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The Whittaker Mountaineering team

Whittaker Mountaineering's First Ever Black Friday Sale: Nov. 24-26

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Check out guide team member Melissa Arnot, featured in this short film produced by Honda...Dream the impossible

Adam George on the North Face of the Eiger

Check out Whittaker Mountaineering Guide Team member Adam George's trip report from the North Face of the Eiger...

While growing up, I had heard of the infamous Eiger North Face, but I’ll confess, it was mostly just some mythical mountain that I knew nothing about.  While in college I remember a friend telling me they had visited Switzerland and looked “down” on this face (presumably from the tunnel window).  Being a climber I casually mentioned how I wanted to go climb that one day – still knowing nothing of what my statement entailed.  I was quickly told it was impossible and I would never be able to do it… “You don’t understand”, exclaimed my friend there is rock, snow, ice, even waterfalls on this face it is just unclimbable.  That was all I needed, while I nodded in agreement this was a challenge I couldn’t ignore and in my mind it was settled -  I would go climb the Eiger North Face someday. Read More.

Casey Grom Reports from Cho Oyu

Whittaker Mountaineering Guide Team member, Casey Grom talks about the team's decision to retreat from Cho Oyu: 

Hey RMI and everybody back home. This is Casey checking in from the Cho Oyu Expedition.

Just wanted to let everyone know that today we officially decided to pull the plug and not continue to climb on the upper mountain. The snow conditions continue to exist. It's a relatively high level of avalanche hazard as well as no one has been on the upper mountain in the last few days. We are certainly not going to be the first team to be up there and stick our necks out. Add that to the forecast that we have, which is some high winds and cold temperatures as the jet stream approaches and we are actually even seeing that today with some winds and some clouds building. The majority of the expeditions here have all packed up and are heading home currently. There are a few individuals left that may stick their necks out and give it a shot, but again, we think that it is foolish for our team to take that risk.

Everyone's doing great. Today we actually hiked up to Camp 1 and picked up most of our gear that we had left there. We got the majority of that stuff back to Advanced Basecamp here. Our plan is to relax here for the next day and then our yaks come in on the 3rd to pick up all of our loads to carry that stuff back to the main road, which is about a day-and-a-half trek. Our plan is to leave on the 3rd and try to get to the road and hopefully catch a ride on the 4th. Then we'll drive from Basecamp to Zangmu, on the border of Tibet and Nepal. Our plan then on the 5th is to possibly arrive in Kathmandu if everything goes well.

I'm happy that everyone feels good with our decision and we look forward to coming home and seeing everybody and telling you all about our adventure. Thanks a lot you guys.
Casey and crew

Casey Checks in from Cho Oyu

Whittaker Mountaineering Guide Team member,  Casey Grom checks in from ABC on Cyo Oyu:

"Tah-shi de-leh." Hello everybody. "Tah-shi de-leh" is a Tibetan greeting that is used when greeting people and also when you say "Good-bye."

This is Casey checking in from the Cho Oyu Expedition.
The team is doing great. We've been relaxing here at ABC for the last two days taking rest days, catching up on sleep, reading, and having lots of social time in our tent because it has been snowing nonstop since we've been here. We get these squawls that come through every day for several hours and then some light breaks. With the weather we are going to take one more day of rest tomorrow down here and then head up to Camp 1 the day after.

Currently the upper mountain has a fair amount of new snow and the sherpa teams that are in charge of fixing the route to the summit have not been able to get too far due to the deep snow and avalanche conditions. We are sitting good because we are still about ten days out from our summit bid, which is great. There are several teams here that are itching to go since they have been here at ABC for the last week waiting for the weather to open up so they can go do their summit attempt. We are nice and relaxed here with our schedule.
Kumar, our cook, has been taking great care of us and keeping us healthy. One more day of relaxation and we'll check in again probably when we head up to Camp 1 two days from now.

Okay everybody, hope you're doing well.
-Casey and crew

Casey Grom Reports From Cho Oyu

Whittaker Mountaineering Guide Team member, Casey Grom reports from his Cho Oyu climb:

September 15


Hello everybody this is Casey checking in from Cho Oyu.

