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Hi again, this is Elias it looks like the previous message got cut by the satellite reception. We are back at Camp, everything went pretty well. This team crushed it, they climbed 450 meters of really step ice on
Alpamayo in less than five hours. They killed it. We are safely back at camp. Sorry we couldn't call from the top but if you have seen pictures of the mountain, there is only room for one person at a time so we couldn't call from there. This is pretty awesome. We want to thank everybody who has been cheering for us. We will keep you posted tomorrow from Base Camp, hopefully. We're going to chill tonight here at High Camp, because we had the entire mountain to ourselves. So there was no rush to leave early, we had a later start, enjoyed ourselves in the daylight. We are going to sleep here and then do the descent tomorrow. That's all for now and thanks again for following, and we will check in tomorrow from Base Camp prior to heading out the next day.
Take care, Bye.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Tuesday, July 7, 2015 - 10:56 pm PT
Not surprisingly, this morning wasn't quite right for moving higher. It was socked in, snowing and a little blustery through the night. By morning, the blustery part was finished at 14 Camp, but we could hear the big winds still raking the crest of the West Buttress, a few thousand feet overhead. The team met for pancakes in the POSH and then dispersed to do camp chores and more wall building. In the afternoon, as the storm seemed to be losing a little energy, RMI Guides
Steve Gately and
JM Gorum raced up to 16,200' to fetch back some of our cached food. With the extended forecast being a little sloppy, we want more supplies at 14,000' just in case avalanche conditions should develop between here and the cache site. They were up and down again in less than two hours. As we ate dinner, the upper mountain weather continued to improve. By bedtime, there was plenty of optimism that despite the forecasts, we'd get the break we need for moving to
high camp.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Friday June 26th 12:30 am PT
We are on our way down!! After waking up when the sun hit our tents at 17,000, we packed up and headed downhill. Although sore and tired from a long summit day, we made good time down to 14,000 feet. We met up with
Billy Nugent's group and had a healthy round of hugs and high fives. We picked up some cached gear and partook in the time honored tradition of fitting twice as much gear into a pack than should be possible and carrying said pack down another 3,000 feet to
11k Camp and our awaiting sleds. We are currently in a holding/napping pattern at 11k. We are going to walk early in the morning towards base camp and the landing strip in hopes of an early flight to Talkeetna. That is weather dependent of course!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
On The Map
We've made it to Basecamp! After three long days on the trail our team rolled on in to
Plaza Argentina this afternoon in good style and in good spirits. And while we are all feeling the altitude a little bit we are no worse for the wear. We enjoyed some refreshments upon arrival from the great Grajales staff and proceeded to set up camp and get settled in after a little breather. We just finished a great meal of of soup, homemade lasagna (!!!), and flan for dessert and are getting ready to tuck ourselves in for the evening. Up at nearly 14K, it's a fair bit colder here than it was on our trek in, especially at night so we're finally putting some of our warm clothes to good use. Typically, the first night at a higher elevation can be a little uncomfortable so we'll see how everybody fares tonight. I'm sure there may be a few headaches in the group, but that's totally normal... Anyway, we're all still having fun and looking forward to a good rest day tomorrow.
All for now,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Monday, June 10, 2024
Good evening all,
Today was a good day. Today we made our carry to 13,500'. The skies were mostly clear with no breeze. We were the first team out of camp. We didn't see another team until we headed back down. The route was in great condition which made for smooth walking. We are getting closer and closer to our goal but we still have many days ahead of us. Many hard days ahead of us. We made it back to camp just as it started to snow. The snow hasn't stopped since. We aren't sure what tomorrow will bring. If the weather is good, we will move. If the weather isn't good we will rest up for when it is good. Keep sending those good weather vibes!
RMI Guide Hannah Smith and Team
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Denali Expedition June 2, 2024
Today we woke to African birds singing in the trees and dik diks and monkeys roaming the garden-like grounds of our hotel. We got down to the business of preparing for tomorrow’s departure. But it was a leisurely business, to be sure. A morning meeting gave us the chance to get to know one another and to understand how we’ll tackle a 19,340 ft mountain together. A round of gear checks followed and the team then got into packing, sorting and organizing. We checked the weight of our bags after lunch and a bit of free time followed.
Kilimanjaro broke through the clouds in early afternoon and many of the team climbed the observation tower on the hotel grounds to get a view. Some walked into the nearby village of Usa River to stretch their legs and some napped away the jet lag. We gathered for a fine dinner together and laughed through a few shared stories and misadventures. We’ve got the morning planned out -departure at eight, Kilimanjaro awaits.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Thursday, May 23, 2019 9:31 am PT
We had a good, long day of climbing on the West Buttress yesterday, pushing all the way the
17,200' camp with our cache.
