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Today the team had a very welcome rest day. After breakfast and loading our duffels onto the bus (again), we made our way to Ambato for groceries and a stop at Rey del Burrito, the Burrito King. It was far from your everyday lunch, as we were featured stars in a project by some local film students, and witnessed our teammate Dan take down "El Rey" - a 50 cm monster burrito. After Dan's dance with the King we made our way to Riobamba, the capital of Chimborazo province. The eponymous mountain was just barely visible through heavy clouds as we arrived at our hotel, getting us excited for a closer look. However, we were distracted from
Chimborazo by the tremors of a distant magnitude-5 earthquake! Ecuador is certainly a dynamic place. After dinner and some trash talk-filled pool, we returned to the rooms to pack for our move to Chimborazo high camp tomorrow. The team is getting psyched for our shot at this beautiful mountain!
RMI Guide Taylor Bickford
We made it to
high camp today under sunny skies and light winds. It was one of the nicest days of our climb so far. As usual with this crew, we set up camp quickly and efficiently. “Chillin by two” could be our team slogan. Lots of sun up here gave us ample time to dry out any items that may have been a bit damp. Not much else to report, we’re just doing all our last minute prep for our summit attempt tomorrow. Hopefully our next check-in will be from the top.
RMI Guides JM Gorum, Hannah Smith, and Avery Parrinello
On The Map
The team didn’t seem particularly tired today, considering that they’d been within 1,200 feet of the summit yesterday. We had sunny skies and not much wind upon waking at high camp and so we were able to get going at 8:30 AM. We traveled with our big parkas in the packs for much of the day, just putting them on and off at rest breaks. That changed as we got near the final summit ridge. Things got a bit more serious with a ten mph wind that let us know just how cold the air was. We put on parkas, expedition mitts, goggles and face covers in a hurry. Just then it seemed we’d be in a battle to get to the top, but as soon as we did a few of the steeper snow ramps to get on the ridge proper, we got above the wind. It was a calm and even comfortable walk along the
top of Antarctica. We got to the true summit at 3:30 PM and stayed for 45 minutes because it was so nice. We could see for hundreds of miles. We shook hands and congratulated one another... and in particular we slapped Dale on the back for completing his seventh continental summit. We took pics and made calls and then started walking carefully downward, mostly in dead calm and easy conditions. We were back in camp at 7 PM. Ironically, there was wind in camp so we served dinner in the sleeping tents. We’ll get down to basecamp tomorrow assuming that the weather holds.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Just after breakfast we hauled our duffel bags down to the hotel lobby. ALE -our logistics company- weighed each bag and carted them away for packing on the Ilyushin 76 aircraft. Thus freed from the temptation to fiddle with our gear, the team went for a walk along the shore. We visited a few old square rigged ships beached and broken along the shore and looked for whales and/or dolphins out in the wind blown waves.
In the evening, we attended ALE’s briefing/cocktail party to meet the other folks on our flight. There are people going to see the Emperor Penguins at the edge of the continent, some who are bound for the South Pole, in the middle of everything, and a handful of teams joining us on
Vinson. Olivia, our contact at ALE, let us know that there was a chance we’d fly out just a few hours following the meeting, so we headed to dinner and crossed our fingers. Things didn’t come together for a fight this evening though, so we relaxed and lingered over our dinner table, telling mountain stories.
We’re optimistic that the morning will be a different story and that we’ll soon be flying south.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The
Four Day Summit Climb lead by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Christina Dale reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 6:30am today! The team has started their descent and are en-route to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's team!
It has been cloudy all day but that made for a very comfortable hike up to the Shira Plateau, 12,200', and our
second camp on Kilimanjaro. The hike out of camp was steep for a couple of hours with a beautiful traverse to top out the day. En route to camp we encountered a short section of rock scramble which had everyone paying attention and will get us ready for our climb up the Barranco Wall in a couple days. Here at over 12,000', we were greeted with a camp fully set up and a hot lunch. We are hopeful the skies will clear and we will be able to enjoy the sunset and get a peak at the upper mountain from tonight's camp. The team is in good shape snacking, exploring and resting and hoping for clear skies tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
On The Map
July 15, 2017
Hello all,
The
Alpamayo team met this morning in Lima and caught up over breakfast and lots of coffee. Afterwards we loaded our shuttle and began the long drive to Huaraz. As we fought through Lima traffic and broke away to the open roads heading north along the coast the jet lag caught up and we started napping. Soon we turned East and started up the winding roads to the high country. We managed to catch Robby, Steve and the Peru Seminar in a small town for a delicious roadside lunch. Back on the road we hit the switchbacks taking us high. Before too long we got our first glimpse of the Cordillera Blanca and stoped for photos before making our way into Huaraz.
Once we settled into our accommodations we met with William, our Peruvian guide, and wandered into town for dinner.
We are all feeling great and excited for our day hike tomorrow. Stay tuned for more up dates. Thanks for following along
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens and the Team
May 20, 2017
The 11,000' Camp Diner opened for business late this morning, though still before the sun warmed its patrons' bones. The menu had one question: with or without. Bagels and cream cheese with or without bacon. It turned into a beautiful day, and we got some National Geographic worthy photos of
Mt. Foraker and the Kahiltna stretching out below us. Lots of naps, reading, movies, and some time catching up with our good friends and RMI Guides Robby and Lucas from Mike W's team rounded out the day. Tomorrow, back to the grindstone, as we move up to 14,000' and dig in. Everyone is looking forward to the good living of 14 Camp.
Until tomorrow,
RMI Guides Pete, Jess, Jenny and team
On The Map
Ahhh, what a lovely day to take a rest. The team took our first rest day today at
Aconcagua Base Camp, Plaza Argentina. We slept in, enjoyed a hearty breakfast and then went about leisurely preparing for our carry to camp one tomorrow.
We took a midday walk up a small valley outside of Base Camp to stretch or legs and breathe a bit more actively. As we walked along the valley's crumbling walls, in which every shade of red to brown seemed to be represented, the geology of the Andes became the theme of our walk. On the way back, nearly each person's curiosity was sparked by stones in the creek bed from one of the many rock layers above.
We spent the rest of the afternoon planning and packing the things that we will cache at Camp One tomorrow. Our tasks were completed before another amazing three course dinner from Grajales' Base Camp staff. It seems no one's appetite is suffering due to altitude!
Everyone is doing well and we are ready to work hard in the morning. Wish us calm winds and easy breathing!
I'm sure we miss you too...
RMI Guides Steve Gately & Hannah McGowan
On The Map
Hey-
We are checking in from
High Camp on Ixtaccihuatl. We had pretty good conditions coming up and getting our big loads up to camp. We have been here about four hours acclimatizing at 12,000'. As we pulled in, the weather came in we had a little bit of a lightning event that went over. It wasn't a big deal as we already had camp set up. Then the sun broke through for a little while and we were able to get in a little training to get us ready for tonight.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
On The Map
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I ditto that from Sean. Glad to hear you are doing well. Got home yesterday, and am “hobbling” along. Love Mom
Posted by: Mary Accettura on 1/20/2019 at 6:11 pm
Proud of you brother! Can’t wait to hear all about your experiences and climbs over a nice cool hops and barley beverage.
Posted by: Sean Condon on 1/19/2019 at 2:56 pm
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