The Expedition Skill Seminar - Emmons team May 31 - 5 June led by RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli endured some epic wet weather during their six day training and climbing program. After two days of technical training and climbing school the team headed to the White River Entrance of Mt. Rainier donned their packs and climbed to the lower Emmons Glacier. The team spent two days in rainy and snow weather before descending to the trailhead and returning to Ashford. On Wednesday the team spent another day training to complete their program.
Monday, May 20, 2019 10:59 pm PT
I was up this morning early to keep a close eye on the weather in anticipation of a potential move to 14k Camp. Puffy cumulus clouds clung to the surrounding terrain features and were lapping in and out of camp like the tides at about 6AM. Our forecast was calling for an 80% chance of snow showers and increasing south winds into the evening. I opted to give the weather an extra hour to show it's true intentions. I could hear the noises of other teams rustling around, presumably preparing for their own move to 14k Camp. I've seen plenty of deceiving mornings here in the Alaska Range luring you to trust that the forecast was wrong, as if so often can be. I ultimately didn't like the look of it. The team has worked hard for five days now and a full rest day seemed appropriate before committing ourselves to the higher altitudes of the mountain. So we slept in until about 9am and made a wonderful breakfast of eggs and hashbrown burritos that lasted nearly until midday. By then the clouds had overtaken camp and it began to snow lightly. By 1pm the snow intensified and the forecasted south winds showed up early and turned camp into a whirlwind of snow that made it hard to see across camp. Wrapped snugly in our warm bags we all felt good about our decision to take an extra day. It's not always you get such confirmation of a decision well made but today we did and it felt good all the while snuggled up in our warm bags reading and snacking the afternoon away. Tomorrow's forecast looks much more promising and we'll repeat the process of waking up early, sticking our heads out the tent and making another decision. Hopefully this time we'll like what we see and we'll get to move on up! Thanks for following along everyone!
RMI Guide Steve Gately
Hi Steve. Bruins swept, sitting and waiting on a 3-2 blues over sharks series. Chara still 7’0” on skates and moves like a sack of pea gravel. Go Red Wings.
We woke early to perfect weather this morning and decided we couldn't pass up the opportunity to move camp up to 14,200' in Genet Basin. The weather remained great for us all day, with some clouds building mid morning and a few scattered snow flurries, but no wind to speak of. Laden with heavy packs, we made slow and steady progress and after about six hours we arrived at camp. It's been a few hours now and camp is up, the climbers are resting in their tents, and stoves are cranking melting snow for water bottles and heating water for dinner.
Tomorrow we will head back down to Windy Corner to retrieve our cache. That will be a short day and we're happy for that. We're also looking forward to our first complete rest day the following day (Monday). It's time to lick our wounds, rest, and acclimate.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Sounds like your progress is good as compared to last year! Enjoy the remainder of the climb, Tom M! Greetings to you from all the Mulvey-Temples ..... from the Oregon coast!
Hello from the Pika Glacier! We had a terrific day on the "munchkin" a rock formation 20 minutes west of our camp, where we spent the day training. This team is really talented and motivated to learn, and with the best classroom as our domain, we had a very productive day; short roping, rock anchors, belay escapes, transitions... We lost the concept of time getting techie with our ropes and gear, and we realized we had to come back to camp when our stomachs told us dinner time was due. We are hoping for good weather tomorrow to climb another objective. Best regards from Alaska, Elias, Chase and team.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Hey everyone. This is JJ and Steve here with Team One on Aconcagua. Merry Christmas everyone. Happy Holidays. We had a great day moving camp from Camp 1 to Camp 2. We made it here early afternoon at 18,000 feet, set up camp and have some hot soup on the stove. And now we're just relaxing and taking it easy on a nice sunny day here on Aconcagua. The team is doing really, really well. The weather is pretty darn nice and we have a decent forecast. It's looking like after the 28th, the winds might pick up a little bit, so hopefully, we're knocking on wood, keeping our fingers crossed. We have a little bit more work to do but the team is really, really strong and really, really fun to hang out these guys on Christmas and we of course want to say hi and hello and give our love to family and friends back at home. We will send another dispatch here on the days to come. But tomorrow our plan is to take a nice rest day and relax here at 18,000 feet. Take care everyone. Again, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and stay tuned.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
RMI Guide JJ Justman calls in from Aconcagua Camp 2
At 7:02 AM, the Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides guides Brent Okita and Ben Luedtke reached the summit of Mt. Rainier!
Brent reported clear skies, a light breeze, and warm temperatures—a perfect morning to walk the crater rim and take in the breathtaking views from 14,410 feet.
Huge congratulations to the climbers and guides for a safe and successful ascent!
Last night gave us a taste of what the weather can be like on a big mountain when it doesn't want to play nice. We listened to the tents shake with gusty winds that also carried a fair bit of snow on their icy breathe, packing it into the tent vestibules and any other crevices it could reach. Our tents are stout though and we weathered it in comfort. Come morning, the skies were blue, but the wind persisted, lifting tall plumes of snow into the air above us and making it an easy decision to stay in camp and take a rest day. We'll look to cache the first opportunity we get once the wind relents. That might be tomorrow or it might take a bit longer. We're cozy in camp for now, so we'll practice patience.
Sunday, July 7, 2019 - 8:47 PM PT
The fine weather continued, except there was an irritating wind blowing at 17,000 this morning when we got stirring at 7:30 AM. The wind wasn’t particularly strong or cold, but it wouldn’t go away either, so it made breakfast and packing slightly less fun. We were out of 17,000' Camp by 10:30 and walking carefully down the crest of the West Buttress. The wind wasn’t strong enough to make anybody miss a step, but it made communication tricky. Even so, we made good time down the ridge and then down the fixed ropes. Traffic is nonexistent now as the very last three or four teams of the season were all above us and going for the top in the breeze. We reached 14,000 by 1 PM and decided to build camp. Tempting as it would have been to continue on down the mountain, we have to deal now with the downside to all the fabulous weather. The warm temperatures have caused the West Buttress to shed a lot more rock than usual. We’ll try to let it cool a little before venturing around Windy Corner. An Alpine Start is called for, so we’ll keep resting in preparation for a midnight departure. We’ll try to go all the way to the airstrip from here in order to get the lower glacier in cool conditions as well.
It MIGHT be our final night on the mountain. Stay tuned.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Saturday, June 30, 2018 - 8:25 pm PT
The weather clearing did not happen until late last night, so we could not make a break to Basecamp. The clear weather did make for a great rest day at 11,000' camp. We slept in and enjoyed the sunshine while we gathered our strength for one long and final push to the the snowy airstrip.
The team is in great spirits and ready to get back to summer and away from days filled with snow!
Keep your fingers crossed for clear, flying kind of weather for us tomorrow!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen and Super Crew 6
After a 1 am sharp departure, climbers topped out on the Roof of Mexico just after 8:30am, the ascent lit by alpenglow and spiced up by loose rock near the summit. After half an hour admiring the steep summit crater and a quick descent in deep sandy “polvo” (dust/dirt), we all reunited at camp for our long descent back down and reflections over dinner at Dr.Reyes’ in Tlachichuca. What a circuitously adventurous week, and what a phenomenally engaged team of climbers.
RMI Guides Walter Hailes, Jessie Poquerusse & the fantastic Mexico volcanoes team
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Hi Steve. Bruins swept, sitting and waiting on a 3-2 blues over sharks series. Chara still 7’0” on skates and moves like a sack of pea gravel. Go Red Wings.
Posted by: Wild Bill on 5/21/2019 at 11:08 am
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