in from
Aconcagua Basecamp after a wholesome meal of steak, potatoes, and red berries. Today was spent recovering from our three days of approach and preparing for our carry to Camp 1 tomorrow. These days can often be long but this one seemed to breeze by due to great conversation with great people. We spent hours telling stories and joking around, with the laughter alleviating any sign of an altitude-related headache.
Now the sun has set, lighting the clouds to the east in brilliant blues, purples, and pink. As the stars rise we drift to sleep looking forward to climbing high on this beautiful peak tomorrow.
Thanks for tuning in!
RMI Guide Walter Hailes
On The Map
Hi everyone! Team
Mexico finally checking in. Yesterday we had an epic day! The weather did not cooperate at all as it rained cats and dogs. However, our team toughed it out and we made the summit of La Malinche.
Today we are currently having a great breakfast and then we are off to our next objective, Ixta. Stay tuned to our progress. But for now we gotta go and dry out a few soggy boots!
RMI Guides JJ Justman & Elias de Andres Martos
May 26, 2014 - 10:21 pm PT
Today is day 19 of our expedition, with twelve of those days spent at the 14k Camp. The weather forecast is not looking good for a summit attempt, as a significant weather system is supposed to hit
Denali tonight, bringing snow and wind tomorrow. High winds are forecasted to persist for the next ten days. If this forecast verifies we will be headed downhill shortly, as we still have to make it back down the Kahiltna Glacier to Basecamp before waiting for good enough weather to fly back to Talkeetna. We will definitely wake up early tomorrow morning to see if we get lucky with a quick summit window, but none of us are holding our breaths. We will let you know how the weather treats us tomorrow.
Cheers,
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
The
Four Day Summit Climb May 23 - 26, 2014 was forced to turn around at the top of Disappointment Cleaver today due to poor weather.
RMI Guides Eric Frank and Pablo Puruncajas made the call to start the descent. The team will return to Camp Muir and then start their descent to Paradise later this morning. We look forward to seeing everyone at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
The ALA Climb for Clean Air Team made an incredible push up Mt. Rainier, reaching the top of Disappointment Cleaver before high winds and a summit cloud cap made it unsafe to continue.
RMI Guide Jess Wedel reports the team is doing well and is now en route back to Camp Muir to regroup before descending to Paradise.
We’re proud of their strength, determination, and commitment to clean air for all.
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Best of luck on your climbs. Pray that rain holds off. Enjoy
Posted by: Jane Knoff on 1/13/2019 at 6:17 pm
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