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The Four Day Summit Climb August 7 - 10 led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Bryan Mazaika reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Casey reported a breeze at the crater and overall good conditions. The teams began their descent from the crater rim around 7:20 AM.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
The August 3 - 6
Four Day Summit Climb reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning around 6 AM PT. After enjoying blue skies and beautiful views they began their descent from the crater rim. They will return to Camp Muir and repack before descending to Paradise this afternoon. They will then return to BaseCamp to celebrate.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb team!
It was a beautiful morning on the northern flanks of Ecuador's "jewel mountain" when we awoke from our fist night at Cotopaxi's Refugio. This newly remodeled hut sits just under 16,000 feet and offers a full service kitchen along with indoor and outdoor toilets. This isn't exactly roughing it but no matter how swanky the accommodations, waking up at this altitude always feels like a self inflicted hangover without the fun stories from the evening before. After coffee, a traditional Ecuadorean breakfast and a few Ibuprofen, we were ready for a fun day of training.
Just as we began packing for the day, a group of Germans arrived looking haggered and shell shocked after having come down from the summit. It was their first ever mountain climb and they said the route was beautiful, steep and challenging but well worth the effort. This provided promising news and gave us good optimism for tonight's climb.
Once out the door, a steep 45 minute climb took us to a perfect training location on the glacier where we set up a top rope for ice climbing, a fixed line and fun crevasse rescue station. The weather remained nice so our attitudes stayed really positive as we all took turns doing each activity.
From above we were amazed at the hundreds of people coming and going from the hut below. The remodel has sparked new interest from locals in visiting one the this countries coolest tourist attractions.
Now it is five o clock and we are resting and preparing for the climb to come. The route is shorter than Cayambe so we have high hopes for all of us making the top.
We will report tomorrow after the ascent.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
On The Map
We had fantastic weather making for a fantastic day. We are so happy it is silly! Out here in the office we could not have had a better day. This morning we had a steep start right out of the gate but no problem for the "A team". There are a couple scrambling sections, and the team took it bite for bite, chewed it well. Thanks to the amazing work of our porter and our Camp and meal were waiting when we arrived. We now sit at Shira Camp, just over 12,000'. We had a great lunch now are relaxing and letting our bodies adjust to our new altitude.
Tomorrow we will head up to over 14,000'. and then down in to camp at just below 13,000'. Stay tuned!
RMI Guide Mark Tucker & Team!
January 19, 2017
Checking in from Plaza Argentina at 4,200m on another beautiful day here in the central Andes. Our team enjoyed some tasty breakfast burritos this morning and then passed our checkup with the basecamp doctors. We are settled in nicely and the team is feeling strong and even slept well despite yesterday's sharp increase in altitude. We'll spend this afternoon arranging our group and personal gear for tomorrow's carry up to
Aconcagua Camp 1. Not much else to report for now... We'll check in again tomorrow after our first foray onto the upper mountain.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
January 18, 2017
We've arrived! After an early a.m. and brisk river crossing on the back of a mule our team made our way up the Relinchos Valley smoothly and steadily. We climbed the 3,000' into
Plaza Argentina (Basecamp) with a little hard breathing but were otherwise unhindered by any real difficulties. Clear skies and amazing views of the mountain were a treat and a hearty welcome from the Griselda, Anita, and Juan, the Grajales Basecamp staff, was icing on the cake. After some refreshments and setting up of camp we are settling in for a tasty dinner tonight and a well deserved rest day tomorrow. Sleeping our first night at nearly 14,000' might not be the most comfortable but with time our bodies will adjust to the new altitude and hopefully start in to building our foundation of acclimatization for our climb.
All for now,
Billy
January 17, 2017
Hola from Casa de Piedra! Last night we enjoyed an amazing asado prepared by our herrieros complete with salad plenty of steak and of course wine at our first trekking camp. After a beautiful night out under the stars our team woke to the rustling of mules and crawled out of our sleeping bags in the early dawn light. A quick trail breakfast and some coffee or tea warmed us up and we hit the trail. We moved extremely well and made short time on our move up through the
Vacas Valley and were even treated to our first views of the peak. Tonight's dinner wasn't quite as grand as last night's but it'll do. Early to bed tonight in preparation for tomorrow's very early rise... We we all looking forward to making into Basecamp tomorrow afternoon but one more day on the trail and about 3,000' of vertical gain remain in our way. I'll check in tomorrow and let you know how it went.
Billy
Hello -
We have arrived at Plaza Argentina,
Aconcagua Base Camp, and are loving it. I am watching the most amazing moon rise as I scratch out this dispatch.
We started the morning off with a mule ride across the Vacas River. Good size and cold seemed to make sense since the option was available. We waited till later in the day to fjord the Relinchos River in the footwear we brought along for that purpose. Named after the valley we ascended five hours and gained close to 4,000', the views of the upper mountain were fantastic.
We established our camp and settled in at Base Camp. A very nice dinner provided by our great outfitter Grajales Expeditions has us well fed and now ready for rest. The team is in good shape and thrilled to be at Base Camp. All is good here.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
On The Map
We survived another stormy night up here on
Elbrus. It definitely is nice staying in a hut rather than tents. Especially when lightning strikes and the whole ground rumbles underneath.
It looks like
Elbrus got that nasty weather out of its system. Later this morning the sky cleared and for the first time the team saw the mountain! We took advantage of the day and went up to 15,000 feet to acclimatize. The team did great and we are now resting back at camp. It is still a little windy so we are waiting and watching for the right opportunity to make a summit push.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
On The Map
Sunday, May 8, 2016 - 9:39 p.m. PDT
Today the team learned that not everyday can be blue skies filled with unicorns. We woke early this morning, fighting the temptation to stay in our warm cocoons, to a complete whiteout. Everything that came in contact with the atmosphere grew a layer of frost overnight and we could barely see more than 10 feet in front of us. But we brewed up, ate a quick breakfast, and began the waiting game. We would need full
VFR (visual flight rule) conditions to venture onto
Kahiltna Dome but alas the weather never improved. After some tent time the team went out to investigate some ice fall debris fallen from the east face for some classroom sessions. The biggest block, close to the size of a two-car garage, provided some fun ice climbing routes. We hope to wake up tomorrow to better weather in hopes of giving the Dome one last shot before heading back down stream.
Goodnight from the great white north!
RMI Guides Leon Davis and Mike King and team
Hello from Mt. Elbrus -
Our team is back from a great
acclimatization day. We reached 15,300 feet and every team member did a great job! We are back now at camp with full bellies after lunch. This afternoon we are going to relax in the sunshine!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
On The Map
Hello from
Moraine Camp! We just arrived to our cache, and are currently setting up our tents under the bluest skies so far on the trip. Spirits are high, and we presume we'll be moving to high camp tomorrow. Everyone sends their regards and asks for the cheering to continue on!
Best,
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos and crew
We had an amazing experience getting to the summit with with Casey, Ross and Nate. Thank you guys!!!
Posted by: John Alkhatib on 8/12/2018 at 10:24 am
Congrats to you all!!!
Posted by: Jerry Nelson on 8/10/2018 at 5:08 pm
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