Today's mixed bag of weather didn't dampen anyone's enthusiasm to train in and around the crevasses near Camp Muir. If anything, we were all smug in the knowledge that we took advantage of fantastic weather when we could to summit and would deal with less than ideal weather for our training.
Even the blisters and sore feet of the climb seemed to go away with our great night of sleep.
I was impressed with how the group really learned the skills to effect a rescue of a partner from a crevasse, then jumped at the chance to get back in the hole to ice climb out. Most even got in seconds on the ice climbs.
Our evening talk in the bunkhouse covered everything from altitude illness, mountain medicine, expedition life, Denali and Everest to things better left unmentioned here. I apologize in advance to all of you if your partners on this seminar come home with ambitions to climb more and bigger mountains in the future.
Tomorrow, sadly, is our last day. However, a morning of training will be followed by excitement to get down off the mountain, have a beer and burger and get back to our loved ones and the comforts of home.
It's been a great week and we hope to be able to climb together again sometime soon.
Au revoir from Camp Muir.
RMI Guide Brent Okita
This morning we awoke just before 2:00am hoping to take advantage of some favorable weather on the mountain. We were rewarded with an incredible morning. Calm winds and clear skies! A full moon and stars everywhere confirmed that we had made the right call to climb. Leaving just a little later than we would on a regular summit climb allowed us minimal exposure to the coldest part of the night, yet still get down before it got too darned hot out. We reached the summit just before 8:00 with no wind and the sun's rays beginning to warm us up. After an hour on top we started our descent, which our team rocked.
We're all back at Muir now, relaxing in the sun or catching up on some sleep in the sleeping bags, taking a well deserved rest. But the day's not over yet. This crew is still psyched to hone their mountain skills, so later on we'll be learning about anchors, belaying and anything else they are interested in. This will get us ready for our day of crevasse rescue and ice climbing tomorrow.
All for now,
RMI Guides Brent Okita, Jordan Cargill, JT Schmitt, Gloria Roe, and Ross Morgan
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning around 7:30 AM. RMI Guides Brent Okita and Jordan Cargill chose to make their summit attempt today due to the nice weather. Brent reported no wind and a perfect day on the mountain. The team will return to Camp Muir and continue to their training until Friday when they will descend to Paradise. The top photos are from today's summit climb, the bottom two photos are from Tuesday's training above Camp Muir.
Congratulations to the climbers!
Hello from Tlachichuca,
We are all exhausted from a wonderfully successful summit day on Orizaba and are now enjoying the hospitality of Dr. Reyes in the beautiful town of Tlachichuca. We awoke at midnight this morning to clear skies above, and began our climb with cautious optimism. The weather held for us and we were treated with perfect conditions for our climb. The skies were clear and the snow was perfect for cramponing. With the sunrise we were treated with abounding views of the Mexican country side, including the towering vistas of Ixta and Malinche. We were ecstatic to have 100% of our team make it to the summit!
After descending the mountain and taking a long bumpy truck ride back to town we enjoyed hot showers and a delicious meal. It was a great day to top off an amazing week!
RMI Guide JT Schmitt
I had the privilege of climbing on the October 9 trip to the Mexico Volcanos with a great team led by RMI Guides Christina Dale and JT Schmidt. Thank you Christina and JT for your seamless leadership that inspired all the members of our team to 100% success on both Ixta and Orizaba. Thank you to the team members who worked so well together. Our team was perhaps more “mature” in age than most and relatively experienced. Christina and JT made this trip extraordinary in all ways, continuing to teach and add to our knowledge base.
This was truly one of the very best climbing experiences I have ever had and I will cherish the fond memories of our time together.
Lorenzo
Hey, this is Christina calling in with another wonderful summit from the Mexico's Volcanoes team. We have gotten yet again a hundred percent of our team to the summit. Everyone's feeling really well and super happy to be here, up on the top. We have a gorgeous blue sky day with very light winds, absolutely gorgeous new blanket of snow covering this mountain making it wonderful climbing. We are looking forward to heading back down to hot showers congratulations to the RMI Team.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
RMI Guide Christina Dale checks in from the summit of Pico de Orizaba.
This is Christina with the RMI Volcano Mexico team, and we are currently eating tacos, chicken tacos, in a hut at 14,000 feet on the side of Pico de Orizaba. The weather is in and the peak above us has a new blanket of snow that reaches all the way down to our camp for the night. After our extreme weather on Ixta, we're hoping for calmer winds and clear skies. We'd even settle for clouds at this point. The two-hour jeep ride up here to our high camp today was the perfect illustration of our group this week. We found ourselves laughing at David's stories and turning to Rob for his pop culture references. Craig was there with his ever joyful spirit and always had M&M's to offer around. Lorenzo made sure everyone was comfortable and happy. Steve constantly amazes us with his strength inconsistency. Then there's Patty who rocks at everything she does and always enjoys a good laugh. Somehow this group was able to make a bumpy dirt road fun. JT and I feel so lucky to have spent this week with these wonderful people and climbing in the high mountains of Mexico. Orizaba tomorrow. Hope for good weather. Thank you.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
RMI Guide Christina Dale calls in from Pico de Orizaba High camp.
Our team spent the rest day wandering around the beautiful streets and churches of Puebla today. We saw some beautiful churches, community parks, ceramic studios, and street musicians. Everyone feels tired after our Ixta climb but in great spirits to go climb Pico de Orizaba on Saturday. We all talked over a delicious dinner about what we learned climbing Ixta and are excited for the next challenge. We are enjoying our time in the mountains and towns of Mexico. Fingers crossed for clear sky's on Orizaba!
RMI Guide Christina Dale
We lay in our tents listening to the sounds of heavy rain, snow, hail, then lighting and thunder at High Camp in Ixta. Miraculous, at 1 am the weather cleared and we packed up to head for the summit. We climbed through the dark night into a dense cloud. Everyone made it to the summit with a layer of rime ice surrounding their faces. We had quick hugs on the summit then hustled back down. The weather progressively worsened on our descent to a point where the winds were so strong we couldn't stand against them. It was a true blizzard and everyone on the team did so well getting down safely. We definitely had a full value climb with lots of excitement.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
Hey, this is Christina calling in with the Mexico climb at 7:45 in the morning, and we are standing on the summit. It is howling wind sideways and blowing snow so everyone's covered in a layer of rime. Everyone did so well climbing and we are all up here in good spirits taking a very quick photo, and then we're going to be out of here quick because the weather is coming in. Tomorrow is our rest day and we are all looking forward to it. Congratulations to our team, we are 100% on the summit of Ixta.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
RMI Guide Christina Dale calls from the summit of Ixtaccihuatl.
Hi, this is Christina with the RMI Mexico Volcanoes team. We're currently perched high at 15,000 feet at our high Camp on Ixta. Everyone is doing super well. Today we got into camp an hour and a half before we thought we would so we are walking incredibly strong. It's a beautiful day out on the mountain today. We're going to wake up at midnight tonight, and give the summit our best shot. Everyone's feeling great- had a hot meal, and then some hot drinks and some nice time to hang out and enjoy the changing cloud patterns of the Mexico landscape below. We hope to give you our next call from the summit! Wish us well.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
RMI Guide Christina Dale calls in from Ixtaccihuatl's high camp.
Welcome back to earth team! Can’t wait to see you Glo! Yep, it’s me again! Glo’s proud mama!
Posted by: Michelle Mom on 6/1/2018 at 1:30 am
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