current cybercasts

Current cybercasts for Aconcagua and Vinson are at:
http://www.alpineascents.com/cybercasts.asp

Rainier and Cascades trips open for Booking

Mexico Volcano Update

Team News:

The four of us are doing well here relaxing at the Puebla Marriott. It is hard to believe we were standing on the summit of "Izta"
just over 24 hour ago. Jeff was unfortunately prevented from going all the way to the hut at 15,000 because of altitude
problems but is doing much better now and is in good sprits and resting to make our next climb. We actually beat the sun
to the top and watched a beautiful sunrise with are next climbing objective in the foreground, "Pico de Orizaba" . One of
the real exciting things about climb ""Izta" over the past years has been to watch "Popo" blow off some steam and we were
treated to some big "plums" of varying shapes and sizes during our four days there.

Today we will be touring Puebla seeing interesting sites downtown, old ruins, as well as spending some quality time- "poolside".
It is going to be another sunny day here in Mexico- "wish you were here!

Sincerely,

Craig,

Our Cho Oyu team made the summit on Sept. 30, they are now safely at base camp. Check out their photos and current dispatches at:

http://www.alpineascents.com/cho-oyu-cybercast.asp

Rainier season wrap up.

We concluded our climbing season on Mt. Rainier yesterday, as our final climb of the year made the top (on Monday) and reported difficult route and weather conditions. We have now taken down our high camp and our Weather Port cook tent at Camp Muir, and have stored everything until next year. What a great season! We look forward to climbing Rainier again in 2010!

Rainier 9/24/09 high camp

Up at high camp, weather and route both good, team doing well! Photos of working and relaxi g at high camp.

Sept. 17 Update

Today our Rainier climb made the summit! Route conditions seem to be OK, thanks to some additional effort by other guides yesterday. The weather forecast looks great so we hope to continue our climbs with success until the end of our Season on Sept. 29.

Rainier route back in good condition!

Thanks to a team of our guides who worked on the Disappointment Cleaver climbing route on Sept. 9 & 10, our climbing team made the top on Sept. 11 & was the first guided group to summit Mt. Rainier in over a week. Our next climbing team summitted on Sept. 13, and since the weather is stable again and with good route conditions we hope to continue "topping out" until Sept. 29, which is the end of our climbing season on Rainier.

current Rainier

Newsletter:http://www.alpineascents.com/newsletter-fall09.html

8/27/09 Noon: -Rainier Camp Muir Update : Just spoke with lead guide Suzanne at Camp Muir. Teams are looking to put in a new route but currently a combination of the old and new - so a bit of a transition between routes. Overall, weather and climbing conditions are quite good .

Roger Mellem slideshow

Last night we had the honor of meeting Dee Molenaar in Seattle(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dee_Molenaar) at a slide show by Roger Mellem. The presentation was on a climbing trip with Willi Unsoeld and friends inPakistan 1974.

Baker climb summits! Rainier route looking good!

Our Mt. Baker climb topped out on Saturday, August 15th. They reported good weather and route conditions.

Our Rainier climb made the top yesterday as well! Today one of our guides has joined guides from another company to work on the Muir route above the Disappointment cleaver. Our team called in from the Ingraham Flats "high camp" to report great weather, they will be going for summit early tomorrow morning.

Rainier climb hoping for good weather!

Our Rainier climb camped at the Ingraham Flats high camp is positined for a summit attempt tomorrow, and currently observing foggy conditions, however, they are not reporting any precipatation.

Craig Luebben

We are sad to have lost such as great person who contributed so much to the climbing community. See article here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009636280_climber11m.html

Eldorado climb successful!

Our Eldorado Peak climb made the summit and reported great route conditions! However, our guide noted conditions appear to resemble what we normally encounter in late August/early September, as the warm weather this summer has been significant.

Our Mt. Baker climb topped out on Baker on Saturday and reported great conditions on the Easton Glacier! The route has become slightly more circuitous with 2 large crevasses our group climbed around.

Alpine Ascents climb update

Our Mt. Rainier Emmons Glacier climb reported good route conditions and summit success, although the Inter Glacier was nearly all ice in some sections and had running streams of water coming down it. This was our last Emmons Glacier climb of the year.

Today we have a group supporting the Washington National Park Fund climbing Eldorado, and should hear back from them on the climb and route conditions in a few days.

Our Mt. Baker climb set off today to climb the Easton Glacier, looks like decent weather this weekend for their climb!

August 6th Rainier summit!

The Alpine Ascents team summit Rainier today! They reported great route conditions and awesome weather! See photos below of the climb.

August 5th, 2009 Rainier photos

Here are 3 photos taken today by one of our Rainier guides, Jeff Justman, as the group arrived at our Ingraham Flats "High Camp" today! As you can see the weather is great! You can see the tents at high camp that the group will be sleeping in tonight, as well as the view from our camp up toward the Disappointment Cleaver and Ingraham Icefall. The photo with the sharp peak is Little Tahoma, currently the group is having their summit talk before going to bed early in preparation for an alpine start!

Alpine Ascents Rainier climb, August 4 update

Our August 2-4 Rainier climb reached the summit today and reported great route conditions. Our group climbed to the top of Disappointment Cleaver, traversed across the Emmons glacier to the Emmons shoulder and up to 13,800' to a large crevasse. At this point we traversed south around this crevasse and then switchbacked directly up to the crater rim.

Even with the recent heat wave the glaciated slopes of the upper mountain seem to be holding together well, and should remain in good condition through our climbing season!