We've got another rock star crew baby! Team 4 is at Camp 1 at 16,342' feet and everyone is feeling great! The views are getting better by the minute. A few clouds are slipping away in the distance and the breeze is keeping us cool. We are sipping hot soup and simply soaking up the sights. Tomorrow we plan on carrying more goods and gear higher up and I anticipate everyone is going to do awesome!!
If like to give a special message to my sister. Happy Birthday Jodi!!!
RMI Guide JJ Justman & Team
Today was packing day. We met for breakfast at the ‘Roadhouse’ in downtown Talkeetna at 8:00 am. If there’s one thing to remember about eating at the Roadhouse it’s to order the half size portions. The full size breakfasts are unbelievably huge.
After breakfast we met up at Hudson Air. This is where the RMI storage unit is located. Hudson Air has been in the glacier flying business for 54 years and Jay Hudson, the owner, is very accommodating to our groups. He pretty much lets us have our run of the place.
We spend the morning going through all of our personal gear. One of the things that makes Denali tough is carrying all of the gear and food you’ll need for the whole three weeks, so it pays to go through each and every item to make sure that you don’t have too much, but also that you don’t forget anything.
After a break for lunch we meet at the NPS Ranger station in Talkeetna for our orientation meeting. This is a ritual that every Denali climber must go through. The Rangers meet with us and show a slideshow of the West Buttress route. This is also where we receive our Clean Mountain Cans and bio-degradable bags for disposing of human waste.
After finishing up at the hangar in the afternoon we all adjourned to Talkeetna for our last night in town for 18 to 22 days!
Same weather. Snow and low cloud. Nobody went anywhere. But there is hope that the weather will improve tomorrow and that we’ll fly to South America.
We had a big brunch at 11 AM and a Christmas procession involving vehicles, costumes, dancing and hot wine. Then it was lectures and reading and napping as usual. Dinner was special. None of us expected to be in Antarctica for Christmas... all of us are, as it turns out. So we made the most of it. A great dinner with friends. And then a suspense filled game of trivia in which our sturdy Vinson team took second place out of six teams.
By night time, it was still snowing, but ever so lightly and the clouds were lifting. Things may indeed start happening tomorrow.
Merry Christmas to all at home and we’ll see you soon.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Merry Christmas to you all! It wasn’t the same without you but things happen for a reason. Maybe, for example, it was to form bonds that will never be broken. In any case, the welcome home will have that much more joy. Here’s to getting off the ground tomorrow.
Sunday, July 1, 2018 - 11:14 PM PT
This was the day we were looking for. Even so, it looked a little gusty up high at first, so we dragged our feet a little and lingered over breakfast. The sun hit at 9:30 and we got walking at 10:30. Our goal, of course, was to carry food and supplies up onto the West Buttress and to establish a cache that will help us when we commit to moving up to 17,000 ft. But our goal was also to get familiar with the steep part of this climb -the fixed ropes- and to build on our acclimatization by getting a good workout in at altitude. We did all of that today. Things were slightly on the crowded side, but that didn’t give us much trouble in the end. It is close to the end of the Denali climbing season, now that we are in July, but the last 100 or so climbers all flew on at once due to the five day storm that preceded our arrival. And we’ve mostly been on the same travel schedules since those 100 folks are all in various guided parties. But we know and like many of the people so it hasn’t -to this point- seemed so crowded. But all those folks needing to get on the same ropes to reach the crest of the West Buttress means that some patience will be required. We turned out to be patient today, waiting our turn, but it wasn’t so hard to be that way in sunny, pleasant weather and with fantastic scenery all around. The upside for us was that the teams ahead of us kicked a perfect staircase in the snow up the steep headwall. We topped out at 16,200 in surprisingly fine conditions -the exposed ridge crest can often be cold and windy. As it was 3 PM we declared victory and established a cache -burying it all to keep our supplies from the ravens. Our descent was smooth and easy since we now had the whole place to ourselves. We were back down to camp by 5 PM and relaxing over dinner a couple of hours later. Rest day tomorrow and then up for good.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
We did it! The team stood on top of 19,347ft Cotopaxi this morning at 7:30am. The team climbed brilliantly through bitterly cold temperatures and the ever-present lack of oxygen to check the active volcano off their bucket lists. We were treated to clear skies all day long and it wasn't until we were finally driving away that the mountain fell back into it's usual cloak of dark clouds. Oh and we had another birthday today! Happy Birthday to Kris Vargas! And what a way to spend it climbing one of Ecuador's finest volcanoes on a truly spectacular day. We're all back at Tambopaxi packing our things for the drive back to Quito where we will enjoy one last dinner as a team before most of us depart back to the States later this evening. Thanks to everyone for following along. This will be the last blog post of our trip! Until next time!
