Monday June 25, 2018 - 2:11 PM PT
We woke at midnight for a 1:35 AM start down from 11K camp. What originally looked like a cloudy day in whiteout navigation mode turned into a beautiful clear morning with alpine glow on Mt Foraker’s Sultanna Ridge. We took some breaks, dug up a cache, and finally walked up ‘heart break hill’ to finish the self propelled portion of our expedition. We waited for 3 hours plus for the weather to clear between the Alaska Range and Talkeetna. Finally, K2 Aviation swooped in with the stunning Turbo Otter ski planes to whisk us back to a rainy Talkeetna. Food, beverages, showers, and sleep are in order... for some of us, in that exact order. Thanks for following along and what a great team to climb Denali with!
RMI Guide Mike King
Today was just right for moving. We were up and getting ready shortly after the ten thirty sun hit the tents. Launch time was 12:50 PM and with perfect conditions, we made steady and excellent progress. Certainly the 2,000 vertical feet of the fixed lines were still difficult with heavy packs, but we had the benefit of being on familiar ground. We cruised into High Camp at 6 PM, still feeling strong, but also noticing just how much colder it is up around 12,300 ft. We dressed up and built camp, got stoves going and sat down out in the sunshine for dinner. The views from here are other-worldly, with ice stretching beyond the visible horizon in any direction and mountains rising to ridiculously sharp summits all around. The teams we waited with at Union Glacier all hit the summit today and we greeted them each with a “congratulations” and a fist bump when they rolled into camp on their return.
Perhaps we’ll get as lucky tomorrow. We will be ready.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
How cool is this that I get to write you a little note. I have been thinking about you and what an amazing experience you must be having. I’m looking forward to hearing about it when you get home. Be Safe!!! I’ll tell mom about this web sight. We love you!!! Joke: What do you call a cold ghost?
A: casp-burr!
Stay Warm!!!
Posted by: Allison Gibbons on 12/10/2017 at 9:08 pm
Steve,
We are praying for you and your team. We hope that today will be the day. Be safe and enjoy this special time. We will be anxious to see you upon your return.
Best to you. Jack and Camille
Posted by: Jack and Camille on 12/10/2017 at 5:32 am
Hello all,
Thankfully everyone easily survived our celebration dinner and made it home at a decent hour. Today was a rest day for us in Cheget and most of us took it easy. We mostly relaxed, packed up gear, and did a little exploring around the valley. We also went out to a nearby restaurant that has a trout pond where we watched locals fish and enjoyed a nice lunch.
Tomorrow is our travel day from the mountain to St. Petersburg, so we are off to bed as we have a very early departure.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Hey, this is Eric Frank calling from high up on the Northeast Buttress of Mt. Goode here in the North Cascades. We are just getting ready to lay down for the night. It's been raining off and on for about the last two hours, but fortunately we're tucked in on a little ledge about 3,000 feet above the glacier. That puts us maybe 80% of the way up the route. Tomorrow morning, hopefully if it's not raining too hard, we should be able to climb up and over and begin our descent down. We're doing well. Had a nice dinner, and we're just floating around in the cloud up here. Take care. Hope everyone has a good night.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
RMI Guide Eric Frank calls in from Mt. Goode in the North Cascades.
All is good at Artesonraju Base Camp. We rested today to get used to the new altitude, as we saw the many trekkers of the Santa Cruz go by. We're headed to bed now excited for tomorrow!
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos
RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Solveig Waterfall led their Four Day Summit Climb teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Dave reported perfect weather on the summit - clear, calm, and sunny. The teams began their descent to Camp Muir just after 7:30 am. They will continue their descent to Paradise this afternoon.
Congratulations climbers!
Peter….Wow! Congrats to you for such an accomplishment! We are proud of you…hope to toast to you sometime soon.
Posted by: zoppetti - fischbachs on 8/1/2015 at 1:48 pm
Jeff, we are sure the sights make all the training worthwhile. Hayden was sure she saw you on the mountain last night when we viewed it from the Wallmart Parking Lot and Indi recognized your green eyes in the photo.
