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Inside information, while illegal on Wall Street, totally ligit on the Inca Trail. We got up at 2:30am so we would be first in line to enter the trail leading to Machu Picchu when the gates opened at 5:30am. While we waited some Team members slept, relaxed and 4 of us continued a best of four Hearts game on top of a backpack.
With a little under an hour of walking to the site, we cruised through the "Gringo Killer", a 60 degree 50 Incan step section just prior to the Sun Gate. No Gringos were harmed in the filming of this section. The Team enjoyed an amazing sunrise across the cloud forest and in Machu Picchu.
In total we spent 2 hours walking around the immense complex. Listening to our local interpretive guides, Erick and Winder as they described what we were seeing. The Team was shocked at the shear size of the stone work and numbers of people who had arrived via bus.
While a trip like this can be about the destination, we all agreed the last 5 days on the Salkantay/Inca trail was more about the journey; consiting of remote valleys, Andean vista's and a variety of Incan sites.
We are back in Aquas Calientes, showered and resting. Thanks for following along and we will return to Cusco tomorrow evening for departure flights on Wednesday.
July 2, 2016 - 1:23 am PT
We were very lucky to fly off the glacier yesterday since the weather closed in on
Denali and may have prevented us from flying for days. We spent a celebratory evening in rainy Talkeetna thankful for not being stuck in snowy Basecamp!
After the long process of sorting, cleaning, and drying all of the gear it takes to get to the top of such a huge mountain, we paused to thank each other over a meal that did not require mixing with hot water or adding copious amounts of cheese to maximize calories. It really was an amazing team that assembled two weeks ago in Anchorage and made a smooth ascent of the
highest mountain in North America. The team was very strong and had a great attitude that allowed them to experience an amazing, windless summit and a seamless two-day descent back to base camp and ski planes that almost beat us to the glacier landing strip.
Thank you for the great expedition El Siete!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
Hello from Moscow! It's about seven o'clock in the evening here and we are all about to meet up for dinner. We have had a great day seeing the sights in the city. We met our city tour guide, Svetlana, this morning and she took us out to the Kremlin and Red Square. She indulged all of our questions about life and politics in Russia now versus back in the Communist period. It was all fascinating stuff. After the tour we had lunch in an authentic Georgian restaurant.
Tomorrow we are shifting gears with an early morning flight. We'll fly about 900 miles south to the Caucasus Mountains. We will have
Mt. Elbrus in sight and begin our acclimatization process. I'll check in again when we reach our destination.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
RMI Guide Jake Beren and Team called at 2:25 pm PST to let us know they have flown off of the mountain and expect to land in Talkeetna shortly.
Congratulations Team!
June 17, 2016 - 11:36 pm PT
What a big few days it's been! Forgive the radio silence, but our team has been busy getting some real climbing done. Since our glorious finale to our ascent, we descended back to
17 Camp and had a well deserved rest. We awoke early this morning with a motivating forecast to move and packed up our alpine home and began our descent. As we scooped up caches at 16,600, 14,200 and 11,000 our decision to beat feet downhill seemed well made. Winds and snow took over the upper camps and we made it to 7,800 camp where the air is thick and the temps are pleasant (by our new standards). We carved out a quick camp and are planning on an early morning to try and catch a flight tomorrow. Wish us one more day of decent weather and we'll be back to tell all the details of one hell of an adventure!
RMI Guide Jake Beren
On The Map
After long journeys from all over the US we finally gathered at our hotel in
Mexico City. Excitement and anticipation were high throughout the group as we discussed the upcoming trip. We then made our way through the noise Saturday night streets of Zona Rosa, Mexico City, to an authentic Mexican restaurant called, El Refugio Fonda. After a decadent meal, we picked our way back to the hotel to pack and get some rest before we set off on the first leg of our trip tomorrow. Thanks for following along with us here in Mexico.
RMI Guides Geoff Schellens & Eric Frank
May 24, 2015 - 3:35 pm PT
Well, there is not much new to report today. We're still waiting out the weather here at
14,200 ft on Denali. Last night was windy and snowy, with gusts up to 52 mph here in camp. There is lots of deep drifted snow around camp, so even just walking around is an exercise in trail breaking. The winds have let up this afternoon and it is still snowing lightly. Moderate snowfall is expected tonight and tomorrow, and with any luck it will let up by midweek.
