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Posted by: Linden Mallory
Categories: Mountaineering Fitness & Training
Posted by: Adam Knoff
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek and Lobuche
Elevation: 13,950'
Namaste from the small village of Pheriche.
I know this might come as a surprise to many of you, but we woke up at the same time as the last 5, ate the same food and packed our bags for another meditative day of trekking. The departure was a bit more emotional than the previous mornings because I had to say farewell to the host family I so thoroughly enjoyed seeing after so many years but as we all know, time continues to roll, and we will one day see each other again.
Easing the sadness of leaving Phortse was the crystal blue skies and breathtaking views of the mountains we have been waiting to see. Within 30 minutes of leaving the Phortse Guest House, we were greeted with stunning vistas of three major peaks, one being Ama Dablam, arguably the most iconic peak in all of Nepal. Later in the day Mt. Everest even made a quick showing. Energized from such a powerful landscape we cruised the three hours to Pangboche which is the oldest Sherpa village in the entire region. It is also the location of a very old Monastery where we were lucky enough to arrange a Puja ceremony with the head Lama of the village. This ceremony is a special blessing granting us passage into the mountains with luck and safety. Shortly after the Puja we had a good lunch giving us strength to polish off the remaining distance to camp.
Making better time on the second half of the trail, we could focus on the walk and not take a thousand pictures because the clouds moved in and shut down the views. We rolled into our tea house just in time to have the fire warming the great room and hot tea ready. We were also very happy to see the other RMI group and share stories of the adventures already had and the ones to come. Casey Grom is one of my closest friends, so I feel lucky to have gone from one emotional encounter to the next. Although the visits are brief, they are meaningful, nonetheless.
Now the team is all tucked in and I myself am off to bed, happy to have a rest day tomorrow. Everyone is in good spirits and doing well.
We will reconvene tomorrow at the same time.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff and Team
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos, Adam Knoff, Robby Young
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Shishapangma
Elevation: 18,500'
Sorry we missed your call to us this morning with the happy anniversary wishes, but we really appreciated your message and expression of affection. The diner and after party last night was a smash success (or so I’m told). As you might have expected, in keeping with my careful allocation of excess consumption occasions, I duly allocated last night’s affair as my one such occasion for 2016. And as I’d expected, today was a total loss, dedicated exclusively to aspirin, antacids, rehydration and horizontal recovery! Hopefully your retreat to Base camp was uneventful and the rest there today fulfilling and complete - and even better than mine!. Wishing you and the team nothing but fair skies and calm air from here on!
Love from us both.
Posted by: Rick Deerwester on 9/24/2016 at 4:32 pm
Go go go! Enjoy and good luck :)
Posted by: Carlos on 9/24/2016 at 2:38 pm
Posted by: Casey Grom, Alex Halliday, Augi Fleer, Josh Geiser, Mira Schoeberlein, Bo Torrey
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 10,080'
The Five Day Climb June 24 - 28 was unable to make a summit attempt due to high winds at Camp Muir overnight. RMI Guides Casey Grom and Alex Halliday reported that the wind picked up around 8 pm last night averaging 60 mphs at Camp Muir with gusts over 90 mph. The wind continues to blow this morning which will prevent the teams from ascending above Camp Muir. The Five Days Teams will be descending to Paradise later this morning and returning to Rainier BaseCamp.
On The Map
Hi Mark, we are glad to see you with your team. We hope you will continue to have a good trip and we will follow your adventure via this blog!!
Posted by: Wally Rappe on 2/13/2013 at 5:58 pm
Looks like you are doing well and should I say, even “rested”. hope you are keeping a log so we can hear all about the climb. Push your limits!!! jL
Posted by: John Lind SR on 2/13/2013 at 4:18 pm
Posted by: JT Schmitt, Christina Dale, Jess Wedel, Tyler Meyers, Jenna Burkey, Roland Scott
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climb June 27 - 30 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning led by RMI Guides JT Schmitt and Christina Dale. Christina reported great route conditions and clear skies. The teams were on their descent at Camp Comfort around 7:30 am making their way back to Camp Muir. The teams will continue their descent to Paradise and then be transferred to Rainier BaseCamp.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Congratulations everyone! You must be so proud of yourself! We can’t wait to have to full story of your adventure! ❤️
Posted by: My-Lien on 6/30/2022 at 12:58 pm
Congratulations, you did it!!!!
