Entries By tyler reid
June 17, 2015
Posted by: Solveig Waterfall, Tyler Reid
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall and the Five-Day Mount Rainier Summit Climb, along with Tyler Reid and the Four-Day Summit Climb reached the summit this morning. They enjoyed light winds and clear skies. The teams spent some time celebrating and enjoying the views before starting their descent at 8:10 a.m.
Today marks Solveig's 100th summit of Mount Rainier! Congratulations!
June 13, 2015
Posted by: Tyler Reid, Pete Van Deventer
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Mount Rainier Summit Climb, led by Ty Reid and Pete Van Deventer, is currently on the summit. The weather report from the summit is sunny skies and moderate/steady winds. An update will be posted when the teams begin their descent.
Congratulations summit climbers!
Congratulations NYSCF team - JAMES TEAGUE, RICH RUNDLE, MARK MCCAULEY and DIETER EGLI !!!!! and to think you had ALREADY peaked when you surpassed your fundraising goal and raised $26,565 for stem cell research! YOU ROCK! Now, come on down from those rocks and celebrate! And, call home! :-) Love to all. Pride in all. Thanks, Guides, Ty and Pete.
Posted by: Jessie Teague on 6/13/2015 at 11:05 am
Way to go Stephanie and Pat!!
Posted by: Lilli Pietromonaco on 6/13/2015 at 8:37 am
We launched for the north side of Volcan Llaima with overnight gear, optimism, and our fuel tanks filled to the brim with carne. Our send off from Malalcahuello was the asado of all asados: Chilean grass fed beef, homemade sausages, and lamb slow cooked over a wood fired grill masterfully by Sergio (our Chilean outfitter and owner of the lodge in Malalcahuello).
The wind was steady and the views nonexistent as we toured up an expansive lava field that just five years ago was flowing red. Above the monkey puzzle trees the wind was whipping, and feeling energetic we opted for the storm camping experience. We carved tent platforms into the leeward side of a small rock outcrop and proceeded to build Alaska style wind walls around our camp.
The next morning was frigid. The sun came out and as we packed up our gear for the summit ascent, we had the feeling that everything was lining up. Almost. The nice springlike snow surface we'd skinned up the day before was now a skating rink. Our ski crampons, even under full body weight, were not biting into the ice. This was not the type of frozen snow that softens throughout the day.
About 600 vertical feet above camp it became apparent that the snow wasn't getting any better. Getting on the face above us - which Katy and I had learned the year before is deceptively enormous and quite steep at the top, was out of the question. Just climbing the 3,700' would require pitching out full rope lengths and building 40+ anchors.
We ripped our skins and skied east coast style "packed powder" (very loud turns) 1,000' down to a small sub peak to the east. Views across the way of Sierra Nevada rising above the beautiful Lago Conguillio (a huge lake) began to the open up. We cramponed to the summit of our mini peak, skied down, and as we contoured back to camp, the decision not to go higher on Llaima was further reinforced. The winds ramped up, and visibility dropped to ping-pong ball status. We packed up camp and skied down out of the clouds.
El Niño has had some influence on every one of our ski outings on this trip, whether providing powder turns in September, a deep snowpack and fantastic coverage... or a moist wind that turns a big beautiful face into a sheet of ice. We've had a blast every day of this trip, whether standing on summits, or touring in stormy weather.
Overused statement of the trip, uttered multiple times at the end of every ski day: "Well that was an adventure."
This is a truly amazing place to have skis on your feet.
RMI Guide Tyler Reid
September 29, 2014
Posted by: Tyler Reid
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Peru Seminar
Elevation: 10,253'
Hey, This is Tyler with the Chilean Volcanoes crew. We are calling from the base of Volcán Llaima. We have had an interesting couple of days on the mountain, yesterday we camped above treeline. It was pretty windy and getting up there, but we were able to build a bomb proof camp. We woke up this morning to sunshine and potentially clearing skies which was a little bit of a tease. We got up the big face that we wanted to ski from the summit and it was pretty much a sheet of ice, which made it a no-go, and then the weather also closed in to sort of seal the deal that it wasn’t happening. We were able to ski nearby sub peak on the north peak, and now we are almost back to the trailhead.
We will head back to Temuco tonight and have our final night of the trip. We look forward to seeing everyone back home and we will send one more dispatch before the trip is over.
We will talk to you all soon, best from all of us.
RMI Guide Tyler Reid & Team.
We didn’t take Sergio seriously when he said “I have a snowcat”. We were discussing the approach to Sierra Nevada, which would typically involve four-wheel drive pickups to get to where the snow starts. As our Chilean outfitter and local guru, Sergio has been with us the whole trip, and here in Malalcahuello we are staying at his ideally positioned lodge, the SuizAndina.
It turns out Sergio has two mini snowcat-like vehicles he recently acquired, and he was psyched to give one of them a try in getting us to Sierra Nevada. If all went well, it seemed possible that we'd found a loophole in the “No Shortcuts to the Top” argument. The mini snowcat would deliver us to treeline, we could spend more time touring in the alpine, and maybe get a few bonus turns at the end of the day.
Apparently the universe is on Ed Viesturs’ side. Before we even hit the snow, the mini snowcat had lost one of its tracks. These are the moments where us skiers start to panic internally. Will we make it to the snow? Will we ski today?
With one track down and Sergio at the helm, the mini snowcat still performed amazingly well in getting us up the gnarly road. When we hit the snow, it was time to earn our turns.
