Entries By geoff schellens
Posted by: Seth Waterfall, Geoff Schellens
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Elevation: 7,300'
Buenas Tardes! The team is all here and excited to kick off the Mexico's Volcanoes trip. Everyone arrived today and we had our first team meeting in the evening. Some of the group went on to bed while the rest of us went out for a delicious Mexican dinner.
We made an early night of it since tomorrow we hit the ground running and head for our first destination, La Malinche.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Posted by: Geoff Schellens
Categories: Guide News
Guides and climbers often struggle with sitting still, so RMI Guides Jake Beren, Leon Davis, and I quickly decided on a personal trip into the Alaska Range this spring. The three of us have guided Denali many times - and as any climber who has been to the Alaska Range knows, it is difficult to travel past countless beautiful peaks, ridges, and faces and ignore the siren call to come climb them. This trip was all about pulling the wax from our ears and sailing directly towards the siren’s song. With no clear plans or objectives, we decided to simply climb what looked enticing. After ten days in the Ruth Gorge, the three of us were picked up from the Ruth Glacier and flown to the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. In early May we climbed the Southwest ridge of Mt. Francis, an excellent ridgeline that offered quality alpine rock and steep snow climbing. With good weather holding, we rested and restocked for the West Ridge of Mt. Hunter.
On May 9th Jake and I departed from Base Camp around 8:00 AM, skiing down the Southeast Fork through the cold, crisp morning air to the main flow of the Kahiltna Glacier. We continued down the glacier for another half hour and reached the West Ridge of Mt. Hunter. Here Jake and I cached our skis and began climbing. We approached this objective in a light and fast technique, known as “alpine style,” bringing four days of food, a small stove, a lightweight tent, and no comfort items. As we started climbing we found a very nice boot pack leading up the ridge that made for extremely efficient travel. At first we felt guilty drafting behind someone else breaking trail, but soon decided that each of us has done our fair share of trail breaking on other peaks and that we ought to just enjoy this one. As the two of us climbed higher on the West Ridge with ear-to-ear smiles we decided on a plan, “Lets climb until we’re not having fun and then camp there.” Well, the climbing on the West Ridge was extremely fun and after twelve hours of navigating the corniced ridge, peppered with exquisite sections of rock, steep snow and ice, we found ourselves at the 11,400’ bivy - tired but still smiling. We set our tent in a small notch and ate freeze-dried dinners with a fantastic view of the Alaska Range. It was truly an awesome place to be.
The next morning brought beautiful weather and a sense of excitement for where we were and what lay ahead. With our approach of simply having fun, we enjoyed the morning views and a few cups of coffee before breaking camp at noon. Moving quickly relishing every step and with a swing of an ice tool we ascended steep snow pitches and navigated gaping crevasses. Soon we found ourselves on the summit plateau at 13,000’ walking across the largest stretch of horizontal terrain we had seen in thirty hours. From there we ascended the final 55° slope that took us to the summit ridge. From there, forty more minutes of easy climbing gave way to the summit of Mt. Hunter. While standing on the summit Jake and I hooted and hollered with excitement, “What a fun climb!”
Soon we began our descent with the same approach we used on the ascent - climb until it is not fun and then set up camp. Down the ridge we went back to our bivy site, where we decided to descend via the Ramen Route. Quickly Jake and I realized that we had made a wrong turn into the entrance of the Couloir. This meant that we had to do a few tricky rappels and down climb through seracs to get ourselves back on route. Once we were back on track, we had a few more rappels before softer snow conditions allowed us to down climb to the base of the 3,300’ Ramen Coulior.
Now, for the second time in two days, we found ourselves again on flat glaciated terrain. At this point it was getting late in the day, but we were still enjoying ourselves and decided to continue our descent. Due to the time of day we chose to navigate the extremely broken-up glacier since it provided more camping opportunities if we needed to set up camp. This was a time intensive descent however as Jake and I soon found ourselves in a world surrounded by incomprehensible seracs and crevasses. A couple more hours brought us back to the main flow of the Kahiltna Glacier and our skis. After forty-two hours we arrived back at Base Camp exhausted, hungry, thirsty, and smiling. Employing our tactic of “climb until we are not having fun” had been the perfect strategy for this route.
_______
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens is a senior guide leading trips on Aconcagua, the North Cascades, Mt. Rainier, as well as, guiding Ice Climbing and Mt. McKinley. He is currently preparing for his next adventure this spring on Dhaulagiri, an 8,000 meter peak in the Himalayas. See more of Geoff's mountain photography on his website.
