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Sunday, July 8, 2018 - 3:32 AM PT
The team woke... slowly, at 11,000 this morning. Everybody remarked on the value of low altitude slumber. We ate and determined to get lower in honor of the former “tropical storm” headed our way. By this morning, we were the only team left on Denali. While it wouldn’t be quite “normal” to take on the lower
Kahiltna Glacier in July during the afternoon, we decided that a try was in order. The inbound storm was a definite- and it was clear it would be snowing hard for days on end... incompatible with both climbing and flying. So we pulled down Camp at 11,000' by 11:45 AM and got moving with heavy packs and sleds. Conditions were just plain easy to the base of Ski Hill at 7,800'. And then -although we crossed a few spooky snow bridges, things were phenomenally well put together for July 7. We made fine progress to the base of Heartbreak Hill. And although our last 1.5 hours was uphill, it was free of dicey bridges and nervy crevasses. Base Camp was gone at this late date... we passed on to the traditional late season upper strip 20 minutes farther along, reaching it at 7:30 PM. K2 Aviation already had planes in the air for us as they were anxious to beat the storm for our extraction. As we crossed the range, we saw the weather moving in while our ski otters dodged cloud after cloud. We landed in Talkeetna at 9:15 PM and raced to dinner in our mountain clothing, trying to beat closing times in the conventional world. In town, we caught up with all of the neighboring teams from the past three weeks and shared escape stories. We’re all full of amazement and admiration for the mountain that we didn’t climb, but also great satisfaction for the climb that we did have together.
Thanks for keeping track of us... until the next climb.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Thursday, June 21, 2018 - 10:16 PM PT
After the Hurricane Horiskey beatdown and yesterday’s big move we decided today was a great day to rest and let our bodies begin to acclimatize to the higher altitudes. So we slept until the sun hit our tents and then we enjoyed a hardy meal of breakfast quesos and talked strategy for our cache day tomorrow. Post breakfast we enjoyed an afternoon snooze (have to let the breakfast settle) and then did some organizational prep before rollin on into dinner and a celebration of Josh’s 48 birthday! He had a smile bigger than the solstice sun when we sung him Happy Birthday and presented him with a cheesecake and mini cake complete with a candle. After filling our bellies we dispersed to our tents and are enjoying the rest of solstice snuggled up waiting for our cache day tomorrow.
All is well here with our Super Crew!
Happy solstice everyone!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
On The Map
The
Four Day Summit Climb May 30 - 2 June, 2018 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning.
RMI Guide Steve Gately reported consistent 20 mph winds and cloudy conditions.
The team will return to Camp Muir and then continue down to Paradise.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!
The Team is all assembled with bags in tow here in Mendoza. We broke the ice with a meeting that was followed by gear check and permit registration. Since we are here to attempt
Aconcagua the team opted for dinner and an early night to get caught up on sleep from the two days travel instead of a night out on the town. Tomorrow we will head to Los Penitentes to pack for mules and the trek into base camp. We have a great group with a varied collection of personalities, experiences and mountains under their belts. Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Mike King
The
Four Day Summit Climb August 14 - 17, 2017 led by
RMI Guides Casey Grom & JM Gorum reached the summit of Mt. Rainier around 6:30 am today. The teams enjoyed a bit of time on the crater before starting their descent. They will return to Camp Muir for a short stop before continuing down to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp later today.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb team!
The
Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz team led by RMI Guide Kel Rossiter climbed to the summit of Mt. Rainier via the Kautz route this morning. The team has spent the week on the mountain training in various alpine climbing techniques. They will continue their training tomorrow before descending to Paradise in the late afternoon.
Congratulations to the Kautz team!
And we made it!
Nevado Ishinca greeted us this morning with more ice and steep terrain than any of the three guides remember. Intricate navigation on its summit pyramid required a good deal of attention to crevasses, moats and leaning seracs, but motivation and performance had us on top at 11am. We passed the only other team on the mountain before summiting, and the descent proved to be another adventure to ourselves; we decided to descend via a different route, completing a full circumnavigation of the mountain... not a piece of cake when the subject is an 18,100' prominence. We're headed to bed as we speak, and a well deserved rest day awaits tomorrow.
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos and Team
-Spanish climbing word of the day; Rimaya (bergschrund)
Monday, May 9, 2016 - 11:35 p.m. PDT
Hello from 11,000' on Denali! Our team had a great day today, as we were able to travel back down glacier to retrieve our cache. Now we're back at 11,000' and after a fulfilling dinner of
quesadillas we are all set to make another carry up around
Windy Corner (13,600') tomorrow, weather permitting.
The weather forecast looks good for the next few days, and we're psyched to take advantage of it. It will be nice to trade in our sleds and snowshoes for ice axes and crampons. The approach is over and the climb is beginning.
RMI Guide Mike Walter and team
On The Map
Sunday, May 8, 2016 - 10:49 p.m. PDT
Hey guys! Not much news to report today. We rose early and had breakfast with the intent of going back down the Kahiltna to retrieve our cache of supplies that we buried two days ago. But, winds and visibility on the Kahiltna, coupled with the fact that we could use a
rest day, made us change our minds. Instead we got some much deserved rest at camp today. All in all it was a good day. Now we are eager and with rested legs to get our cache tomorrow so that we can continue working our way up this mountain.
On another note, Happy Mother's Day! To all mothers, but especially to these great mothers: Jeanne, Lizard, Kelly, Mimi, Judy, Lynn, Kelly, Melanie, Daphne, Michele, Hao, Nancy Kay, Ann Irwin, Maureen, Toni, Nana, Mama, Maria, and Buffy.
Goodnight and we'll check back in again tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike Walter and team
On The Map
Congrats to this team!
It was a fantastic climb of
Kilimanjaro yesterday and everyone did great and it was wonderful to be on top with the whole team.
It took us a little more than seven hours to reach the summit. The sky was full of stars and the weather was nice, although it was a little cold on that last stretch I have to admit.
After spending about 20 minutes on top and getting plenty of summit photos, we made our way quickly back to camp where brunch was waiting and then descended all the way to our last camp. It was a long, but rewarding day for everyone.
This morning we had a quick breakfast and got packed up one last time, then our wonderful staff gathered to bid us farewell and sang a few traditional Kilimanjaro songs.
We are currently relaxing back at our lodge where everyone has enjoyed hot showers and a delicious celebration meal.
It's time for a little sleep before we head out on a much deserved safari!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
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Birthday cake at 11,000 ft - now that is the RMI difference! I’m sure the team is happy to have a little rest but probably ready to be on the move again. Great job, Super Crew.
Posted by: Nancie Summerlin on 6/22/2018 at 10:03 am
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