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Day 13

The team awoke to warm bagels and crackling bacon. That was the warmest part of the day. It was a frigid one. We practiced cramponing while dashing in and out of our sleeping bags. Now is the trickiest part of any expedition. We sit, checking the weather repeatedly, waiting for our weather window to climb. Despite so much time in the tent, we are ready when the time comes.

Till next time,

RMI Guide Luke Wilhelm & Team

The group was up early this morning, despite encountering the coldest temperatures of the trip thus far - our water bottles lightly icing up even in the teahouse. However, we quickly shook off the cold within a few minutes of starting off, warming up as we walked out of Lobuche. An hour's walk brought us to the edge of the Khangri Glacier, a tributary flowing into the main Khumbu Glacier just to our side. We climbed up the moraine of the Khangri and began the weaving traverse over its rock strewn surface, climbing up and down over the uneven terrain. Part way through we reached a high point and we're treated to fantastic views further up the valley, even catching glimpses of the tents at Everest BC. By late morning we reached our teahouse at Gorak Shep, the last cluster of buildings before BC. We paused for a cup of tea and after refilling our bottles we set out to climb Kala Patar, a rocky outcropping that sits across the valley from Everest. The team climbed very strongly, the benefits of our acclimatization over the past ten days clearly visible, and within a couple of hours we reached Kala Patar's prayer flag strewn summit. At 18,500' Kala Patar has phenomenal views looking down over Everest BC and the Khumbu Icefall as well as to its summit, the Hillary Step, South Summit, South Col, and part of the Lhotse Face. In addition to Everest, we could see over the Lho La Pass to Changatse in Tibet as well as south down the valley, picking out the peaks of Tamserku, Katenga, and Ama Dablam which we walked past earlier. Despite the clear skies and amazing views the winds were blowing strongly and we were forced to raise our voices to be heard over the fluttering prayer flags. The temperature was quite cold with the wind and before too long we set off back down the trail, returning to Gorak Shep where a late lunch of soup and tea helped rewarm us. We've spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing in Gorak Shep. We had a great day and are thrilled to have had such great weather and views from Kala Patar. Tomorrow we cover the final stretch to Everest Base Camp where we will spend a couple of nights sleeping on the ice in RMI's Everest Expedition camp. We will check in tomorrow from BC. RMI Guide Linden Mallory

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons May 27 - 1 June, led by RMI Guide Alex Halliday reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today!  Alex reported cold and windy conditions from the summit so the team did not spend much time on top. They will return to Camp Schurman for their third and final night on the mountain.  The team will continue their descent to the trail head tomorrow and return to Rainier BaseCamp tomorrow afternoon. 

Congratulations to the Emmons Seminar Team!

Today we got second chair on the gondola and enjoyed a quiet morning on Rucu Pichincha.  For many this was the second highest altitude they had reached and a good hike to really get the acclimatization going.  Contrary to my previous trips and further proving the unreliability of weather forecasting in the tropics, we did not get rained on and it really did not threaten to rain on us at any point today.  Following the hike we enjoyed a team dinner at a favorite local Lebanese restaurant and tomorrow we are headed north towards Cayambe.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

The waiting is over! We got the call at 7:30 this morning that it was a go. We needed to be ready by 8:00 for the shuttle to the airport. By the time we got to the airport, the crew was already making final flight preparations, and an hour later we were ready for takeoff. Next stop will be Union Glacier where the team will be met by Dave Hahn. Dave will write the next dispatch once they arrive on the ice. Best, RMI Guide Jeff Martin

Hello everyone, Our team has arrived in Mendoza excited and ready to start our Aconcagua adventure! After finishing up our permits, grabbing the last minute supplies at the grocery store and gear shops, we are ready to head out of town. It is a beautiful day here in Mendoza and should make for a great drive to Penitentes where we will ready our gear for the mules and have one last night of Argentine cuisine before switching to the equally appealing mountain cuisine that will fuel our climb. Tomorrow we will leave civilization for a few weeks and start the climb. Wish us luck everyone and stay tuned as we work our way up this beautiful mountain. RMI Guides Jake Beren, Elias de Andres Martos, Geoff Schellens

