Final 6-day course of the season checks in

Lead guide Victor McNeil called to check in today from the south side of Mt. Baker. The group is enjoying a beautiful week of weather, with sunny skies and high pressure predicted through the weekend. Today Victor and guide Sam Hennessey have been teaching anchor building, advanced crampon techniques, as well as belaying and rappelling this afternoon. Yesterday the team hiked over for a photo shoot overlooking the Deming glacier as well. The plan is to make a summit attempt on Thursday before wrapping up skills and hiking out on Friday.

How does it get up here?

...And where does the poo go? We get that question a lot. While the guides at AAI are known for their strength in hauling heavy load to remote locations there are limits. Anyway, helicopters are a huge help. We got some cool photos of them flying loads to Muir. Check it out!

Sick!

Sept. 1-6th mountaineering course wrap-up

Last week guides Matt Nightengale and Dylan Cembalski spent six days up on Mt. Baker with 8 climbers. The group experienced a wide range of weather every day, but with enough sunshine to dry out and effectively practice mountaineering skills and techniques. The team had a great time, putting all their skills into practice on a successful summit day on September 4th. Thanks to Dylan for the photo below, showing the fun of crevasse rescue practice!

Thunderstruck!

Think Ac/Dc. We are up at high camp hoping for good weather and good climbing conditions tonight on a freshly snowy cleaver!

September 3-5 climbers endure stormy weather

The climb made it Ingraham Flats but was unfortunately unable to make a summit attempt due to thunder and lightening as a storm rolled through. There was a break in the late morning, during which Pete Moore and Danny Ozment worked on high camp in preparation for a bigger system moving through last night. 

September 3-5 Rainier climb checks in

Lead guide Stuart Robertson called to check in from Camp Muir this morning. He says all are doing well and everyone was strong getting up to Muir yesterday. The group moved up to Ingraham Flats and will be watching the weather to see if they can get a summit attempt in before the next system moves into the area.

Rainier Climbs contending with unsettled weather

Our last few climbs have been facing the challenging weather that can come with attempting to scale a high peak like Mt. Rainier. The Pacific Northwest has been experiencing a series of low pressure systems moving through the area, preventing the last few climbs from getting much higher than the top of Disappointment Cleaver. The weather looks to improve this coming weekend, and hopefully the forecast will pan out the way the models are currently predicting.

The climbers have not been sitting idle while at Camp Muir or Ingraham Flats, however! Our guides have been teaching snow travel and mountaineering skills, and climbers are learning first-hand about staying warm and comfortable in a challenging mountain environment. Having the Gombu and a weatherport at Camp Muir provides additional teaching space out of the weather for further skills practice, and sharing a few jokes as well.

In addition, guides are seeing "late season" conditions on the mountain and are working hard with guides from the other concessionaires to make sure the route is in the best shape it can be for each climb. In a dynamic mountain environment the options for the route can change frequently, and guides are pooling their time and energy to keep the route in shape for the days when the weather cooperates!