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Posts from 07/2011

Mt. Rainier: Summit - July 27th

Posted by: | July 27, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'

The Four Day Summit Climb July 24 - 27 led by Andy Bond and Mike Walter reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning at 7 a.m.  The team reported cold temperatures and windy conditions.  There is a cloud deck around 7,500’ with clear skies above.

The Five Day Summit Climb July 23 - 27 led by Linden Mallory was also just approaching the crater rim at 7 a.m. this morning.

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz July 23 - 28 led by Mike Haugen reached the summit at 8:30 a.m.

Congratulations to today’s Summit Climb teams!

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Ecuador Volcanoes: Acclimatization Hike on Fuya Fuya

Posted by: | July 26, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Ecuador
Elevation: 13,986'

Today the team said goodbye to the hustle and bustle of Quito and headed north to enjoy a little more of this beautiful country. We drove for about an hour to a place called Fuya Fuya where we climbed a small vegetated hill to nearly 14,000’ to further our acclimatization. We hiked for about 3 hours on a mostly cloudy day that made for nice hiking temperatures but didn’t provide great views.  The hillside was covered with knee high grass and Achupallas (sort of looks like a large pineapple).  After our enjoyable hike we headed to Hacienda San Luis where we currently are enjoying the beauty of this place and wonderful Ecuadorian hospitality.

Everyone seems to be enjoying this place and are looking forward to heading into the mountains tomorrow.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

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Kilimanjaro: Jeff Martin and Team arrive in Tanzania

Posted by: | July 26, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Kilimanjaro

Jambo from Tanzania,

Our African adventure has started!

The majority of the team arrived on the KLM flight from Amsterdam tonight. Definitely a tired group of travelers, but that is to be expected after the almost 24 hours needed to get here. Any arrivals hall is a bit chaotic, and Kilimanjaro International Airport is no exception. Safari teams and climbers alike look for their guides and drivers throughout the crowded maze of people. We found our team pretty quickly and got immediately out of the action and headed to our bus. We had an opened bottle of champagne waiting for us, and after a quick toast to Kilimanjaro, we were on our way to the hotel. One more performance of the “duffel shuffle”, and we moved into our rooms where we will be spending the next two nights.

We are minutes away from sitting down to a three course dinner on the outside patio at the Dik Dik Hotel. I think roasted lamb is on the menu tonight…. Tough transition from airplane food, but someone’s got do it.

La la salama,

Jeff

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Kilimanjaro: Mark Tucker & Team Begin Trek

Posted by: | July 26, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Kilimanjaro

Jambo
Our team arrived safely in Arusha, Tanzania on July 24th.  We spent two nights at the beautiful Dik Dik Hotel resting and recovering from our long flights and adjusting to this new climate and time zone.  After sorting our gear, repacking our bags are readying ourselves for the mountain, our trek of Kilimanjaro has finally begun.  The Dik Dik hotel is fantastic but it is great to get started on the mountain.  We enjoyed perfect climbing conditions today. We drove from the Dik Dik Hotel to the Machame Entrance of Kilimanjaro National Park.  We donned our day packs and started out, enjoying the feel of our feet on the trail after so many hours of travel.  From the entrance to our first camp, the Machame camp, we gained about 3,800’.  We pulled into the Machame Camp (9,800’) in good style.  We are resting, eating popcorn in our nice dining tent and enjoying each others company.

Everybody feels great and did just fine today. We are looking forward to a good nights sleep and another good day on the trail tomorrow.
We will check in again soon.

RMI Guide Mark Tucker

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Mt. Rainier: July 26th - Summit!

Posted by: | July 26, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'

The Four Day Summit Climb July 23 - 26 led by Paul Edgren reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning.  The team reported light winds, clear skies above and cold temperatures.  There is a cloud deck below at approximately 9,000’.  The team will descend to Camp Muir and then continue down to Paradise this afternoon.

Congratulations to today’s Summit Climb!