RMI Guide Steve Gately
We kicked off our Antarctic mountaineering expedition with a walk around the windy streets of Punta Arenas in the far South of Chile. Most of the gang came in on the afternoon flights from Santiago, so stretching legs was crucial following all those uncomfortable hours in the air, the airports and the airliners. We had a nice dinner at La Luna, one of the friendly restaurants just a few blocks from our hotel on the shore of Magellan’s Strait. Turkey wasn’t on the menu, nor was there any cranberry or gravy... and it was five unrelated strangers sitting down to get to know one another. So not your typical Thanksgiving feast, but for that, it was quite nice. It was still plenty light out at 8:30 pm when we walked from the restaurant, a pleasant reminder that we’d switched hemispheres and seasons. Tomorrow we’ll get down to the business of packing and preparing to climb Vinson. Tonight was just for relaxing with new climbing partners.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Sue: wishing you and the team the best of a excellent weather to conquer Vinson Massif, a prayer for you and please be safe, We still have many more hikes to do together around the world.
Enjoy the beauty of Antarctica y keep warm, proud to be your friend and can’t wait to hear from you and your amazing, priceless adventure
Take Care!!!
Posted by: Sandra E on 11/26/2017 at 5:25 pm
Thanks for sharing pictures Dave! Those of us left behind are excited each time we see one on the blog. Wishing you all good health and good weather for a safe flight to Antarctica, soon.
Go Team Vinson! From the Butterfield Bunch
Posted by: Vickie Butterfield on 11/25/2017 at 9:10 pm
As our expedition has wound down and we’ve had a few moments to reflect, we wanted to send one final dispatch. By now, everyone has made it home, caught up on some needed sleep and recovery, and nursed some bruised and battered feet back from the long walk out. The memories of a perfect summit day, the many days in tents, the incredible vistas at the Edge of the World and 17 camp are still vivid however!
After an incredible summit day, we packed our camp the next morning as Brent’s team prepared for their summit bid. Though there wasn’t a rush, everyone was motivated by the knowledge that at the end of our long descent lay Talkeetna, with fresh food, beer, flip flops, and clean clothes. With heavy packs on once more, we made short work of the West Buttress, coated in a new layer of an inch or two of snow, and cruised down the fixed lines to 14 camp where we were met by Tyler Jones and team. To them, we owe a lot, as they had taken their rest day to dig up our cache for us, organize and sort it, and met us with water to satiate ourselves and refill bottles. So thankful, and sad that we didn’t have more time to spend with them, we shortly wished them luck and continued down to 11,200.’ It was progressing into the evening hours, and with snow falling and another cache to dig up, we decided to spend the night there. We made a hasty camp this time, with much less concern for walls, or even a flat tent site, and spent the evening rigging our sleds, and packing bags to be ready for an early AM departure.
When we woke, it was still snowing and we sat inside a cloud that blurred the ground, horizon, and sky all into one even color. There are lots of cliches for it: the inside of a ping pong ball, in the white room, or wading through a jug of milk, regardless, that is what we did all day. Flying pretty much completely on instruments, with the occasional wand to guide our way, we made our path down the lower Kahiltna to the airstrip. At one point, an errant black want appeared far off to the teams’ right. As we moved towards it, it shape began to shift eerily, until a black, Canada Goose head came into focus sticking out of the snow. As we realized what we were looking at, the goose shifted, it’s body erupting out of the snow, and it took a look at us and took off in flight, gliding away into the otherworldly landscape.
The poor visibility and trail breaking added time to our march out, and just after noon, we walked into Base Camp, triumphantly, and relieved to be done with the heavy packs and sleds. The weather however provided little hope of flying out, and with an organized low pressure system moving over our area for the next five days, there was some thought that we could be in for the long Base Camp wait. We set up tents, dug up our last cache, sorted gear into duffels to be ready for the flight out whenever it happened, and put snowshoes back on to the Base Camp community chore of packing out the runway. With our work accomplished, we settled into tents to try and calm our minds and find our waiting game zen. Imperceptibly, the tents began to grow lighter, and then a report from a high altitude sightseeing plane made it sound as though there might be a path for our bush planes to get in. Before we knew it, word came that the wonderful folks at K2 Aviation had launched every plane they had to come get us, and that four Otters were in the air on their way. We stripped camp in moments, and soon the silent sky was filled with the buzz of small aircraft as they all came into the runway in squadron formation. Hardly able to believe our luck, we threw bags aboard, found our seats, stowed our carryons, buckled our seatbelts and we were off.
