The Four Day Summit Climb led by Tyler Reid and the Five Day Summit Climb led by Zeb Blais were on top of Mt. Rainier this morning in blue skies, light winds, and some smoky haze due to wildfires burning around Washington. Both teams started their descent from the crater rim just after 8 a.m. They will check in with us from Camp Muir before descending to Paradise.
Day 2 of Mountain Fest is here at Rainier Basecamp. Check out the mountain gear sale, RMI Guide slideshows, and stop by the RMI tent to enter in our raffle to win a free summit climb!
Well hello, Mark Tucker checking in. Here in the living zone. Lots of trees, air's so thick you can cut it with a knife. The whole team is already in the rack. 7:30! What's that all about? We had a big day, a very successful day. Everybody can take a big, deep breath. All the team is here and doing well. Fantastic! I can start to relax a little bit. We've got a few hours left on the hill tomorrow but overall, we are looking great. Happy times, great dinner, early breakfast and we'll have a nice program with the team here that has been supporting us. Donate a bunch of gear and cash in their direction. They've done a fantastic job supporting us. Not that we couldn't do this without those 56 men that have helped us a long the way. So we are all looking forward to singing a song with them in the morning. So all is well. We'll keep in touch.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
RMI Guide Mark Tucker checking in from Kilimanjaro
Our Four and Five Day Summit Climb Teams reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer and Win Whittaker reported clear skies above 7000' and winds at about 40mph. They have started their descent and are now en route back to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's teams!
RMI Guides Peter Whittaker and Mike Uchal led their Four Day Climb Teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Peter reported light winds and a great route. The teams enjoyed some time in the summit crater before starting their descent around 8 AM PT.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Another beautiful day on Mt. Rainier and another summit! Congratulations to the Four Day Summit Climb! The team spent some time marveling in the views and great weather before starting their descent at 7:45 a.m.
RMI Guide Mike Haugen’s Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz checked in from their camp at 13,000’, atop the Wapowty Cleaver. They are enjoying a perfect day of Crevasse Rescue Training and hanging out in the sunshine. Mike received the “best weather report” and they are planning on heading for Columbia Crest early in the morning and hope to meet the RMI Four & Five Day Summit Climb teams on top of Mt. Rainier.
RMI Guide Tyler Reid and the Expeditions Skills Seminar - Emmons are beginning four days on the northside of Mt. Rainier where they will gain valuable mountaineering skills and try for the summit later in the week. They will make their first camp tonight at 7,500' on the Inter Glacier.
In the North Cascades, RMI Guide Mike Walter and team reached the summit of Forbidden Peak via the West Ridge. They described a beautiful and warm day. The team descended to their camp in Boston Basin and will complete the walk out to the trail head tomorrow morning.
Congratulations to all the team's that reached the summit today!
Leaving Deboche this morning we walked through the last of the rhododendron and pine trees of the Khumbu, climbing higher into the valley where only small shrubs and juniper grow. We crossed back over the Dudh Kosi river on a narrow bridge and walked past rows upon rows of Mani stones and chortens, eventually reaching the small village of Pangboche. There, we paid a visit to Lama Geshe, the renown spiritual leader. Chanting in his native tongue of Tibetan, he blessed us on our journey into the mountains, writing a letter to Chomolungma, the goddess of Everest, requesting safe passage for us. Finally, laughing a deep soulful laugh each time he pronounced our anglophone names, he strung a small red string and then kata scarf around our necks, before wishing us good luck.
The day remained clear and we had wonderful views of Ama Dablam soaring above us as left Pangboche, climbing further up the valley towards the impressive south face of Lhotse. Eventually, we reached a split in the valley, where the rivers diverge, one coming from Island Peak and the other from Everest's Khumbu Glacier. Following the Dudh Kosi towards Everest, we climbed up and over a shallow pass on the trail before dropping into the village of Pheriche. There Ang Nuru, a vibrant and energetic sherpa happily welcomed us into his teahouse, making us comfortable in the wonderfully decorated dining room.
In the afternoon we strolled over the the Himalayan Rescue Association's Pheriche Clinic and listened to a discussion on altitude by the western doctors here. Tim bravely volunteered to climb into the Gamow Bag, a portable hyperbaric chamber, where the staff of the HRA pumped it up and brought Tim down to an elevation of less than 9,000' below Lukla where we started the trek. It was a quick ascent back to 14,000' when he emerged!
