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The Four Day Climb August 3 - 6 was unable to make a summit attempt due to continued rain throughout the night. RMI Guide Nikki Champion reported that rain began at Camp Muir around 10 pm and continued throughout the night. Light rain continued to fall this morning. The teams are planning to leave Camp Muir around 9:30 am heading downhill to Paradise.
We expect them to return to Rainier BaseCamp in the early afternoon.
We made it to
Ama Dablam Base Camp!
Right on time for lunch, the team pulled into the little hut (we're avoiding tents at the base of the mountain) and we have been just resting, hydrating and eating.
We're motivated as acclimatization seems to be doing its job, and we're expectant to see what the weather brings in. In the mean time, tomorrow we'll be on schedule resting and practicing our ascending techniques here at Base Camp, and allowing our bodies to "do their thing in getting themselves ready"
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos
Five days ago we tried getting up through the Khumbu Icefall but instead dropped down to Basecamp again to wait a day. We weren't firing on all cylinders and it was clear that the jet stream was. The wind made a cardboard tearing sound as it scraped across the high peaks.
Four days ago we got up without a great deal of difficulty, reaching Camp I in about five hours from basecamp. The climbers we talked to told stories of big winds at Camps I and II doing all sorts of tent damage and rubbing a bunch of nerves raw. We hoped we'd missed the big wind event as we crawled into our tents for afternoon naps... but we could still hear it howling above and as the hours went by it got a little noisier right down in our own neighborhood. Spirits were high though as the four of us piled into one tent for dinner and climbing stories. That first night was not a good one for relaxing, as it turned out. We guessed that the tents were getting rocked by gusts in the 50 to 70 mph range throughout the night. Linden and I instinctively put our feet up against the tent walls to brace for the bigger blasts and we hoped that the extra careful anchoring job we'd done was working for Bill and Sara in their tent two feet away. The wind quit on us at four AM precisely and the alarm clock rang at five.
That first full day in the Western Cwm was meant to be mostly a rest day with an easy morning hike partway up the valley. That didn't seem restful at five, but Linden and I lit the stoves anyway and started melting ice, figuring a little coffee couldn't hurt the mood. We took our time and ate and drank for hours while gearing up and waiting for the sun to get a little closer to the valley floor. The sun has to work pretty hard at that in the Cwm as the walls rise to 25,000 ft ( not counting Everest and Lhotse) but by eight AM when we started walking in down coats, there was a hint of warmth in all the brightness. We strolled in our crampons up under the ridiculously steep Nuptse Wall and then crossed a series of easy crevasse bridges. We came to a crazy and crooked collection of six or seven ladders tied together, spanning a deep crevasse. There was a perfectly good detour trail which would avoid the high wire acrobatics at the cost of about twenty minutes and we happily went detouring. A bit farther up the valley and we came to the last crevasse... Our goal for the day. We took a short rest at this halfway point to Camp II and then reversed course, heading back for much-needed naps at Camp I.
That second night was blissfully quiet and calm and so when the alarm rang at five, once again, we were a bit more ready for action. We set out walking in the shadows at seven AM bound for Advanced Base Camp. Eventually, when we'd passed all the crevasses again, it got hot as the sun got bouncing off a billion tons of ice and snow, but we took a few rest breaks and kept on trudging to CII. When we reached the rocky moraine the angle steepened and things got tough, but my team was tough too. We strolled into the construction site where Lam Babu and Uberaz (our ABC cook) were working hard at the beginnings of a fine camp. It seemed a good occasion for myself, Linden and Sara to sing happy birthday to Bill and to shake his hand. We sat drinking tea for a few minutes and gazing up at the Lhotse Face. It was icy and intimidating, but the good news was that we could see great progress being made by the "fixing team" assigned to string rope and fashion anchors on the face. This was a team made up of strong Sherpas from a number of expeditions. Our team's contribution toward the effort, apart from money, had been Cherring, Kaji and Dawa carrying a few big loads of rope up from base to ABC.
At midday we began walking down valley again, keeping an eye out for a ladder-crossing black dog whose tracks we'd seen all day long. Early in the day, I'd spied him trotting through Camp I wagging his tail after completing the Icefall, but we didn't see anything but tracks up at ABC. We did meet plenty of friends out on the trail as we headed down for our Camp I with our mission for Rotation I largely accomplished. Our final night in the Cwm was quiet and a little snowy. It still was snowing lightly as we packed up in the morning and got set for a careful trip down through the Icefall. Down to comfy chairs and showers and the basecamp good life.