A lot has happened in the last few days. First off, we left our Interim Camp and have safely arrived at Advanced Base Camp where we will be based out of for the remainder of the climb. It was a beautiful hike across the moraine to reach a moderately flat spot which sits at 18,500' and makes it one of the highest Base Camps in the world.
The team pulled into camp and immediately began working hard to get camp set up. After most of our yaks arrived, we collected our things and got settled in for the night. It snowed most of the night and we woke up to warm, sunshine this morning which was welcomed by all.

Today we had our Puja ceremony which is a Buddhist ceremony where we ask for safe passage and for a safe climb. A Buddhist holy man, called a lama, presided over our ceremony. It was very surreal to hear the lama chanting while we sat looking up at the mountain we hope to climb. We made some small offerings to the mountain mostly food and drink which the local birds happily cleaned up. It snowed during the ceremony which the lama said was a good sign.

It continued to snow for the rest of the day and we spent time resting and acclimatizing to this new altitude.
Everyone is doing great and we are having fun too.
-Casey and crew

*Stay tuned for more updates from Casey as they make progress up the mountain.

YPO Climbs Mount Rainier

Peter Whittaker leads members of YPO to the top of Mount Rainier. Here is a short montage of the climb.

Dave Hahn - Rainier, August 25 - 28

Forecasts weren't calling for particularly good climbing weather when we went up Friday the 27th. At Paradise we began in mist and wet cloud with not much to look at for views (other than about a million wildflowers along the trail).  Unexpectedly, we emerged from the cloud just before Pebble Creek and were treated to big views of Mount Rainier.  The last hours of our approach hike put us well above the cloud layer which seemed to cover all of Southwest Washington and Northern Oregon.

That evening, conditions seemed to continually improve and when we woke at 12:30 AM things couldn't have been much better for a summit climb.  We left Camp Muir at 2 AM and walked in calm, starry and crowd-free conditions up to Ingraham Flats at 11,000 ft.   For late August, it was still relatively easy and straightforward for our teams to traverse onto Disappointment Cleaver and proceed up the rocky spine of the ridge.

We could see the first hints of daybreak from the 12,300 ft top of the Cleaver around 5 AM as we rested.  Next we pushed up and over onto the Emmons Glacier and we were happy to find that a tenuous crevasse bridge at 12,700 ft was still hanging in for us.  The teams eased up onto the Northeast corner of the mountain, zig-zagging up the Emmons Shoulder in a very cold breeze.  At "high break" around 13,500 ft, we watched the sunrise, but by then we were wearing big down coats and were destined to keep them on for several hours before the sun gave us any heat to go along with the daylight.  It was plenty cold as the rope-teams moved into the summit crater, but winds weren't bad on Columbia Crest, which we reached in a little more than six hours from high camp.  Seattle and Tacoma still looked to be deep in cloud, but all of the Pacific Northwest big mountains were out and in the clear.

Descent to Camp Muir went smoothly -we reached it around 1 PM- and although the day was still a little on the cold side, nobody seemed to mind wearing a sweater in the refreshing breeze.  We reached Paradise just before 5 PM and returned to summer in Ashford by 6 PM.

-RMI guide, Dave Hahn

Caroline George: Cosmiques with Mom

I like to think that climbing is in my genes because my parents were climbers. We travelled the world to climb. And it’s still with great pleasure that I go climbing with them. My mother, Martine, is always excited to go on an adventure. At 65 though, her knees are giving her much trouble. So, I try to pick climbs which don’t involve much approach or descent.

This year, we headed to the Cosmiques Ridge on the Aiguille du Midi in Chamonix, France. After a frothy capuccino and still warm croissant in town, we rode the cable car nearly 10’000ft up to the top of the Aiguille du Midi. There, the view stretches out to Mont Blanc and onward to Italy. The Aiguille du Midi is also the gateway to the Vallee Blanche, a classic ski run in the winter, which ends 10’000ft later back in Chamonix.

Hiking out of an ice cave, we made our way down the knife edge snow ridge which drops steeply down 3500ft to the north, and down to the col du midi on the other side. You don’t want to fall down on either side there. The terrain eases up passed the ridge. We contoured the base of the striking south face of Aiguille du Midi, which rises like a bright orange flame out of the glacier below and kept heading west to the start of the ridge proper.

