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June 14, 2016 - 2:13 am PT
What a gorgeous day to be resting on
Denali! We didn't get out of the tent until the sun warmed our little cocoons. Pancakes fueled us for a walk to the infamous Edge of the World where we enjoyed unobstructed views of this magnificent mountain and the range that hosts us. Warm and windless was our vantage point and looking from the South Buttress to our first camp around to our current home in Genet Basin contributed to our ever evolving sense of scale. The team answered (or tried to) Denali trivia for a turn to look over the Edge down to the Northeast Fork and make a memory. Back to camp for the afternoon for more rest and an eventual sunset with a just over half full moon taking the trip from
Denali over Hunter on its way to Foraker, breaking trail for tomorrow's ascent by the Sun. Wind up high may keep us here for an extra day or two, but somehow I think we'll be just fine.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Well, we made it to Base Camp yesterday! The team is moving well and feeling good despite our first abrupt change in elevation since the drive from Mendoza to Penitentes. We are now sitting pretty and all moved in at Plaza Argentina at an elevation of right around 4,200 m or about 13,800'. Anita and Griselda, head honchos here with Grajales, prepared us an over the top welcome dinner complete with soup, veggies, a slab of beef, and tiramisu for dessert! Despite the extravagance of the meal the living still isn't super easy up here and we knew were we are all in for a little bit of discomfort trying to sleep up here on our first night.
Today is another sunny and glorious day up here at
Plaza Argentina. The gang actually fared quite well through the night and enjoyed a casual wake up this morning. We all hung out and drank real coffee along with enjoying stuffed breakfast burritos complete with prosciutto and grilled veggies thanks to Katrina's solid work in the kitchen. We'll probably burn the rest of the day today preparing both our group and personal loads for tomorrow's carry up to Camp 1. Everyone's hanging out grooving on the Andes and looking forward to tomorrow's foray higher. That and wondering how the Seahawks are gonna do against Carolina.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Buenas dias from Ecuador.
Adam Knoff here, lead guide for 2016's first
RMI Ecuadorian Skills Seminar. As mentioned in the program name, learning new skills is the name of the game down here. The first skill encountered was getting to a foreign country, finding the taxi stand among the bustling group of tour operators in Quito's new airport then getting to the Hotel and finding a way to sleep for a few hours before awakening to meet a bunch of strangers. I am happy to announce everyone passed! We are only missing 3 bags out of twenty so that ratio could be much worse but all humans are accounted for.
This being our first day together as a team, we started with lots of coffee at the Hotel's nice in house restaurant while doing individual introductions and chatting about what is to come. After breakfast we all gathered in a cute mini bus to take a tour of some historical sites in and around Quito.
Our tour began with a visit to the actual equator. Here we saw physical evidence of why, when we flush the toilet, water spins counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the south. We learned about the bizarre gravitational effects on our bodies if you stand directly on the line and three out of eleven actually will be coming home with certificates proving they can use the force better than the rest of us and literally balance an egg on a nail.
After the Mitad Del Mundo, or middle of the world, we drove south into the heart of old town Quito where we gained beautiful vistas of this enormous city, visited an amazing old Cathedral, walked right to the front gate of their "White House" and strolled through Independence Square.
By three in the afternoon we were all feeling the effects of long travel days so we headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest. Throughout the tour the weather was perfect, 70 degrees, partly cloudy and a small breeze. Just what I ordered when I put in my request with the big man before the trip. I must have gotten greedy though because 30 minutes after getting back to the hotel, an absolute down pour fell from the sky with lightning so close the booms were setting off car alarms all around the hotel. Let's hope that got out of the system.
Now it is calm and nice again as evening sets in so we should have a pleasant and dry walk to dinner.
We will write again tomorrow about our first upward outing which could result in a summit over 15,000 feet.
Stay tuned.
RMI Guides Adam Knoff & Nick Hunt
Greetings from BC; the international
RMI Alpamayo Team (a German, a Brazilian, 2 Americans, a Peruvian, and the one who writes, the Spaniard) has arrived to what will be our center of operations from now on. Tents are already up and we're currently enjoying a cup of tea while contemplating wonders of geology, such as Artesonraju, Quitaraju, and of course, Alpamayo. Everyone is doing really well, and hiked to this camp quicker than this guide remembers. We'll continue to enjoy today, before a very likely carry to Moraine Camp tomorrow. Stay tuned for more!
