Elbrus Update(s)

August 7, 2009
Phil called in the night of Aug. 6 and relayed a message written by Kristen and John:

Yesterday [actually Aug. 5] we toured around St. Petersburg and had the privilege of touring the Peter and Paul Fortress, St. Isaac’s Cathedral and the Hermitage Museum. The favorite by far was St. Issac’s [pictured below]. We rounded out the day with an evening canal tour and a late dinner at a nice German restaurant. A wonderful way to end our day!

The following morning [Aug. 6th] we flew from St. Petersburg to Mineralnye Vody and then drove to our hotel in the town of Terskol. Several cows were encountered and dodged along the way!

Kristin & John

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August 7, 2009
Phil called in this morning…

All is well. The team went for an acclimatization hike yesterday and will do some training today with plans of climbing tomorrow. Weather is good and the team is doing well… Next update will be after the climb.

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Tye Chapman
Operations Manager

Machu Picchu Trek Starts Today

August 6, 2009

IMG Guide Eric Remza is leading this year’s Machu Picchu Trek… Not a bad way to spend the next 10 days! Eric has promised to check in from time to time… we should hear from him in the next couple days.

Machu Picchu Ruins (Photo by IMG Guide Jason Edwards)

Look for blog updates from some of our other ongoing and upcoming trips:

Elbrus – Led by Phil Ershler

Kilimanjaro – Led by Andy Politz

Cho Oyu Climb – Led by Greg Vernovage

Tibet Trek – Led by Greg Vernovage

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Tye Chapman
Operations Manager

A Quick Elbrus Update

August 3, 2009

Phil just called from St. Petersburg. Everybody arrived safely and all baggage is accounted for. Weather is good… the group starts their tour in and around St. Petersburg tomorrow.

All is well in Russia!—

Tye Chapman
Operations Manager

A Bird’s Eye View Of Mt. Rainier

August 1, 2009

Yesterday evening IMG Guide Jenni Fogle took a few of us flying! A big deal for the three of us but not to Jenni who flies KC-135’s and Global Hawks for the Air Force Reserve!

So we met at the airfield at 6:00pm and jumped in the little Cessna 4-seater and away we went. In the plane: IMG Guides Josh Smith and Mike Haft, myself and of course Jenni. Our flight lasted just over an hour. Our course took us over Eatonville, Ashford and the flanks of Mt. Rainier… We flew directly over one of our groups (well above them) who were camped on the Lower Paradise Glacier, then continued out east and came back toward the mountain to see our other camp at the Flats. Pretty cool stuff! The sun was giving us some fits so photos from that side of the mountain didn’t turn out but some others did… check them out!

Our ride.

The Tahoma Glacier

The Kautz Ice Chute.

A cool view from the plane.

IMG HQ… See the vans in the circle drive?

The Crew: Front (Left to right): Tye and Jenni.

Back (Left to right): Mike and Josh.

Thanks to Jenni for a great flight and a safe landing!
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Tye Chapman
Operations Manager

Team Summit!

July 29, 2009

The team climbed yesterday as scheduled…. and made the summit! From the photos it looked like a beautiful morning to climb Mt. Rainier!

They’ve probably already had some breakfast this morning and are well on their way back to the trailhead – arrival is usually around noon or 1pm. They’ll be picked up and then grab that well deserved burger and beer!

Team at 13,500ft on the Emmons Glacier.

Group shot on the summit!

Summit!

Photos by IMG Guide Jason Edwards (cell phone).

Camp Schurman (Emmons – Rainier)

July 27, 2009

The Emmons team has moved to their second camp at Camp Schurman at 9500ft. They’ll try for the summit tonight and make their way back to this camp tomorrow morning…then make their way out to the trailhead on Thursday…

Camp 2

Another look at the team…

Photos by Greg Vernovage (cell phone).

The Wonder Of Technology – Emmons Photos

July 27, 2009

Last night and early this morning IMG Guide Greg Vernovage emailed me some photos of their first camp… Not bad considering he’s on Mt. Rainier and taking these photos with his cell phone!

Camp 1 before some digging… Inter Glacier on Mt. Rainier at roughly 8000ft
Camp 1 (Before)

A look at Camp 1 after some digging of tent platforms.

Looking down at Camp 1 and up the Inter Glacier.

A view from Camp 1.

A happy group after breakfast at Camp 1.

Photos by Greg Vernovage (Cell Phone).

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Tye Chapman
Operations Manager

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A Big Crew Heading Up The Emmons Glacier…

July 26, 2009

IMG Guide Greg Vernovage emailed me this photo last night to illustrate the size of the team he’ll be leading up Mt. Rainier this week via the Emmons Glacier…Greg’s a big boy coming in at well over 6ft… (6ft. 3in I think) so as you can imagine he’s usually the tall guy in the picture… Not this time. He’s in the dark grey t-shirt right smack in the middle of the photo below…

This photo was taken outside the Alpine Inn over at Crystal Mountain. Our Emmons Teams meet there at 2pm on day 1 for their gear check, orientation and instruction before their group dinner at 6:30pm. Day 2 starts with breakfast and a shuttle to the trail head at the White River entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park… The day ends at around 8000ft on the Inter Glacier… On Day 3 they’ll make their way to Camp Schurman at 9500ft. The night of Day 3 or the early morning of Day 4 they’ll make their way to the summit (Rainier permitting of course) and back to camp. On Day 5 (or Day 4 of the climb) they’ll make their way back to the trailhead for a shuttle back to the Alpine Inn for a burger and a well deserved beer!

Greg’s going to try to email photos along the way so check back later this week to see how the climb’s going.

Tye Chapman
Operations Manager

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A Google Earth View

July 19, 2009

Mt. Rainier DC Route – Early July

IMG Guide Mike Haugen tracked his climb and overlayed it on google earth… Pretty cool!

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Tye Chapman
Operations Manager

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Another Beautiful Week On Mt. Rainier

July 17, 2009

The season of summits continues on Mt. Rainier this week with a solid forecast… however it might get a little windy on the upper mountain over the weekend so we’ll see how our teams do.

On the schedule these next few days will be a Kautz Climb, an Emmons Climb a Disappointment Cleaver Climb and a 6-day Himalayan Seminar..So once again we’ll have the mountain covered!

That means in addition to the group gear (ropes, tents, stoves, fuel, etc.) needed for each climb we’ll need to pack a combined 13 days worth of food for which amounts to roughly 150 breakfasts and 150 dinners or simply put A LOT OF FOOD!

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Tye Chapman
Operations Manager

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