Although I had already done this climb with my mom, she was thrilled and excited, blown away by the beauty of the scenery around, as though she was there for the first time. It felt so special to be here with her. We climbed up mixed terrain, some time on snow, some time on the reputable Chamonix granite. This ridge is climbed and guided so often that locals have drilled holes in the rock to make it easier to climb with crampons. Only in the Alps could you see that! We traversed a snow couloir, contoured gendarmes – one of them has the highest 5.13 crack in the world: Digital Crack – and made it to the crux of the route, a diagonal slanting crack up a used-to-be blank-now-drilled-all-over-wall. This section is always a bottleneck, with people struggling up the 10m high crux. We killed time rehydrating, soaking in the view and enjoying each other’s company until it was our time to climb. My mom made quick work of the section and we climbed on, traversing into the north side of the ridge before reaching the summit, where a crowd of people coming out of the cable car was snapping picture after picture of us.

My parents opened my eyes to climbing and taking my mom on climbs now is not only a way for me to give back, it’s also very rewarding to take such an accomplished climber with me. My mom has pushed the boundaries of woman climbing in her own way when she was younger. She climbed great classic such as the Gervasutti Pillar, the Aiguille Noire de Peuterey, did the first female ascent of the Naranjo de Bulnes in Spain, climbed in Peru, came first in many ski mountaineering competitions. She is a true model for me and I am grateful to be able to share time with her in the mountains.

 

 -Caroline George, Into The Mountains  | http://intothemountains.com/blog/

Camp Muir, Mount Rainier

Whittaker Mountaineering owner, Peter Whittaker gives you a quick tour of Camp Muir.

Mt. Shuksan: Sulphide Glacier Trip Report

Mt. Shuksan: Sulphide Glacier
North Cascades National Park
Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. 

Day 1: Mike Walter and I met the crew at the Sedro Wolley Ranger Station at 7am where we went through a quick gear check and got our climbing permits. We drove the hour to the trailhead where the skies were threatening with rain. The approach into the Sulphide Glacier is about 4,000’ where you walk on a trail through a dense forest before topping out on a beautiful ridge offering views of Mt. Baker to the west. About two hours into our six hour hike the rain started as we put on our Gore Tex pants and jackets. We arrived into camp soaked as we put up camp and tried to dry out in our tents.

Day 2: The rain continued throughout the night but we awoke in the morning to cloudy but try conditions. Our camp is right at the base of the Sulphide Glacier in the rocks and typically offers up impressive views of the summit pyramid of Shuksan. However, with clouds the summit wasn’t in our sights and we would have to wait until summit day before we got our first glimpse of it. The Sulphide Glacier provided us a great place to train for the day where we covered self and team arrest, walking techniques for snow and rope travel. After a quick snow school we headed to the rocks where we covered some basic climbing techniques. The afternoon was spent drying out and relaxing before our summit day.

Mount Baker

Day 3: We woke up at 3 am and quickly got out of camp heading towards the summit pyramid on the Sulphide Glacier. This was the first time all trip that we could the summit pyramid we were about the climb. It’s quite an impressive site from camp and looks daunting in the distance. After two stretches we arrived at the base of the summit pyramid where we took a nice long break before climbing the last 800’. The route we took was up the central gulley which had a couple of snow patches in it but also provided us with some 3rd, 4th, and 5th class climbing on rock. We were two teams in the gulley and made our quickly to summit of Mt. Shuksan where we had views of Rainier to south and Canada to the north. Mt. Baker loomed large to our west and the weather was beautiful with warm temps and clear skies. We spent two hours on the summit waiting for other teams to climb up the gulley so we wouldn’t knock loose rock down on them. We descended the central gulley getting lowered until we were back on the Sulphide Glacier. On the descent back to camp we were able to glissade a good portion back to our camp where we hung out and enjoyed the evening before heading to bed.

Day 4: We awoke early in the morning and headed back out the trail we walked in on back to the cars at the trailhead. We headed back into Burlington and ate some Mexican food before saying our goodbyes.

