Entries By chris ebeling
June 30, 2019
Posted by: Walter Hailes, Chris Ebeling
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guides Walter Hailes and Chris Ebeling and the
Four Day Climbs reached the summit of Mt. Rainier around 7:30 AM. The teams climbed through the clouds before the sun broke through shortly before the summit. Walter reported 15 mph winds and cold temps.
The teams will spend some time on the summit celebrating before beginning their descent to Camp Muir. We look forward to seeing them back at BaseCamp in Ashford this afternoon.
Congratulations Climbers!
The
Mt. Rainier Summit Climb teams being led by RMI Guides
Pete Van Deventer and
Chris Ebeling reached the summit this morning. Weather was nice with blue skies and 10-20 mph winds. At 7:30 a.m. both teams began their descent back to Camp Muir.
Congratulations RMI teams!
June 9, 2019
Posted by: Andy Bond, Chris Ebeling
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The
Four Day Climb June 6 - 9 led by
RMI Guides Andy Bond and Chris Ebeling worked hard this morning breaking trail to reach the crater of Mt. Rainier. They topped out just before 8 AM and were greeted with high winds on the summit. The team will return to Camp Muir and continue their descent to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Nice work team and congratulations!
June 5, 2019
Posted by: Tyler Jones, Chris Ebeling
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 10,080'
The
Four Day Climb Team June 2 - 5 led by
RMI Guides Tyler Jones and Chris Ebeling were unable to climb due to high winds. The telemetry at Camp Muir shows average winds speeds in the 50 - 65 mph range from midnight on. The teams will descend to Paradise this morning and return to Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
May 26, 2019
Posted by: Brent Okita, Chris Ebeling
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 12,600'
The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Chris Ebeling reached 12,600' today before deteriorating weather and snow conditions forced their decision to turn back. The teams will return to Camp Muir and then continue their descent to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
The
Four Day Climb May 17 - 20 led by
RMI Guides Elias de Andres Martos and
Chris Ebeling reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Elias reported calm winds and overall good conditions from the summit. After enjoying a little time in the crater the climbers will return to Camp Muir and then continue their descent to Paradise.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
January 31, 2019
Posted by: Adam Knoff, Chris Ebeling
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 19,348'
Well up until yesterday morning the debate was still on: Cotopaxi or the Beach? Despite the obvious draw of bagging climbing for surfing, we decided that the steep moody glaciated peak out our dining room window was a worthy endeavor, so we packed up and headed for the
Refugio José Ribas. It was a brief restfull afternoon and dinner (of course with Sopa and Ahi, our two favorite parts of every meal here) before we were off to bed, feeling oddly comfortable at 16,000 feet by now. We awoke around 1 am to find our legendary streak of good weather had not been broken. Launching in calm winds under the stars with only clouds to our north, we climbed the first thousand feet on red volcanic rock before donning spikes and venturing into the glacier with a few inches of consolidated fresh snow to provide traction. The entire crew felt strong, even stronger than on Cayambe after so much time at altitude, and before we knew it we were all on top of Cotopaxi with a clear view and a steaming crater. The route and views were all time, perfect to wrap up our time in a great country. By the time we arrived back at the hut there was another first for the crew of firsts: a hut to summit to hut record was in the bag, not far over 6 hours I believe.
We are now in Quito celebrating our 400% success this trip (100% success on 4 peaks), and will soon depart for home. What a great group we have had! Fun, positive, strong, interesting, and encouraging are all words that come to mind. We’ll call this trip a great one in the books and hope to climb with all these cats again!
Thanks also to our amazing local guides, Jaime, David, Nacho, and Christian. Also a big thanks to our driver - the Ecuadorian GPS - Victor.
RMI Guides Chris Ebeling and Adam Knoff
Our team had a great morning relaxing, drinking coffee and socializing with our four new Swiss German friends. Since yesterday we have all shared stories and cervezas speaking English but having a great cultural exchange with folks from another country.
This morning after breakfast we continued that connection by putting ropes on the hacienda climbing routes, getting all our Swiss friends hanging on a rope for the first time!
Now we are all packed up and ready to head to
Cotopaxi. The weather looks promising and route reports have remained good for the upper mountain.
We will call in tomorrow with results of the climb.
Everyone is excited for our upcoming ascent but looking forward to cleaning up and coming home. As much fun as we’re having we do miss our families.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
Yesterday our team earned a big
Ecuadorian summit towering 18,990 feet above sea level which also happens to be the only place on the planet where the equator itself is snow covered. These big mountains are not highly technical climbs requiring fixed ropes or advanced ice climbing skills but they are long sustained endeavors taking upwards of 8 to 10 hours to complete and literally pull the energy from your body one step at a time. Within our group we have a number of climbers who are very technology savvy and wear one of those super watches that short of turning you into James Bond, gives you critical info on how your body is performing. After the climb one person reportedly burned over 7,000 calories on the climb alone. Not only did we earn the top, we earned the 3,000 calorie hamburger we ate for lunch when we returned to town.
After lunch our half asleep, food comaed bodies crawled onto the waiting bus and began our 3.5 hour drive back down the “avenue of the volcanoes” toward our country side hacienda located ten miles from the sleeping giant, Cotopaxi.
Standing at 19,385 feet, Cotopaxi is considered the world’s highest active volcano and the most beautiful mountain in Ecuador. We couldn’t see the mountain when we arrived but exited the bus like a group of stiff, smelly walking dead looking only for beer and showers. Definitely a good theme for America’s next horrible zombie film.
Despite our showers being cold, the beer and Bourbon sufficed so after dinner we agin congratulated our climb and then quickly turned from alive to dead, collapsing around 9:30 and not moving until 8am this morning. When we finally did pull ourselves out of bed, we were greeted with stunning views of the mountain and a scene straight out of an Ecuador tourism book. Llamas grazed in the pastures and clouds drifted like dreams in front of the peak which confirms why people are so impressed with its beauty.
Throughout the day rest has been the objective. Shortly after 10 it began to rain so our time has been passed napping, sitting by the fire and prepping gear for tomorrow’s big climb. Not a bad way to recharge.
Stay tuned for the outcome of tomorrow’s attempt.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
January 28, 2019
Posted by: Adam Knoff, Chris Ebeling
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 18,997'
RMI Guide Adam Knoff called at 7:45 am PT to report the entire team had reached the summit of
Cayambe this morning and were safely back to the climbers' hut. The team enjoyed a great training day yesterday and awoke this morning to clear skies and beautiful weather. They are leaving the hut soon and will stop for lunch before continuing to Chilcabamba where they will stay the night.
Adam will send photos and a complete report later today.
Congratulations to the team!
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Nice job! Can’t wait to hear all about it!
Posted by: Hilary Gehman & Matt Smith on 7/1/2019 at 6:50 pm
Congratulations! We’re happy you have this experience and we’re looking forward to your stories.
Posted by: Wayne and Louise Gehman on 7/1/2019 at 5:28 am
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