We ascended through mysterious Araucaria forest (monkey puzzle trees) and out on to a long alpine ridge. Cornice on one side, rocks on the other. The terrain became particularly interesting on the upper mountain, with a series of intersecting ridges, alpine bowls, and mushroomy ice features. The weather was perfect, the views endless, and we were able to ski from the highest point beneath the summit (the last 50’ was steep rime ice).
Sierra Nevada is one of those descents that just goes on forever. Photos tell the story better than words.
Chilean ski adventure to the max.
RMI Guide Tyler Reid
September 25, 2014
Posted by: Tyler Reid
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Chile Ski
Elevation: 9,400'
First summit of the trip! We may or may not have had a slight mechanical advantage on the approach this morning (chairlift) to Volcan Lonquimay. We were teased with beautiful views of the mountain, although the wind was clearly howling up high. The visibility started to deteriorate as we climbed high above the ski area. We transitioned from skins to boot crampons where the broad terrain gives way to a semi-sharp ridge, and we climbed up and up into the clouds. The wind came in waves with periods of eerie calm in between. We climbed until we could climb no further, enjoyed some nice celebratory summit time, and clicked into our skis.
The upper mountain required careful turns in the limited visibility, but 3,000’ lower we were able to finally open it up and just ski. The lifts were still spinning after our huge descent, so we snuck in a few extra laps at the ski area before heading for the lodge for chocolate caliente and cervezas. Lonquimay!
RMI Guide Tyler Reid
RMI Guide Tyler Reid calls from the Lonquimay summit!
We got a casual start on our day knowing that the storm was raging on Villarica. That summiting was not going to be an option for today was glaringly obvious in the forecast, but the skiers mind is slightly different from the climbers mind: stormy conditions yield a bunch of new snow, and a bunch of new snow equals powder skiing. Powder skiing equals the polar opposite of defeat. So like yesterday, we set off into the storm, the only skiers on this mountain crazy enough to go touring (the ski areas on these Chilean volcanoes are above treeline, thus relying on good visibility and not too much wind to stay open).
Yesterday was Volcano Storm Skiing. Today was just plain storm skiing. We stuck below treeline for most of the day and found some great tree shots. With over a foot of new, dense, fast, springy pow, we put in a skin track, and one lap turned into two laps, then three laps, four laps, five laps... To be skiing in an early succession forest with a cauldron of lava bubbling 5,000' above your head feels exotic.
At the end of the day we toured up into the storm to get a sense of how windy it really was in the alpine (and to line ourselves up for a nice glide back to the parking lot). It was windy. Really windy.
RMI Guide Tyler Reid
Volcan Villarica warm up day...
Our goal for today was to have skis on our feet, and driving through the lush lowlands in the rain, there was a sense of disbelief circulating through the van that we would soon see snow, let alone be skiing. Next thing we knew, with Sergio at the helm (our Chilean outfitter) we were fully utilizing the Mitsubishi's 4-wheel drive capabilities to precision glide past stuck vehicles on the steep access road. High snowfall intensity from the sky, high psych intensity from our crew.
We spent the afternoon Volcano Storm Skiing. Not to be confused with below treeline storm skiing, where the forest provides terrain definition and the ability to see; Volcano Storm Skiing involves using rocks, closed chairlifts, other skiers, and/or their tracks for definition. When in doubt, have someone else go first. If your hat says 'Guide' on it, that means you are the sacrificial lamb.
Get blasted by the wind on the way up, seek refuge in a closed lift station high on the mountain, look up at your teammates and see huge smiles, transition to ski mode. Random outbursts of laughter. Volcano Storm Skiing is awesome. Especially the part about skiing in September.
Ski bag = reunited with Jonathan. Sergio was invaluable in solving the logistics of getting it to Pucon. He lent Jon his gear for today and we never missed a beat. Tomorrow looks even stormier...
RMI Guide Tyler Reid
September 22, 2014
Posted by: Tyler Reid
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Chile Ski
Elevation: 1,180'
Greetings,
So far so good in Chile. Everyone is here and in good spirits and we had a great welcome dinner in the center of Temuco.
Powder skiing in the forecast! We'll keep you posted as things progress.
RMI Guide Tyler Reid
September 14, 2014
Posted by: Geoff Schellens, Tyler Reid
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guides Tyler Reid and Geoff Schellens led their teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Both teams reported great route conditions and a beautiful day. The teams began their descent from Mt. Rainier's crater rim shortly before 8 am. They will return to Camp Muir and then continue down to Paradise this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's Four & Five Day Summit Climb teams!
Well done Mike. What a great accomplishment!
Posted by: Mum and Dad on 9/14/2014 at 5:03 pm
Congrats Jason and team! We are so happy to hear about your success. Look forward to celebrating when you get back.
Posted by: Nikki & drew on 9/14/2014 at 10:45 am
Solveig- Not sure if I had provided to you a link of the video created following our climb. Not sure if you remember, I raised money for a local non-profit.
http://www.epssecurity.com/community-events/hoodys-climb-a-feat-of-strength-in-support-of-our-community/
Have a safe ‘16.
Thanks for everything! Hoody
Posted by: David Hood on 3/6/2016 at 6:56 am
Hey, Robin and Phil and all… Hurrah!!
Posted by: Bill Decker on 6/18/2015 at 8:50 am
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