Well, we are enjoying a pleasant, if a bit breezy, rest day here at Aconcagua Camp 1. People are passing the time watching movies, playing cribbage, reading, and taking Spanish lessons from Pato, our newest addition to the guide team. Not much else to report, we're hoping to move up to Camp 2 tomorrow where we plan on waiting out the coming weather before making our move to Plaza Cólera (Camp 3) and subsequent summit push. Morale is high and we are all looking forward to being reunited with our best snack food up in the cache at Camp 2.
More to come as the story develops,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Enjoy your day off. Hope your climb to Camp 2 goes smoothly and the weather there is not too much of a challenge.
Stay strong and be safe.
Love you,
Dad
Posted by: Dad on 1/22/2016 at 6:36 am
Buenos dias querido Randy (Good morning dear Randy) I am sure that you will make your goal. Arrive safe to the top of the mountain. Good for you that you are learning Spanish ( Bueno para ti que estes aprendiendo espanol). Receive all my love and blessing from God,
Hey there, this is Seth checking in from the Kikoti Camp way out on the far side of Tarangire National Park. We had a good day on safari again. Within the first half hour of entering the Park, we saw lions and elephants. The elephants kept going all day long. We had lunch, a little late lunch, around 2 o'clock and right before we pulled into our picnic site, we saw about 25 mother elephants with their babies. We got some really good close-up shots of some more on the way out so the Garden of Elephants, Tarangire National Park, was sure living up to its name. It is our last night on safari and everybody is pretty psyched to get home and see their loved ones. We do have some more fun stuff planned for tomorrow before everyone catches their flights home and a few folks are going on to Zanzibar and keep going on their vacation. It's been a great climb and safari. We'll say goodbye to this group and then I'll meet the next RMI group that will be checking-in in a couple of days. Ciao.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall checks in from Tarangire National Park.
So glad the weather was in your favor for safari. You certainly deserve it. Safe travels home. We can’t wait to hear from you, Derek and Karen, when you return. XO
Posted by: Delta and Peter Fuller on 1/21/2016 at 2:34 pm
Hola from Ecuador!
After some very long flights and a little bit of sleep the team is doing well. We started our day with a team meeting where we did our usual round of introductions and discussed the game plan for our upcoming adventure.
After the meeting we headed out on the town to explore this beautiful historical city with our tour guide Angel. We first headed north to visit the Equator from which Ecuador gets its name, then headed to the older part of town where visited several old cathedrals, and the colonial town square. Next we headed up to a small hill called La Panacia that over looks this beautiful city before returning to the hotel for a little break.
We wrapped up the day with a quick gear check to make sure everyone has all the gear needed for our climbs. Then it was off to dinner at a nice restaurant where we were enjoyed getting to know each other better.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Well, what a day. We went to bed last night to cold temps and high winds and by the time we woke this morning at 2 am the winds had calmed and the temps were on the rise. The climbing was tough right out of camp today, mixed snow and rock conditions up the Knees Route made for some challenging conditions. However, once we crested the "Knees" the roller coaster ridge line of Ixta made for some great climbing. Conditons for the rest of the climb were ideal and we enjoyed a great summit and descent. We really snuck the climb in today because on the way down from High Camp conditions began to deteriorate. We are all currently on a bus to Puebla, where we will be resting and sightseeing tomorrow before gearing up for our climb of Pico de Orizaba.
Cheers,
RMI Guide Billy Haas
Hola! Billy here back at Camp 1 chilling (out) and filling (up on food) after a flawless carry to Camp 2. We moved well and had little trouble putting in our cache of the usual food, fuel, and cold weather/summit gear. We bumped into friends and acquaintances all along the way enjoying the better than decent weather. There were a few minutes of flurries and even a little thunder in the distance but nothing of consequence. As I write this we're basking in the sun, satisfied with the day's work.
