June 16, 2011

Busy day on The Mountain for IMG.

Mt. Rainier

Kautz
Erica Engle called in from the summit after her and her team made their way up the ice chute on the Kautz. They’re safely back at their high camp sacked out after a quick dinner.

Liberty Ridge
Jeff Ward called in from the summit after the hard part was over on Liberty Ridge. They’ll camp at The Flats tonight.

Disappointment Cleaver
And IMG Partner, Phil Ershler, tagged the top with his crew at 6:30 this morning via the DC.

Strong work by everybody – we’ll try to get some photos here soon.

Tye Chapman

June 9, 2011

Despite the lack cell reception on the mountain, IMG Guide Mike Haft was able to sneak out a couple photos from their High Camp. If the weather holds and snow conditions permit they’ll climb tonight.

Tye Chapman

June 8, 2011

A beautiful sunrise.

With 18 guides and 36 climbers on 4 different routes it’s safe to say we’ve got the mountain covered right now.

Greg and his Emmons crew summitted via the Emmons yesterday and are making their way out today, Andy and his team on the Kautz are heading up to High Camp, Erica and her team left Camp Muir a couple hours ago and are en route to Ashford, Max Bunce and Co. will cross paths with the Erica’s team as they make their way to Camp Muir this morning and finally Mike Haft and Chris Meder along with their team are on Day 1 of our first Fuhrer Finger program this year.

Busy week.

Tye Chapman

June 6, 2011

Every year the NPS flies some much needed supplies to various locations on the mountain as well as flying some of the waste that gets collected at the different camps off the mountain.  This year, in conjunction with the NPS, we flew up some propane, some boards we attach to ladders for occasional crevasse crossings and some replacement tents.

Tye Chapman

IMG Guide Greg Vernovage snapped this photo of the helicopter dropping some gear at Camp Schurman on the North side of the mountain.

June 5, 2011

After a tough stretch here on Mt. Rainier, we’re happy to report that our team tagged the top yesterday via the DC.  On Friday, guides from both IMG and RMI put in a ton of hard work on the route, opening it up for their teams, and many to follow. A big thank you goes out to Dustin (IMG), Andy (IMG) & Mike (RMI), along with the teams that summitted yesterday helping establish the route on the upper mountain.

Our next team is at Camp Muir, sitting just below the clouds today, they’ll head up to the Ingraham Flats where they hope to pop out of the clouds into the sunshine this afternoon, before they climb tonight/tomorrow.

On the other side of the mountain, Greg Vernovage is just back from Nepal and is leading our Emmons team. Today is Day 1 for those guys, and they plan on getting to Camp 1 at about 8000ft. on the Inter Glacier. It’s tough going over there this time of year but it’s a strong crew and they’ll do just fine!

Tye Chapman