February 13, 2012
The view from up high (photo: Dale Funk)
Team 4 summited Aconcagua this morning. 5 a.m. was the departure time and the team was back at high camp exactly 12 hours later.  Weather was good going up and on top. Winds were calm on the summit, allowing the crew to take photos for 35 minutes prior to heading down. Time now for these horses to head for the barn. A huge congratulations to all.
Phil Ershler
February 13, 2012
John Race reviewing rope skills (Photo: George Dunn)
In late January IMG guides met in Ouray, Colorado to review ice guiding skills and to share the latest techniques and technologies. With over 200 routes in the ice-park and dozens of backcountry climbs a short drive from town there is never a shortage of ice real estate to play on in Ouray. The town of Ouray is nestled in a cul-de-sac of the San Juan Mountain range and boasts a multitude of hot-springs and good beer: two very good things to follow up a day on the ice with.
Our first day of guide training was spent on ice and top-rope anchors, various rappelling and lowering techniques, and instructional methods. Who better to learn from than the people that are out there using these skills every day. IMG lead guides Justin Merle and John Race led our training with the same expertise and humor that they bring to the “office†every day.
The Guides at play (Photo: Nick Laws)
The second day of training was used to review multi-pitch ice guiding methods. This training covered much of the skills that we use on longer alpine ice routes, like the Kautz Route or Liberty Ridge on Mt. Rainier. One of the more difficult skills to get dialed is managing hundreds of feet of multiple ropes while hanging from the side of a ice fall.
It was another great winter IMG guide training. There’s no better place than Ouray, in my opinion, to work on your ice climbing skills. Hopefully you can join us there for one of our ice climbing seminars.
Nick Laws, IMG guide
IMG Climbers on the rainforest approach to Machame Camp, Kilimanajaro. (Photo by Adam Angel)
February 13, 2012
Craig John called in today from Machame Camp on Kilimanjaro. After two dry and cold climbs Craig reports that the rains have returned. The entire team is doing great and is happy to have day one in the history books. There is a good chance they will climb above the rain tomorrow, which is always nice. The change in weather might also signal warmer temperatures for summit day. That’s a long way off though; one day at a time.
Adam Angel
February 13, 2012
A lot going on in Latin America this week – here’s the latest news from our IMG teams abroad…
Nice day for a dip (Photo: Tye Chapman)
Patagonia Trek
The first IMG trek in Patagonia, led by Operations Manager Tye Chapman, is off and running. All trekkers, with all their luggage, arrived this evening in Punta Arenas, Chile. Breezy and cool in Punta with a bit of sun. Sounds about right for this time of year. Tomorrow morning, they head to Puerto Natales with a stop en route to say “Hi” to the penguins. Tye and Doug initiated the first annual Patagonia Polar Plunge by jumping into the Straights of Magellan.
Aconcagua
High camp, Aconcagua (Photo: Dale Funk)
We heard from both Mike and Greg today. Teams are doing well. Mike and crew carried to C1 today and plan on moving there Monday. Elevation – about 16,000 ft. Greg called from C3 – high camp. The team arrived in good form. We talked about forecasted weather and strategy. Weather is forecasted to remain clear but with increasing winds as the week progresses. The crew is planning on a 5 AM departure for the summit Monday morning. Keeping our fingers crossed.
Josh's Angels (Photo: Jim McGill)
Mexico
I was very ably joined on the Mexico trip by IMG guide, Josh McDowell. I’m not sure if the ladies on our climb took Josh under their wing or the other way around. That said, we finished off a great week with a great day/evening in Puebla before flying home to family, friends and commitments. We’ll be back in November 2012.
Phil Ershler
February 12, 2012
Cruising the market in Moshi
Another IMG Kili team has safely arrived in Moshi to begin our third climb of the season. Once again Craig John is leading the way. If you haven’t been following our climbs on Kili this year, this will be Craig’s 21st summit. Today the team toured the local market, visited with our friends at the Kilimanjaro Porter’s Assistance Project, and packed their duffles for the climb. Tomorrow they’ll head up to the Machame gate to start the journey to the top.
After months of preparation it always feels good to start putting one foot in front of the other on the trail. Stay tuned to the blog for updates!