Posted by: Carole on 6/30/2022 at 9:08 am
Be safe. You are the best and most experieced guide in the world, so you really don’t need me to say “Be Safe” but we are all hearing about the conditions this year - so BE SAFE. Bill M.
Posted by: bill mcgahan on 5/19/2012 at 10:49 am
Hey Dave,
Mark Gray here. You led a climb on Rainier about 6 years ago where you were called of for a rescue of some other RMI group. It had snowed off and on through the night and we would probably would have not tried for the summit anyway. Needless to say I was amazed to even have been able to climb to camp Muir with you and have followed your Everest attempts ever since. Just wanted you to know you are in my prayers as you once again head for the the top of the world!
Posted by: Mark Gray on 5/19/2012 at 9:29 am
Posted by:
Categories: Mountaineering Fitness & Training
As you design a training plan to prepare for your next climb, data about your training and level of fitness is a really useful tool. One of the best ways to get an objective idea of your current level of fitness and to measure your gains is by tracking your heart rate with a heart rate monitor.
There are two main types of heart rate monitors available: watches that use an infrared sensor to your heart rate at your wrist and monitors that use a chest strap with two electrodes to record the electrical pulses from your heart. The infrared sensors on watches measure the change in the size of veins to record your heart beat, and can give a good rough idea of your heart rate trends. Movement of the watch on your wrist can interfere with the accuracy of the sensor however, so the normal movement that comes with training activities can mean that it doesn’t record your workout very effectively. The electrodes on a chest strap pick up the electrical signals from your heart very effectively despite any movement, and therefore and the best way to get a good picture of your workouts, and what we recommend.
Heart rate monitors are effective for a couple of different purposes. First and foremost, a heart rate monitor gives you the ability to track your training more accurately. Heart rate monitors use versions of the 5 training zones that most athletes utilize, so you can begin to build an accurate picture of how much time you spend in each zone and how effective a given period, week, or workout might have been for you.
A heart rate monitor also helps you to hit your target intensity zone for a given workout. This works in both directions; it can help you to tone it down on your long level 2 endurance training if you start to push a little hard, or it can let you know that you need to push even harder to make it to your target L4 zone on a set of intervals. One of the most helpful is setting an upper heart rate threshold alarm during your aerobic building workouts to warn you when you go too hard, which happens to most!
Tracking your heart rate over a period of time can also give you a picture of your overall fitness. As your training pays off, your resting heart rate should drop, and you will find yourself covering more ground and going faster, but at the same intensity. Conversely, a sudden spike in your resting heart rate may indicate that your training load is adding up and that you need to focus a bit more on recovery.
As an added bonus, most of the better heart rate monitors also have the ability to track your workout with GPS, so you can keep track of your training routes. A heart rate monitor won’t make you fitter, but it gives you invaluable information that allows you to create a more informed training plan.
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Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!
There are so many choices with heart rate monitors. Can you make a few recommendations? Thank you.
Posted by: Mike on 10/8/2023 at 9:17 pm
RMI Guides Dominic Cifelli and Jack Delaney led the entire Mt. Baker - Easton Glacier team to the summit of Mt. Baker today! Dominic reports it was a super nice day on the summit and that "things are going great!" The team is spending one more night at camp before making the rest of their descent tomorrow.
This climb wraps up our 2021 North Cascades climbing season. We loved climbing with all of you this year and are excited for the climbs to come in 2022!
Congratulations climbers!
Is Chhering Dorjee Sherpa with you at your camp? He has a friend from Castle Mountain, Pincher Creek, Alberta, Canada (Marie Cameron) who is wondering.
Posted by: Chris McSweeney on 4/26/2015 at 10:47 pm
I miss you, Larry! Hope you are safe. You are smart for knowing your boundaries.
From,
Tina from Mt. Shasta.
Posted by: Tina on 4/25/2015 at 5:54 pm
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