May 8, 2012
IMG guide Liam O’Sullivan reports that the Ama Dablam team is doing well. They had a nice rest day today at Camp 1 and now they are getting ready to move up to Camp 2.
The weather, route, and conditions look good!
Eric Simonson
May 6, 2012
Ama Dablam from Pumori. (Photo by Eric Simonson)
Ama Dablam leader Liam O’OSullivan reports that the team headed down to Pangboche after their climb of Lobuche Peak. Then, they ascended up to Ama Dablam Base Camp where they are now established. Now they are all together with their sherpas Ang Chirring (Kami), Ang Sona, Kalden Phura, and cooks Jor Bahadur and assistant Pasang Tshering. The sherpas have a nice Base Camp all set up for them, and the camps on the mountain are all set. Now that the team are well acclimatized, they should be able to move smoothly right on up Ama Dablam, starting with the trip tomorrow up to Camp 1.
Eric Simonson
April 11, 2012
For the past seven years, my wife, Sue, and I have been supporting the American Himalayan Foundation’s Stop Girl Trafficking program. IMG has been working in Nepal for a couple of decades now and cares deeply about the people there. Trafficking is a huge problem. Every year, as many as 20,000 girls from the poorest parts of Nepal are trafficked. There is a way to help.
Education is the answer.
Education is the way… This year the program supports 9,500 girls in 400 schools across Nepal and not one has been lost to trafficking.
If you live in the San Francisco area, we would love to invite you to attend the Stop Girl Trafficking evening on April 30. Or, for info and reservations, call: (415) 288-7250. If you don’t live in San Francisco learn more on how to give here.
Special guests include:
Siddharth Kara: the global perspective
Harvard Fellow and author of Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery
Dr. Aruna Uprety: the visionary
AHF’s partner in RHEST’s game-changing prevention work in Nepal
Jon Krakauer: the advocate, author
Fresh from an investigative field visit to the trafficking villages
Sue and I visited with Dr. Aruna and a group of the girls last May while we were in Nepal. I can’t tell you how impressed we were. It costs so little to give a girl a whole new life!
And, say hello to Sue while you’re at the dinner.
Phil Ershler
March 16, 2012
Yesterday, the Denali Seminar pulled out of Mt. Rainier National Park a day early thanks to a snow plow escort provided by the park. With more snow in the forecast, taking advantage of an escape route when it was presented just made sense.
The team stopped digging long enough to pose for this photo. (Photo by John Race)
After drying out, they enjoyed a nice burger at The Copper Creek and an Intro To Crevasse Rescue lesson last night. Today they’re hands on with the crevasse rescue as they wrap-up the seminar.
Tye Chapman
March 6, 2012
This image came across my desk a couple weeks ago and I couldn’t help but chuckle as I thought of all the women on our guide staff. Tough ladies who know how to sew… and by sew I mean repairing tents in the field, fixing tears in backpacks and stitching up the occasional crampon puncture.
And while putting on a clean dress isn’t likely a daily routine – having a chalk-bag near by likely is.
Tye Chapman
February 23, 2012
Mt. Rainier
It’s that time of year again – time to talk Rainier! Join IMG Guides at local REI’s to glean some good information on what you need to know to climb the Northwest Icon. Training tips, route information, gear and more.
Below are the dates and locations – See you there!
|
Date
|
Time | REI | Presenter |
| Thursday, February 23, 2012 | 7pm | Tacoma | Jason Edwards |
| Thursday, February 23, 2012 | 7pm | Olympia | Ty Gimenez & Josh McDowell |
| Tuesday, February 28, 2012 | 7pm | Issaquah | George Dunn |
| Thursday, March 1, 2012 | 7pm | Redmond | Eben Reckord |
| Wednesday, March 28, 2012 | 7pm | Southcenter | Tye Chapman |
| Friday, April 6, 2012 | 7pm | Seattle | Phil Ershler |
January 6, 2012
The summit of Vinson. The highest point in Antarctica.
Got the call on the evening of the 5th from Greg saying they were back at high camp after a successful summit climb. 100% on top. Not the best day we’ve ever seen in Antarctica but good enough. And, good enough is just fine. Summit day on Vinson is always long and tiring but a good night’s sleep, some food and hot drinks and they’ll be ready to pack up the morning of the 6th and begin the descent to Vinson base camp. One long day is all it will take. Then, the waiting game begins. The plane will get in when weather allows and all the other teams are down and ready to fly home.
Nice job, team.
Phil Ershler
December 23, 2011
Hiking through the forest at the beginning of the Machame Route. (Photo by Eric SImonson)
After arriving in Moshi with all their gear (always a good way to start an expedition) the IMG December Kili team has now started up the mountain. Today they traveled by jeeps to the Machame trailhead (about 5900 ft), where they met their Chagga porter crew.
Today the climb is in the forest the entire way. Starting as a wide path down low with huge trees and monkeys, the route soon becomes a trail which climbs steadily, as the trees get smaller. Tonight they are at the Machame Camp (about 9,800 ft) which is at timberline, so hopefully they will catch their first close up views of the mountain..
Eric Simonson
December 22, 2011
Left to right: Mike Hamill (4x - 2008-2011), Justin Merle (4x - 2006, 2008-2010), Eric Simonson (1991), Tap Richards (2006), Phil Ershler (2x - 1984 & 2002), Heidi Richards (2006), Jason Edwards (2001), Ang Jangbu (1990), Eben Reckord (2010), George Dunn (1991), Greg Vernovage (2010). (Photo by Tye Chapman)
Last Thursday, in honor of Ang Jangbu being in the USA, we made some calls and invited a few folks over for a slice of pizza and a beer.
The result: a room filled with friends, family, loved ones as well as 11 IMG Guides representing 18 Everest summits. Pretty cool stuff!
Tye Chapman
December 21, 2011
25 Great Years...Thank You!
The years come and go so quickly anymore that we rarely get a chance to sit back and reflect on our past. And now, here we are with 25 years of it!
When we look back on the first days of IMG, we’re quick to notice that for the most part the mountains have stayed the same; it’s the business that surrounds them that has changed. A phone call and a handshake used to be the norm, now it’s FedEx, release forms and digital statements. We laugh at, and appreciate, all the envelopes we stuffed & mailed and chuckle at the volume of faxes sent and received from one hotel or another to keep things flowing. And it’s hard not to smile when thinking of the stash of cash we were once forced to travel with to pay our in-country support staff or the occasional bribe to get things done.
Nowadays we have our fancy website, instant emails flying from one country to the next, guides buzzing from one mountain to the other, pdfs, blogs, facebook, credit cards, invoices, sat phones, cell phones, 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi, GPS, not to mention twitter and iphones. But the long and short of it is this: climbing is still climbing and without putting one foot in front of the other there’s no reason to blog, chat, or make calls. Sure the gear has come a long way but in the end it still boils down to doing your physical homework and being mentally prepared for whatever climb you’re up against.
We’ve had the opportunity to get to know a lot of climbers over the years and take pride in all the memories in which we’ve played a part. Be it one of the summits from Mt. Rainier last summer or guiding Dick Bass up one of the Seven Summits – they all play their part in IMG’s growing history.
We’ll promise to keep up with this whole inter web thing but will continue to concentrate on what matters most: safety, summits and fun. The rest tends to take care of itself.
Happy Holidays & here’s to another 25 years!
George, Eric, Phil & Paul