Entries By hannah mcgowan
The team enjoyed one last breakfast in civilization this morning before stepping outside to blue skies and calm winds. The walk to our first camp, Las Lénas, in the Vacas Valley went perfectly. The valley can often times be extremely hot when there is no wind or extremely frustrating if there is a lot and we were gifted with the perfect amount to keep us cool and enjoy the trek. The team did great on their first day of trekking and enjoyed getting into the high country and working up an appetite for our carne asado tonight. The asados in the Vacas Valley our one of my favorite parts of the trip. The Arriaros make a fire and cook large cuts of beef and whole vegetables over an open fire. Everyone sits around the fire and is served family style. It's a wonderful bit of Argentinian mountain culture and a true highlight of the trip. Tomorrow we will continue our journey up the Vacas to our second camp "Casa de Piedra" (11,000 ft) and we'll finally get our first view of
Aconcagua! That's all for now, thanks for following!
RMI Guide
Steve Gately & Team
The drive into the mountains starts by passing through many of Mendoza's Bodega's until the landscape changes to rolling hills peppered with bushy green shrubs. Soon there after we gain elevation and follow the Rio de Mendoza up to the Uspallata Valley where the topography changes yet again to tall jagged peaks colored red,orange, tan and grey. Another hour down the valley takes us to
Los Penitentes where we will be calling home tonight. The team spent the afternoon packing and repacking there duffel bags for the trek into the Vacas Valley tomorrow. At the moment we are all probably much to full from dinner and excited to get to bed and finally leave the creature comforts behind for a sleeping bag and tent tomorrow. Everyone is doing fantastic and eager too start our adventure! Tune in tomorrow for more!
RMI Guide Steve Gately
Aconcagua season has officially begun! The team all safely made it to Mendoza today and enjoyed finally putting a face to the names in the what felt like 1000 exchanged emails over the last month. Most of the team enjoyed a few hours exploring the culture and sights of Mendoza's city center before getting to work trying to figure out how to navigate the park's online registration form. After figuring out that Argentinian keyboards have a different key layout and with only mild frustration, we managed to get everybody registered! We spent the rest of the evening doing our gear check and enjoying a delicious dinner out in town. Tomorrow we pack up and head to Los Penitentes (9,000ft) where we will pack our things to survive the long and arduous journey attached to the back of a Argentine mule. Everybody is in great spirits and excited for the challenge ahead. Thanks for following.
RMI Guide Steve Gately
RMI Guide
Nick Hunt and the
Five Day Summit Climb reached the highest point in Washington State, the summit of Mt. Rainier, this morning. Nick's report from the summit said today was a beautiful day with light winds. The team left the summit to begin their descent just after 7:00 a.m. PDT. The will return to Ashford this afternoon.
Way to climb!
RMI Guide Zeb Blais led the Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons to the summit of Mt. Rainier yesterday morning. The team enjoyed sunny breezy conditions during their climb. After celebrating on the summit, the team descended to Camp Schurman for their final night on the mountain.
Today the team will spend some time training as their descend to the White River Campground from Camp Schurman. We are excited to welcome them back to Ashford this afternoon.
Congratulations!
July 2, 2016 - 1:23 am PT
We were very lucky to fly off the glacier yesterday since the weather closed in on
Denali and may have prevented us from flying for days. We spent a celebratory evening in rainy Talkeetna thankful for not being stuck in snowy Basecamp!
After the long process of sorting, cleaning, and drying all of the gear it takes to get to the top of such a huge mountain, we paused to thank each other over a meal that did not require mixing with hot water or adding copious amounts of cheese to maximize calories. It really was an amazing team that assembled two weeks ago in Anchorage and made a smooth ascent of the
highest mountain in North America. The team was very strong and had a great attitude that allowed them to experience an amazing, windless summit and a seamless two-day descent back to base camp and ski planes that almost beat us to the glacier landing strip.
Thank you for the great expedition El Siete!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
June 30, 2016 12:55 pm PDT
RMI Guide Mike Haugen and team have landed safely in Talkeetna, AK after a successful summit of Denali. They are happy to return to civilization where warm showers and much celebration will be in store.
Congratulations to the entire team!
June 30, 2016
Posted by: Mike Haugen, Pepper Dee, Hannah McGowan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,000'
June 29, 2016 - 11:04 pm PT
As is the way with climbing, we barely had time to dwell on our summit success before it was time to start thinking about getting off the hill safely. We woke up after a frigid night at 17K and immediately began packing up to head downhill. Our descent took us down the
West Buttress proper, and by the time we started down the fixed lines the late morning solar energy had most of the team roasting in single layers. Talk about freeze or fry! We took a brief break at 14 camp to pick up cached gear, and then began the long march down to 11 camp with sleds in tow. Along the way, we had the pleasure of crossing paths with Dave Hahn and company on their way to 14. For now, we are tucked in to bed at 11 camp, where we hope to catch a few hours of sleep before starting the long walk back to the airstrip.
Buenas noches,
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
On The Map
June 29, 2016
Posted by: Mike Haugen, Pepper Dee, Hannah McGowan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 17,000'
June 29, 2016 - 1:23 am PT
We are all safe and sound back at high camp after an amazing summit day. I am proud to report that all members of our team made it to the highest peak in North America! The day started out cold but
Denali was kind to us. It turned out to be a clear and sunny day with very little wind...a rarity on this big mountain. We were just under 12 hours round trip from High Camp including a long time on the top taking pictures and enjoying our success.
We are gong to try to get up early and start our decent back to thicker air. Hopefully the weather cooperates like it has over the last few days!
Congratulations to the June 14th Denali Expedition Team!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
On The Map
June 27, 2016
Posted by: Mike Haugen, Pepper Dee, Hannah McGowan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 17,200'
June 27, 2016 - 7:58 pm PT
We had another early morning departure to avoid the mid-day solar radiation that can wear a climber out much faster than the cold temperatures can. Our team did a fantastic job climbing up the steep fixed lines to the ridge and then up to our camp at 17,000'. We got into camp around 1:15 in the afternoon and proceeded to build a camp that would protect us from most any weather that
Denali could throw at us. We are getting organized for a summit bid tomorrow if Denali allows. We are currently sitting in the clouds with a small amount of snow falling, but the forecast seems good for tomorrow. We will wake up and get the "nowcast" by looking up towards the summit and seeing what the mountain has to say about us climbing it.
Goodnight and wish us luck!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
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Praying for safety in your trek. Wishing my brother, Rob, the best!!!
Posted by: Marg on 12/15/2016 at 6:15 pm
Have fun and don’t f*** it up! (See Bob that statement works for more than rugby!) Cheering y’all on!
Posted by: Kat Roche on 12/15/2016 at 10:48 am
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