On May 9th Jake and I departed from Base Camp around 8:00 AM, skiing down the Southeast Fork through the cold, crisp morning air to the main flow of the Kahiltna Glacier. We continued down the glacier for another half hour and reached the West Ridge of Mt. Hunter. Here Jake and I cached our skis and began climbing. We approached this objective in a light and fast technique, known as “alpine style,” bringing four days of food, a small stove, a lightweight tent, and no comfort items. As we started climbing we found a very nice boot pack leading up the ridge that made for extremely efficient travel. At first we felt guilty drafting behind someone else breaking trail, but soon decided that each of us has done our fair share of trail breaking on other peaks and that we ought to just enjoy this one. As the two of us climbed higher on the West Ridge with ear-to-ear smiles we decided on a plan, “Lets climb until we’re not having fun and then camp there.” Well, the climbing on the West Ridge was extremely fun and after twelve hours of navigating the corniced ridge, peppered with exquisite sections of rock, steep snow and ice, we found ourselves at the 11,400’ bivy - tired but still smiling. We set our tent in a small notch and ate freeze-dried dinners with a fantastic view of the Alaska Range. It was truly an awesome place to be.
The next morning brought beautiful weather and a sense of excitement for where we were and what lay ahead. With our approach of simply having fun, we enjoyed the morning views and a few cups of coffee before breaking camp at noon. Moving quickly relishing every step and with a swing of an ice tool we ascended steep snow pitches and navigated gaping crevasses. Soon we found ourselves on the summit plateau at 13,000’ walking across the largest stretch of horizontal terrain we had seen in thirty hours. From there we ascended the final 55° slope that took us to the summit ridge. From there, forty more minutes of easy climbing gave way to the summit of Mt. Hunter. While standing on the summit Jake and I hooted and hollered with excitement, “What a fun climb!”
Soon we began our descent with the same approach we used on the ascent - climb until it is not fun and then set up camp. Down the ridge we went back to our bivy site, where we decided to descend via the Ramen Route. Quickly Jake and I realized that we had made a wrong turn into the entrance of the Couloir. This meant that we had to do a few tricky rappels and down climb through seracs to get ourselves back on route. Once we were back on track, we had a few more rappels before softer snow conditions allowed us to down climb to the base of the 3,300’ Ramen Coulior.
Now, for the second time in two days, we found ourselves again on flat glaciated terrain. At this point it was getting late in the day, but we were still enjoying ourselves and decided to continue our descent. Due to the time of day we chose to navigate the extremely broken-up glacier since it provided more camping opportunities if we needed to set up camp. This was a time intensive descent however as Jake and I soon found ourselves in a world surrounded by incomprehensible seracs and crevasses. A couple more hours brought us back to the main flow of the Kahiltna Glacier and our skis. After forty-two hours we arrived back at Base Camp exhausted, hungry, thirsty, and smiling. Employing our tactic of “climb until we are not having fun” had been the perfect strategy for this route.
_______
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens is a senior guide leading trips on Aconcagua, the North Cascades, Mt. Rainier, as well as, guiding Ice Climbing and Mt. McKinley. He is currently preparing for his next adventure this spring on Dhaulagiri, an 8,000 meter peak in the Himalayas. See more of Geoff's mountain photography on his website.
Posted by: Geoff Schellens, Leon Davis
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 8,000'
The Four Day Summit Climb Teams led by RMI Guides Leon Davis and Geoff Schellens were forced to turn around at 8,000' today en route to Camp Muir. The teams experienced wet and windy weather with low visibility. They made the tough decision to descend and return to Paradise. The teams arrived at Rainier BaseCamp just before 3 pm PT.
Posted by: Geoff Schellens, Leon Davis
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Summit Climb August 12 - 15 and the Five Day Summit Climb August 11 - 15 both reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. RMI Guides Leon Davis and Geoff Schellens reported they were in a cloud cap on the summit with low visibility and light winds from the South/Southwest. The teams began their descent from the crater rim shortly after 7 am. They will return to Camp Muir for a short break before continuing their descent to Paradise this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
March 29th climbers. 2014. Wishing you a safe and fun trip.!! You are rare birds and we are ALL waiting anxiously to hear your adventures. Be safe, be kind, be happy.
Love you all,
Burdee
Posted by: Rosemary -burdee on 3/31/2014 at 8:01 am
One of the finest groups of people that I have ever met. Great job team, proud of all of you!!