Landing in Talkeetna after 23 days on the mountain is an amazing experience; it was raining lightly, and the colors, sounds of life, and smells were a massive influx on the senses. We jumped out of our three week old clothes and into cotton, and headed to the West Rib, the famous Talkeetna restaurant and bar, for a celebratory dinner followed by revelry at the Fairview. Just as quickly as the trip started, it wound down, as the team boarded a shuttle the next morning to Anchorage to catch flights back to home and our loved ones.
This trip was marked by a team that endured consistent spats of harsh weather, and endured it well. Sitting isn’t always easy, especially when you have to leave the tent into a blizzard every 45 minutes to dig out your tent again, but the team hung tough and stayed positive, and because of their wherewithal, were able to string together one of the more beautiful summit days that the guides have seen. We’d love to thank the whole team for their patience, strength, teamwork, and desire; it was an honor to climb with you all. Similarly, Robby and Jess are two of the most fantastic co-guides that one could ever hope to work with. It took us awhile to reach the top, but it made it that much more rewarding in the end. We’re closing out an incredible trip that everyone involved will remember for the rest of our lives. Thanks for following along on the journey.
Namaste,
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
Good afternoon from Alpamayo Base Camp. We are checking in from our rest day. We had an uneventful day today, just took our time to eat and drink, and rehydrate. And we witnessed a little bit of rain and light snow with hail today -- the first one of the trip. But the weather hasn't been very bad. It's just been normal Andean weather. We don't have much to share today. We're just excited to head up tomorrow to Camp 1, and other than the sighting of the birth of baby sheep that happened right here at base camp, nothing major today. So again we are just so excited to get packed tomorrow morning and head up to Camp 1, from where we will be checking in tomorrow. And so we are letting you know that the next day we are going up to Camp 1. That's it for now. We'll check again later. Bye.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos checks in from Alpamayo Base Camp.
Today was, oxymoronically, an “active rest day.” Yesterday, we endured a grueling move of 3,200 feet with half our gear and established a new camp at 14,200 feet, so our bodies needed rest. But as any fitness enthusiast or doctor will tell you, it’s important to move a little even during recovery so your gears don’t get rusty.
We woke up to our first frost at 6:30 a.m. A quick granola bar for breakfast, and by 7:30 a.m., we were on the move. Our first task of the day was a back carry. We took a quick 15-minute jaunt down to our cache site at 13,500 feet, where we had stored half of our gear three days ago. Our dutiful guides dug out our belongings, and then we returned to camp in an hour.
We had a leisurely breakfast of pan-roasted bagels with cream cheese and bacon—a method of warming my Tarrytown bagels I’ll definitely adopt upon my return. After a brief respite, our second task at noon was to refine our campsite. Snow walls were built around our tent structures to protect us from high winds, and the bathroom and kitchen structures were spruced up.
The third activity of the day was a mid-afternoon refresher on how to walk along fixed lines with an ascender. By dinner, many of us were questioning whether we had experienced “active rest” or rather “restful activity.”
This location has me, a psychiatrist, reflecting on the psychological challenges people have spoken of during this trip. Retracing your steps on a back carry day can be a bit of a mind trip. Above us looms the steep hill that the fixed lines run along, rising 2,000 feet to the ridgeline of the West Buttress. It harkens to the long journey ahead.
However, two things keep me inspired and motivated. The first is the story of Barbara Washburn, who was the first woman to summit Denali in 1947. While at Camp 2, I read her memoir The Accidental Adventurer, which recounted her pioneering journeys. I tell myself that if she could accomplish so many feats with initially little experience and training, surely I can dig deep and find that grit too.
The second is remembering my emancipated ancestors on today, Juneteenth. So many people of that time, over the centuries, and even today, take long journeys of hundreds to thousands of miles seeking a better life. My journey on the mountain is pleasure-seeking and limit-pushing, but there are parallels in that the conditions are inhospitable and decisions here have life-or-death implications. Therefore, I am motivated to keep going despite my fatigue, trepidation, and excitement—knowing that my ancestors couldn’t stop, and I’m summoning their strength now.
The RMI Mexico's Volcanoes Team reached the summit of Ixtaccihuatl at 5:30 am local time. They left High Camp in warm conditions but the weather changed to cold and windy by the time they reached the summit. The team is making their way to the trailhead and will check in later with more details.
Merry Christmas to you all! It wasn’t the same without you but things happen for a reason. Maybe, for example, it was to form bonds that will never be broken. In any case, the welcome home will have that much more joy. Here’s to getting off the ground tomorrow.
Kathy
Posted by: Kathy on 12/25/2018 at 3:03 pm
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