RMI Guide
Elías deAndres Martos and Team.
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
We have been going up and up this mountain for the last three weeks and now we get to make our way down. We left
High Camp this morning with our eyes set on Base Camp. A place where there are chairs and tables, wifi, showers, and delicious food...all the incentive you need to keep your tired feet moving. After dropping nearly 6,000' in elevation, the air feels thicker. The team did a great job getting down and deserved some celebratory drinks. It definitely feels good to be down. As for tomorrow, we continue our downward trend to our very first camp on day one, Lenas where we will fill our bellies with a traditional carne asada feast. Our bellies are already growling.
Adios,
RMI Guides Hannah Smith, Avery Parrinello and team
The Mt. Baker North Ridge team led by RMI Guide Mike Walter just checked in from the summit of Mt Baker!. This team of experienced climbers ascended Mt. Baker via the challenging North Ridge route. Mike reported that the team is doing well, and will be starting their descent after enjoying the views from the summit.
Congratulations Team!
The Five Day Summit Climb Team led by RMI Guide Jess Matthews reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at about 6:30 AM PST today. The Five Day team spends and extra day on the mountain using this day for rest and acclimatization. Today the woke early, retraced their steps from yesterday up to Ingraham Flats and climbed beyond to reach Columbia Crest. The team is on the descent en route back to Camp Muir. They will return to Paradise this afternoon.
Congratulations Team!
We awoke this morning from the heat in our tents, the sun was shining and the winds had died. Eager to move higher, we packed up our home for the past three nights at
Camp 1. With heavy packs we set off confidently, knowing we had already covered the ground between camps two days ago. After four hours of steady rest steps we reached Camp 2. We dug out the cache and set up camp with the efficiency of an experienced team. We moved into our tents just in time to hide out from a sudden snow storm. Our whole team can proudly report feeling healthy at this new elevation.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
On The Map
Our acclimatization climb to
Ingraham Flats went well today with beautiful weather. What a view of the mountain. Our guide training team went to the summit and prepped the route for us, so we should be in good shape for our climb tonight.
Let's hope the wind and weather hold for us. I think it will.
RMI Guide Brent Okita
July 2, 2016 - 11:13 pm PT
It wasn't really supposed to be a perfect day. It was still snowy and socked in yesterday evening, the forecast called for the same thing it always calls for -more snow- but when we poked heads out of tents this morning for a 7 AM check.., it was perfect. No clouds above and no sign of wind on the crest of the
West Buttress. It was about as cold as we've been though, getting up and fed and ready in the shadows. The sun doesn't hit 14 camp until 9:20... Which is when we started climbing today. Things were slightly tougher because we did a fair amount of breaking trail uphill through new snow, but there were a couple of other climbers out who seemed determined to stay ahead of us -so that helped. We took two breaks before the start of the steep "fixed rope" section of the climb. Most had been looking up for a few days and wondering how we'd get up something that appeared to be so difficult from afar. It still looked hard from close up, but we did it anyway -step by step. We topped out at the magical little notch in the ridge at 16,200ft to find magnificent views and a steady zero miles per hour in the wind department. It was tough climbing, most said... but they said it while grinning from ear to ear. Five of our twelve climbers broke altitude records today. We dug a raven-proof hole in the snow and cached supplies. Then it was back down the ropes, saying hello to several groups still on their way up to sleep at high camp (17,200ft). It was hot and still on our way down, but our packs were light and the distances were small. Clouds had formed up and we were enveloped by them before we reached 14 camp at 4:15PM. Sure enough, it started snowing lightly as we climbed in the tents for a rest. A few hours later, it was still snowing but we were sheltered in our dining tent, eating dinner and talking about another great day in the mountains.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
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Jason,
Absolutely breathtaking! We check on your progress everyday & read the update aloud as a family. We are living vicariously through you. Happy adventures!
~Knutsons
Posted by: Knutsons on 6/14/2016 at 9:09 pm
So exciting to watch your progress!!! We are looking at Denali from Anchorage today. I see a few thumbs up and smiles. Go Jason and team!!!
Posted by: The Hoppes on 6/14/2016 at 3:13 pm
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