April 30, 2018 Every spring IMG Guides come together for our annual Guide Training weekend just before the start of the Rainier climbing season. This year we packed the room with 37 Guides. Saturday is typically reserved for getting to know the new guides (10 this year), discussing any new protocols, a refresher on […]
April 23, 2018 IMG Senior Guide Betsy Dain-Owens checked in by radio from the lower slopes of Mt. Rainier today. Her report was that the Denali Prep Seminar team is having an absolute blast in the good weather. Their plan for today is to work on some of the fundamentals (ice axe arrest, cramponing, and […]
April 23, 2018 Justin Merle began guiding on Mt. Rainer in 1999 and hasn’t stopped. Since his first climb as a guide, he’s accumulated over 160 summits of Mt. Rainier and countless other summits here in the Great Pacific Northwest and worldwide, including seven summits of Mt. Everest. Merle, an AMGA certified Alpine Guide, has […]
April 13, 2018 As always Rainier has provided a great training venue this week. Snowy winter weather, wind, and variable terrain gave our Denali Seminar team exposure to all aspects of expedition climbing. Over the last 6 days they’ve experienced expedition camp maintenance, crevasse rescue scenarios, navigation training, fixed rope courses and, of course, the […]
From: Dustin Balderach Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2018 To: Tye Chapman Subject: Relaxing at Refugio Paine Grande Hey Tye. All continues to go beautifully (pun intended) down here in Torres del Paine. We just finished a great big dinner here at Refugio Paine Grande. A super nice lodge located right on the shores of the […]
February 7, 2018 IMG Senior Guide Dustin Balderach checked in from Refugio Chileno in Torres del Paine National Park this afternoon reporting that he and his team “had a great day today”. They got a nice early start from Puerto Natales which put them on the trail about 10:30am. Once on the trail they made […]
January 26th, 2018 I met Liz in 1979 on my first Himalayan Expedition and she wanted to know everything about what happened.  Since then, I met her dozens and dozens of times in Kathmandu, as I traveled back and forth to Nepal over the years with our climbing teams. Ever the journalist, Liz was all […]
January 25, 2018 While the 2018 Everest Expedition hasn’t officially began, we’re happy to report that we’ve already had some strong interest in our 2019 Everest Programs! The dates are set, but it looks like prices will be going up for the Spring 2019 Everest programs (Everest, Lhotse, Lobuche, EBCÂ Treks). There’s just no way around […]
January 5, 2018 Well, Luke checked in today reporting that he and the team had a great day today. They spent the morning at the viewpoint just soaking things in as best they could. After lunch they headed out on a zodiac boat to Islatak. Islatak is a nunatak, which is an island/rock ridge/peak that […]
October 26, 2017 The 3X3/2X2 Team checked in from Lobuche Village today to let us know that the weather was perfect for the trek over Khongma La (18,320ft). This high altitude pass is a big test for the Team. Everyone did very well after the rest day in Chukkung. The views are incredible on this […]
