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Sunday, October 10, 2021 - 5:46 pm PT

Greetings from La Malinche! Today the team moved away from the busy streets of Mexico City to the mountains that surround it. We got great views of our future objectives, Ixta and Orizaba on our drive today across the Mexican country side. 

Everyone did great hiking up to 13,700ft on La Malinche, a dormant volcano. We had sunny skies today and no wind. 

Tonight we are going to feast on some authentic Mexican food and stay in cabanas at 10,000ft. The cabanas we are staying in were once used by the Mexican Olympic team for their training. The stars are out and it is a beautiful night up here.

That’s all for now, tomorrow we move to the base of Ixta.

RMI Guide Grayson Swingle

Our expedition is rapidly winding down. Everest Base Camp is becoming empty of foreign climbers (that'd be people like us). Three of our team...HP, Hao, and Hans were able to catch a heli down toward Lukla this morning. The rest of us have spent the day packing, sheltering from snow showers and reflecting on the surreal situation and surroundings. We've each taken walks out to icy cyber, where the cell service almost works, and been stunned by the amount of heavy camp gear... Tents, barrels, tables, boots, helmets etc that are strewn hundreds of meters from base camp. These sad items testify to the force of the blast that hit Base, fully obliterating the camps in about the middle third of the mile-long cluster of tents along the medial moraine. Mark Tucker estimated that the blast was perhaps a hundred and fifty miles per hour (up from zero in a second or two). We are all still a bit jumpy, although there hasn't been a recognizable aftershock in a day or two. It sure seems like the biggest hanging glaciers have had ample chance to relieve themselves already, but we start out the tent to see every crack and boom these days. We'll walk out of this place and down toward an easier and safer world tomorrow. But plenty of uncertainty still lies ahead in this altered world. Mostly we just expect it all to take patience, and we have that. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

The Four Day Climb August 25 - 28 was approaching the crater rim of Mt. Rainier at 6:40 am led by RMI Guides Alan Davis and Seth Burns.  Alan reported climbing time from Camp Muir to the summit was 6 1/2 hours for the teams this morning. It's a beautiful day to be in the mountains with clear skies and light winds. The teams will enjoy some time at the summit today before retracing their steps and returning to Camp Muir. After a short time at Camp Muir, they will continue the final 4,500' to Paradise and conclude their program at Rainier BaseCamp later this afternoon.

Congratulations to today's climbers!

The Mt. Baker - Easton Glacier Team with Walt Hailes reached 10,781' summit via the Easton Glacier. The team had perfect weather and route conditions for the climb.

Congratulations Team! 