RMI Guide Elias deAndres Martos and Team reached the summit of Mt. Shuksan via the Fisher Chimney route early this morning. The team started their ascent from Lake Ann, scrambled to the base of the Chimneys and worked their way up the 3rd and 4th class rock, reaching the Sulphide Glacier moving up the steep snow, ice, and rock to reach the Summit Pyramid. The team is on their descent and will spend the night at Lake Ann this evening trekking out in the morning.
Congratulations Team!
It was a perfect day for climbing, right from the start at Shira Camp. Not too cold and not too hot, and not much to worry about from clouds and squalls. We set out walking directly toward Kibo, Kilimanjaro’s central peak, at 8 AM. The terrain was a good deal less steep and the trail less confining than what we’d encountered yesterday. We worked up through high desert vegetation on a gently sloping plateau of lava boulders. Within a few hours, we’d busted all-time altitude records for Darcy, Lory Beth, Kathy, Jon, Jensen, Kevin, Melanie, Logan, Phillip and Emily. By noon we hit our high point for the day, the Lava Tower at 15,200 ft, and the weather stayed fine as we picnicked and watched the white necked ravens performing elaborate aerobatic maneuvers in the thin air. At this point, we’d reached the base of Kibo and the cliffs and ice fields towered 4000 vertical feet over us. As we headed down into the valleys below Kibo’s southern flanks, the afternoon clouds formed up but didn’t bother us much. We dropped back down into gardens of giant senecios and lobelias as we closed in on Barranco Camp at 13,000 ft. By 2:30 we were moving into a perfectly built camp and getting ready for afternoon tea and popcorn in the dining tent. We rested away the afternoon and came out before dinner to watch the light change and to gaze up at tomorrow’s challenge -The Great Barranco Wall. Damp and dense clouds then washed in and out over camp for the next few hours like waves at the beach.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Good evening from Alpamayo Base Camp. We had a good rest day, where we ate, slept and socialized, all while getting excited for tomorrow's move to Camp 1. We're also excited to see many teams come down, and know it's not going to be too crowded up high... Fingers crossed!
Stay tuned for updates on our progress up high.
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos and team.
Hi Kimmer!! Your trip sounds fabulous so far and your guide Elias needs to become a novelist with his colorful blog descriptions!! We will be following your every move as you continue on your journey
Xoxoxo Sophia, Lora, Michael & Lucky
Posted by: Lucky Superstar on 6/29/2018 at 1:54 am
Hi Erik. We’ve been following your team’s progress and it looks good. Looks like you are all eating well. We hope you all make great progress to Camp 1 tomorrow.
Posted by: Tim and Carol Smith on 6/28/2018 at 10:09 pm
Sunday, June 24, 2018 - 9:13 PM PT
Good evening from Huaraz!
It never gets old... our standard acclimatization hike (in picture here) to Churup Lake at 4,400m is a half day endeavor for virtually every Alpamayo Expedition in the last five years. A couple thousand feet of elevation gain to an incredible glacial lake below a radical looking peak baring the same name, provided for us the perfect exercise on after all the travels.
A speedy descent brought us to our private van, and we were shuttled to Peruvian delicacies in downtown, before retreating back to the hotel to pack for tomorrow's hike in to the Santa Cruz Valley and start our approach to Alpamayo Base Camp.
The real adventure is about to start! Everyone is excited and motivated. Next post will be from the woods... stay tuned!!!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos and team
Hi Steve,
How cool is this that I get to write you a little note. I have been thinking about you and what an amazing experience you must be having. I’m looking forward to hearing about it when you get home. Be Safe!!! I’ll tell mom about this web sight. We love you!!! Joke: What do you call a cold ghost?
A: casp-burr!
Stay Warm!!!
Posted by: Allison Gibbons on 12/10/2017 at 9:08 pm
Steve,
We are praying for you and your team. We hope that today will be the day. Be safe and enjoy this special time. We will be anxious to see you upon your return.
Best to you. Jack and Camille
Posted by: Jack and Camille on 12/10/2017 at 5:32 am
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