Blog

Photos: Zeb Blais

Yesterday the Rapid Ascent team went for a ski tour up the East Rongbuk Glacier on Mount Everest. A fun way to pass time and train while they wait on a weather window!

Both teams, Rapid Ascent and EverestNoFilter, are still waiting for a good weather window for safe and successful summits. This is something that cannot be rushed.

Patience, respect, and experience lead to good decisions for the team as a whole. Working with the weather is part of the game on Everest and that’s one of the main reasons why…

Photos & Text: Zeb Blais

“Flames shot up, licking the delicate nylon fabric of Bali’s jacket.  He was not dissuaded as another ball of fire came dangerously close to his flammable clothes.  Evidently this wasn’t his first time serving flambe chicken at Everest Base Camp.  I realize you’re thinking “why the &@#$ are they having flambe in the middle of the Tibetan plateau?  What is this place?”

I’ll admit that I was simultaneously impressed, terrified and curious why the &@#$ we were having flambe in the…

Text & Photos: Zeb Blais

“My heart pounded in my chest, overpowering the music blaring through my headphones.  I was skipping between large granite boulders, ascending a ridge line 3,000′ above Everest Base Camp.  I wasn’t scared.  I wasn’t moving fast.  At sea level, my heart wouldn’t have bothered itself to increase more than a few beats per minute.  At 6,000 meters (20,000′) on my first high hike above camp, it was a different story.  I could feel the thin air slowing me down and taxing my body.  If moving at 6,000 meters is this…

Text & Photo: Zeb Blais

Mount Everest: The Routes

“Everest is the tallest mountain in the world.  It looms 29,035′ (8,848 meters) above sea level and sits directly on the border of Tibet and Nepal.  There are two commonly climbed routes up the mountain, the South Col Route and the Northeast Ridge.  

The South Col Route.   Teams start in Kathmandu and fly into Nepal’s Khumbu Valley where they trek to 17,300’ South Side Base Camp over a number of days to acclimatize. The Khumbu is incredibly beautiful and…

The #RapidAscent team is getting some rest, planning acclimatization hikes, and watching the weather. The first rotation for the team is complete and our final climber arrived to Base Camp (17,000′ / 5200m) yesterday.

Both expedition teams continue to do almost daily acclimatization hikes. These hikes are a necessary part of the process and force the body to adapt to the environmental stresses they will continue to encounter.

The #EverestNoFilter team is currently living at Advanced Base Camp or ABC (21,300′ / 6400m) and will continue to do acclimatization hikes and rotations from there. The…

#EverestNoFilter has won a Webby Award in the Social – Sports category for last year’s expedition! The program beat out submissions from the NBA, NFL, WWE and others to take the top prize. Huge congrats to Adrian Ballinger and Cory Richards! They are currently on the big mountain for #EverestNoFilter 2.0!

Follow along on Snapchat- everestnofilter, adrianjb & crichardsphoto, as well as Facebook (Adrian Ballinger & Cory Richards too), Instagram (adrianballinger & coryrichards) and Twitter (alpenglowexp & coryrichardsNG) !! And use this link to checkout the official #EverestNoFilter website. Stay tuned for frequent updates!

For more information on this…

 The #EverestNoFilter team spent a week setting up Base Camp (17,000 / 5200m) and acclimatizing. They moved to Interim Camp (19,000′ / 5800m) and have continued to do acclimatization hikes from Interim, touching Advanced Base Camp or ABC (21,300′ / 6400m) and returning to Interim, but soon they will be living at ABC for probably about a month.

Interim Camp has an incredible location and is surrounded by penitentes (ice towers). This camp is between Base Camp (17,000′ / 5200m) and Advanced Base Camp (21,300′ / 6400m). The team will spend two nights acclimatizing…

It’s officially Everest season for Alpenglow! Pictured here, lead guide Chad Peele and Zeb Blais with the their 2016 Everest clients, Trudi & Bryan. Chad and Zeb’s travel journey to Everest starts early tomorrow! Cheers to the beginning of another great Mount Everest North Side Rapid Ascent expedition..  ✈️ RNO (Reno) > SFO (San Francisco) > CTU (Chengdu) > LXA (Lhasa), and they will arrive in Lhasa on Monday, April 17!

And Topo Mena, he never ceases to amaze us! He just finished his last day of training, a quick jog on Cayambe (18,996′ / 5790m). However this was his final training day in Ecuador, because he…

Text: Ben Weaver | Photos: Logan Talbott

Why take an Intro to Backcountry Skiing course with Alpenglow Expeditions? The bottom line, to enter in to the backcountry as a traveler is about creating one’s own experience. Where do I go up? Where do I have lunch? Where do I go down? No boundaries set by ropelines or lift tickets required. You will be choosing terrain based on ambition, fitness, equipment, and ability. For some it is an opportunity just to go for a walk in the woods. For others, they may be traveling for multiple days from one location to another.…

Alpenglow Expeditions isn’t just about #RapidAscent climbs of Mt Everest, we have options for all experience levels, including first time climbers or those who need to brush off their skill set. In June we have two climbing school offerings in South America. Our Peru Climbing School is May 31- June 14 and our next available Ecuador Climbing School is June 3- June 11, with an optional extension until June 18 to climb an additional two peaks.

These schools are both a good introduction to high altitude climbing and a great way to gain the skills necessary for more challenging expeditions…