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Wednesday, June 1, 2022 - 12:52 am PT
Quick dispatch: We are homeward bound. We packed up camp at 17,000' and started down the West Buttress. We got to high five the team led by JT Schmitt as they passed us on their ascent. At 14,000, we regrouped, grabbed everything we had left, and considerably heavier, started towards 11,000' Camp. By 6 we had made it to 11,000'. The air is so much thicker! We dig up our cache from what seems like ages ago, and made a quick meal in team Champion's cook tent. We'll sleep for a few hours, then wake for an early push to the air strip. With any luck we'll be in Talkeetna mid morning tomorrow.
RMI Guide Pete, Leif, Erika, and team
Thursday, May 26, 2022 10:14 pm PT
Our first full day at Camp was a beautiful one! We slept in and then did a back carry to get all of our gear up to our camp here at 14,200'. Then we enjoyed relaxing and enjoying the sun for the rest of the day.
Tomorrow is going to be a much deserved rest day!
Thanks for following.
RMI Guide JT Schmitt and the RMI Team
Another quiet but interesting day at
Basecamp. Everything seems a little different now with the news that climbers made the top yesterday... And indeed, a few more went there today if the radio grapevine is correct. The mountain is not impossible. But we do hope those most recent summit climbers got down fast, since by late afternoon we've experienced a thunderstorm and a few inches of quick new snow. And that roar is back... The one that sounds like Niagara Falls as a ribbon of the jet stream does battle with the parts of these mountains that dare to stand out and in the way.
We are all watching weather and weather forecasts now and there is plenty of interest in the calendar. Many climbers are still down-valley taking a vacation, but they are starting to trickle back by helicopter and by foot with summit dates in mind. Some are packing bags and heading up in the next day or two.
We are biding our time. Waiting out the cough. Hiking and exploring and playing games in camp. We'll have to pick summit departure days soon enough, but for now it just isn't right for our team. We get a little anxious to know that the route is open, but we also know that it wouldn't be a bad thing to let a few hundred other climbers have their way with it first. Things get a little warmer with each passing day in May and we hold out hope that calmer days materialize. And we cross our fingers that cyclone O1B -spinning menacingly down in the Bay of Bengal- fizzles out and finds a place to go that doesn't interfere with climbers... or with humanity in general.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide
Dave Hahn
Another important milestone, easily achieved. We woke at Union Glacier in perfect weather, ate our breakfast and boarded two ski equipped Twin Otter airplanes bound for
Vinson Basecamp. Our flight through the Ellsworth Mountains was memorable as we passed hundreds of sharp and dramatic glaciated peaks. A big right turn brought us into the valley of the Branscomb Glacier at the foot of Mount Vinson. We landed while flying up a hill at a little over 7000 ft elevation. The entire team set to work dragging duffels and building Basecamp. We spent this perfect weather day reviewing roped climbing techniques and getting settled in. An afternoon hike served to stretch legs and jog memories of mountaineering difficulties and pleasures. We ate dinner in our newly built dining tent under the blazing evening sun, forgetting that the air temperature was likely hovering around zero degrees Fahrenheit. We enjoyed seeing the climbers from the previous round on Vinson come into camp pleased with their summit of the mountain just yesterday and relieved to find airplanes waiting to take them away today.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Conditions today can only be described as having been perfect for a summit climb. It is tough to recall that we ate breakfast and geared up in cloud at high camp. But when we roped up and got going at 9:45, it only took us fifteen minutes to climb out of the cloud and into a world of bright snow, brighter sunshine and a big and brilliant blue sky. In our ten and a half hour round trip to the top, we barely noticed anything that could actually be described as a breeze. And so it is possible that the summit temps were the forecasted -38C but we sure didn't notice or mind the cold with the sun's super strong radiation at 16,067 ft above sea level. There did seem to be plenty of cloud down low -we couldn't see basecamp and a few hundred odd peaks were obscured. But a few thousand others were not. TA, Vlado, Mindy and myself all considered that we'd gotten extremely lucky... And so we made good use of the day in tagging
Vinson's summit. We were back for a relatively early and relaxed dinner, and got to enjoy diving into the sleeping bags with plenty of good sun left on the tent walls.
Tomorrow we'll head for basecamp on the Branscomb.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Friday, May 31, 2019 4:36 PM PT
With the forecast still calling for heavy snow we have opted to stay in the confines of our camp here a
14K. The team enjoyed a late morning breakfast and is now napping away the afternoon. Sunday is still looking like our first possible day to fly off the glacier with the weather only improving into Monday and Tuesday. The plan as of now will still be to launch downhill around midday tomorrow and travel all the way to the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna hopefully chasing improving weather down glacier and ultimately a flight out of here early Sunday morning. We'll see what hand we are dealt with tomorrow. The hope here is to avoid having to travel and set up camp in bad weather but rather time it just right that we walk straight into a plane. For the time being however, we rest and wait for our opportunity.
RMI Guide Steve Gately
Our Four Day Summit Climb teams led by Peter Whittaker, Ed Viesturs and Jake Beren reached the top of Mt. Rainier today. Visibility was low and winds were strong, so their time on the top was short. The teams have started their descent and are on their way down to Camp Muir.
Our Kautz Glacier Climb led by Mike Walter sent us a radio call at 1:59pm PST from the summit of Mt. Rainier. The entire team reached the summit via the Kautz route.
Congratulations to today's teams!
After several days and lots of hands-on training, our Emmons seminar team successfully reached the summit of Mt. Rainier yesterday. RMI Guide Avery Parrinello reported beautiful weather for the climb. The team enjoyed several days of great weather during their training days and ascent from camp to camp before their climb yesterday.
The team is currently on their descent from Camp Schurman back to Basecamp in Ashford where they will celebrate their successful summit. Congrats team!
RMI Guides
Mike Walter &
Billy Nugent led their team to the summit of
Mt. Shuksan today. The team enjoyed stellar views and a great climb. They will return to high camp for their final night in the mountains. They will descend to the trail tomorrow.
Congratulations to the team!
RMI Climber Chuck Knauff climbed Mt. Rainier on a
5 Day Summit Climb this August and with RMI Guides
Leon Davis,
Eric Frank, and
Dave Walter. Chuck recently told the story of his climb in the newspaper the Sun Gazette.
AN INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE
City man climbs Mount Rainier
Sun Gazette
October 23, 2011 By Julie Reppert
"It's one of those things that, it bit me and now I'm pretty well hooked on it," Charles "Chuck" Knauff said of his climb to the top of Mount Rainier in Ashford, Wash.
Knauff, 48, a Williamsport resident and project manager for a construction management firm based out of Harrisburg, completed the climb alongside six others in August.
He spent five days at Mount Rainier, training and climbing, with the ascent to the summit and back down to the base camp taking just under four hours.
"When you're standing there looking at it (the mountain), it looks fake," Knauff said. "You never get tired of looking at it."
Two years ago, Knauff came across a documentary on ESPN depicting the mountaineering experiences of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and other NFL dignitaries, who climbed Mount Rainier as a fundraiser to benefit charities. Their challenges sparked his interest in making the climb himself.
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Thank you, thank you for taking us on this trip with you and for your commitment and skill in guiding your team safely. We at home are grateful. Barbara
Posted by: Barbara J Corona on 6/1/2022 at 9:47 am
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