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For twelve days in late March, 9 other guides and I convened in the Wasatch mountains of Utah for the AMGA Ski Guides Course. The course, first in the ski guide certification track of the American Mountain Guides Association, is aimed at teaching and honing the skills for ski guiding in technical but non-glaciated terrain (the majority of the skiing terrain in the lower 48!) Over the 12 days, we mixed evening classroom sessions of technical rope skills, coaching, soft skills, and video analysis for skiing, with days spent touring the incredible terrain surrounding Salt Lake City. The course culminated in a two night, three day yurt trip near Logan, UT.
The three day yurt trip allowed us to have lengthier and more realistic “mock guiding” leads. Acting as guide for a group of guides who are playing the part of clients can be a contrived situation, and often presents challenges that are above the typical demand of a normal day guiding. The pressure is ratcheted up, as one can imagine setting a steep kick turn in an uphill track, while four other guides and two instructors all judge that kick turn and comment. Besides the pressure of setting tracks and style, there was the pressure to find the group good snow on the descent, and more often than not, the classic problem of people seeing their own lines that were “better” and desperately wanting to step out of their roles. The challenges were often humorous, though, and the pressure pushed everybody to step up to the plate in a type of guiding that was unfamiliar to most of us. Almost everyone in the course came from a guiding background, however, most often this was alpine guiding, the kind of climbing we do here on Rainier, the North Cascades, and Mt. McKinley. Many of the skills from the alpine realm are readily transferable to ski guiding; client care, many of the technical rope systems and short roping, and uphill guiding are all very similar. But ski guiding presents its own challenge: Down guiding. Trying to guide a group of skiers safely down a line can be a totally different ball game. Balancing the safety issues of being out ahead first to assess snow pack, safe zones, and boundaries, with the desire for client satisfaction, first tracks, good snow, and an uninterrupted run can be tricky. In addition, all of this happens at much higher speed, and things can change quickly.
Guiding techniques are always changing and improving as people dream up new systems or improve on old ones, and I always take away a lot of new tricks. This course was no exception. Add to that new snow almost every day (several feet fell on the Wasatch while we were there) and a great group of fellow students, the ski guide course was a great experience and chance to get a lot of feedback from other guides! A big thanks to the First Ascent/Eddie Bauer and RMI guide grant for helping me to get there!
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
The Four Day Summit Climbs led by
RMI Guides Garrett Stevens and Win Whittaker reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The teams reported cool temperatures, winds 20 mph and clear skies. They began their descent from the summit at 7 am en route to Camp Muir. They will take a short break there before continuing down to Paradise.
The
Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons led by RMI Guide Geoff Schellens also made their summit push today. Geoff and team were also beginning their descent from the crater rim around 7 am. They will return to Camp Schurman for their final night on the mountain.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
The first trip of the Mt. Rainier season is always a special one and just like that, it has come and gone. We spent the week learning skills like crevasse rescue, rappelling, glacier travel, the basics of snow safety, and even some fixed line travel. It was a busy week! We didn’t make the summit and in mountaineering, that’s part of the game. Sometimes the mountain, no matter how much we want it, just says no to going up high. It’s a tough pill, but a worthwhile one to take in stride and with conviction that the decision was the right one. We’ll take home the skills, the memories, and the bug to come back and try again another day.
The weather is becoming wetter and windier and looks to be trending that way for our descent tomorrow. The hot food, showers, and beds in town will be that much sweeter.
Cheers to a great week and a great start to the season, Team!
RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli
Hello from Huaraz!
After a few years of hiatus due to the pandemic, we were welcomed back graciously into the beautiful country of Peru. It was such a treat to again be able to enjoy the bustling coastal grandeur of Lima while sampling delicious ceviche and other fine Peruvian cuisine last night after some long flights. We began our eight-hour bus ride to the climbing and trekking hamlet of Huaraz promptly this morning after breakfast and were greeted by the always friendly staff at the Andino Club Hotel. A true climbers hotel with some Swiss roots. It was so great to catch up with our local partner and IFMGA guide Peter as well as some of the other support staff with whom we hadn't seen in a few years. Tired from multiple days of travel via busses and planes we quickly enjoyed dinner and got settled into our rooms for a full nights rest where we will begin acclimatizing by sleeping at 10,000'.
Buenas Noches!
RMI Guides Alan Davis, Emma Lyddan and Team
Hi,
Since we did not use one of our weather days while on the mountain, we had the whole day today in
Kislovodsk. After our long push to get off the mountain yesterday, and the birthday celebration dinner that followed, most of us were happy to have a rest day of sorts.
We had to deal with drying and sorting gear one last time so it is ready for our flight tomorrow, and then it was time to get re-connected with the rest of the world since we had been out of touch for the last nine days.
The weather here was beautiful today in town, sunny skies and about 90 degrees. We decided to head down to the pedestrian mall in the center of town to do some shopping, find an ice cream store and stroll through the city park. Being the height of the summer season, there were many people just out enjoying the day. With a few souvenir purchases under our belt, we walked around admiring the different buildings, statues, fountains, and shops.
With our attention turning to dinner, we found a great restaurant right in the middle of the square. We luckily had a waiter who could help us decipher the menu and helped us order an incredible meal. He thought we were crazy with how much food we ordered, but we ate it all. There were three different meat dishes served in a huge bowl with charcoals underneath to keep it warm, fresh salads, and perfectly grilled vegetables. It was the hands-down winner for our best meal in
Russia.
