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Posts from 09/2012

Mt. Rainier: September 23rd Summit!

Posted by: Geoff Schellens, Eric Frank | September 23, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'

RMI Guide Eric Frank called in from the crater rim of Mt. Rainier at 7:30 a.m.  The Five Day Summit Climb September 19 - 23 was just approaching the summit.  They reported cold temperatures with light winds and an overall beautiful day.  RMI Guide Geoff Schellens led the Four Day Summit Climb September 20 - 23 to the summit also.  The teams spent just over an hour on the summit before starting their descent.  They will return to Camp Muir to re-pack their gear before continuing down to Paradise.  We look forward to seeing both teams at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.

Congratulations to today’s summit climbers!

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Kilimanjaro: Team Summits with 100%

Posted by: Casey Grom | September 23, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Kilimanjaro
Elevation: 19,340'

RMI Guide Casey Grom checked in via satellite phone on Saturday night, September 22 at 10:01 p.m. PT from the summit of Kilimanjaro, The Roof of Africa.  Casey was very happy to report that all team members had reached the summit it was a perfect day, sunny and beautiful.  “It is a fantastic day up here” Casey said.

After spending some time enjoying the views the team will descend to the 10,000’ Mweka Camp for their last night on the mountain. 

Congratulations to Casey Grom and all of the Kilimanjaro September 15th team members!

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Kilimanjaro: Team Reaches High Camp ready for Summit Bid

Posted by: Casey Grom | September 22, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Kilimanjaro
Elevation: 15,000'

Hi Everyone,

The team did a great job again on the short hike up to our high camp. It’s been a long journey but everyone is in good spirits and we are all excited about tonight’s climb.Our plan is to wake at midnight, have a quick breakfast and then be walking by 1am. If all goes according to plan then we hope to be on the summit just after sunrise.We will spend the next few hours resting, preparing our gear and hopefully getting a little sleep too.

The climb will break down into one hour stretches with 10-15 min. breaks between each hour. Our pace will be slow but steady with lots of breathing as we ascend to “The Roof of Africa” 19’340ft above sea level. We’ll do our best and will try to call from the summit.

Wish us luck!

RMI Guide Casey Grom and Crew

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Mt. Rainier: September 22nd Summit!

Posted by: Brent Okita | September 22, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount Rainier
Elevation: Summit

Our Four Day Summit Climb Team led by RMI Guide Brent Okita reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today.  Brent radioed early this morning and reported high clouds with hail and winds at about 25mph.  The team spent about 15 minutes on the crater rim before starting their descent and are now en route to Camp Muir.

Congratulations to today’s teams!

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Kilimanjaro: Team Ascends to Karanga Camp

Posted by: Casey Grom | September 21, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Kilimanjaro
Elevation: 14,500'

Hello again from Africa.
All is well here as we continue to have fantastic weather for our climb. Once again the team impressed me with their performance on the 1,500’ high Barranco wall in just over a hour. We were one of the first groups out of camp and had most of the trail to ourselves with only a few porters passing along the way. Those that did impressed us with how they scaled the near vertical wall with 50 lbs balanced on their heads.

We then traversed over to the Karanga Valley and descended a few hundred feet and then climbed back up and are now resting comfortably at camp. Its a beautiful camp with the summit of Kilimanjaro above us and the Karanga Valley below and we can see the forest that surrounds the mountain and the savannah beyond that. Quite a sight to say the least!

The entire team is doing great and I believe everyone is in awe over the fact that we leave camp each morning still standing and yet we always arrive with the new camp set up and waiting on our arrival.
Enjoying the good life and looking forward to moving to high camp tomorrow.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

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Mt. Rainier: Muir Expedition Skills Seminar Summit!

Posted by: Seth Waterfall, Tyler Jones | September 20, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'

RMI Guides Seth Waterfall and Tyler Jones reached the summit of Mt. Rainier!  The Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir team enjoyed beautiful, warm weather on top and after taking summit photos, began their descent at 10:00 a.m.  The team will stay at Camp Muir tonight and descend to Paradise tomorrow afternoon.

Congratulations to today’s summit climbers!

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Kilimanjaro: Grom & Team Settle in at the Base of Barranco Wall

Posted by: Casey Grom | September 20, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Kilimanjaro
Elevation: 12,800'

It was another wonderful day here on Kilimanjaro with clear skies to start the day. We hiked for just about six hours all total today starting at 12,200’ and then climbed up to 15,300’ and then descended back down to 12,800’. Everyone did great and thoroughly enjoyed the climb and many of the team members set new altitude records for themselves. The climb took us up across the Shira Plateau, traversed over to Lava Tower and then underneath the Arrow Glacier. We then descended into a valley that sits at the base of the Great Barranco Wall. Along the way we stopped and admired the unique vegetation that is only found in the high altitude of Africa. We saw many giant lobelias, groundsels and hundreds of Senicio trees that look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book.

The team is now resting comfortably in camp and are looking forward to climbing the Barranco Wall tomorrow.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

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Mt. Rainier: Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir Update

Posted by: Seth Waterfall, Tyler Jones | September 19, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount Rainier
Elevation: 10,000'

Hi this is Seth.  Today we did a dry run for our climb by heading up to Ingraham Flats this morning.  The wind was blowing us around a bit but at least the sun was still out.  After spending an hour at ‘The Flats’ we dropped down onto the Cowlitz Glacier for a round of crevasse rescue training.  The crevasse that we picked out was great and everyone was brave enough to go down in it.  Now we’re relaxing for the evening.  Tonight we climb!

RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

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Kilimanjaro: Team Ascends to Shira Plateau

Posted by: Casey Grom | September 19, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Kilimanjaro
Elevation: 12,200'

We were greeted by crystal clear skies this morning which allowed some amazing views of Kilimanjaro and the route ahead. The team did a great job this morning getting packed up and hitting the trail after a breakfast full of fresh bread, fresh fruits and fried eggs. Not to mention the 10 hours of sleep we had!

The trail out of camp slowly climbed out of the forest and up onto the Shira Plateau. We watched in amazement as the porters moved past us with ease while balancing loads on their heads. Our crew certainly out did themselves by having prepared another feast for lunch about half way up the climb. It was a nice surprise to arrive at lunch with the tables and chairs waiting on us.

It took us about five hours to reach our next camp on the plateau and again camp was set up and our group was happily awaiting our arrival.
Needless to say the team had a wonderful day and everyone is doing great. We will rest here at 12,200’ for the night to help with acclimatization and will head up again tomorrow morning.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

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Mt. Rainier: Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir Update

Posted by: Tyler Jones, Seth Waterfall | September 18, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount Rainier
Elevation: 10,060'

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir is on our third day of the program and our second day on the mountain.  After a great day of training at Rainier BaseCamp on Sunday, we spent most of the day yesterday getting up to Camp Muir and today we are launching into our training.  The weather has been great so far and it’s supposed to hold for the week.  We’re psyched for that.  Here’s a pic of Senior Guide Lindsay Mann teaching ice axe arrest.

We’ll check in again soon.

RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

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