May 22, 2016 - 1:54 pm PT
Once again we're checking in from 14k on Denali. There is not much new to report here. The winds up high remain strong, and the National Weather Service has issued a special high wind warning for this storm.
We are all comfortable and safe at camp and we'll just have to see how this one plays out. Today is day 18 on the the mountain for our team, and high winds are forecast through at least Thursday. We'll keep you up to date with the latest news.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Team Walter, you guys are already my heroes coming so close to the summit. Respect storm Daryl! No gut or glory stuff! Come home in one piece, Lei. Love you. Hao
The Mount Rainier Summit Climb, led by Mike Walter, and the Expedition Skills Seminar – Paradise, led by Leon Davis, crested the crater rim at 7:06 a.m. The teams reported a beautiful day with 10 mph winds. After spending over an hour on the summit, they began their descent.
Congratulations to today's teams!
So grateful to have had the chance to meet, climb, sweat, overcome and summit with these characters. Big shout out for my rope team…40/50 is the new 18.
Posted by: Jamie Moon on 7/18/2015 at 6:19 pm
Way to go Gabe! So proud of you and thrilled you were able to experience such an awesome adventure. Your hard work paid off. Thanking God, saints and angels for your safety.
Hello again from Ecuador! The team woke up today to a tranquil setting at a beautiful mountain lodge, Chilcabamba Eco Lodge. A late breakfast was followed by walks around the local area, discovering an albino cow, and a few folks trying their hand at horseback riding.
The team then had a nice discussion on packing for our next objective, Cotopaxi. This discussion led into an excellent pasta dinner.
Another night of rest and we will be active again the in mountains.
RMI Guide Chad Gaffigan
We wake up to French pressed coffee, warm toast and scrambled eggs. After packing up we throw packs on and head down the trail. Stopping to take pictures or refill water bottles in streams or snack on some nuts and chocolate. Lunch is usually by a river with stunning views around. Then we walk a few more hours chitchatting and enjoying our time on the trail. Evenings are showers, delicious dinners, and bed early most nights. The next day we do it again. Tomorrow will be day 8 for this pattern and we are all starting to find our rythem. Today was a day hike into the French Valley where our high point was above a vivid rainbow and below towering granite peaks. We would stop along the trail to watch dramatic ice falls from the hanging glaciers above. Another spectacular day. Tomorrow we complete the circuit around the Torres del Paine massif which is a huge accomplishments everyone should be proud of.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
We woke to clear skies and beautiful weather today. We had breakfast in the hotel and then loaded up all our climbing gear and drove to the base of the ski resort where we rode not one, but two gondolas, a single chair lift and then a short snowcat ride to reach our new home on Mt. Elbrus for the next few days. It's rather comfortable up here, as our outfitter has taken a few shipping containers and converted them into simple bunk rooms some for sleeping and some set up as dinning rooms.
Once we got settled into our new home we headed uphill on another acclimatizing hike and reached just over 14,000' before returning to camp where our wonderful cook Dasha had a nice hot lunch waiting for us.
We spent the remaining of the afternoon doing a little training for our climb. The weather forecast has been a little up and down, so are just staying prepared. Everyone is doing great and enjoying the views of the Caucasus mountain range which are pretty amazing since we are camped out at just over 12,000'.
Dasha has once again had filled our bellies full of delicious Russian food and so the team is off to bed now.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
We miss you but love following your latest adventure! Love and Prayers Jill, Rachel, David, Caleb, Kiki, Cora, Emily, Shane, Eli, Silas, Samuel, Shena, Jeff, Anthony and Chloe
Posted by: Jill Crumley on 7/27/2017 at 3:41 am
Awesome pictures! Looks like a great time. Have fun as you both get closer to the summit.
Love
Dad
Posted by: Wayne Kelly Sr. on 7/26/2017 at 1:02 pm
May 27th, 2017
We woke to another day of bitterly cold temps and strong winds above. The weather forecast looks promising for the next few days, so we are optimistic that we will finally get our shot. We're hanging in there and trying to be patient with this long wait. Hopefully it will pay off.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Happy Birthday, David! Lots of folks at lower, warmer elevations wishing you well today. Hope the weather gods give you a present of a break in the storms so that you can ascend that peak! Thinking of all of you…Nancy
Our second day at Glacier Grey Camp afforded us an opportunity to get up close and personal with the bottom tip of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, a massive expanse of glacial ice spanning 270 km. A gleeful 20-minute ride in a speedboat across Lago Grey deposited us at the foot of the moraine, where we set out on our approach across smooth, rocky ledges with their painterly striated patterns, fossil imprints, and telling scrapes and scars.
