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Posts from 02/2013

Kilimanjaro: Team Ascends the Great Barranco Wall

Posted by: Casey Grom | February 15, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Kilimanjaro
Elevation: 13,000'

We enjoyed tea in our tents just before 7 am and had another enjoyable breakfast of fresh fruit, eggs and toast. We then hit the trail shortly after 8 and made good time up the Barranco wall. This wall is about 1,000’ high and is the steepest part of the entire climb requiring hands in a few places to assist us up a few steep steps. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and change of the new terrain. It was amazing to watch the porters easily navigate this terrain with their loads carefully balanced on their heads. We made good time and arrived in a little over 4 hours to our new home sitting at just over 13,000’.
We are incredibly thankfully to all of our porters and crew who have been working so hard to keep us well feed and comfortable thus far.
Looking forward to moving to our high camp tomorrow.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew.

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Ecuador’s Volcanoes: Cayambe Summit!

Posted by: Ben Liken, Jake Beren | February 15, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Ecuador
Elevation: 18,997'

Buenos dias from the top of Cayambe!

We had an absolutely stunning day for our climb today, first clear day up here in weeks and perfect cramponing conditions all the way up. So we will give you guys a shout on the way down and super proud effort by the team today. Everybody did a fantastic job and we’ll give you shout when we’re down safe and sound.

Alright, thanks.

RMI Guide Jake Beren

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Mexico Volcanoes: Waterfall & Team See the Sights of Puebla

Posted by: Seth Waterfall, Solveig Waterfall | February 14, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mexico

Today was a well deserved rest day for the team.  After a long day of climbing yesterday we spent today relaxing and seeing the sights in Puebla.  Molé, the traditional sauce of Mexico, was sampled by everyone on the team and I know one person had it at every meal.  It’s definitely a favorite of mine.  Also, since it is Valentine’s day the Zocalo (town square) was full of people celebrating the holiday.  It’s a big one here in Mexico.  We capped off the day with a great dinner at the Mason Sacristía de la Companía.  Tomorrow we switch back to climbing mode and head to el Pico de Orizaba!

RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

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Ecuador’s Volcanoes: Beren & Team Check in from the Cayambe Hut

Posted by: Jake Beren, Ben Liken | February 14, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Ecuador
Elevation: 15,300'

Feliz Valentine’s Day from all of us in Ecuador. We are at our hut on Cayambe.  About to bed down for the night after a good day of training up here.  And with any luck tonight, we will be giving Cayambe a shot. So wish us luck. And again, Happy Valentine’s to everybody back home.

RMI Guide Jake Beren

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Aconcagua: Nugent & Team Going for the Summit

Posted by: Billy Nugent, Garrett Stevens, Mike King | February 14, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Aconcagua
Elevation: 19,600'

Hey everybody, this is Billy checking in for Mike King and Garrett Stevens and the rest of our crew. We are at high camp on Aconcagua at about 19,600 feet and we made our move up today. And we’re gonna be hopefully taking a crack at the top tomorrow. Because it is the only weather window that we have. There is a wind event that is coming on that is supposed to blow 75 miles an hour at the summit for the next 5 or so days out in the extended forecast. So our chance is now. We’re hoping things are going to lighten up for us right now. Kind of a little bit crappy here at [Camp] Cholera. Fair bit of blowing snow and about 20 mile an hour winds maybe gusts of 30 to 35. But yeah, keep your fingers crossed, and we’ll give you guys a call in a little bit and let you know how it all went down. Ciao.

RMI Guide Billy Nugent

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Kilimanjaro: Grom & Team Reach the Great Barranco Wall

Posted by: Casey Grom | February 14, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Kilimanjaro
Elevation: 12,800'

All is well here on Kilimanjaro!

Day three took us from the Shira Plateau all the way over to the Great Barranco Wall. All in all we traveled about six miles, climbed up to about 15,000’ and descended back down to 13,000’. We traversed under the southern side of the mountain where there are still hanging glaciers to see. Unfortunately the clouds obscured the view, but did allow for some nice hiking temperatures. It took the team about seven hours total to reach camp. We hike for about an hour then take a short 15 minute break, then repeat.

The team is amazed and very thankful to our wonderful support crew who leave camp after us each day then race ahead to have camp rebuilt waiting our arrival.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

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Mexico Volcanoes: Waterfall & Team In Puebla after Successful Ixta Summit

Posted by: Seth Waterfall, Solveig Waterfall | February 13, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mexico

Hi from Puebla!  It’s just after 11 p.m. and we just got back from dinner.  It was a long and great day.  We woke up this morning before 2 a.m. and started climbing just after 3.  The night was cool and crisp but windless which was really great for us.  Everyone on the team was very motivated to climb and we made good progress up to the top of the Ayoloco Glacier.  From there the good weather continued and just over 4 hours after starting we were standing on top of Ixta.  It was a beautiful day for climbing.  The walk down went very smooth.  We had a light breeze on the lower mountain (that’s the big weather story for us so far!) and when we got to the trail head we were greeted with tortas, cervesas and refrescos.  Now we’re all set up for a rest day in Puebla tomorrow.

RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

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Aconcagua: Nugent & Team Move to Camp 2

Posted by: Billy Nugent, Garrett Stevens, Mike King | February 13, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Aconcagua
Elevation: 18,000'

Billy here, checking in from Camp 2 at over 18,000’ on Aconcagua! The rumored winds did indeed materialize today but they also came with perfectly clear skies and were thus not enough of a hindrance to keep us stuck at Camp 1. Our team looked awesome on our move today with everybody moving well and climbing strong despite the elevation, big loads, and the gusting breeze. We’ve set up shop here at Chopper Camp (although nobody seems to call it that since they cleaned up all the wreckage that used to be strewn about camp) and are enjoying a sunny afternoon. Today’s move only took 2 hours and 45 minutes, which speaks for this team’s strength and bodes well for summit day.

More as it develops… Wulpseeya!

RMI Guide Billy Nugent

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Ecuador Volcanoes: Beren & Team Exploring the Otovalo Market

Posted by: Jake Beren, Ben Liken | February 13, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Ecuador

The team is currently exploring Otovalo, the market town near the base of Cayambe. The sea of brightly colored goods in the town square is a fantastic place for a little cultural souvenir shopping. After our outing, we will head towards our next climbing objective, Cayambe. With a positive trend in the weather, it seems as though all the crossed fingers up North have made a difference. Keep it up amigos and we will check in from the hut!

RMI Guide Jake Beren

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Kilimanjaro: Grom & Team Arrive in Shira Camp

Posted by: Casey Grom | February 13, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Kilimanjaro
Elevation: 12,200'

Day 2 greeted us with clear skies and beautiful views of the upper mountain. The day starts with “morning tea” delivered to our tents at 6:30 followed by a medium tub of warm washing water. The team did great getting ready and we made it out of camp right at 8 am. Today is one of the shorter legs being just under three miles all total, however we ascended a little over 2,000’ getting to camp. We stopped about half way for the nice sit-down lunch that our staff had ran ahead and prepared. Clearly we are being spoiled! But this is vacation after all.

It took a little over six hours to get to Camp 2. Its called Shira Camp because it sits atop the massive Shira Plateau at just over 12,200’ and overlooks the Great Rift Valley below.

Everyone is doing well and are looking forward to a good night’s sleep.

Hakuna matata!

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

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