Thanks for joining us as we follow a diverse team of climbers as they join Mountain Trip for an attempt on a beautiful line of ice, snow and rock that ascends over 9,000 of technical terrain to the summit of North America.
First climbed in 1959 by members of the famed Dartmouth Mountaineering Club, "The Rib" sees very few ascents each season, compared to the 1300+ climbers on the neighboring West Buttress route. It is a beautiful, steep ridge line that rises steeply up from the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. This is one of our favorite climbs, and Mountain Trip has a long history of fascination with the route, as Mountain Trip founder, Gary Bocarde, is pretty sure he led the first guided ascent in the 1980's and our senior guide Dave Staeheli made the first solo winter ascent of the line in ____.
Let's meet the climbers!
Guides:
Jared Vilhauer of Telluride, CO
Greg Nappi of Hope, AK
Climbers:
Jonathon Walters of the Bahamas
Nicholas Baldock of the UK
Mark Schmude currently residing in London
John Bodley of California
We will do our best to post updates on a daily basis, but please keep in mind that any number of things could interfere with any given update being posted. The climbers are excited about calling in, but they need to keep their focus on the task at hand, and might not break out the satellite phone each evening, weather and terrain features could conspire to prevent phone calls from going through, etc, etc, etc...
Bear in mind the age-old axiom, "No News Is Good News!" For some reason, sup-optimal news always seems to get out from the mountain, while the exciting update of lounging in the sun, eating reindeer sausage quesadillas sometimes takes a day to filter through to our office.
Lastly, we highly encourage you to post comments to our dispatches. We cannot always pass these comments along to the team members, but we have heard time and again that the climbers really appreciate reading back over these dispatches and seeing all of your support and encouragement. It means a lot to them as they process their experience after the fact, so please post away! If you do need to contact a friend or loved one on this climb, just call or email our office and we'll get your message through to them.
Enjoy the posts!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hey Mark! What a beautiful dispatch blog...I am grateful for the services Mountain Trip is providing for all of us back here.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you have some great support and amazing people out there on the Rib with you.
I am eagerly anticipating any and all communication from you and your comrades on this amazing expedition!
Your video mail from London arrived yesterday...really special. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
With so much love,
Kim (and Robert and Brandon, too!)