Entries By tyler reid
Today was slated as a rest day in our itinerary, but one member of our group was psyched to forego rest in favor of another uphill skiing adventure on Villarrica - and this one resulted in standing on the summit. The weather was absolutely perfect today and the snow conditions were efficient for uphill travel, as well as great skiing.
With the nice weather and being a weekend, there were a significant number of local guided climbing groups plodding their way up the main route, but we found our own variation that made it feel like we had the mountain to ourselves. It took us 4.5 hours to the summit, and about 30 minutes to ski down. Love ski mountaineering.
RMI Guide Tyler Reid & the Chile Ski Team
This morning we headed for Villarrica to go for a ski, knowing that the forecast was probably not conducive to going to the top. We managed to hide from the wind for 3,000' of mostly skinning, edging into frozen snow with our ski crampons. Above us, a lenticular cloud was growing over the summit. Below us, we had clear views of Lago Villarrica's azure waters, the bustling town of Pucon on its eastern shore, and Llaima and Sollipulli in the distance.
We had a nice long run back to the van, where our driver Juan was waiting with his usual warm greeting. The weather looks better tomorrow, and we're going to take another crack at Villarrica... stay tuned!
RMI Guide Tyler Reid and the Chile Ski Team
Llaima is a big mountain, deceivingly big - from beneath it looks like a reasonable couple hours of climbing...not so. I learned this my first time on Llaima four years ago.
Yesterday we had an adventurous day on Llaima. Sun, clouds, heat, cold, calm, wind, visibility, low vis...sticky snow, icy snow, sastrugi, soft snow, corn... some horrible skiing, and a lot of amazing skiing. We walked, we skinned, we climbed. There is an old pocket glacier that's usually well covered in snow, but this year there were exposed crevasses, which added to the route finding challenge. At 15:30, standing on a rough, icy slope in strong wind, we decided to call it - about an hour from the summit. This was not safe snow for skiing so we down-climbed about 1,000' before putting on our skis. The rest of the descent was super fun, and went quickly. We didn't get to stand on top, but the group consensus was that this was an even more awesome day than summiting Lonquimay.
Today we had a nice drive to the town of Pucon, with perfectly clear skies. We were able to see all four of our volcanoes - Lonquimay, Llaima, Villarica, and Lanin. We stopped in the town of Villarica for a nice lunch and to take some photos of the mountain (Villarica) towering above the lake.
Another great couple of days in Araucania.
RMI Guide Tyler Reid & the Chile Ski Team
Yesterday we awoke to a crisp morning, with a blanket of fresh snow up high. Enough snow to stop our van in its tracks on the approach road to Lonquimay, but we didn't mind the extra skinning. The weather was a bit stormy the top 2,000' of the mountain, so we decided to save the summit for the next day. We still got to ski a couple long, very fun laps above massive lava fields, and later our crew went for a pre-dinner soak at the local thermas.
Today we had perfect Southern Hemisphere spring weather and were able to ski from the summit. We skinned up to about 8,500', where we transitioned to boot crampons and threw our skis on our backs. Another 900' of methodical climbing and we were on top.
The big news however is that Sergio, our host here in Malalcahuello, is cooking his famous Chilean asado for us tonight - something I look forward to every year.
All is great with us.
RMI Guide Tyler Reid & the Chile Ski Team
The whole group is here and today we put skis on our feet for the first time. We found some nice corn on the lower flanks of Lonquimay that made for smooth turns. Now we're settled into our casa at the Suizandina Lodge here in Malalcahuello, next to a warm fire. The crackling of logs is interrupted by sizzling water droplets, vaporizing as they fall from our damp skins onto the hot stove. Life is good!
RMI Guide Tyler Reid & Chile Ski Team
August 10, 2016
Posted by: Tyler Reid
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Tyler Reid reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. Tyler and team climbed above the clouds today and had clear and sunny skies.
Congratulations to today's team!
August 2, 2016
Posted by: Tyler Reid
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guide Tyler Reid and the Four Day Summit Climb July 30 - 2 August reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The team reported cold and windy temperatures but clear skies about 8,500'. The team will return to Camp Muir for a short break before continuing down to Paradise this afternoon. We will look them at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon as they celebrate their accomplishment.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb team!
July 28, 2016
Posted by: Tyler Reid, Ben Liken
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guides Tyler Reid and Ben Liken reached to summit of Mt. Rainier at 5:20 am this morning. Tyler reported clear skies, calm winds and warm temperatures on the top. The team has started their descent and are en route back to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's team!
July 11, 2016
Posted by: Tyler Reid
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guide Tyler Reid and the Four Day Summit Climb Team was approaching Mt. Rainier's crater rim shortly before 7:00 am this morning. Tyler reported great conditions with a cloud deck below them around 9,000' feet.
We hope they are enjoying the views!
Way to make it to the summit, Oregon 5!!
Posted by: Becky Condon on 7/12/2016 at 10:02 am
July 7, 2016
Posted by: Tyler Reid, Zeb Blais
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Summit Climb Team led by RMI Guides Tyler Reid and Zeb Blais reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The team climbed in and out of the clouds this morning and were able to spend a short time on top. They have started their descent and will be back at Rainier Basecamp in Ashford early this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's teams!
Great ascend fantastic experience responsible safe and enjoyable climb to the top, unsurprisingly spectacular crevice formations just below the summit, memorable experience Thank you Zeb, Tyler , JT Schmitt, Chris, Jordan, Steve for all fabulous work!
Posted by: Lauro Urbina on 7/9/2016 at 10:45 am
Congrats. I hope it was amazing.
Posted by: Mark Steranka on 7/8/2016 at 8:06 am
Congratulations to everyone, especially Mario P. I can’t wait to hear about the trek and see some beautiful photos. What a great accomplishment.
Posted by: D Zabel on 7/28/2016 at 1:11 pm
Well done ... Can’t wait to hear about the trip.
Posted by: Jeff and Karen on 7/28/2016 at 9:42 am
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