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Ecuador’s Volcanoes: Team Ascends Rucu Pichincha

Posted by: Maile Wade | July 25, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Ecuador
Elevation: 15,406'

Hey Everybody -

This is the Ecuador group checking in. We had a great day today and everybody is doing well. We had another delicious breakfast at the hotel and took off early to ride the teleferique (gondola) up to Rucu Pichincha. Pichincha is a volcano just outside of Quito and we hiked the older (Rucu, in the indigenous language of Quechua) extinct side of it.

We rode the gondola up the mountain to 13,500’ into the grasslands above Quito. We began our acclimatization hike up to the top of the volcano from there. Our Ecuadorian guide Freddy joined us today and set the pace for everybody to follow. As we ascended, we moved from the grasslands into a rocky scramble that led to the summit. It took us 3 hours to ascend to the top at 15,406’, which was a new altitude record for some members of the group.

The descent was welcomed as we headed back to the comfortable altitude of Quito. We did a little shopping then headed out for an early dinner on a rooftop in old-town. We had spectacular views of the Basilica, the San Francisco de Quito, and the Virgin as we ate traditional Ecuadorian cuisine.

Everyone seems to be having a great time and we will check in tomorrow.

RMI Guides Casey Grom, Maile Wade & the team

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Mt. Rainier: July 25th - Update!

Posted by: | July 25, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount Rainier
Elevation: 13,750'

The Four Day Summit Climb July 22 - 25 led by Shawn Sears was forced to turn back today at approximately 13,000’ due to poor visibility and high winds. The team will return to Camp Muir to rest and repack before continuing their descent to Camp Muir this afternoon. 

The Five Day Summit Climb July 21 - 25 led by Dan Windham reached the summit of Mt. Rainier yesterday evening on a sunset climb.  The team departed Camp Muir this morning en route to Paradise.

The weather report from Camp Muir this morning included rain and some thunder and lightening to the South East which was quickly moving out of the area.

Congratulations to today’s teams!

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Ecuador Volcanoes: Casey Grom and Team Visit the Sights of Quito

Posted by: | July 24, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Ecuador
Elevation: 9,350'

Hello everyone,

The entire team has safely arrived here in Quito after our long flights from the states. Our late arrivals didn’t allow for much other than checking into the hotel and getting a few hours of shut-eye. 

We woke to a beautiful day here in Ecuador and had a wonderful breakfast with a nice variety of eggs, sausages, fried plantains, breads, yogurts, and freshly squeezed juices. After washing everything down with plenty of coffee the group met for some introductions and an overview of what’s to come over the next few days. We also discussed how to be a savvy tourist while traveling abroad to help keep us from any unwanted situations.

Our plan for the day was to explore a little of this colonial city and visit the equator for which this country is named for. We started off with a visit to the equator where we saw with our own eyes how water spins counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere and then just a few feet away spins clockwise in the southern hemisphere. Seeing, truly is believing!

After the equator we headed back to town to visit the Panecillo Hill, which has a 135-foot tall statue of the Virgin Mary made up of over 7,000 pieces of aluminum and a beautiful panoramic view of this city with more than 2 million people living in it. We then headed into the old town of Quito to visit the many churches and cathedrals that have been here since the conquistadors arrived in 1535. We visited the San Francisco de Quito, church of La Campania and even had a brief stop at the Presidential Palace.  It was a day rich in history and full of amazing views that was enjoyed by all. We finished the day with a wonderful meal and are now
headed off to bed.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

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Mt. Rainier: July 24th Summit!

Posted by: | July 24, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'

Brent Okita and the Four Day Summit Climb made the summit this morning with clear skies and 20 mph winds.  With such beautiful weather, the team reached the summit early and were already back to the top of Disappointment Cleaver (12,200’) at 7:40 a.m.

Congratulations!

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Mt. Rainier: July 23rd Climb for Clean Air Summit!

Posted by: | July 23, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'

The American Lung Association - Climb for Clean Air led by Win Whittaker and JJ Justman reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning.  The team was greeted with crisp clear skies and calm winds.

Congratulations to today’s teams!

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