Mark Tucker was elated to see us again... In fact we all felt a little guilty leaving him alone with the kitchen staff for four days... But he seemed to have muddled through.
Best,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The mountain time is coming to a close. We managed to get everything stuffed into, tied to the side, or strapped under our packs and split freedom the moraine camp this morning. Loads were heavy, but we were moving with gravity, and we made it to base camp nice and quickly. It's only been a week up high, but after a week if rocks and glacier, the green of plants down low looks like it was done in technicolor. Base camp comes with perks: pizzas, caucasian pies, and cold fantas, cokes, and beers. We took the afternoon to sort gear back into duffels to be better set up for our coming flights, soak feet in the mineral springs, and enjoy a last bit of the mountain. The vans will be here in the morning for us and before we know it, we'll be back in town.
The trip is not over though. Still to come, adventures in Kislovodsk and St. Petersburg.
RMI Guides Pete, Mike, and team we're psyched to be done with boots
Hello from the
Carstensz Pyramid team,
What a way to start an expedition. Mountain climbers surf Bali!
Fresh red snapper for lunch and solid 3 foot swell for dessert.
I love my job!
We head to the airport at midnight tonight for a 2 am flight to the town of Timika on the Island of New Guinea.
The whole team and all bags are here and ready.
Everyone is looking forward to the rest of this adventure.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
On The Map
Now it gets interesting in Everest-ville. Chherring, Dawa Jamba and Kaji made a significant contribution to our team's potential success today. They got up around 2 AM, put on big packs at ABC and climbed all the way to the South Col, establishing what will be our High Camp at 26,000 feet. All three were safely back down the Lhotse Face and into ABC by noon. They'll hope to repeat that extremely big morning of work in the next few days... boosting enough tents, fuel, oxygen and miscellaneous heavy stuff up to the Col so that the door will be open for our summit bid.
Just when that summit bid will take place is uncertain at this point. To be sure, when Linden, Sara and myself came down from ABC yesterday we were bucking the local trend. There were dozens of our friends, fellow guides and Sherpas pushing up the lower mountain with summit stars in their eyes already. This season is turning out to be different from those in recent memory in that the weather window is open early and people are taking advantage. This has long been a hope for those of us who habitually attempt Everest..."If only the weather could be good enough, early enough so that everybody wasn't going for the summit on the same four crowded days in late May" Climbers are getting to the top now... we heard that Apa Sherpa got his record 21st summit of the mountain today... British climber Kenton Cool is already back home after a head-spinning and nearly unheard of three-week round-trip to the summit (we are on our seventh or eighth week). In the next couple of days it should get quite busy at the top of the world as the bulk of the assembled expeditions look to get it all done while the jet-stream seems to be otherwise occupied.
If it seems like I'm jealous then perhaps I am... but only mildly. A good shot at the top for others is not necessarily a good shot for us. Having just come down the mountain from our last round of acclimatization yesterday, I'm satisfied enough with our exertions and not yet restless and bored enough to be jealous of anyone else's. Although the three of us are each feeling strong and healthy now, we need a good chunk of rest and we cling to the belief that a viable weather window later in the month will be warmer and quieter than a viable weather window in the middle of the month... we want every single advantage.
That is why we were trying to get up to sleep at Camp 3 a few days ago. Without question it would have been a big plus for our small team to have the experience and confidence that results from an admittedly dreadful night in a tent at 24,000 ft. But it was clear to each of us that Sara was getting worn out in the most-recent effort to reach that camp... who knows why? Perhaps the last rest period in Base Camp wasn't long enough... perhaps the windy-night at Camp 1 deprived her of the sleep she needed... perhaps the hot sun in the Western Cwm or the cold morning at ABC drained her reserves... perhaps, perhaps, perhaps... it doesn't really matter. It is a huge disadvantage that younger climbers suffer from -that they don't always know their bodies well enough to know just why and when they'll be tired instead of burly. But in any case, Sara was getting worked by the climb to Camp 3... she knew it, I knew it, and Linden knew it. We all were completely clear that despite this, she could make it up to the camp under her own power and spend the night if necessary. But the day's goal no longer seemed to be a smart one of it meant getting our most important climber exhausted on the doorstep to the "death zone". It became crystal clear that we needed to focus on a bigger picture than a counter-productive practice night at Camp 3... we needed to get down, to get in a good rest and to get focused on a summit bid that fit our needs.
