Hi all from Huaraz,
The team arrived last night form our expedition. Everybody is real well, and despite the challenges faced on this climb, we're happy with the hard work and patience that we had to exercise. One note, we got to within 100m from the top, not 800 as my voice dispatch made it sound... we got so close!!! But safety is number one priority, and bailing after 10 hours of climbing, while a hard decision, is a great lesson to put things in perspective. We're now headed to the Lima airport, in great spirits and ready to think of the next adventure. Thanks to Fatima, Todd, Kirk and David for their incredible hard work and doing so well on this trip.
RMI Guide Elias deAndres Martos & Team
Greetings from the Cordillera Blanca!
As climbers, we learn that things are constantly changing here in the mountains. Our bodies, the weather, climbing conditions, among others. For us, our ability to adapt and change plans was our alpine exercise of the day. In lieu of a summit attempt, we took another day to rest, acclimatize, and watch billowing clouds envelop the surrounding mountains this morning. We traded a climbing day for an educational day. We dove into the depths of crevasse rescue systems, and gave our bodies one more day of R&R before our summit attempts. Tonight, we begin our climb of Ishinca. Anticipation and excitement filled our dinner tent, and we're ready. Stay tuned.
RMI Guide Robby Young and your ESS-Peru Climbing Team
Update 5:00 pm PST
Elias and team are back at high camp and will descend off the mountain tomorrow. All is well and he will check in from Huaraz.
______________________________________________________
Hello! This is ElÃas and the team calling from the summit ridge of Artesonraju. We’ve been climbing since midnight. It’s 10:20 local time. We’re super-psyched, but unfortunately we cannot reach the summit. We are literally a stone’s throw from the top, and it’s got a hefty cornice, and it’s very dangerous. We don’t find it worth it to continue the last 100 meters to the top, so we’re headed down. That’s it for now!
Elias calling from the Summit of Artesonraju July 6, 2017
We were greeted this morning by another beautiful Peruvian morning! Our agenda today would take us to the toe of the glacier at about 16,000ft to review and learn climbing techniques that we will use on our ascent of Ishinca tomorrow morning. The approach takes about 2-3 hours and follows a track through old glacial moraine, remnants of when the glaciers used to flow deep down these valleys. At the toe of the glacier we all donned our climbing equipment and began the days learning. Our training site gives one massive view of the surrounding peaks and glaciers. Many of which are above 6000 meters. The team did fantastic today and we're all feeling really good about our climb tomorrow. We are all back at camp now where we'll take a short siesta before dinner and an early night in preparation for tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for following along. Tune in tomorrow for more!
RMI Guide Steve Gately
Hello from 14,200'!
Life is good here in the Peruvian Andes. Acclimatization and technical training were the name of the game today. After a good night's rest, a pancake breakfast, and some warm morning sun, we dove right into knots and hitches; the foundation for some of the technical systems we'll learn later on. Chicken soup and beat+potato salad were a welcomed lunch break before a short hike to the top of the moraine at 15,200'. The views didn't disappoint. From our perch we could see all the real time glaciation on Tocllaraju, as well as our future route up Urus Este. We're back in camp awaiting what is surely to be an incredible dinner spread in our dining tent. Life is pure, simple, and beautiful here in Peru, and our entire team is feeling great. We'll update you tomorrow from the Ishinca Glacier during our on-snow training day. Until then, hasta luego!
RMI Guide Robby Young and team
The RMI Artesonraju team made a summit attempt yesterday, reaching 5,600 meters. Technical difficulties kept them from continuing, but the team is giving it another try tonight. Stay tuned!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
July 4, 2017
Greetings all!
Happy 4th of July from the Ishinca Valley at 14,000'! We had great weather for our walk up the Quebrada (Valley) this morning, with outstanding views of the snow and ice covered pyramid of Tocllaraju. And here we are, having built home for the week, ready to start training and climbing in the high peaks around us. And as we thought the day couldn't get any better, we were provided an incredible dinner of TROUT! Our cook, Coronel and Pablo really pulled off an incredible feat. What a treat for us! We're looking forward to an acclimatization day tomorrow. We'll spend some time training in the grass here at Base Camp, as well as go for a short hike to take in the views. Until then, happy 4th, and we'll keep you all in the loop.
RMI Guides Robby, Steve, William and your ESS-Peru team
I climbed Tocllaraju in 1965 from base camp in Ishinka Valley. Fabulous glacier climb. But in those days we were all sick from drinking bad water. Hope your water is better now!!
Berg Heil!
Posted by: Keith Gunnar on 7/5/2017 at 11:03 am
Are you guys climbing Tocllaraju? It is one of the most beautiful mountains to climb. I will
never forget it. Be safe.
Hello everyone. We are ready to launch. We enjoyed the rest at our high camp at 15,925' on Artesonraju, and we are almost ready for bed in anticipation of our early alpine start. We hope to call in from the summit tomorrow.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
All the best!! Can’t wait to hear details of summit push!
Posted by: Tim Fader on 7/5/2017 at 5:29 am
Hope you are all rested,acclimated and the conditions are good for the summit bid early tomorrow! Be strong and take care up there! Fingers crossed and best wishes!
Posted by: Peter Williamson on 7/4/2017 at 3:03 pm
Huaraz City, second to none when it comes to stunning mountain dwellings. Today, we dialed in our gear and took an acclimatization hike to 12,000', a perch called Puca Ventana (Red Window). Views of Huaraz City, and the highest massif in the range, Huascaran, were our rewards. After our hike we enjoyed lunch at a climbers' favorite, Cafe Andino. More rest, relaxation, and prep took us into the evening as we look forward to moving into the mountains tomorrow. Ishinca Valley will be home for the next week and we're excited to finally get eyes on these incredible ice-covered spires. We'll touch base tomorrow from Ishinca Base Camp. Stay tuned.
RMI Guides Robby, Steve, William, and your favorite ESS-Peru team
Greetings from High Camp on Artesonraju. After our forced carry to high camp on Saturday, we had yet another rainy and snowy day at base camp yesterday. Regardless, today was as clear as we have seen so far this trip, and we moved to high camp early this morning, to beat the other awaiting teams to the prime real estate at this moraine. Tents are pitched, food and fuel stashed and gear ready. We're going to take another day here at 5100m to acclimatize better and be in position for launching later this week. Everyone is doing well, and the excitement is high!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos and team
Great to hear you are ahead of the pack and getting ready to take advantage of the better weather. Rest up and acclimatise well! best wishes to all for the rest of the climb!
Posted by: Peter Williamson on 7/3/2017 at 5:17 pm
If the guide tent is a rock’n don’t come a knock’n
Posted by: Thom on 7/7/2017 at 10:38 pm
View All Comments