Bolivia Climbers Summit Pequena Alpamayo

August 13, 2012

: Climbing over the summit of Tarija Peak en route to Pequeno Alpamayo (Viki Tracey)

: Pequeno Alpamayo from the summit of Tarija Peak (Ben Marshall)

IMG guide Greg Vernovage reports that the team had a nice climb today of Pequeno Alpamayo.Â Itâ€™s a great warm up climb, and a spectacular summit.Â They started before dawn, climbed over the subsidiary summit of Tarija Peak, and then on to the summit of Pequeno Alpamayo.Â Well done, team!

Now they are all back to Condoriri Base Camp and tomorrow they head to Huayna Potosi Base Camp.

Eric Simonson

Kili Climbers Heading To The Serengeti

August 13, 2012

Unloading the airplane at Serengeti

IMG guide Max Bunce reports that the climbers had a nice celebration back at the hotel in Moshi after their climb.Â Now they are heading out for 4 days of safari in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro.Â Their safari starts with the 45 minute flight from Arusha to the Seronera Airstrip out in the middle of the Serengeti.Â They will be met by the drivers with 4WD vehicles for an afternoon of game viewing before heading to their luxury tented camp.Â So far so good!

Eric Simonson

A Day At St. Pete’s

August 13, 2012

Word in from Phil Ershler and the team – they’ve had picture perfect weather while touring St. Petersburg today.Â They’ll continue on with a visit to St. Isaac’s Cathedral followed by a boat tour through the canals in the afternoon.

Tomorrow they’ll depart for Terskol, where they’ll spend some time hiking and acclimatizing.Â Everyone’s doing just fine.

Team in front of the Church of Spilled Blood (Phil Ershler)

An Evening Hike To Camp Muir

August 12, 2012

: Thanks to Jess, Aaron & Blair for setting up the tent! (Erika Bjornson)

: Sunrise at Camp Muir. (Erika Bjornson)

: Sunset from the Muir Snowfield. (Erika Bjornson)

: Darkness is minutes away. (Erika Bjornson)

Last night after work Erika Bjornson and I jumped in the car and headed up to Paradise. Our mission: enjoy an evening hike up to Camp Muir & to check out the Perseid Meteor Shower.

Enjoy the hike we did. We hit the trail at 6:45pm and made good time up to Pebble Creek. Once on snow we relished the evening breeze and continued making good time up to Camp Muir. It wasn’t until we hit Moon Rocks (9000ft) that we had to pull out the headlamps.

In the end, we rolled into Camp Muir at 10:15pm, popped over the ridge and cast our eyes on the tent that our team had set up for us – a nice perk around these parts! We sat outside for a bit and saw some of the meteors – turns out they’re not in full swing until the pre-dawn hours. We had fun nonetheless – and got a good workout in too.

The morning came, as it always does. We shook the cobwebs, broke down the tent, then fought the urge to hang around for the pancakes and bacon that our team was sure to devour.Instead, we opted (read contractually obligated) to head downhill so I could get back to the office.

All told: 45min driving. 3.5hrs uphill to Muir. 30minutes stargazing. 7hrs sleeping. 1hr sipping coffee chatting with friends. 2hrs downhill. 45min driving. A ton of fun. And back at my desk by 10:15am (give or take).

Tye Chapman

How To Prepare For The Knife

August 12, 2012

: Summit of Iliniza Sur.

: Steepest pitch of the climb via our variation of the normal route (Jenni Fogle)

: Iliniza Norte from the climb to Iliniza Sur. (Jenni Fogle)

IMG Guide Jenni Fogle will be having some surgery in a couple weeks…In anticipation of the surgery she and fellow IMG Guide Luke Reilly split the country for some climbing in Ecuador.

How To Prepare For The Knife
By Jenni Fogle

Step One:Â Â Grab your favorite climbing partner
Step Two:Â Â Determine how many days you can both take off from work without being fired
Step Three:Â Â Buy plane tickets
Step Four:Â Â Choose maximum possible objectives for time available
Step Five:Â Â Pack
Step Six:Â Â Climb
Step Seven:Â Â Repeat Step Six as many times as possible.

We arrived in Ecuador Thursday night and were on the trail to the Iliniza hut by Friday mid-day. **Got up at 3 a.m. to climb Iliniza Sur (see photos) and did a variation of the normal route (different start and lower part of the climb). We descended the normal route, headed back to Uyumbicho for the night and are heading toward Antisana this evening or tomorrow.