The most famous RMI guide that ever lived was also a profoundly humble man in an arena not known for fostering humility. Nawang Gombu Sherpa was a man of many such contrasts. My memories of working with Gombu aren’t unique or privileged. I wasn’t seeing some side of him that others weren’t privy to. But because of his unassuming nature, casual acquaintances might have mistaken his stature in the world. Certainly not, if they’d studied mountaineering and 20th century world history. Gombu was the first man to summit Mount Everest twice. He was the longtime director of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and he was nephew to Tenzing Norgay. He was the youngest Sherpa on the successful 1953 British Mount Everest Expedition and was one of the last surviving climbing Sherpas of that heroic era. Nawang Gombu had met the queen of England on several occasions. You can find a picture of him in a 1963 National Geographic magazine placing a silk scarf of friendship around John F. Kennedy’s neck in the Rose Garden. But if you worked and lived with Gombu around Mount Rainier in the 70’s, 80’s or 90’s… you probably don’t remember him doing a whole lot of explaining as to why he was so special. More likely you remember him working very hard. And as he got a bit older and less capable on the mountain, some may remember that he also worked hard down around the guide shop, pushing a broom or helping with rental gear. Despite his unfailingly open and friendly personality, it wasn’t the easiest thing for a young guide to get to know Gombu. He was from a different generation and a vastly different culture and so he talked and acted a little differently… and often times he was a bit needy since he was somewhat isolated in Ashford without a car. So, while everybody called him a friend… that was pretty easy with Gombu, it took a little extra effort for someone to actually be his friend and include him in activities and routines. But for that Gombu was always profoundly grateful. I’m embarrassed now to remember how many times he cooked me dinner and then didn’t allow me to wash dishes afterward. There wasn’t even any question on that… he’d just push you out of the way (and he never lost that particular strength). We did have some fun together… but not enough to justify all of that dishwashing on his part. I’d take him into the suburbs for haircuts and shopping trips to the malls. We’d go into downtown Seattle so I could obsess over shiny climbing gear in the stores. We went rock climbing out at Leavenworth (Gombu was better than I was, not surprisingly) and we even went to the soldout Kingdome to watch Ken Griffey Jr. hit a homerun (his ninth in nine games… it was a big deal). I recall how amused the people in the stands around us were to hear me trying to explain baseball to a Cricket fan… if only they’d known who he was. But I thought that a lot back then, since, as I say, Gombu didn’t go out of his way to let people know he was famous. Which brings me back to the guide shop and a typical start to a day on Mount Rainier in which I’d meet a bunch of new climbing enthusiasts. They’d introduce themselves and detail their previous successes and immediately I’d find out about the banks and corporations they headed, and I’d hear about their ambitions for high places and their admiration for those that had already been to those places. And amidst all the introductory chest thumping (not just theirs… my chest got worked as well) I’d look over to see Gombu sweeping dust off the rental counter and I’d pause to consider that those captains of industry - and I - might not ever meet a greater mountain climber than the small, friendly, quiet legend who’d just fitted them for boots. RMI Guide Dave Hahn, June 17, 2011

With the start of the a new year now is a good time to step back and take account of your training plan. Training for any sport requires a balance of different activities. Too much of one type of training can lead to over-stressing our bodies; too many different activities can lead to a dilution of focus. While a mountaineering training program will include many facets, it is important to never lose sight of the critical elements: 1. Aerobic Endurance Training: Longer sessions to increase the ability to go for a long time at a steady pace. This builds your training base. 2. Anaerobic Endurance: Shorter intense sessions to increase the ability to go for a short time at higher intensity. This gives you the range of exertion to accommodate different paces and exertion levels. 3. Strength Training: The ability of the muscles to support the pack weight, movement over challenging terrain and other tasks such as digging snow or performing an ice-axe arrest. These are the “meat and potatoes” of preparation for mountaineering. Try to make sure you are exercising all three on a weekly basis. - John Colver John Colver is a longtime climber, former mountain guide, and certified personal trainer with the American Council of Exercise. Colver introduced outdoor fitness classes to athletic clubs throughout the greater Puget Sound region before creating his adventX brand. Currently, adventX leads training programs in Seattle and Colver presents clinics on outdoor fitness at companies such as Microsoft, Boeing, the American Lung Association, and REI. Colver lives in Seattle, and is working on his second book, Fit to Climb - a 16 week Mount Rainier Fitness Program. Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts with John and other readers on the RMI Blog!

We had high hopes of being able to fly today. After several days of protests and road blocks in Punta Arenas the crew was ready to load the plane with gear, food and more expedition members and fly to Union Glacier. Unfortunately, that didn't happen due to a broken fuel pump. It may be a few days before it can be fixed and the jet is back in the air. The food and accommodations here are great and we are all doing well. Best, RMI Guide Ed Viesturs

Hey,

This year, the monsoon has not been kind to the climbers on Manaslu. Snow, rain, and more snow have prevented most climbers from going higher than Camp 3 (22,000’). Fortunately, we were able to fit our second rotation in between two storm fronts and have some beneficial days on the mountain. Though our plan for rotation 2 was to cache gear at Camp 4 (24,000’) in preparation for our summit push, we were happy and fortunate to reach Camp 3 in good weather. 

Two long nights were spent sleeping at 21,000’. We saw every hour come, and every hour go. Getting a good night's rest becomes more difficult as you go up the mountain, but it’s all part of the process. We have to let our bodies adjust to the new altitudes we’re asking it to rest at, which often involves climbing higher than we sleep at night. Climbing without supplemental oxygen takes more time and patience than climbing with. The body is highly stressed; it needs more time to acclimate and more time to recover. We’re trusting the process and our bodies as we prepare for the summit push. 