Posted by: Rob on 9/17/2013 at 9:30 am
Posted by: Geoff Schellens
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Hi all,
Today is our last day on Shuksan before we hike out tomorrow. We spent the morning relaxing getting in and out of our tents as the rain storms were sporadic. By early afternoon it seemed stable enough and we did some training. First we practiced knots and hitches, then we moved on to building snow anchors, and wrapped up with some crevasse rescue scenarios. We are now back in tents as a very dark ominous looking cloud quickly approaches.
That's the latest from Shuksan,
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens & Team
Hi all,
Well we lucked out with the weather yesterday and made the summit of Mt Shuksan. If you had asked me our chances of climbing yesterday morning I would have said not good. The sky was very dark with heavy clouds hanging all around the summit, but as we started climbing they seemed to dissipate. Kirk and Harry did a great job despite being a bit nervous about the rock climbing necessary for the summit pyramid. We left our camp at around 7:30 AM and found ourselves smiling on the summit by 12:30. All in all a great day.
Today we are resting and recovering during the intermittent rain showers and will hopefully get some more training in when we can.
That's all for now,
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens and Team
12:30 p.m. PST : RMI Guide Geoff Schellens just called into RMI to let everyone know the team reached the summit of Mt. Shuksan at 9,127'! Geoff Reported that the sky was dark and cloudy with a few sprinkles, but the rocks were relatively dry. The team has started their descent and will report when they are back their base camp. The have another day of training planned before heading out of the North Cascade Range on Friday.
Congratulations Team!
Congratulations! Can’t wait to hear about your adventure. Always.
Posted by: Beth on 9/4/2013 at 5:59 pm
Posted by: Geoff Schellens
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
September 3, 2013 AM
Hi all! Kirk, Harry, and I had a very nice hike into the low bivy site on Mt. Shuksan yesterday; partly cloudy, but completely dry. Last night we had a few light showers and then it opened up on us this morning around 8 - 9 a.m. It has given us a little reprieve but is now starting to rain again. We're relaxing in tents and hoping for another break this afternoon so we can get some training in. Everyone is in good spirits despite the weather and some wet boots from this mornings rain storm. Thanks for checking in!
September 3, 2013 PM
Our hopes came true! The weather broke this afternoon and we were able to get outside and get some training in. We're taking a break right now but will head back out and take advantage of the dry weather and train some more. The forecasts predicts decent weather for tomorrow so we may try to climb. I'll keep you posted on our that goes. We'll check in again tomorrow!
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens
Glad to hear you are out and about because we all know camping is in-tents! Love to you all
Posted by: Beth on 9/3/2013 at 5:52 pm
Posted by: Geoff Schellens
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
We were hoping for a break in the weather as today was our last chance for a Mt. Shuksan summit bid, instead we got more rain. It's one of the dice we roll when spending time in the mountains. Whatever our weather, Joy and Jim are still laughing and having fun. The rain has been steady all day today and even breakfast had to be made in the vestibule of the tent. We are hoping to see a weather break or two for our hike out tomorrow.
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens
Posted by: Geoff Schellens
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Hi All,
Well, Jim, Joy, and I were hoping to climb Shuksan today but the weather once again thwarted our summit attempt. It rained hard all through the night and intermittently this morning. We had a nice breakfast between showers and then hopped back in tents for the better part of the morning. We emerged from our tents around 10:30 to find threatening clouds bearing down on us but as it was not raining at that moment we decided to do some more training. That has become our motto on this seminar, "Let's do some training until it starts raining". After going through crevasse rescue practice and a lunch break the weather kept holding for us so we got in some great ice climbing and fixed line training. During dinner we watched as the clouds appeared to be breaking up and patches of blue sky made their way towards us. Tonight we are all sleeping with fingers crossed that we get our chance to climb tomorrow. That's all for now. Thanks for checking in.
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens
FLOS3 sends best wishes and we hope the rain stops!
From (also rainy) Boonton, NJ, elevation 397 Feet :)
Posted by: Stef + Trish on 8/29/2013 at 5:45 am
Rain, rain go away…. Glad to hear there are breaks and you have been able to train.
The summit is calling down everyone’s name, so positive thinking that Thursday is the day to get up there!
Posted by: Jann on 8/28/2013 at 10:26 pm
So excited for all of you! Sending lots of good vibes and can’t wait to read all of your updates and see all of your pictures!
And p.s. I love you, Justin!!!
Posted by: Andrea Miers on 1/19/2014 at 8:56 pm
Looking forward to updates and more great pictures from your adventure!
Posted by: Brad & Lori Briggs on 1/19/2014 at 6:10 am
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