Adam Angel
February 11, 2012
Mike Hamill called today to check in from Aconcagua. His team is at Base Camp and doing well. They elected to take a rest day today and will carry to Camp 1 tomorrow.
Everyone is healthy and happy!
Greg Vernovage called to check in at 2:00 pm PST. His group is slated to move up to Camp III (High Camp) tomorrow. It has just started to snow on them .
If all goes according to plan, they’ll move up to high camp tomorrow, then summit on the following day. The team is doing well.
George Dunn
February 10, 2012
Rocks of Aconcagua. (Photo by Phil Ershler)
IMG Guides Mike Hamill and Greg Vernovage called in from two separate camps on Aconcagua this afternoon.
Mike & team had just pulled into Plaza Argentina (base camp) and Greg & Co. had just returned from a tough carry to High Camp. Both teams are doing just fine. A couple headaches for sure but nothing out of the ordinary.
Both teams will take a rest day tomorrow before moving up higher on the mountain. Mike’s team will carry to C1 on Sunday and Greg’s crew will move up to High Camp.
Tye Chapman
February 10, 2012
IMG Kilimanjaro guide Craig John said goodbye to his team at the airport last night, and headed back to Moshi for a well-deserved rest day before his third and final Kili trip this season. We asked Craig to send us a short retrospective after his 20th Kili trip:
“I was sitting in my living room in Olympia, WA back in November 1995 when the phone rang. It was Eric. He said “hey CJ, do you want to go to Africa in January?” That first trip was an eye opener. First off, part of the group was delayed by a couple of days because of a huge snow storm on the east coast that forced tons of flights to be cancelled. To deal with that, we flip flopped the program and did the safari first and the climb after the rest of the group got there. It rained every day except for the day we went to the summit. I was surprised by how cold it was on the roof of Africa….here on the equator. It was incredibly satisfying to finally stand there on the summit and be in a place that I had only seen pictures of. Those shots I got from summit of the sun coming up behind Mawenzi, Kilimanjaro’s other summit, still bring back great memories for me. Back then, we descended by the Marangu route, which was a long way down: all the way from Uhuru Peak to Gillman’s Point to the Kibo huts, and then on to the Horombo Huts for the night. It’s now 2012 and last Saturday I reached the summit of Kilimanjaro for the 20th time along with eight others in our group. We had a great climb. It was cold and a bit windy, but the sun coming up behind Mawenzi still touched and warmed a place inside me that brings back that first climb. It is always satisfying to me when the people with me marvel at that sunrise just as I did 20 climbs ago. It has been my privilege to work with the great local guides from the Kilimanjaro area, the wonderful staff from the hotel, great IMG customers, and the other guides from IMG. Tomorrow my next Kili group arrives and climb number 21 will be underway….the numbers aren’t important except for looking back to remember who I was with, on the roof of Africa. So here’s to starting on the next 20 climbs….wait a minute…what did I just say? “
Craig John
IMG Climbers reaching Stella Point as the sun rises. (Photo by Adam Angel)
February 9, 2012
Life in the clouds can be a bit fuzzy.
Phil called in from the hut on Orizaba after “given’ it one heck of a go” this morning. Despite the teams effort they were forced to turn around 500ft short of the summit. 500ft doesn’t sound like much, but if you’ve climbed at all you realize that 500ft can be an eternity in the mountains.
With close to a foot of new snow on the upper mountain, blowing ice and snow in their faces and just generally being surrounded by a ‘black cloud’ Phil, made the tough decision to turn around.
The group is all smiles and anxious to get downhill to ‘wash the stink off’, grab a bite to eat and relax before making the journey home later this week.
Tye Chapman
February 9, 2012
Camp 2. (Photo by Nick Haward)
Greg called in this morning from Camp 2. The team crushed it today making the move from C1 to C2 in good time and in good form.
Now that they’re situated at C2, Greg can start thinking about the next few days which includes their summit day. What’s the weather look like? What about the forecasted winds? Any precip in the forecast?
Things change in the mountains minute to minute but the weather models show a pretty good forecast over the next 3 days. Anything beyond that is pretty much hearsay. Cold temps, light winds and light snow are forecasted, none of which is out of the ordinary for Aconcagua.
They’ll continue to take it one day at a time. Tomorrow they’ll carry to High Camp.
Tye Chapman