The day started early and cold as we fired up our stoves hours before the sun was on our tents. After an efficient breakfast of granola and hot drinks, we prepared for our day of climbing. Except the mountain had different plans for our early start: a lenticular cloud cap had formed, indicating high winds. Plumes of blowing snow were visible from the summit down to the top of the fixed ropes (16,200'). So we pumped the breaks, stayed warm in our tents, and watched the weather unfold. Finally the winds seemed to abate and we left camp at 10:15. We encountered good climbing conditions and perfectly cool temperatures as we ascended out of camp and then up the fixed ropes. The lower part of the West Buttress was equally enjoyable. Once we topped Washburn's Thumb, around 17,000' we were met with 15-20 mph winds. Those wind speeds are generally not that alarming for mountain climbers, but at this altitude and the cold temps of
Denali it made the climbing cold and more challenging.
Six hours after leaving camp we arrived at the 17,200' camp where we spent and hour and a half digging a cache hole, sorting gear, and breathing the rare air of altitude. The descent back to camp took us three hours, so vestibule to vestibule we had a 10 1/2 hour day--good training for summit day!
Today we are resting and I am about to fire the stoves for breakfast--this time a more leisurely affair with smoked salmon and cream cheese on toasted bagels, a true luxury at 14,200' on Denali.
The weather forecast is calling for a strong storm through the weekend. We'll watch how that develops, and hopefully get a weather window for an unmitigated bid early next week. But for now we will rest and fortify camp in anticipation of the weekend's storm.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
Saturday, June 9, 2018 - 5:36 PM PT
Day 4 had us up early and breaking down camp. The surrounding area at 2:30 AM with no wind seems like it's perpetually 9:00 PM. We hauled our camp and personal gear to
11,000' Camp over 6.5 hours and the team did great. Some people have sore feet and some have sore hips, those real pressure points a constant reminder of what it's like to do hard work in the mountains.
Our new camp is nestled in a basin that is surrounded by large glacial features and the backdrop is Motorcycle Hill and the Father and Sons Wall. Tomorrow we will go back to 9,700' to retrieve our cached food and fuel and then rest the remainder of the day.
Weather continues to be great and the forecast inaccurate so when they forecast a clear day we'll probably be battening down the hatches. Until then I am hoping for a forecast of snow that never a arrives and winds that don't materialize. So much in life we can't control, this team is doing a great job of focusing on the things they can control.
That's all from 11,000' on Denali.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
RMI Guides Mike King, Jenny Konway, Jessie Poquerusse and Ben Ammon are leading the
Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons June 11 - 16, 2017. The team met on Sunday and spent the day discussing logistics of the trip including an equipment check and some technical training. Their second day was spent on the slopes above Paradise practicing rope travel, ice axe arrest and cramponing techniques. On Tuesday morning they loaded up in the shuttle and drove to the White River Campground where they met the trail head and started their climb. Yesterday they moved to Camp Schurman at 9,440' and have continued their training. This morning they made their summit attempt but due to low visibility and tough walking the team made the tough decision to turn around 11,400'. They have returned to Camp Schurman where they will do some additional training. They will spend their last night on the mountain tonight and start their descent tomorrow. We look forward to seeing them back at Rainier BaseCamp tomorrow afternoon.
May 24, 2017
Well, the weather has changed, and not for the best. Wind and snow intensified this morning, so much so that we postponed our departure to retrieve our cache from 10,000' for a bit to make sure a big storm didn't move in.
But the weather held off enough for us to bring our cache back to camp. Now we're set.
This continually amazes me. When we got back I thought we all deserved a break, figuring an hour or two of tent time to rest up would be most welcome, 20-30 minutes later I hear most everyone out cutting blocks to beef up the walls we already had. Impressive!
We're sitting pretty now, ready for anything. Should tomorrow's weather preclude a
carry to cache at 13,500', that would be just fine. Everyone has been working so hard and so well that some tent time is probably in order. Even, I am looking forward to a rest day soon.
And we're all looking forward to some better weather. Our peek at the mountains surrounding us last night just made us want more.
Oh, and in case you were wondering what was on the menu today. Scrambled eggs, hash browns and bacon for breakfast. An assortment of Indian food, served on a bed of rice and chicken, followed by a nice pudding for dessert. Mmm.
That's it from 11,200' camp. Good night.
RMI Guides Brent, Christina and JT
On The Map
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Felicitaciones al equipo!!!!
Que tengan un descenso seguro y disfruten del éxito!
Gracias por todos los informes
Un abrazo fuerte
Bettina ( hermana de Wolf )
Posted by: Bettina Riehle de Mola on 7/22/2015 at 10:47 pm
Dear Team - CONGRATULATIONS!!!! What an amazing achievement - be safe on the way down and get some rest! Hugs and BRAVO! Feli
Posted by: felicitas funke-riehle on 7/22/2015 at 4:45 pm
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