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Posted by: Tatum Whatford, Will Ambler
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
The Mt. Baker Expedition Skills Seminar spent the week on the mountian training. The team had tough weather on the mountian. Yesterday they spent the day in the sunshine on Mt Erie to solidify rope skills and dove deeper into a variety of alpin skills. The team was unable to summit due to the weather but took advantage of the time and were eager to learn and develop new skills.
Posted by: JM Gorum, JT Schmitt, Dustin Wittmier
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 17,200'
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Monday, June 3, 2019 - 5:49 PM PT
When we poked our heads out of the tent this morning, we hoped to see sunny, calm skies beckoning us to climb this mountain. It was definitely sunny, but winds up high were blowing snow into the stratosphere. As much as we hoped to climb today, it was an easy decision to stay put here at 17 Camp. We slept in, reinforced our camp with some big snow walls, told some jokes, and talked about the beach. Fortunately it hasn’t been too windy here in camp. We’ve been able to get out and stretch our legs from time to time, inspect other camps for architectural inspiration, and chat with the neighbors. We can see the tundra from up here, the only green in sight, 15,000 feet below us. We’ll do an early dinner again, and get organized in hopes of climbing tomorrow. At this point it all just depends on what the winds do.
RMI Guide JM Gorum
Posted by: Christina Dale, Grayson Swingle, Alan Davis
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Elevation: 13,000'
This morning we left La Malinche for the Altzomoni Hut at 13,000 feet on Ixta. The team was able to stock up on water and last minute snacks in the town of Amecameca before we begin our two-day attempt on Ixta. We've got all of our equipment sorted for our move up to our high camp at 15,000 feet tomorrow.
RMI Guide Grayson Swingle
On The Map
Hello from Cafe La Vaca, in the town of Cayambe. We have all arrived safely from the mountain and are getting ready to power down massive hamburgers to replenish our bodies after 11 straight hours of climbing this morning.
Oh, did I mention the team made a successful summit of Cayambe? I am so distracted by hamburgers I almost forgot the important details.
We woke at 11:30 this morning to cloudy skies but warm temps. We started up the mountain at 12:30 and were standing on top in perfect weather by 7:15am. It was one of the most glorious summit days I’ve ever had on this mountain. Somebody cashed in some big karma bucks to get this forecast.
Once at the hut the wind picked up and the clouds rolled in. Perfect timing again!
Now we will feast, bathe and sleep. Our big mountains are just beginning so rest is imperative to staying healthy and strong.
Sending big hugs to all of our family and friends back home.
Will write again tomorrow.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
This mountain looks awesome. Hope you are enjoying your adventure.
Mary (Chris’s mom)
Posted by: Mary Accettura on 1/14/2019 at 9:19 pm
This mountain is awesome, congratulations, hope you are enjoying the good time.
Mary Accettura (Chris’s mom)
Posted by: Mary Accettura on 1/14/2019 at 9:18 pm
Saturday, June 2, 2018 - 2:43 PM PT
We awoke to a leisurely morning as we waited for our porters to arrive and collect some of our gear to bring to High Camp at 17,600’ on Huayna Potosi.
As with any big mountain around the world, weather plays a major role when attempting to summit a 6000 meter peak. With a deteriorating forecast in the coming days, we’ve decided to bump up our summit attempt to tonight!
Today we climbed a little over 1500’ to the Anselme Baud hut at the base of glacier. The hut feels similar to any European Chalet with a mixture of people from all over the world looking to climb. The crew did great getting to the hut allowing us ample time to enjoy tea, and food. Currently it’s cloudy, with no precipitation and winds are calm.
Our hope is to climb tonight before the weather turns with an approaching cold front. Forecasting weather in Bolivia is a challenge as clouds slowly build in the Amazon lowlands slowly building over the mountains. Some local guides use the sight of a certain beetle to tell when a storm is approaching. We remain optimistic that weather will hold off until Monday. We’ll keep our fingers crossed as we look to make our summit attempt tonight on Huayna Potosi.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
This morning we woke with the sun and glanced out the window of our hotel room expecting a continuation of yesterday's deluge. We were pleasantly surprised to find the streets of Quito damp but no active precipitation. Optimistic for the day's objective, Cerro Fuya Fuya (13,998), the team rallied in the lobby of Hotel Mercure at 7:30 ready to load the bus. Some severe rush-hour traffic delayed the bus about an hour and a half so the team took the unexpected opportunity to indulge in one to seven of Hotel Mercure's incredible chocolate filled croissants.