Jenni and Luke

[**Note: it’s nice to be acclimatized after a summer on Rainier!]

See also: How To Make A Mean Chicken Salad

Weekend Updates From Around The World

August 12, 2012

Bolivia – Vernovage checked in. All continues to go well for these guys. They’re set to ascend their first objective: PequeÃ±o Alpamayo.

On the trail to Machu Picchu.

Peru (Machu Picchu) – Peter Anderson called in and was in a great mood! The team enjoyed another perfect day yesterday on the trail. ‘T-shirt weather” he called it. Today they’ve crossed over their 3rd big pass of the trek and are preparing their knees for the 2000ft descent down some big stone steps. Tomorrow they’ll wake up early and head to Machu Picchu.

Russia (Elbrus) – Phil called in to report that all is well. Everybody showed up in St. Petersburg with all their luggage. The forecastÂ calls for some good weather for their tour of St. Petersburg where they will visit the Fortress of Peter and Paul, St. Isaacs Cathedral and take a boat ride through the canals in the afternoon.

Celebration dance.

Tanzania (Kilimanjaro) – Max Bunce reports that the team had a smooth descent from the summit.Â Last night they were at Mweka Camp, which is at timberline (about 11000 ft).Â Today they came down through theÂ forest to the Mweka Gate, where they met the land rovers for the drive down to Moshi (at theÂ foot of the mountain).Â Tonight they have a celebration barbecue dinner at the hotel.Â Congrats, team.Â Great job!

Dead Woman’s Pass

August 11, 2012

On the trail.

Peter Anderson called in again today to report that all continues to got well!

They crossed Dead Womanâ€™s Pass today (~13,700ft) and despite the name of the pass, it was a perfect day on the trail. All are healthy and looking forward to â€˜more of the same!â€™.

Weâ€™ll hear from Peter again in the next few days â€“ it can be hard to get a satellite phone call out in the trees, but as always, no news is good news.

Tye Chapman

Bolivia Crew At Condoriri Base Camp

August 10, 2012

Alpamayo on the hike out. (Viki Tracey)

IMG guide Greg Vernovage reports that today the climbers successfully made the move up to Condoriri Base Camp at about 15,000 feet.Â This stunning area is marked by a number or gorgeous alpine lakes, surrounded by several 16,000 to 19,000 ft peaks.Â The plan will be to spend several night in this area.Â Tomorrow the team will climb Pico Austria, a nice practice climb for more acclimatization.Â After that, they will do a full day of technical training, followed by the ascent of Pequeno Alpamayo (17,482 ft).Â Â After that, it is off to Huayna Potosi (nearly 20,000 ft)!

Eric Simonson

Another Perfect Peruvian Day

August 10, 2012

Group learning about the ancient cave site of Quenco overlooking Cusco. (Peter Anderson)

Peter checked in yesterday after another perfect Peruvian day! They spend the day touring the Sacred Valley and stayed at an old church hotel.

They’re ready for the trek to officially begin. Today they’ll log 6-7 miles. The weather is good and the team looks strong.

Tye Chapman

Bolivia Team Heading For The Hills

August 9, 2012

: The team hearing about the Aztec ruins. (Greg Vernovage)

: The team at our high point of the day..(Greg Vernovage)

: Illiampu over Lake Titicaca. (Greg Vernovage)

It was another great day here in Bolivia. Â The morning boat ride on Lake Titicaca and dropped us off on Sun Island for our acclimatization hike. Â No wind and not a cloud in the sky forced us to short sleeve shirts and an extended rest on top. Â The views were great. Â We were able to see Illiampu, Huayna Potosi and even Illimani off in the distance. Â Walking back down hill, we ate an excellent local lunch of different potatoes, corn with big kernels, chicken, fresh trout â€¦all with a great view across the Lake.

We are all acclimatizing well and will now focus on the next goal, Pequeno Alpamayo. Â Conditions on the mountain sound excellent and we are hoping for continued nice weather. Â Tomorrow we move to Condoriri National Park, where we will spend one night in Tambo Condoriri hut.Â The team looking forward to seeing more llamas, and I am sure they will not be disappointed.

Greg Vernovage