First Climb – First Summits!

May 19, 2011

With signatures on the 2011 Summit Board, our first climb of the season is in officially in the books! The route is in great shape, the camp at The Flats is solid and the weather looks like it might hold out for a couple more days. All good things.

: First climb; first summit. (Photo by John Race)

: Ingraham Glacier (Photo by John Race)

: The flats in the distance. (Photo by John Race)

: A beautiful summit sunrise! (Photo by John Race)

Led by Austin Shannon, the gang tagged the top this morning at around 6:30 in what John Race described as “the coldest summit climb I’ve ever experienced in May”.Â After a short time on the summit they made their way back the flats and on down to Muir in good time. From Muir they kept cruising and pulled into Paradise at about 2pm, a little earlier than normal but cold weather and a direct route will do that to a team.

Tye Chapman

First Night At The Flats

May 18, 2011

First night at 'The Flats' on Mt. Rainier (Photo by Austin Shannon)

Our first Rainier climb of the season is doing just fine. They’ve established the camp at The Flats, no small accomplishment, and are enjoying a beautiful evening in the sun. They’re eating dinner and sipping on some hot drinks now and will hit the sack here soon before getting an early start tomorrow, with plans of summitting around sunrise. Lots of work yet to do, but they’ve set themselves up for success.

If all goes as planned we’ll see these guys tomorrow afternoon with their summit smiles on!

Tye Chapman

Opening Day On Mt. Rainier

May 17, 2011

Our first Rainier climbers of the 2011 'summer' season.

Mt. Rainier is officially open.

Our first 3.5 day summit climb left for Paradise this morning and after a warm day on the snowfield they are pulling into Camp Muir right now (~4pm). It’s a beautiful day here in the Pacific Northwest – a perfect start to the season.

We plan on sending a couple guides up early tomorrow to do some work on the route and if all goes as planned these guys will get a shot at the summit on Thursday morning.

A great start to the season!

Tye Chapman

Q: Can I Wear My Contacts In The Mountains?

May 16, 2011

Q: Can I wear my contacts in the mountains?

IMG Guide (and recent Everest Summitter) Max Bunce enjoying a cucumber on the Muir Snowfield.

A: Absolutely. A lot of our guides wear contacts in the mountains without issue. You’ll have to be careful when putting them in and will need to keep the solution container close to your body to keep it warm. Cleanliness can be a problem but diligence pays off in the end. If you can wear them for multiple days then that makes it even easier, but bring a back up in case you have issues with your primary pair.

Now, for those of you who wear glasses and are unable to wear contacts, prescription glacier glasses might be a good option. If you see yourself doing a lot of climbing it is probably worth the investment – it sure beats trying to wear goggles and glasses at the same time.Â www.opticus.com is a good place to get a pair – not a cheap solution (~$300) but worth their weight in gold when compared to the alternative.

Tye Chapman

**Update: June 17, 2013

Please see advice from IMG Partner Eric Simonson on using contacts or prescription eye wear in IMG’s Rainier FAQ.

**Update: May 26, 2011

Contacts wearer and friend of IMG, Luke Torres, adds:

Let me add to what you wrote by recommending the one a day disposable contacts. Â The contacts are good for a single day’s use. Â After that you simply throw them away. Â The next day you open the package for a new contact and pop it into your eye (although I forgot a mirror on one of my trips and the absence of a mirror made putting the new lense in my eye difficult — I used my mirrored sunglasses). Â No cleaning, solutions, etc. to worry about. Â Each contact costs about a dollar so for the 6 to 10 contacts you need for a typical Rainier trip you’re looking at about $6 to $10.

The Rainier Season Is Just Around The Corner

May 13, 2011

May 2-6Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Work Week/Spring CleaningÂ (Check – Thanks to Austin, Josh & Dustin!)
May 7 & 8Â Â Â Â Â Â Guide training & BBQ (Check – Cold & Rainy as usual!)
May 9-11Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â New Guide training (Welcome aboard – John, Charlotte, Nick,Â Sara & Peter)
May 12 & 13Â Â Muir Set-up (Check – Thanks: JR, Josh, Tye, Luke, John & Tyler)
May 13Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Guide/NPS Training (Tonight: Thanks to JR & O for set-up and presentation)
May 14 & 15Â Â WFR Refresher Course (Tapp & Ted are en route now)
May 16Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â First climb of the seasonÂ (Austin, Craig, JR & John are ready to go!)

A Look Up The Lhotse Face

May 11, 2011

With IMG climbers at many of the camps on Everest, we thought now would be a good time to break this video out from last year… It’s a great look at what the Lhotse Face looks (and feels) like. Climbing up the face is one thing, being able to talk while he’s doing it is another! Well done, and thanks again to the Dahlems for the video.

Enjoy!

IMG Guide Training Over The Weekend

May 10, 2011

: Guide Training Day 1

Over the weekend close to 30 of our guides came together here in Ashford for one of our annual guide training weekends.Â The guides spent day in the classroom (lectures by IFMGA Guides John Race and Jeff Ward) and one day in the field.

These training days give us a chance to get everybody up to speed on any changes in protocol as well address any new systems being put in place. It also gives the guides a chance to catch up on any new guiding techniques being developed in the industy. All in all it’s two days very well spent!

Tye Chapman

Rope-fixing Sherpas Summit Everest from Camp 2

May 6, 2011

Everest. (Photo by Larry Alleva)

Yesterday the IMG sherpas Phu Tshering and Karma Gyalzen, and the rest of the fixing team reached the summit! They started at 1am at Camp 2, climbed to the Col in time for breakfast, fixed to the Balcony in 4 hours, and decided to keep going! The conditions up high were perfect, and they reached the summit at 4pm (May 6 Nepal time) and got safely back down on the Col at 5:50pm

Read the full dispatch and keep up with our Everest Coverage here.

Another Busy May Here At HQ

May 4, 2011

IMG HQ

Let the games begin!

May 2-6Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Work Week/Spring Cleaning
May 7 & 8Â Â Â Â Â Â Guide training & BBQ
May 9-11Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â New Guide training
May 12 & 13Â Â Muir Set-up
May 13Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Guide/NPS Evening Training
May 14 & 15Â Â WFR Refresher Course
May 16Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â First climb of the season

Tye Chapman

Machu Picchu Trek Wraps Up

May 2, 2011

The Machu Picchu group finished their trek yesterday with a tour of Machu Picchu and then descended to the town of Aguas Calientes for a well deserved check-in to their hotel after four days on the Inca Trail.

They report the trek was harder than they had expected, but all kept up well and did better than some of the â€œtwenty somethingsâ€ they saw on the trail. They journey back to Cusco today with their local guide and then fly to Lima and on home tomorrow.

Nice job, team!

George Dunn