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The Tahoe Truckee area has many reasons why it’s an adventure paradise, and rock climbing is right up there with the best of them. From beautiful views of Donner Lake, to easily accessible cliffs for all ability levels, Donner Summit is a rock climbing paradise nestled right above Truckee, California. 

1. Easy Access – The cliffs and crags of Donner Summit are some of the most easily accessed in the nation. Drive right up Old Highway 40 (Donner Pass Rd) and you pass no less than 5 different crags, all easily visible from the road. Some approaches are literally…

Summit (19,347′ / 5,897m) at 7:30 am on June 12

The view of Cotopaxi from the drive in

At 7:30 am on June 12, in near perfect conditions, 4 out of 5 of our Ecuador Climbing School team reached the top of Cotopaxi at 19,347′ / 5,897m. Guide Topo Mena reported, “Great weather, awesome views- the conditions were just perfect.”

Behind the team, you can see the spectacular sight of the volcano’s caldera. Thanks to a window of crystal clear weather, the team enjoyed stellar panoramic views- which was a treat considering how common poor…

Learning how to ascend a fixed line.

What will you do if your partner can’t pull through the crux, several pitches up a route? What will you do if you drop your belay device? This past weekend we hosted one of our regular self rescue seminars to teach climbers how to deal with the unexpected during a climb. Our guide Ray Hughes went over the basics of anchor building, rappelling, escaping a belay, ascending, and much more. He tailored our course to the level of experience of the students. This full-day self rescue course is designed to teach…

The first “big mountain experience” of the expedition was Cayambe (shown here).

The team chose to focus on building their climbing skills while on the glacier, instead of motoring straight for a summit.

In preparation for the next two big objectives – Cotopaxi (shown here) and Chimborazo, the team worked on skills including cramponing techniques and proper ice axe use.

The team also worked on how to pack a summit pack, tying climbing knots and hitches, roping up for glacier travel and rappelling.

Although much of the time spent on Cayambe…

Class is back in session in beautiful Ecuador! Our entire team arrived 5 days ago and since then everyday has been filled with exploring, acclimatizing and now they are moving on to the meat of the expedition – mountain climbing.

First Day in Ecuador

Our first full day is always spent exploring the sights, sounds and smells of one of the most gorgeous high altitude cities in the world. Quito is known for its vibrant culture and our team was treated to some traditional Ecuadorian music in the streets of the colonial section of town. While this might seem like…

Grand “Chomolungma” as it is known in Tibet. Standing proudly at el. 29,029′

122 Everest summits between this group!

“Office” view of our support crew with scope to watch climbers progress to the summit.

Although the new snow and sunshine looks pretty at Camp 2, it’s still really hard to convince yourself to get out of your warm sleeping bag in the morning.

Final blessings the day before the summit push

Everest Rapid Ascent Team on their way to Camp 3

Everest Rapid Ascent Team

Second summit push for the Cho Oyu…

Rapid Ascent Team says farewell to Everest. Cho+Everest Team takes a second chance at a summit bid.

Everest Rapid Ascent Team: After a mass equipment failure forced both teams to abandon their summit pushes, the Rapid Ascent Team has made the difficult decision to end their Everest season. The team is currently descending to Everest Base Camp and they will head home in a couple days. After sharing an incredible and challenging experience over the past few weeks, the team is saying an emotional goodbye to one another and bidding a bittersweet farewell to Everest.

Everest Rapid Ascent…

Lines fixed to the summit. Team’s high point at 8,500m.

During yesterday’s summit push, teams experienced a systemic failure of their oxygen systems. In the interest of everyone’s safety, the team made the tough decision to abandon their summit push and return to lower elevation. All team members, guides, and Sherpa have safely descended to Advanced Base Camp.

Guide Adrian Ballinger’s account of the situation, “As day broke, we were two teams – one at 28,000 feet; the other at 28,500 feet. Our night had been perfect – still, warm, and with all 25 of our guides,…

Due to a mass equipment failure, teams on Everest have stopped their summit push and have descended below 7,700m. All clients, guides, and Sherpa are safe and accounted for at this time.

Both of our Alpenglow Expeditions teams, along with other teams on Everest, were utilizing an industry standard supplemental oxygen system during their summit push. When multiple of the team’s oxygen bottle regulators malfunctioned, the team made the difficult decision to stop their summit push and return to lower elevation.

Since this time, it has become apparent that a defective batch of oxygen bottle regulators was…

After a rock star push yesterday, the Everest Rapid Ascent Team made it to Camp 3 and the Cho+Everest team arrived at Camp 2. An hour from now (at 2am Everest time) our teams will be waking up for their FINAL push to the summit.

Here’s the update from guide Chad Peele after their arrival at Camp 3 yesterday, “Team Alpenglow Expeditions is in position at 8,300m for our summit bid. Believe it or not, I’m incredibly hot lying here with bare feet. The blazing sun, clear skies and zero wind almost feels like a cheat……