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Posted by: Dave Hahn, Hannah McGowan, Hannah Smith, Avery Parrinello
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,000'
June 21, 2017
It snowed a couple of inches overnight at 9500 ft but skies were clear by morning. A cool breeze kept us in bed for a little while, but we were on the trail by 9:30 and making slow and steady progress toward the head of the Kahiltna Glacier. We could almost see all of its forty-seven mile length stretched out below us as we turned East at Kahiltna Pass. The cool breeze was nowhere to be found as we worked up steeper hills at midday. We made it into 11,000 ft Camp at 1 PM and were happy to see our friends on Mike Haugen's team. They kindly helped to shovel tent sites for us and gave us some "starter water" to make us feel at home. The day had turned out to be stunningly nice... Which is always a good thing on the solstice. We gazed in wonder at the bright clean angular chunks of glacier hanging all around us and at the formidable rock of the NW and West Buttresses. Camp went up smoothly and quickly and we crawled in the tents to beat the heat for a few hours. Evening was a social whirl as guides and climbers from all over the world had reunions and wished each other well as they went in opposite directions. We will take a much deserved rest day tomorrow and look forward to catching up on sleep, reading, and hydration.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Posted by: Mike Walter, Robby Young, Lucas Haaland
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'
Well, we woke early once again with optimism that we would be moving up to our high camp today. As we bundled up and crawled out of the tent, we were greeted by big, nasty lenticular clouds (UFO-looking, disk-like clouds that are indicative of high winds aloft) over the big three peaks in the Alaska Range: Hunter, Foraker, and our objective, Denali.
We continued with our plan and fired up the stoves and made breakfast. Then we returned to our tents to stay warm as we kept an eye on the winds above. In the end, they didn't dissipate and we weren't able to move camp today.
Although we are anxious to move up and have a shot at the summit, the flip side of taking another day at 14k is that we continue to acclimate and get stronger for our eventual summit push. Hopefully we will have that opportunity soon. We'll keep you up to date with our progress.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Hi Mike, David, Thom and Todd, Just have a good rest. Such a thing wouldn’t happen twice. You guys definitely know how to enjoy the time:) I will keep tracking the progress. Good luck! Lei
Posted by: Lei W on 5/19/2017 at 5:47 am
Robby…..Congrats….you’re an uncle again!!!!! Isaac Robert born Thurs 5/18. See you soon.
Posted by: Mom on 5/19/2017 at 4:45 am
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Jess Matthews, Jenny Konway
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 7,300'
May 14, 2017
It took some patience, but we made it onto the glacier! The clouds hung low this morning and took their time lifting. In the meantime the webcam at Kahiltna Base Camp showed bluebird skies and a beautiful day. It's hard to wait patiently to start something that we've been building towards for so long, but it paid off. At 3:00 pm or so we got the green light to fly and we were off. The pilots at K2 Aviation are the best and we had a smooth ride into Base Camp with our noses pressed to the windows ogling the steep spires and knife ridges of the Alaska Range. With the late departure we decided to spend the night at Base Camp and get things sorted for the walk to Ski Hill tomorrow. So we're headed to bed, excited to finally start moving towards our objective tomorrow.
We send our best from the land of the midnight sun,
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Jess Matthews, Jenny Konway, and team
On The Map
This morning was the best we have had in almost a week. No one set an alarm, our ride to the next mountain didn't arrive at the hacienda until ten and there was no set schedule for breakfast which always feels stress free. Rumor has it that the beautiful, old Spanish style hacienda is haunted with the ghost of an old woman who's lover died there over 150 years ago but she must have thought our group smelled too bad leaving us alone. So by the time we left this morning, we felt rested, clean and ready to head off to the highest mountain in Ecuador.
Rising to 20,700+ feet above sea level, this mountain is renowned as both the furthest point from the center of the earth as well as the closest point to the sun. This may be coincidence but it is also considered the hardest peak to climb as well. Our strategy is to break the climb up putting in a High Camp at 17,500 feet which we will be climbing to tomorrow. This makes our summit day much shorter than those climbing from below.
Here on Chimborazo there are two Refugios where climbers can stay. We are at the newly refurbished one sitting close to 15,000 feet. I have been here three times in the past and have never seen snow this low but today our bus barely made it here because of two inches of slush and fifty aimless teenagers trying to hitch hike up because their tour bus got stuck a mile down the the road.
Staying here should help us acclimate and prepare even more for our big climb to come. The sour taste of turning around so close to the summit of Antisana has us eager for another shot at a major peak. We are looking forward to another long night's rest which should feel better than our first night at this altitude on Cayambe. We will report form high camp tomorrow.
Chow Chow for now from Chimborazo.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
11/14 9:50pm EST, thinking about Jimmy and the other team members. Best wishes
Posted by: Tom Garner on 1/14/2017 at 6:51 pm
Kudos to Jim Nixon and the team. Stay safe.
Posted by: Mary Jane stiled on 1/14/2017 at 10:46 am
The stars could not have been brighter last night. It was bit chilly but the hot water bottles helped warm us. The frozen ground of morning gave way as the sun rose.
Our high point today was near the Lava Tower at 14,900 ft which crushed everyone's altitude records. From our high point we descended to Barranco Camp, our camp for the night at 13,030 ft. It might seem counter intuitive to descend when we are trying to climb a mountain but it is actually very helpful for acclimatization.
It's New Year's Eve right now but there's not much party time tonight as we prepare for our next day climbing on Kilimanjaro. I bet we make up for it on safari...