Oh, we also met our third guide who traversed the mountain from the other base camp (Plaza de Mulas) and descended with us back to camp. His name is Pato, which means "duck," and he's a pretty cool dude. Not much else to report other than some inclement weather in the forecast, hopefully it doesn't slow our roll too much...
Until our next dispatch,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent and team
Randy…sounds like things are going well so far. In fact with all your chilling and filling and basking in the sun it sounds like you are on a very leisurely vacation…makes me a little jealous…haha. I know better but I hope you are enjoying the challenge. Lucas wanted me to tell you his great news that he just passed his MIG certification for a vertical up weld. He is so excited!
I miss you and I’m hoping Mother Nature remains kind to you.
Love Lisa
Posted by: Lisa Irwin on 1/21/2016 at 10:26 am
It’s National Hug Day, so a great big hug with warm thoughts to Dr. H from all of us! Have a good climb today!
Hi! This is Seth. We are in the Ngorongoro Crater where, miraculously, I have 3G service. We are having a great day exploring the area. We got an early start and visited a Maasai village located on the rim of the crater. After that we dropped down to the crater floor and started the game drive. It started off pretty slow for the first hour but then we saw a pride of eleven lions, a single rhino and then a pair of rhinos. The last two rhinos were pretty active which was really cool. After lunch we spotted a completely different pair of rhinos making it a five rhino day. Now we're heading back to the Plantation Lodge for another night before heading out to Tarangire National Park and Kikoti Camp tomorrow.
PS: We did not get rained on today.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall & Team
Hi everyone. This is Solveig calling in from high camp on Ixta. We're doing wonderful. Everybody just enjoyed a nice high camp meal and we are all tucked in getting ready for our summit bid tomorrow. We'll check in from the top. Ciao.
RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall
RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall calls in from Ixta High Camp.
Hi all,
Billy here checking in from Aconcagua Camp 1 after a smooth move on up from basecamp. We enjoyed sunny skies and a bit of light breeze, all in all a perfect day to head up the hill. After arriving mid afternoon we took our time settling in. We had to move our cache over to our actual campsite, setup tents and get moved in. Sometime after we had set up camp the notorious Camp 1 creek began to flow. This made for a little engineering project redirecting the flow of water around our tents and with just a little bit of effort we've managed to stay dry... So far anyway. Camp is a bit crowded with several teams so good tent spots are at a premium. We just scarfed a toretellini dinner and are crawling in for the night, all of us a bit tired but no worse for the wear.
Nighty night.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Posted by: Sam Falkenhagen on 1/20/2016 at 11:58 am
Jake,
Great that things are going smoothly. Looks fantastic from up there. Good luck to the team and with weather the rest of the way. Look forward in seeing Jake with hair..LOL
Cheers from The guys at Sound Beverage.
David
Hello, I am emailing from our safari at Lake Manyara National Park. We are having a great afternoon of game viewing.
The day started at the Dik Dik Hotel where we said goodbye to some of our team. About half the team is either headed back home or doing their own safari.
The rest of us have successfully shifted gears from mountain living to wildlife viewing. We were on the road just after 9 am and a few hours later we pulled into Lake Manyara. We had lunch just inside the park and then started the game drive. True to the nature of the trip we had 45 minutes of rain but now the clouds have parted, the top of the truck is open and there are animals everywhere.
Tonight we will stay at the Plantation Lodge, home of the best margaritas in Tanzania. We'll check in again tomorrow.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall and the Safari All Stars
Hey Randy (AKA - Mountain Man),
Enjoy your day off. Hope your climb to Camp 2 goes smoothly and the weather there is not too much of a challenge.
Stay strong and be safe.
Love you,
Dad
Posted by: Dad on 1/22/2016 at 6:36 am
Buenos dias querido Randy (Good morning dear Randy) I am sure that you will make your goal. Arrive safe to the top of the mountain. Good for you that you are learning Spanish ( Bueno para ti que estes aprendiendo espanol). Receive all my love and blessing from God,
Posted by: Luz Irwin on 1/22/2016 at 6:31 am
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