After an hour of scrambling through chutes and ladders, our Skittle-colored team of alpine outerwear landed itself at the gear cache our local guide team had waiting for us at the base of the ice. We transitioned into crampon and ice axe mode, but not before receiving a quick crash course on glacier travel skills. Up the slope we went, our metal spikes crunching along the firm ice. It was hard to keep our hands off our cameras, with impressive landscapes beckoning our gaze in all directions, but walking on the irregular surface required our full attention to keep a clumsy foot from plummeting into any one of the many nooks and crannies on the icy floor beneath us.
The pools of melt water were a brilliant blue color almost too fluorescent to believe that nature could produce it. A highlight of the trek was stopping to pose like alpine goddesses at the opening of a cavern where a stream of water rushed along the the icy chute.
A warm meal back at our hut sent us off to bed dreaming about our next day's adventure along the classic "W" route on the front side of the Park.
Bridget Schletty
Mama Munford - Just showed Grandele the posts and pics and she was amazed and proud of you! Forgot to get her to post a comment…but I would be willing to bet she would say: “AH WOO”. Looks unreal. Keep it up skittles-clad-badasses!!
xoxo B
Posted by: Blair on 1/31/2017 at 11:14 am
I just discovered this blog! Gorgeous photos! Looking forward to your next update. High five and big hugs to Missy!!!
At daybreak today, we could finally get a look at our spectacular surroundings. The clouds were gone from overhead, and it seemed that the ones under us were miles below. Machame Camp, nestled within the giant heather, seemed a fine place but we were anxious to go higher. We got on the move a little before nine and quickly found ourselves on a steady and steep hill climb. There were plenty of big steps through broken volcanic rock but eventually we crested a ridge and followed that toward the majestic upper slopes of Kili itself. At about 12,500 ft we deviated from the ridge and moved north, traversing toward a new horizon on our left. We crested that at 12,800 ft and caught our first views of the Shira Plateau stretching out to the West. We then dropped a few hundred easy feet to our new home... already built and waiting for us at 12,600 ft. The afternoon was spent resting, eating and drinking. Each time out of the tents we were a little startled by the gigantic views... of Mt. Meru standing at 16,000 ft to our west and of Kili standing at 19,000 ft immediately to our east. We'll head straight toward Kili tomorrow morning.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
We slept in an extra hour this morning for two reasons. Firstly, it gave us some extra rest in preparation for our summit attempt. Secondly, it allowed the rest of the teams at camp to break trail up the great Barranco Wall this morning so we could avoid "rush hour" on the wall.The 800 feet of solid handholds made the ledge scrambling a blast. With the assistance of our local staff, everyone made for a safe ascent of the Barranco Wall. Once atop the wall, we made a long traverse under the dramatic views of the the hanging glaciers and rock buttresses that make up the top of Kilimanjaro on our way to Karanga Camp at 13,160 feet. We are knocking on the door of the summit and the weather continues to be perfect! Yeah!
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Hi, it's Brent Okita from the RMI Denali trip. I have good news to report. We are back in camp at 17K after a successful summit bid. We all did super well and conditions were feasible. We got a late start because we had some clouds and a little bit of snow last night. We managed to slip one in. It was a warm day and the wind was minimal, which was great. It followed us all the way to 17K from 14K, which was just beautiful. People are sacked out right now. It's about 1:30 a.m., and we just got the chores all done and excuse my gravely voice, it just gets that way sometimes. We're planning on heading down to 11,000 feet tomorrow. Get in a little bit of a nap and then changing onto a nighttime schedule and heading down to basecamp and hopefully fly off this mountain here soon. All right, I'll have more info when I get it. Bye-bye.
RMI Guide Brent Okita
RMI Guide Brent Okita calls in after successful summit!
Congratulations to Mike and team! Awesome accomplishment! Glad you’re down safely and partaking in well-earned libations. See you soon, doc.
Posted by: Frank Marini on 6/5/2016 at 5:35 pm
Go Dawn, Brent, and Christina!!!! So proud of you all, and the rest of your team, too! We have been reading each post, enjoying this journey from NYC. You must be exhilarated and exhausted. Can’t wait to hear all about it. Safe return home. Congratulations!!!
Xo Lindsay and Steve
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Thinking alot about you Blake !!
Love you !!
Mom
Posted by: Maria Votilla on 5/24/2016 at 12:58 pm
Team Walter, you guys are already my heroes coming so close to the summit. Respect storm Daryl! No gut or glory stuff! Come home in one piece, Lei. Love you. Hao
Posted by: Hao on 5/23/2016 at 7:31 pm
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