RMI Guide
Andy Bond
(Photos: RMI Climber, Mi Hillefors)

Down Jackets on Mount Rainier

When it's super hot down here at Basecamp, people often wonder if they really need to bring a down jacket on Rainier.  In the wee hours of the morning before the sun comes up, and you're on the upper mountain, you'll be glad you brought your puffy... Trust us, (and these guys) it's cold!

Dave Hahn's August 14 - 15 Summit Climb

Dave Hahn leading the climbers up the Muir Snowfield.

August 14-15 Summit Climb

Forecasts were calling for perfect weather and that is pretty much what we got.  Our climbing team began to expect such perfection after three fine days during training and the approach to high camp.  At 11:45 PM, when we brought  boiling breakfast water to nine lucky climbers at Camp Muir, winds were calm and skies were clear, allowing nice views of the odd shooting star.  The team was up and out just before 1 AM, crunching crampons across the Cowlitz Glacier.  We seemed to have the climbing route to ourselves until we crested Cathedral Gap and saw  headlights sprinkled all up and down Disappointment Cleaver and the upper Emmons Glacier.  This didn't surprise us, it was the weekend after all, and we still had plenty of peace and quiet while taking our rest break in the dark of Ingraham Flats at 11,000 ft.  One of our climbers was dealing with a pulled leg muscle and took the opportunity to head back toward Muir with a couple of RMI guides who'd come up for just such eventualities.  The remaining climbers got busy toiling with the Cleaver.  Thankfully, the many climbers above us were careful and we didn't experience any rockfall as we traversed onto the ridge.  The team cruised to 12,300 ft where we took another break before venturing out onto glacial ice once again.  One more climber chose descent at this point and RMI guide Mike Hinckley did the honors, keeping the main team updated by radio of their downward progress.  Sunrise caught us at 13,500 ft as we took a final rest break.  By then we'd caught up to the "crowd" of weekend climbers on the upper mountain, but traffic jams were minor and easy to deal with as the perfect conditions put everyone at their ease.  There was the sporty ladder crossing to negotiate over a crevasse at 13,900 ft, but no-one seemed to have particular difficulty with it.

Our nine climbers on two ropes rolled into the summit crater just before 7 AM and ambled through suncups and past steam caves toward "register rocks."   The summit register happened to be chock full and we were lucky to be able to squeeze names into the final two inches of paper in the book.  All on the team were stunned just a hundred feet beyond the register to top the rim and see just how clear the morning was turning out to be.  Puget Sound was visible in its entirety and it was easy to see the big buildings of Tacoma, Seattle and Bellevue.  Nothing obstructed the views of the Olympic Range and the North Cascades and we could look south to see individual crevasses on Mount Adams and seemingly every lava rock in the crater of St. Helens.  After a rest back down in our own crater, the team got going on a safe descent.  We chose the "new" route down the Emmons Glacier shoulder and were rewarded with very straightforward and easy, uncrowded conditions.  Then came a careful reversal of our route down the Cleaver.  We witnessed a few washing-machine sized rocks bouncing down the mountain as things began to heat up, but nothing came close to our team and before too long we'd safely reached Muir.  Re-united with those who'd descended early, we all now headed for Paradise, reaching it at 3:30 PM to complete and safe and enjoyable summer climb.
-Dave Hahn

Windy Rainier Summit With Peter Whittaker

Whittaker Mountaineering owner, Peter Whittaker on the windy summit of Rainier on August 12th. 


... Earlier this season on the summit.

Photos From Rainier

Take a look at some awesome photos taken by RMI guide, Jason Thompson on his summit climb early this week.

Ed Viesturs: Risk on Mount Rainier

Whittaker Mountaineering Guide Team member, Ed Viesturs talks about risk management on Mount Rainier. 

On top (and inside ) of Mount Rainier

Take a look inside Mount Rainier! Whittaker Mountaineering owner, Peter Whittaker takes you inside the steam vents on the summit of this active volcano...

Mount Rainier Route Conditions August 5, 2010

Head down Rainier with Whittaker Mountaineering owner, Peter Whittaker as he takes you from the summit back to Camp Muir on August 5th.