And so here we are... listening to other teams high up on the hill, cheering on our own Sherpa team of heroes, eating everything in sight, beginning to talk just a bit of things we might do in June, keeping Tuck occupied with horseshoes, card games and dice, enduring daily snow showers, making one another laugh and trying to stay focused on a big picture that involves going to 29,035 ft soon... and coming down safely.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Today we broke down camp, said goodbye to the lovely Basecamp staff and began our climb to Camp 1 for the final time. The climb was easy as the trail was familiar and the weather was sunshine and light winds. Once we arrived we made quick work of setting up camp and fortifying our tent anchors with rocks due to the strong nightly winds we knew would be coming. After a delicious meal of mountain Pad Thai everyone went back to their tents to try to get some sleep at 16,000 feet. Tomorrow we move to Camp 2!
RMI Guide Walter Hailes
Good evening from Huaraz. The team is spending a couple rest days in town after our acclimatization phase on Yannapacha and Chopicalqui. This phase was, on its own, a legit climbing objective with high and technical peaks where our team stepped it up and proved to be a very fit, mentally tough and a determined one. We sure are now acclimatized and ready for the highest peak on Earth located in between the tropics,
Huascaran. Follow along for the second half of our expedition starting tomorrow.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
We made the big move up from Low Camp to
High Camp today. The team climbed well and strong... getting the job done in a little over five hours. But it wasn't easy, by any means. A cold wind hit us just above the top of the fixed ropes and then harassed us all the way into camp. That made for some cold campers, initially, but we got a few tents and a kitchen built and life got better, the way it always does when such things are around. The teams that we flew onto the mountain with managed to summit today -the storm hit some of them on their way back into camp but they coped well, for all we could tell. Of course our hope is that wind and clouds will flee in time for us to enjoy a Christmas summit of Mount Vinson, but we shall see. If we have to give the storm a day or two to pass through, we can do that as well. A Christmas spent napping in a warm sleeping bag alongside friends is not a terrible thing. We just hope Santa will find his way into the chimney on these tents without too much difficulty.
Merry Christmas from the Ellsworth Mountains, Sentinel Range, 12,600 ft up on the Vinson Massif, deep in the heart of Antarctica.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Well, we have finally made it to Penitentes and finished packing up all of our junk that we'll need on the mountain for the next few weeks. The loads are readied for the mules to shuttle into basecamp for us and we are all very excited about hitting the trail tomorrow!
After a quick breakfast this morning at our hotel we headed out in Mendoza to pay for and secure the paperwork for our climbing permits. What sounds like an easy task is actually not so simple when you have to run all over town to complete each stage of the permitting process in a different building across town. Luckily for us everything went off without a hitch and after running a few more errands the team was checked out of the hotel and headed out to Penitentes where we have been staging for the rest of this afternoon/evening. Tomorrow we´ll leave the loads for the herrieros (muleteers) and catch a shuttle out to Punta de Vacas which is our trail head at the mouth of the Vacas Valley. The weather thus far has been quite comfortable so we´re hoping that it can hold for a few more days affording us a nice walk in to
Aconcagua Basecamp.
That´s all for now, we´ll check in via satellite phone tomorrow evening from our first camp along the approach.
RMI Guides
Billy Nugent,
Leon Davis, and the rest of the crew.
Being a first-timer, although the trip turned out to be incomplete, took away a couple of things from the experience:
1. Now I know that it is doable and will come back to get to the summit next year
2. The basic training and know-how will be helpful for future activities (thanks to all the guides)
Personally, I thought, although summitting was out of the question due to bad weather, going up to Ingrahm flat was possible in the morning and would have given us some experience regarding rope travel. Not sure, if something else other than the weather was under consideration for this decision not to go to Ingrahm flat
Finally, I plan to come back next year. Would it be possible to get some sort of concession that time due to the fact that we could not do the second part at all this time around?
Thanks
—manoj
Posted by: Manoj Devasarma on 8/9/2023 at 4:24 pm
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