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
The Four Day Summit Climb August 2 - 5, 2014 with climbers from Eddie Bauer and led by RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Solveig reported light winds and great weather. As of 7:20 am the team was reaching the top of Disappointment Cleaver on their descent.
Congratulations to today's summit climb team!
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Seth Waterfall along with the Five Day Summit Climb led by Lindsay Fixmer reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The teams enjoyed some time on the summit with clear skies enjoying the views. The team began their descent and as of 7:45 am were on the top of Disappointment Cleaver en route to Camp Muir. The teams will take a short break to repack their gear and then start the final descent to Paradise.
We look forward to seeing the teams at Rainier BaseCamp later today.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!
After going to bed last night to the sound of heavy rain and hail, we were unsure what we would find this morning. Waking up to blue skies and warm weather was a pleasant surprise. Once the team had finished breakfast, we set about the arduous process of sorting through gear to carry uphill. Up until now mules have carried our gear, so weight was not a concern. Folding chairs, speaker boxes, cotton clothes, hardback books...anything was fair game. Now that we are carrying the gear on our backs, loads needed to be cut to a minimum and luxury items were left behind.
With the packs trimmed to a reasonable size we made the two-hour climb up to our camp at 16,200'. Currently the team is resting and looking forward to moving up again tomorrow.
RMI Guide Eric Frank and the Alpamayo team
June 13, 2014 12:18am PT
After a good night's rest the team hit the trail again, heading back to 9,700' feet to retrieve our cache. The weather was great and everyone enjoyed the cool temps and beautiful scenery. It was a great day to stretch the legs.
Back at camp we rested a bit and then reviewed some basic techniques required for life on the upper mountain. Now reacquainted with our emergency ice axe skills and proficient cramponing, we are prepared to carry toward 14,000' Camp if the weather allows.
Now it's off to bed to be ready for a big day tomorrow if we can catch a break on the weather.
RMI Guide Jake Beren & Team
Posted by: christine beach on 6/14/2014 at 10:02 am
Hey Jared and team, Keep up the good work! Watching you everyday on the blog-Stay strong and Im praying for great weather. We all Love you Mom and Dad :)
This morning’s climb led by Win Whittaker and Billy Nugent had to turn around at 12,300’ because of low visibility and high winds. They were back at Camp Muir where it was snowing and in the clouds. They are planning on heading back to Paradise around 8:00 a.m.
A messy weather picture has got most teams pulling back from immediate summit bids. That isn't so strange at this point of the season. It is not quite awful weather and not quite good weather...tough to commit a bigger team to a resource-burning summit bid without a bit more stability. And we hope that stability will be on the horizon soon, but in the meantime...
My team of Seth, Erica, Kent and Ang Kaji can still head up for our final acclimatization rotation and we will tomorrow morning. The days are still shiny and blue each morning with messiness creeping in near midday. Wind, clouds and some snow showers roll in and down here in Basecamp, we retreat to the tents. But none of that should keep us from hopping up to ABC and making an effort to sleep at CIII in these next few days. Whereas just a day ago, it seemed unreasonably tough to gear up for this mission, now that the decision has been made we are each eager for it. The only thing worse than actually taking risky, uncomfortable action at high altitude for four or five days is sitting down in BC contemplating it. We are now set to get on with it. There will be a few significant tests to this round. The first will be our effort to go directly from BC to ABC without a night at CI. It means getting up just a bit earlier and walking just a bit farther than we have, so far, but my guess is that we are capable of it. Then, it will be important to improve on our past performance in what will be our second climb up the Lhotse Face and to withstand the weirdness of a first night close to 24,000 ft. We'll test out our oxygen systems in the place they were designed for and try to work out any kinks before the summit bid.
Despite the avalanche accident and a day that was anything but restful - smack in the middle of our time down low...we are now well rested, healthy and ready to get our work done. I believe that Peter Whittaker's team actually has things a bit tougher now, having to keep their edge for an imminent summit bid while patiently waiting a few more days in Basecamp. This kind of thing happens a lot in mountaineering, they will do fine with it.
Today we had an awesome day on the official Inca trail. We got an early start and headed up to Dead Woman’s Pass. We started low at 9,800ft and ascended to nearly 14,000ft. The views were beautiful and we took the time to take it all in. We got really lucky as the clouds socked in minutes after we left the pass on our descent to camp.
After over 4,000ft of gain and nearly 2,500ft of loss, we rolled into our camp with tired legs. Another delicious dinner and we are all off to an early bed. We have another big day tomorrow - traveling over two smaller passes and visiting many Inca sites along the way.
Greetings from Pampa de Lena's! We awoke this morning at the rustic Hotel Ayelene eager to start our way up Aconcagua. We busily made final adjustments to our packs as questions about readiness filled our minds. Are we trained enough? Do we have the right gear packed? Will those croissants from this morning make it till break tomorrow? Will present Chris get in the way of past Chris helping future Chris pack?
But as we started walking questions like these fade away. Fueled by sweet bell peppers as we arrive at camp in style.
Today we woke at 6:30 feeling good, had breakfast, then enjoyed a goodbye song and dance from our gracious crew of posters, cooks, and local guides numbering 37. We finished the little celebration by handing out their well-deserved tips and then hit the trail one last time.
It took a little over three hours to reach the park gate where the team had lunch then hopped aboard our awaiting bus for the ride back to the lodge.
Finally we are all safe and sound, and a little cleaner after an amazing seven-day journey up and down Kilimanjaro.
The team is currently relaxing and looking forward to Safari which starts tomorrow!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and a happy Kilimanjaro crew
Merry Christmas JJ from Kalani and Dom
Posted by: Dom on 12/26/2014 at 11:35 am
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