We’re back down at basecamp resting, playing cards, Backgammon and seeing how much caffeine the human body can handle. We’re hopeful for a weather window opening up towards the end of September/early October. The summit awaits. Wish us luck!

RMI Guides Dominic Cifelli,  Dustin Wittmier, and JT Schmitt

In February 2013, I spent several weeks in West Papua with the express intention of connecting with villagers who live along the trek followed by our Carstensz Pyramid climbing programs. I traveled with two translators - one a long-time friend who grew up in West Papua and the other a member of the Moni tribe, a man who truly has a good heart for his people. I visited about ten villages and had numerous trailside chats. I spent many hours chatting (as well as eating, and playing soccer & table tennis!) and had opportunities to share our vision with various folks: government officials, village elders, tribal chiefs, pastors and school teachers. The constant thread throughout the conversations involved villagers expressing frustration with tourists who came to “take photographs” and “take summits” but who did not (as it was described to me) “give relationship.” It is understandable that folks were upset when they weren’t paid as promised by unscrupulous outfitters or when they felt unsafe being asked to porter into the high country (the tribal peoples have not traditionally traveled above the jungles, see story below), but it truly resonated with me that when they felt most disrespected was when they were treated as if they were nothing more than pack animals. Quite frankly, they explained, why should they leave their tribal community and upset their daily lives only to be mistreated or underpaid?

The Moni name for Carstensz is Mbai Ngela. It means "Forbidden Egg." The story is that in years gone by when the mountain was snow covered, it resembled an egg, and the fore-fathers forbade their people from going there because it was the hunting grounds of evil spirits and those spirits always killed those who ventured there. Even today, villagers have a very difficult time understanding the science of hypothermia and often will point to and tell of places along the way where the spirits have killed a poor wayfarer!

I knew that in order to eat this elephant, I would need to take it one bite at a time, so I started with small bites of “giving relationship.” I found that when I played soccer (which I am convinced is the lingua franca of relationship) with the local men and boys on village airstrips, that we had laughs to share (mostly at me tripping on the uneven surface!); when I offered to show folks photos of my family, they showed me their village (!); and for all my “otherness” (some folks, I was told, had never seen white-skinned people), I was never denied the hospitality of a meal or a hut as respite from the rain. Another small bite was the creation of the protocols (below) to be posted in a church along our route. The pastor in this village of twenty people, a good man named Atan, had initially wanted to run me off. I agreed to keep walking, but in deepening the conversation as to why, I learned that an earlier group of tourists had – in his word – “desecrated” the church by leaving garbage there. I whole-heartedly agreed that such practices were unacceptable, and offered to create protocols to instruct tourists how to behave. Through my translators I was able to build a simple list of what it would take for his village to feel respected. They fully wanted tourists to stop for the night but they also needed tourists to respect that privilege. As I look forward to my next trip, I hope to take a few more bites of the elephant! THE SUGAPA ROUTE VISITOR PROTOCOLS This church serves an important role in the community. Guests are welcomed to find refuge here and are asked respect the following requests. This will help ensure use of the building for future travelers. • Please stay off of the raised area which surrounds the altar. This area is for local religious personnel only and it is considered offensive if others trespass there. • Please keep hot water, stoves & cookware out of the building. This helps keep the area clean. • Please hang a trash bag just outside the building to collect your garbage. Villagers will burn your trash for you. • Because of the importance of Sunday worship, travelers should not expect access to the building on Saturday evenings or Sundays. • Please do not use the church grounds or property for toilet needs. Ask the Pastor of the church where it is appropriate to wash and use the bathroom. • Please offer a donation for your use of the church. This is an appropriate and considerate way of expressing thanks. Download a multi-lingual copy of the Sugapa Route Visitor Protocols here.

Early season weather kept the Mt. Rainier Five Day Climb from ascending above Camp Muir. The teams, led by RMI Guides Adam Knoff and Andy Bond reported windy and snowy conditions at Camp Muir. The climbers will make their descent to Paradise this morning and will be back in Ashford later day.