Wednesday, December 29, 2021 - 7:19 pm PT

We seem to be into a stretch of very fine weather.  Today was nothing but sunny, calm and beautiful.  Our first morning on Vinson was pleasant, but quite full with getting everybody up to speed on glacier travel and packing and prepping for moving up.  Even so, we took a midday break for a sit-down hot lunch of vegetable soup.  We got walking at 1:40 PM.  Four rope teams traveling in formation up the Branscomb Glacier.  Recent snows made the footing a little more insecure for the first few hours out of camp, but conditions improved as we got a little higher.  There was less new snow and easier to walk on packed trail by the time we hit the big turn in the glacier below Vinson’s west face.  We came into 9,200 ft “Low Camp” just after seven in the evening.  A fine time to arrive as the sun hits from a great angle and intensity at low camp during the evening hours.  We built tents and moved in to giant walls of snow bricks constructed against big winds by previous inhabitants.  Our evening was windless.  We ate dinner and talked over possibilities for tomorrow.  Perhaps we’ll move higher in the morning, perhaps we’ll spend the day training around low camp.  It all depends on how folks feel in the morning.  It is wonderful to be up in this wild setting, looking straight up at Vinson and at the jagged peaks just to the North. 

Although it is after midnight now, the sun is still strong on the tents, making them almost warm and comfortable.  The sun won’t go behind the mountain until about 3 AM, at which point things will feel a bit colder until it reappears around 10:15 AM. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Today was our first day of safari and we headed west to visit the beautiful Lake Manyara. The lake is a brief stopping ground for many migratory animals and home to more than 350 different birds. Everyone enjoyed the day cruising around in our safari vehicles with cold beverages in hand while seeing a few animals up close.

We didn’t see a ton of animals today, but we did get up close to a few elephants, baboons, and a number impalas. Also managed to see a couple of zebras and warthogs off in the distance. 

It was a nice introduction to the incredible diversity of wildlife that Africa has and the team is looking forward to seeing more tomorrow.

We wrapped up the evening with a wonderful meal at the Plantation Lodge.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Safari Crew

Saturday, June 25, 2022 12:27 pm PDT

Today, we waked up at 6:30 am with a blue sky and still a beautiful view over the mountains. We ´ve had a nice warm drink and breakfast with Bagel cheese and bacon. We took off our tents, made ready our backpack.

We have filled up our 11000 cache with duffels bags, snow shoes and some foods. We started moving from 11,000' camp at 9:30am and come to 14,000’ camp at 2 pm. We went through motorcycle hill, polo field, squirrel point, windy corner. We didn’t see horses at Polo Field, but we heard noises of horses couple of time from the group :-) Getting higher, we saw the valley with the rivers getting water from the glaciers. We have been lucky with a Moon walked above our head.

We saw the beautiful Mount Hunter and the difficulty to climb this mountain.

When we arrived, we set our camp and are ready for the rest day tomorrow.

-Yann

 

Thanks to Yann and Sebastian for writing the last two dispatches in their 2nd and 3rd languages and giving our group a diverse and international feel.

Everyone is doing great, and we climb incredible strong.  Rest days have been filled with dance parties, great conversations and lots of food.

As we sit at 14,000 camp we’re enjoying another much deserved rest day. Are hope is to carry up the fixed lines tomorrow than wait for a weather window.

RMI Guide Andy Bond & Team

Mark Tucker here in Nepal kicking off the RMI 2013 Mount Everest programs. Our first wave of climbers are all here with bags intact. After a nice city tour and final preparations yesterday we have made our way to the Domestic airport. Right now we are at the boarding area and on standby due to a weather delay in Lukla, which is our flight destination. Not unusual for such a delay, so we will wait till weather conditions improve. A cup of tea and a book will hold us over for a while. No hurry. Looking forward to keeping you all up to date as best I can over the next couple of weeks / months / years. RMI Guide Mark Tucker