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Posted by: Tyler Reid
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Ski
On The Map
Congratulations on conquering the summit!!! Where are you now? News, group, we need an update on Catherine, Deborah and Kaki!!! Downhill is difficult, too, I understand. News please!
Posted by: Sharon Hostler on 1/15/2017 at 8:09 am
All the Best on your summit push to reach the top of Africa.
Have been watch your progress every day. Really cool. Right behind you on the next climb.
Posted by: Kim Gibson on 1/15/2017 at 6:16 am
On The Map
Joe - you got this! Can’t wait to hear the details!
Posted by: Dana Klein on 9/23/2016 at 9:42 pm
Keep on keepin’ on
Posted by: Tyler Klein on 9/22/2016 at 5:27 pm
On The Map
Congratulations! What a huge accomplishment Brooke, TRob and everyone on the team! We are very proud of you both!
Posted by: Margaret on 9/12/2016 at 10:18 am
Brooke and TRob: Congratulations!! We are all so excited for your ascent and summit!!
Posted by: Marilyn on 9/12/2016 at 7:56 am
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos, Eric Frank
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Peru Seminar
Elevation: 13,650'
Posted by: Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Time to bring it on home Patty. We want the stories! Be safe til we see you.
Posted by: Bill on 2/6/2015 at 1:27 pm
Safe travel home, Team!! Patty, looking forward to seeing you and hearing all about your African adventure! I am ready for a long run:)
Be safe… see you soon
Posted by: Sally on 2/6/2015 at 10:18 am
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Sunday, June 16, 2024 - 2:57 am PT
We chose this.
That’s crucial to remember the fifth day that you’re pulling on the same pair of socks and $h!**ing in a plastic green bucket. Also, guides lie. Or more charitably - plans change. They’ll tell you it’s because of “weather” and that we’re a “strong team”, but I think they just like to see us suffer. There seems no other logical explanation for why they insist on passing every other rope including Dave Hahn’s - on our move up to 11 Camp. As though today’s walk wasn’t going to be a slog already - 3400ft of climbing, picking team we come up behind - up our cache en route to single carry the rest of the way to 11 Camp. The single carry being one of those “change of plans” due to the aforementioned “weather”. Add to this Seth’s excitement to “enter the pain cave”, and you be the judge. And so we spend the day cruelly retracing our footsteps up Ski Hill and the other unnamed - but just as vertical - slopes of the Kalhiltna. We are surrounded by the towering peaks of the Alaska Range - the mere glimpse of whom have surely inspired poets and painters (and Thomas) alike, but my world is a 3ft section of a neon orange rope dragging through the snow in front of me. Do not step on the rope. Keep pace; Seth isn’t going to drag you up the mountain. Do not step on the rope. Try again: Do not step on the rope. Breathe. You learn quickly just how many types of snow there are when your existence is reduced down to slowly walking through it for hours on end. There’s the firm crusty stuff - an excellent uphill walking surface when it’s smooth, if only you can tolerate the grating sound of the sled being dragged across its surface. There’s the loose icy stuff that resembles hail, but smaller and more of it. This can be okay to walk on if it’s not too deep and there’s a good surface underneath. There’s the heavy, wet, slushy stuff - miserable for both traction and the will to live. Then there’s my favorite - the stuff that is so fine it could be mistaken for a white sand beach, if only we weren’t on a glacier in Alaska. This snow has a gentle softness underfoot that makes traversal feel effortless - until your snowshoe punches through and sinks down several inches. Then I just hate snow, all of it. We eventually reach our cache from the day before and load up for our final ascent to 11,000' Camp. The team is feeling the weight of the packs and sleds, but we make it in a single push. Work isn’t over when we arrive, as there’s still an hour plus of shoveling to do to create our new home on the ice. Eventually, the tents are up, the toilet is dug, the kitchen is ready for us all to gather together, after some rest and a reprieve from the sun. At dinner, we’ll celebrate Tait’s birthday with quesadillas and birthday cake. Only now do I stop to realize just where we are - how wild, how breathtaking, how inhospitable. And how much of a team effort it took to get here. So I remind myself to look up from that neon orange snake of nylon every once in a while. Emerge from my tent and take it all in. And remember just why we chose this.
RMI Climber Sophia Bishop
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Denali Expedition June 9, 2024
I just love reading the blog! It brings me laughter and tears, and all the while remembering all the effort that everybody put in to get where they are. Keep safe keep warm and keep keeping on! Cheryl (aka Thomas’ mom)
Posted by: Cheryl Goossen on 6/16/2024 at 12:30 pm
Happy Father’s Day! Keep going!
Posted by: Nicholas Reitz on 6/16/2024 at 12:09 pm
On The Map
I am Briana’s aunt in Indiana. I love reading all this. Heck I went to the bottom of the Grand Canyon once ...that would be a cake walk for you all. Take care
Posted by: Jane gasser on 8/2/2018 at 12:54 pm
Your climb looks amazing
To Fern and Nandito and the rest of your team . Good luck and continue to have a blast
Love the Carranza Family from Texas.
Posted by: Federico Carranza on 8/2/2018 at 11:25 am
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Ben Liken, Bridget Belliveau, Hannah Smith
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,000'
On The Map
Wow! Impressively strong work! Tremendous congratulations to all for summiting…and, for surviving a side-hill-sled-rodeo.
Posted by: Julia on 7/9/2016 at 7:47 pm
Thanks, Sid! Nick and I will post our pictures when we get to wifi later today or tomorrow.
What an awesome trip with the team!
Posted by: Natasha on 6/15/2017 at 2:24 pm
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