The team is doing very well and excited to be here. Tomorrow we are going for a day hike above Pheriche and then returning to the teahouse to celebrate Mark's birthday. We are sending our best to everyone at home.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Hello, Dave Hahn calling down from Advanced Basecamp in the fog, 21,300'. Today was a beautiful day. Significant to us, in that a combination team of climbers building the route on the Lhotse Face succeeded in getting as far as Camp 3 and perhaps even a little bit beyond that. Fixing rope up the steep and icy Lhotse Face. We didn't want to get in the way of that today. We actually hiked up to about 22,000', towards the west shoulder. Certainly not all the way to the west shoulder, which is about 25,000' in some very steep, hard ice in that direction. But the part we could do today made for a nice hike and gave us a great view off the Western Cwm. Pretty amazing. With the exception of the snow that fell last week, it just doesn't appear to be any snow left over from the monsoon or the winter. Just bare ice up in this upper valley, and these glaciers are continuing to take a beating. On the good side, our Sherpa team, Tshering, Gyaljen, and Kaji, they successfully made a carry up here today, to ABC, carrying oxygen bottles for the summit bid. And then the three of them and Lam Babu, went back down to Basecamp. It's just myself, Dan, Seth and Yubaraj up here at ABC. All is well. Bye now.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn called in from Everest Advanced Basecamp.
Beautiful pics and such interesting commentaries. I am really enjoying the updates every day - it sure beats watching the evening news on the TV. Wishing you guys continued good weather and safe climbing.
Posted by: Josephine Johnson on 4/30/2013 at 12:38 am
All the best! What a privilege it must be to see such a beautiful range of mountains!
The Four Day Climb June 6 - 9 spent a windy night at Camp Muir last night. High winds and deteriorating weather kept the group at Camp Muir and unable to make a summit attempt. RMI Guides Seth Burns and Grayson Swingle reported consistant winds 30-40 mph with gusts up to 50 mph. The teams started their descent from Camp Muir around 8 am and will be returning to Rainier Basecamp later this morning.
Hey everybody, this is Casey from RMI checking in from the Cotopaxi Express Ascent. We are currently on the summit of Cotopaxi with everyone! We are 100% today. It was a tough climb and took just over 7 and a half hours. A little bit of new snow, definitely some slow going. Everyone did fantastic. Not too much of a view right now. We're actually up here in the clouds and can’t really see much other than our little faces. Everybody is doing well. Our plan is to take a few photos up here and then start back to the hut. We will check in a little later on today.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
RMI Guide Casey Grom calls from the summit of Cotopaxi!
Congrats Everyone, I am not a big fan of climbing but I was excited to watch you ascend to the Summit and learned that it is truly a team sport. Good work and enjoy the next day relaxing. Love you, Billy C
We awoke this morning early again, trying to take advantage of another windless day. With blue skies overhead we were optimistic of our chances of getting to camp at 14,100'
The crew had breakfast and struck camp as quickly and well as I've seen. Obviously they were some pretty motivated climbers.
A slight breeze kept us wrapped up in most of our layers, and we even put on face protection climbing through Windy Corner. But the team climbed even better today than yesterday. However, leaving our high point of yesterday and ascending the final 700' to camp reminded us all of the big jump in elevation we were making. Although everyone climbed really well, even the strongest of the team struggled a bit with the last bit of elevation gain.
But all this is expected and a normal part of the acclimatization process. An easy day tomorrow will find the team feeling better as our bodies adjust to the altitude. We're looking forward to it.
Getting into camp early today allowed us to establish a nice camp, dry out sleeping bags packed in haste this morning, and settle in to our new home before the sun disappeared behind the ridge. Our bags will be especially welcome tonight.
Talk with you again tomorrow.
RMI Guide Brent, Leon and Lindsay
Phil, Just checking in on you….looks like the weather gods are on your side! Enjoy the climb
Posted by: Susan and Kris on 5/30/2012 at 8:09 pm
Kristen…I can’t believe you are almost there!!!! Your perseverance and determination is inspiring. To think you only have a few thousand feet more after all these years. It sounds like everything is going so well. Savor this moment. I love you.
-Mamma Joe.
Good grief, good going Wally. It looks like you lucked out with the weather. I was stuck in a snow storm when I tried.
Posted by: Jeff on 9/18/2012 at 8:12 am
Attaboy B-Rad! Good job. Can’t wait to hear about it.
Posted by: Mike on 9/17/2012 at 8:36 am
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