We're all safe and comfortable, waiting for the weather to improve. When (if) it does, we'll have our work cut out for us; as a result of the new snow and wind loading, we'll be faced with trail breaking and evaluating the avalanche hazard of the steeper slopes above us. In the mean time, we're passing the time by reading books, chewing the fat, and the continual work of maintaining our camp's condition throughout the storm.
We'll keep you up to date with any changes in our current holding pattern.
RMI Guide
Mike Walter and Team
On The Map
Wednesday, May 20th 3:19 pm PDT
We took advantage of a beautiful morning today and bumped a cache of food and fuel up to 16,200 ft on the West Buttress, above the fixed ropes of the head wall outside of 14k camp. We made efficient work of the head wall and, as we neared the top, clouds and wind moved in around us. The weather was manageable, just not very pleasant. So once our cache hole was dug and our food and fuel was buried, we retreated back down the fixed ropes to the comfort of camp.
The afternoon was spent relaxing as winds swirled around camp. We will take a
rest day tomorrow to recover and acclimate further. The weather forecast for the next couple of days indicates strong winds up high, so we'll likely have a couple of days to rest here at 14,200' while we wait for a reasonable weather window to move up to high camp and have a crack at the summit. Hopefully the weekend will bring more favorable climbing weather. We'll keep you posted either way.
Cheers,
RMI Guide
Mike Walter and Team
On The Map
Today we are headed out from our post in Malintzi and moving on towards
Ixta. Luckily we will get a chance to do some sight seeing on route. Traveling to another country is about so much more than just trying to stand on top of a mountain. It is often the spaces in between the summits that you remember years after the summits fade. Here's to the waterfalls and markets, the small town zocalos (town squares) and random Christmas tree farms in the foothills on the way to the climbs. And we hope everyone back home is enjoying the in-between time too.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
June 15, 2014 - 7:37 pm
Greetings from 9,700' on Mt. McKinley. We woke up around three this morning, ate breakfast, and then packed up camp. We loaded up our backpacks and sleds and headed up to our next camp. We pushed hard for the early part of the morning so we could get to camp before the glacier got hot. It seems strange that we would be worried about the heat while climbing in the snowy mountains of Alaska. When the sun is out and the solar radiation is bouncing off of all of those white surfaces, it acts like an Easy Bake oven.
We put in a storm proof camp in a crevasse free zone and were tucked away by ten this morning. I suppose that begs the question about what we did the rest of the day.....hard work I assure you!
HAPPY FATHERS DAY to our wonderful dads!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen and Team
On The Map
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Hey, Slackers:
Looking good in Red Square!
Just want to urge you guys to keep your eyes on the prize, and not to worry about the post-Brexit market swoon. I saw Jill and Jennifer at Pinhan last night. They had managed to get Alison and Danielle on a conference Skype, and after their third round of G&Ts; the four of them opened a margin account on E-trade, and in honor of your Russian expedition they were buying random puts and calls on the MICEX and RTS exchanges. When I left the cafe after dark, they we’re making spirited plays on some investment app called “Catch a Falling Knife.”
So relax, and enjoy your ascent! We’ll keep the home fires burning till your return.
Salud!
Josh
Posted by: Josh Horwitz on 6/25/2016 at 7:18 am
Dear Team, as a life long friend and admirer of Gordy’s, I wanted to prepare you for the pronounced behavioral tendencies that would manifest themselves as the air thinned, thighs burned, packs grew heavier, and menu choices shrank. You see, there are quite a few elements to Gordy that are not easily communicated on an outward bound application. I am also assuming the files from his extended stay at Sunnyside Mental Wellness have not been provided following the leather party he had with the 7 nurses (mostly female). This may be a long note so I hope you are not charged for roaming data while in Russia. Gordy’s issues principally arise from his love of and respect for all mankind. Firstly, this may not be easily evident to you until that repelling safety rope is tied on as I suspect Gordy will then insist on showing off his extensive knowledge of ropes and knots. He may claim this is rooted in his time as a small stock boy out in Omaha department store warehouse. However, at Sunnyside it was diagnosed that this passion arose from his time as a stock boy and salesman at the Carlton Shops in Philadelphia. Secondly, his respect for mankind will surely be “presented” in the hotel tonight and tents thereafter as he goes NRA topless in order to show off his “guns and pecs”. Gordy is a complicated fellow so I beg of you to be caring and supportive and to bring him home safe as he is a gem that none of his friends would want any other way. Sincerely, Ron (also on behalf of Nadav, Scot, Schless, Dave and Will)
Posted by: Ron Bobman on 6/25/2016 at 4:06 am
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