Entries By mike walter
We had another great day of training today on
Mount Shuksan. We ascended the Sulphide Glacier and then stepped onto the Upper Curtis Glacier where we spent much of the day running laps on the steep ice pitches known as Hell's Highway.
Afterwards we practiced some 4th class rock scrambling on the ridge just west of the Sulphide Glacier.
The weather has treated us well so far, and the forecast looks favorable for the rest of out week here. Everyone is doing well and enjoying the beauty of the
North Cascades.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
August 24, 2014
Posted by: Mike Walter, Steve Gately
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 6,200'
Our
Expedition Skills Seminar - Shuksan team is enjoying nice weather here in the North Cascades. Our camp is tucked in at 6,200' amongst stunning alpine scenery on the flanks of the Sulphide Glacier. We have unobstructed views on Shuksan's summit pyramid to the north, and the northern Picket Range to the south. Baker Lake winds its way south through the valley bottom, far below us.
We just returned back to camp after a morning out on the glacier practicing various climbing skills such as ice axe arrest and cramponing. This afternoon we'll work on some technical skills starting with knots and hitches.
Everyone is doing well and enjoying the alpine air.
Cheers,
RMI Guide
Mike Walter and Team
Our
Kautz Expedition Skills Seminar team arrived back to RMI Basecamp in Ashford, Washington, yesterday evening. We enjoyed excellent weather during the six day program, and we took advantage of it to spend lots of time climbing and training in the mountains.
We trained on a variety of skills, including various knots and hitches, anchors, crevasse rescue, and ice climbing.
On our climb, we moved camps up the mountain and went for our summit push. The Kautz Route was in a very challenging condition, and our climbers did a great job of managing the terrain. The Kautz Ice Chute was at least eight pitches (150’ rope lengths) long, with some additional steep climbing above it. The ice presented challenging climbing at high altitude, and pushed our limits. Due to the challenging nature of the ascent and a technical descent ahead of us, we opted to turn our climb around at ~13,000’, at the top of the Wapowety Cleaver. It had taken us ten hours to get to this point and only a couple of hours of glacier travel stood between us and the summit of
Mount Rainier. But, we knew we had our work cut out for us to safely descend the Ice Chute and return back to camp. Everything went smoothly and it still took us ten hours to descend.
A huge 20-hour day in the mountains is very challenging, and I’m proud of our climbers for staying strong throughout the entire journey. I hope everyone has enjoyed a shower, cold beer, and flip flops…
RMI Guide Mike Walter
August 18, 2014
Posted by: Billy Nugent, Mike Walter
Categories:
Elevation: 14,410'
The
Four Day Summit Climb led by Billy Nugent and The
Five Day Summit Climb led by Lindsay Fixmer reach the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent reported beautiful weather and great climbing. The team spend some time on the summit enjoying the views and are now en route back to Camp Muir.
RMI Guide Mike Walter and team Checked in from the
Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz. The team had a great day today. We hoisted heavy packs and left the parking lot at Paradise this morning. After about 15 minutes of hiking we left the well beaten path and descended on to the Nisqually Glacier. With crampons on and ice axes in hand, we traversed the Nisqually and gained the Wilson Glacier. The climbing involved some moving over steep rocks with heavy packs, as well as ascending some steep snow slopes. Everyone is doing well and we're nestled in at our camp at 7600' at the Sharkfin. It's a beautiful night, and it's a real treat to leave the crowds behind and have this wild place to ourselves.
Congratulations to the our Summit Climb Teams!
August 13, 2014
Posted by: Mike Walter, Zeb Blais
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 11,500'
The
Four Day Summit Climb teams led by
RMI Guides Mike Walter and Zeb Blais were unable to summit Mt. Rainier this morning, poor weather forced the groups to turn around at the bottom of Disappointment Cleaver. The teams tried to wait out the weather and left Camp Muir later than normal but the ran and wet snow still forced them to abort their summit attempt of Mt. Rainier. The teams will begin their descent from Camp Muir around 8:30 am en route to Paradise.
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons led by RMI Guide Geoff Schellens was unable to make their summit attempt today due to poor weather conditions.
We just wrapped up our 5 day
North Cascades Custom Climb in Boston Basin. Dan, Augie, and I took advantage of the excellent weather to get some serious climbing done on Sharkfin Tower, Sahale Mountain, and the West Ridge of Forbidden Peak. Special thanks to Dan and Augie for coming out to the Pacific Northwest to push their comfort zone with real alpine adventures and wild terrain. Let's do it again next year!
RMI Guide
Mike Walter
August 8, 2014
Posted by: Mike Walter
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 8,816'
RMI Guide
Mike Walter and Team reached the summit of
Forbidden Peak. The team is leaving the Boston Basin area after a successful week of climbing.
Congratulations Team!
August 6, 2014
Posted by: Mike Walter
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 8,680'
RMI Guide
Mike Walter checked in. After a successful summit of Sharkfin Tower yesterday afternoon the team headed over to
Sahale Mountain and reached the summit at 10:46am PT this morning.
At
2:02pm PT Mike Walter and Team reported that "All is well" and they are back in camp.
August 5, 2014
Posted by: Mike Walter
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 6,200'
RMI Guide
Mike Walter and the Forbidden Peak climb checked in from camp in
Boston Basin. The team is enjoying the great weather and beautiful scenery.
August 4, 2014
Posted by: Mike Walter
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 6,200'
This is the Forbidden Peak - West Ridge team checking in for the day. We are at camp in Boston Basin enjoying beautiful weather. We will do some technical training this afternoon in preparation for our training climb up
Sharkfin Tower tomorrow.
RMI Guide
Mike Walter
What a spectacular adventure!!! Thanks you Seth and the entire team for helping us reach the summit in record time! Contratulations to the Team!!!
Posted by: Seth Casden on 8/25/2014 at 6:10 am
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