We departed the Shira Plateau this morning in a light mist. Last night brought significant precipitation and muddied the trails a bit. However, the night rain afforded us a beautiful view of the mountain and its new snow. The day's traverse provided great views of the landscape and curious vegetation. About five hours from the onset, we walked down through rolling fog to our camp nestled underneath the Barranco Wall. Spirits are high and bellies are full. Tomorrow, we wake up early to traverse beneath the Southern Breach Wall.
Stay tuned,
RMI Climber Dan C.
All is well here in Africa and the team is doing great.
We started early again today to stay ahead of the massive group that is climbing alongside us. We recently heard that it is the largest group ever allowed to climb together on Kilimanjaro. However they are doing a good job of staggering themselves on the trail.
We started out under cloudy skies which made for comfortable hiking but didn't help with the drying out. However, since we have arrived at camp the sun has come out and it looks like everything will dry in time for tomorrow. We hiked for about four hours today and chose not to have a sit down lunch as we were a little worried it could rain, and luckily for us it didn't.
We are relaxing here at Camp 2 on top of the Shira Plateau that overlooks the Great Rift Valley. It's incredibly beautiful and we even have a nice view of the upper mountain too.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
The team was up by 6:30 and out the door by 7:30 after a quick breakfast. We loaded up all the gear and food then drove for just over a hour to Kilimanjaro National Park. Once we were at the park entrance we registered our team and picked the 20+ porters to help us along the way. We were the first team to start walking thankfully, as a team of 100 showed up and began picking their 300+ porters. It was busy at the gate but we managed to stay out front all the way to camp. It was far from a perfect day here on Kilimanjaro. We encountered a very heavy rain after about two hours of hiking that soaked us almost to the bone. Everyone did great and remained positive despite the less than ideal weather.
We are currently relaxing in our tents now that the rain has subsided and are getting ready for dinner. Tomorrow we'll have more than a few items hanging from our pack to dry in the sun.
Enjoying the adventure!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
I’m not sure if this gets through while they are on the mountain, but if so, tell Holly (and the others) I’m sure the rain will abait, and be well worth what comes next.
Paul
Posted by: Paul on 1/29/2013 at 6:06 pm
Dear Casey & Team,
My husband and I were on this adventure about 4 1/2 months ago with Casey. The fun is just beginning and I know you will all succeed! Enjoy the trip, you’re in great hands with Casey! Love to all. Good luck!!
-Meg & Wes Mountain
Posted by: Megan & Wes Mountain on 1/29/2013 at 11:48 am
Jambo (Hello) from Africa,
The team arrived late last night after some very long flights (18hrs). We wasted no time getting back to the hotel and called it a night after a quick dinner. This morning we had our team meeting and discussed the upcoming climb and gear needed. We then took a break and enjoyed a little sunshine by the pool. Its basically summer here and most of us are on vacation after all. After lunch we took a short ride into Arusha and did a little sightseeing. Arusha is busy city of 300'000+ with a very rural and simple feeling. The team has just finished a wonderful 5 course meal provided by the Dik Dik Hotel and are headed off to bed.
We'll be getting up early and headed for the trailhead tomorrow so that all for tonight.
RMI Guide Casey Grom & Team
WISHING YOU PLEASANT AND SAFE HOLIDAY IN TANZANIA - AFRICA
Posted by: ELIAZA MMBAGA (ELLY) on 2/3/2013 at 1:26 am
Casey and Team-
Very interested in following you guys up and down the mountain as preparation for my own journey there in a couple of weeks.
Casey - I’ll contact my team memebers and make sure they know about this blog so they can follow along.
Hello everyone.
We just had another wonderful day here in Tanzania!
Today we visited Tarangire National park that is home to more than 6000 elephants. So needless to say we saw plenty, in fact, they were everywhere we looked. We even had one cross the road just a few feet behind our vehicle and saw one about a week old that everyone wanted to bring home. We witnessed the usual suspects of zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, antelope, a few lions and even managed to spot a cheetah enjoying a little shade beneath a tree.