By 9:00 the bus was loaded and we embarked on the three hour drive to Fuya Fuya. We arrived safe and sound at the azure blue Lake Mojanda, the trailhead for Fuya Fuya. We were pleasantly surprised to find the summit out of the clouds. Eager to take stretch their legs and take advantage of the weather window the team set out at a good clip.
About 20 minutes in we stopped to rest before initiating the patented Knoff acclimatization strategy, about 5 to 10 minutes of all-out effort up a steep section to raise the heart rate and let the body know it's time to make some red blood cells. The team kick-started their engines with some pressure breaths then launched following the superhuman pace of our local guide, Peter. Panting and hearts pounding the team crested the hill and we gave them the exciting news that they wouldn't have to do that again for the rest of the trip.
We cruised the rest of the way through the alpine meadows and up a short pick scramble to the summit at a casual pace. The team arrived in style and were rewarded with gorgeous views of the crater lake and surrounding ridge-line.
The descent to the bus was quite direct and steep through the muddy meadows and the team quickly learned that the summit is really only the halfway point. The team managed the slippery terrain in style only sustaining a few muddy backsides which the bus driver made sure we acknowledged and toweled off before embarking.
We are currently enjoying the day's true summit of beers and good conversation as we settle in to the beautiful Casa La Sol for the evening.
Tomorrow will take us up the rugged mountain roads to the base of the equatorial behemoth, Cayambe and the start of our first big objective of the trip.
RMI Guide Jordan Cargill Signing off for the night.
Good luck to the whole crew for the Cayambe adventure!
Posted by: Kaki on 1/17/2018 at 7:31 pm
éclair! Trichez-vous sur les barres de datte?
Posted by: Thunder Goat on 1/16/2018 at 8:44 pm
Posted by: Mark Tucker, Hannah Smith, Avery Parrinello
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 9,000'
Our departure went as planed today from Los Penitentes. There was a bit of final packing, then a quick transfer to the park gate of Aconcagua National Park. With our permits in hand we hit the trail. Today did not provide a lot of altitude gain but we did travel about eight miles to our first trek camp, Pampa de Las Lenas. Some high clouds throughout the day kept the heat down and upon arrival at camp it started to rain intermittently.
Tonight we are excited to share camp with the RMI Team led by Mike King who reached the summit on Friday and is now on their descent. Both teams were treated to a local barbecue, asado, by our mule team drivers. They do a very nice grill of various meats and treats. We are all doing well and enjoying camp life.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
On The Map
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Jordan Cargill, Matt Rosenberg
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Summit Climb July 21 - 24 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 6:30 am led by RMI Guide Dave Hahn. The team enjoyed blue skies and good visibility from the crater rim. They will descend complete today and return to Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon to complete their program.
Congratulations!
June 27, 2017
We are in position for a summit day. We made our move from camp at 14,000' to our camp at 17,000'. The crew did a great job ascending the fixed lines and climbing the spectacular ridge past Washburn's Thumb, a huge chunk of rock that towers above the route. It was a little windy on the ridge, but it is hard to complain about wind on a huge mountain like Denali.
We made a fortified camp before the clouds came up and gave us some wind and snow. The sun is starting to peak through and we are hoping for good weather tomorrow so we can get a shot at the summit!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
On The Map
Go Glo and team! You are all marvelous!
Posted by: michelle on 6/28/2017 at 10:33 pm
Julian & team! Thinking of you and wishing you all the best in your upcoming shot at the summit! Praying for strength, safety, calm winds, low precip, high viz, and smiles all around!
ch
Posted by: Cheryl on 6/28/2017 at 12:21 pm
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Today was our first day of safari and we headed to Lake Manyara National Park. It took a little over 2hrs to get there as we drove through Arusha and then the vast rural savannah to get there. It's situated at the base of the eastern Great Rift Escarpment, and is home the the famous tree climbing lions, over 450 different birds, huge troops of baboons, hippos, and most of the other African animals.
It's been rather dry this year and unfortunately we didn't see the famous lions, but we did see plenty of other wildlife up close.
After spending a couple of hours of safari we made our way to the wonderful Plantation Lodge where we've been enjoying being spoiled and just finished another fantastic meal.
Everyone is doing great and are excited to see what tomorrow brings as we head to Ngorongoro Crater.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
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Good luck, Pops! You’ll be on top of the world in no time!
Posted by: Jillian Ludwig on 6/4/2019 at 12:33 pm
Praying for cooperative weather in coming days. You are strong!! Our new baby BOY is rooting for you too. Go team!!
- Sam, Brandon, and Logan
Posted by: Sam Wolff on 6/4/2019 at 5:52 am
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