2020 Mt. Rainier Season Is Wrapped…2021 Dates Out Soon

September 30, 2020

: Late summer Mt. Rainier ready for a winter blanket of snow! (Anna HIcks)

: IMG Guide Anna Hicks carrying her fair share…and then some. (Nicole Sims)

: Camp Muir with some fresh snow from last week’s storm. (Anna Hicks)

: IMG Guide Nicole Sims with a loaded pack. (Anna HIcks)

We’re happy to report that the 2020 Mt. Rainier season is wrapped.Â Our final climb came off the mountain yesterday, and our Camp Muir Teardown Team (Rikki Dunn, Anna Hicks, Peter Dale, Nicole Sims, Dan Reithmuller & Jay Lyons) all descended today after two hard days of work battening down the hatches up at Camp Muir.Â The weather last week was less than ideal (read horrendous), thankfully the storm passed and high pressure rolled in for our final climb and teardown. It’s not often that the end of the season is celebrated with ice cream…but it felt appropriate in the 80 degree weather we’re having here in Ashford.

Tip of the cap to all of the guides who worked their tails off this summer (of all summers) keeping things mountain-safe and covid-safe! It was no small effort.

2021 Rainier dates will be released in a couple weeks. Stay tuned.

Tye Chapman

Smokey Mountains

September 11, 2020

: Wednesday morning from Camp Muir (Anna Hicks)

: Thursday afternoon from Camp Muir (Anna Hicks)

: Friday morning from Camp Muir (Anna Hicks)

As a guide service we don’t spend a lot of time in the Smokey Mountains…unfortunately this year things are a little different.

As the wildfires burn across the Western US, we’ve been lucky. Not only have the fires avoided the Ashford area, the smoke hasn’t been nearly as bad as the surrounding area. And as you’d imagine, things on the upper mountain are significantly better.

We’ll continue to monitor the air quality index and will adjust accordingly.

Tye Chapman

Mt. Rainier Rarely Disappoints

September 4, 2020

: Early morning climbing on the upper mountain. (Jonathan Schrock)

: Climbers on the descent from the summit of Mt. Rainier. (Jonathan Schrock)

: Hard to beat a sunrise on Mt. Rainier! (Jonathan Schrock)

Like most guides, IMG Guide Jonathan Schrock bounces around quite a bit. This week he was on Mt. Rainier for a couple climbs (and a couple of summits) and snapped a few beautiful photos too good not to share.

He’s since departed for Bend, OR, but will be back for a few more climbs in the PNW to round out the summer.

All is well on Mt. Rainier!

Tye Chapman

Rainier 2021 Update

August 26, 2020

: Sunrise summit (Jay Lyons)

: Rainier climbers on the upper mountain (Austin Shannon)

: The summit crater (Nickel Wood)

: Happy climbers on the summit of Mt. Rainier (Andy Polloczek)

As this climbing season cruises along, we’ve been hard at work behind the scenes planning for 2021. We will be pushing out some more information in the coming weeks. In the meantime, if you want to climb Mt. Rainier with IMG in 2021 be sure to sign-up for our e-newsletter.

Hope you can join us on Mt. Rainier next summer!

Tye Chapman

Autumn Update-Nepal

August 24, 2020

Heading up Chukhung Ri with Nuptse and Lhotse behind (Eric Simonson)

We take very seriously the health and safety of our IMG team members and Sherpa staff and are closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation in the country.Â Unfortunately, the current situation in Nepal makes it impossible for us to operate our scheduled Autumn 2020 Nepal treks and climbs.Â We are looking forward to returning in the Spring of 2021 and will be happy to give you updated information as it comes in.Â If you would like to donate to our dedicated Sherpa staff in Nepal, who are looking at another season with no jobs, you can visit the link on our website: https://www.mountainguides.com/everest-south20.shtml

Greg Vernovage

Not All Heroes Wear Capes

August 13, 2020

: Cold Beer courtesy of Warren Wilhide

: Warren’s team (Warren Wilhide 2007)

: Working the Muir Snowfield (Warren Wilhide 2007)

: The route in 2007 went down below the cleaver (Warren Wilhide)

: Warren & Ang Dorjee on the summit of Rainier (Warren Wilhide 2007)

: IMG Guides Left to Right: Greg Vernovage, Eric Remza, Ang Dorjee Sherpa, Chris Meder

If you’ve climbed with IMG, or with any other guide service for that matter, you’ll agree that guides work hard, very hard. Obviously it’s great when their hard work is recognized with gratuity at the end of a climb, but it’s also great when the hard work is appreciated from afar, with a truly random act of kindness (two to be exact).