Tomorrow we head to the airport to fly north to
St. Petersburg, the last leg of this journey. We'll check in once we get there.
All the best,
RMI Guides Jeff Martin, Pete Van Deventer, and the Elbrus Northside Team
Greetings from Torres Del Paine National Park in the heart of Chilean Patagonia.
That isn´t exactly where we were supposed to be today, but it is quite nice. At our briefing yesterday morning in Punta Arenas, our logistical partner (ALE) advised us that big snowstorms were complicating travel to Union Glacier in the Antarctic interior. We were given three free days to explore. This is something of a luxury since ordinarily, waiting in Punta Arenas to begin a Vinson Expedition means not knowing from one hour to the next whether the fight will be imminent. Of course we´d rather be down on the Ice right now, but storms and delays are quite normal when one is traveling to Antarctica and we do not want to go flying if conditions are not absolutely right. Safety first. Last night, the team got together in Punta for a round of the traditional Chilean cocktail, the Pisco Sour and then we enjoyed a fine dinner at La Luna restaurant. This morning, most of us piled into a van and enjoyed the Patagonian countryside and wildlife as we cruised for about six hours to the park. We were treated to big and beautiful views of the massive stone towers, normally obscured by cloud down here at the edge of the Patagonian Icecap. Guanaco were plentiful and our driver, Roberto, graciously halted the vehicle for every photo opportunity. We´ll spend two nights here at the end of the road, some in the hostel and some in the hotel. All of us are looking forward to stretching our legs for hiking tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guides
Linden Mallory and
Alex Van Steen have been working with Leave No Trace for the past several years helping complete a new Mountaineering Curriculum for Leave No Trace. The curriculum was originally developed by Peter Whittaker, RMI, Leave No Trace, and several land managers and land users. It will soon be available to the broader mountaineering community through Leave No Trace.
Linden was interviewed in Leave No Trace's latest Newsletter discussing the role of Leave No Trace ethics in the mountains and in his guiding career. Check out the story
here!
Monday, June 20, 2022 - 10:17 pm PT
Today we moved camp from 7,800' to 11,200'. The weather has been in our favor, and we are right on schedule. This move was a big effort. We gained 3,400 vertical feet over about 3.5 miles with backpacks and sleds in 5.5 hours. Steve’s hula-hoop proved to be a challenge in the 6 inches of fresh snow we got overnight as it acted like a West Virginia earth mover until he put it were it belonged - around his waist. Over the last 1,000', we encountered the rare Type 2.9 fun but RMI Guides Andy, Grayson and Ben kept us moving and motivated. Andy only threatened to turn the car around once. One of the benefits of later season trips is moving into tent platforms and toilet facilities that were already built by teams ahead of us on the mountain. So, like stinky cuckoos, we rolled into 11,200' Camp and got set up quickly. Huge amounts of carbs and electrolytes were consumed. Then we napped. And napped some more.
Tonight we dine in a proper posh. Bacon Mac & Cheese is the main course followed by sleeves of Oreos and mini Snickers bars. Everybody is happy and healthy and the weather is lining up. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
For the comments, what do you call a huge pile of cats?
-Hyde
High winds blew cold snow in our faces the entire three-hour trek to Gorak Shep today. Buffs up, gortex layers on, and hands balled up in our gloves gave us some protection but it still leads to chapped cheeks and tired climbers. We met up with the other RMI team, led by the famous
Casey Grom, for some tea and jokes along the trail. They are heading down to the land of hot showers and warm evenings as we head up to
Everest Base Camp tomorrow. Some of our team took the afternoon to rest and relax while others braved the winds and hiked up Kala Patar (18,500 feet). We had beautiful views of Nuptse and the Khumbu Glacier but Everest didn't want to show its true height to us today. Hopefully this wind slows and we have an easier trek into basecamp tomorrow.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
Greetings once again from
Camp 1. We woke up this morning to a bit of a mixed bag, with a large cloud cap spinning up high, but clear, sunny skies over camp. After dragging our feet over breakfast and watching the clouds, it seemed that things were moving in the right direction and dissipating. Once we decided the move was a go, the team did a fantastic job of crashing camp and getting packed for the move. Just as fast if not faster however, was the change in the weather trend. The clouds that had been dissipating rebuilt ever stronger, and we began to rethink our decision. After some more staring at the clouds, scuffing of feet, and sighing, we decided the prudent decision was to reset camp and take a rest day. Prudent that decision turned out to be: not long after the tents were back up, our wintry mix began to fall again, and within an hour or two, a repeat of our thunder and lightning storm from yesterday.
With a lot of tent time today, and weather persisting this evening, we decided to treat ourselves to a delicious
pasta dinner cooked by the camp cook, Olga. It was a nice break from the tents to share a meal, stories, and jokes around a table with a roof over our heads. With full bellies, we are retiring, with hopes that we wake up to a better scene tomorrow, and can continue our upward progress.
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Jeff Martin, and team
On The Map
Way to go Pete Lynn! Want to hear all about it. Tracked all the way up.
Posted by: Bill Adkins on 8/1/2014 at 6:43 pm
Hi Arthur and Owen with team Emmons. Have been following you all the way to the summit (well at least since 6.00am!). That was so awesome to watch. Congrats to the whole team and a special thanks to whoever packed the GPS tracker! Can’t wait to hear all about it. Love M & D
Posted by: Shirley Eigenbrot on 7/31/2014 at 6:05 pm
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