Tomorrow will be our last day here. We'll make our way back through the park, take a quick shower at the Dik Dik lodge and then head to the airport. I'm sure the whole team is looking forward to getting home and sharing their stories and pictures from this astonishing adventure.
Thanks for following our team!
RMI GUIDE Casey Grom and Team
Thanks for the great write ups Casey- Sounds like a fantastic trip that will be in our future—
Posted by: Sterling & Sue F. on 9/27/2012 at 7:50 pm
Hiya Team!
I’m so glad you all got to see elephants and so many other cool animals! Love the pic of baby eli! Sooooo cute!!! Enjoy your last day at the awesome Dik dik resort. Drink a Kili or two for me. ;o) Cheers and safe travels back home!!!
Today we visited the famous Ngorongoro Crater. It's a 1.2 million year-old caldera full of wildlife trapped by the steep outer walls.
We saw more than our share of lions today! So close that the lions were literally under our vehicles. It was moderately hot and the lions cooled themselves in the shade of our cars. We also visited a working Masai village and were amazed at their simple yet hard life that they live.
The whole team had a wonderful day and are looking forward to even more safari tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Day one of our safari brought us to Lake Manyara, known for its famous pink flamingos and tree climbing lions. It took us about two hours to get there from our hotel. The drive took us through the vast open plains of Africa inhabited mostly by the Maasai people. Once in the park we rolled the tops of our land-cruisers back and drove through while standing up. It's currently the dry season and the lake was mostly gone for now, but we saw many animals- elephants, water bucks, Thompson giselles, impalas, dik diks, zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, and too many birds to name. No big cats today but hopefully tomorrow we'll see plenty.
Everyone enjoyed the day and we are currently resting at the fabulous Plantation Lodge. See for yourself. We will be headed out early tomorrow to try and beat the heat and catch the animals at breakfast, so to speak.
It's off to bed for now,
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Back safe and sound!
Today we hiked the last few miles off of the mountain and are all freshly showered (thankfully) and are awaiting the feast that the Dik Dik Hotel is preparing for us. Everyone is happy to be back off the mountain and are looking forward to sleeping in beds, hot showers in the morning, cotton clothes and fresh coffee!
We have had a great last few days with the whole team getting to stand on the summit of Kilimanjaro. It was a wonderful, if maybe just a little exhausting, week full of beautiful views and amazing weather.
We'll spend the night resting here then we will be off again in the morning to enjoy the rest of this beautiful country on safari.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and a happy crew.
Hello everyone back home this is Casey Grom checking in from our Kilimanjaro trip. Just wanted to report that we are all safely back at high camp and we had a 100% reach the summit today. Pretty amazing day. Weather was still perfect again for us going up. Little chilly, so we're having to do a little dancing to keep our fingers and toes warm but all in all the group did fantastic. As I said we returned to high camp, we're packing up and we're actually going to be descending a few more thousand feet to our last camp, Mweka Camp. If I get a chance I'll try to send in a written dispatch. And if not we'll certainly check in sometime tomorrow when we get off the mountain. That's all for now, everyone's doing great and look forward to trying to share few photos in a couple days with you guys.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
RMI Guide Casey Grom checks in after summit climb.
I have been following your progress, looks like you folks are having a great time wish I were there. Keep safe and have a wonderful journey.
Posted by: Priscilla Neal on 9/24/2012 at 3:43 am
COngrats to you and your team Casey. I have great memories of Kilimanjaro! All the Kili girls spent the weekend together and Lucy and Corell say hey. High fives from Richmond
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!
Go Holly!
Posted by: Chris C. on 1/31/2013 at 9:19 pm
Enjoy keeping up with the crew. Looks like a great adventure.
Posted by: Tom C. on 1/31/2013 at 12:50 pm
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