Twice this summer we got a message on facebook from longtime climber & friend of IMG, Warren Wilhide, who wanted to surprise the guides with some beer. Far be it from me to get in the way of free beer! I offered to pick up the the beer and figure out a way for him to pay me back, but Warren wasn’t messing around. He contacted a local bar and worked out a deal. 20 minutes later our guide lounge refrigerator was full of ice cold beer. Twice!

Thanks for making it happen Warren!

Tye Chapman

P.S. I looked through the archives and dug up some photos from Warren’s climb of Rainier from back in 2007. I was instantly reminded that the route dropped down below the Disappointment Cleaver that year making for “heartbreak hill’ to get back up to the Ingraham Flats on the way ‘down’.

IMG Denali 2021 Planning Well Underway

August 7, 2020

The last few steps to the summit of Denali in 2019 (Eric Simonson)

Getting back to guiding on Mt Rainier this past month has been a great boost for everyone at IMG after months of boring isolation.Â A big shout out to our hard working guides and staff, our fantastic IMG climbers, and the National Park Service for working to re-start climbing at Mt Rainier. Â It makes us feel hopeful again that there will be some more mountains in our future!

Speaking of which, we are now working on our 2021 Denali season planning.Â While many of the 2021 expedition slots have already been taken by 2020 climbers who rescheduled, we do have a few slots left on our May 14 and May 18 programs, and they are going fast.Â These mid-May departures typically make their summit bids in late May/early June which is normally a great time to climb! If you are a physically strong climber with solid skills (cramponing, glacier travel, crevasse rescue, cold weather experience, etc) then we hope you will consider joining us.Â Our Denali program director Nicole Sims is happy to discuss the trip with you in more detail, so please get in touch!

Eric Simonson

Cold Weather Is Not Always A Bad Thing

August 7, 2020

Glacier Skills team rolling into Camp Muir (Nickel Wood)

Things are cranking right along on Mt. Rainier. Our DC team summited yesterday in some cold & windy conditions, but did so in good form. Up next is our Glacier Skills Seminar team who made their way from the the Paradise Glacier to Camp Muir yesterday. Today they’re moving up to the Ingraham Flats to do some more training & set themselves up for a summit attempt tomorrow morning.

The recent cold snap we’ve had on Mt. Rainier has actually been well received by the guides. The colder weather stops things from melting out, specifically any ladders or protection in place on the route, snow bridges, tent platforms & tent anchors, etc.Â That said, with a mid-summer cold snap often comes wind, which we’re always keeping an eye on. Simply put, there are pros & cons to a lot of things in the mountains!

Tye Chapman

Accidental Climber

August 6, 2020

In 2014, Jim Geiger attempted to become the oldest American to summit Everest. Jim had climbed mountains all over the world with IMG and we were excited to work with him on Mount Everest. You can watch Jim on his journey and continue to help our staff in Nepal through the link below.

Accidental_Climber (James Lucy Productions)

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A portion of all sales for #AccidentalClimber, which documents Jimâ€™s journey to Everest, will go to our fund supporting our entire team in Nepal through the economic disaster brought on by the pandemic. This same fund supported guides, their families, and communities in the 2014-2015 seasons after the avalanche. Pre-order the film on iTunes now: https://apple.co/2E7dKH1

Accidental Climber premieres August 11 in the US and Canada on VOD/Digital and DVD platforms. #ClimbYourOwnEverest

You can also help support the Staff in Nepal by going to the IMG link: https://www.mountainguides.com/everest-south20.shtml

Greg Vernovage

Busy Days On Mt. Rainier

August 4, 2020

Glacier Skills Team Moving up to 8100ft. (Nickel Wood)

It’s been a busy few days on Mt. Rainier!Â Let’s start with our Women’s climb, led by Anna Hicks. They summited yesterday morning and made their way down to Paradise in the afternoon. Passing them on the Muir Snowfield was our uphill DC team lead by Keith Rumburg. A little to the east of the Muir Snowfield at 81ooft is Dan Reithmuller and Nickle Wood who are leading our 6-day Glacier Skills Seminar, currently on day 3. Up at Camp Muir is Leanne Sebren who has been hard at work keeping Camp Muir & the Ingraham Flats in order and dialed into our Covid-19 protocols. And up on the route is Nate Sievert who is wrapping up a three day stretch of route work & other needed chores at Camp Muir.

All in all we had 12 guides on the mountain yesterday – all working hard and more importantly, working together.

Tye Chapman