Cheers,
RMI Guide Mark Tucker and team
On The Map
Hey, Tuck - happy new year from me, Bonny, and the kids!
Posted by: Peter Rogers on 12/31/2015 at 7:59 pm
Thinking of you all and this is definitely your most exciting New Year’s.
Love and prayers. Can’t wait to hear all about your amazing experience.
Xoxoxoxoxo
Posted by: Bibi Turner on 12/31/2015 at 11:05 am
See! I told you so! Good news from Aconcagua. Our team member's missing bags are here! We left Mendoza early this afternoon and are now in "The Aspen" of the Mendoza region, named Penitentes.
We had to stop at Estancia de Elias, a great restaurant for their famous empanadas. The team organized our gear while Christina and I packed all the expedition food and gear. We are lucky that we get to have the cowboys help by packing the majority of gear on mules.
However, it's getting late, we are having dinner and one of the team members is eyeing my bacon and cheese stuffed chicken so I need to go before Stephanie takes a bite!
Chau from Argentina,
RMI Guides JJ Justman and Christina von Mertens
A big hooray for the lost luggage fairies! This looks like my idea of climbing, btw. A nice dinner, great company and BACON!
Posted by: Lori Welch Brown on 12/9/2015 at 6:43 am
Everyone looks relaxed and comfortable. Nice way to start. Good luck.
Posted by: Dudley Macfarlane on 12/8/2015 at 4:01 pm
Posted by: Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Jambo!
Today was a great kickoff to safari. We piled our sore bodies into the trucks at 9 am and headed out towards Lake Manyara National Park. We shopped and lunched along the way and at about 1:30 pm we started the game drive. We were treated to lots of monkeys, baboons, elephants, and giraffes amongst other animals. My personal favorite, the African Fish Eagle was out in force as well. We are checked into the Plantation Lodge for the next two nights. It's a real treat to not have to pack a bag in the morning. We are headed to Ngorongoro Crater tomorrow morning so I'll check in again when we get back.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Spectacular!
Hug a baby elephant for me!
love and stay safe..
Posted by: Andrea/Mom on 8/15/2015 at 12:51 pm
Hi Llex and all! What a great second half of your adventure! We’re enjoying the news and wonderful pictures! Love you! Mom and Dad
Posted by: Jan Amos on 8/14/2015 at 4:56 am
We stood on top of Cotopaxi this morning! Our windy adventures in Ecuador continued yesterday and into this morning. Hiking to the climbing hut we battled 30 mph winds, which continued through the evening. When I woke up to check the weather at 11 pm it was windy but clear. I woke the team up at midnight and we had an alpine start breakfast and prepared to climb. By the time we left, clouds were intermittently blowing in and out. During the first hour of our climb a very humid cloud moved in that dampened our outer layers, which then turned to ice. The wind persisted, so did we. Climbing higher, our clothes began to wear a layer of rime ice as we fought with the wind to maintain good posture and climb efficiently. Clouds would come and go (mostly come) throughout our climb, but the wind would not relent. It made the ascent very difficult and also very cold. Our breaks were shorter due to the weather, but the team climbed strong and toughed it out. We reached the summit around 6:45 am, five hours and fifteen minutes after we set out (which, by the way, is a fast pace for Cotopaxi). The summit views were obscured by clouds so we didn't spend much time up top. Did I mention it was windy?
The descent was smooth and now we're all resting at the historic Hosteria La Cienega in Lasso, Ecuador, near the south entrance to Cotopaxi National Park. We'll enjoy a well earned dinner here tonight, and a good night's sleep with a leisurely wake up call before heading back to Quito tomorrow.
The summit of Cotopaxi was a heck of a way to end our two week volcano tour on the Ecuador Seminar. We'll check in again tomorrow from Quito.
Saludos,
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
Was it windy?
Posted by: Tiina on 6/27/2015 at 8:23 pm
RMI Guide Eric Frank reported in from the summit of their first peak: Sahale Mountain. Sahale requires a strenuous glaciated climb up the Quien Sabe Glacier and a 300' scramble up a 4th class rock pyramid. Eric reported that the wind changed direction last night and the wildfire smoke rolled back over them; which made for tough, smoky climbing. However, the team is happy with their first successful summit and ready for more.
Good evening from "infinite skies land"!
It is quite amazing to enjoy the deepness of the night we're having right now. The clouds have moved away and moon lit ridges reign above us, giving us a sense of smallness amongst these Andean fluted snow walls. All of it wouldn't be as overwhelmingly haunting, if it wasn't because of the task we have in store for us. But having carried to our first camp today, and witnessed those very walls get smaller with our progress uphill, makes us feel that the power of the mountains is on our side. And so, we had a great day reaching the 5,000m mark and dropping half of the equipment we'll use to venture even higher, and eventually, to climb to the top.
It's now been four days of activity, and we're ready to go to bed and welcome a well earned rest day at dawn. Although, it is worth mentioning that, we sure could keep going as there is no challenge that can't be fueled by our cook Emilio's food; tonight, meat and carrot soup, followed by breaded chicken breast filled with cheese and ham, accompanied by french fries... Yes, we're here right now climbing Alpamayo!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Sounds like great climbing weather so far! Loved the picture yesterday! love, momma
Posted by: Jane Lubow on 6/28/2018 at 4:13 am
Keep it going Jim! Thanks for the updates!
Posted by: Stephen Walker on 6/23/2017 at 4:28 pm
Awesome job!!! Thank you for the updates. Cheers and enjoy the rest day!!
Posted by: Chris on 6/23/2017 at 7:07 am
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