The Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir, led by Casey Grom and Elias de Andres Martos, reached the summit of Mount Rainier! The guides reported overnight snow of a couple of inches in places but mostly a dusting. The precipitation did stop for their summit bid. They also reported no winds and a cloud deck of 12,000 feet. After spending some time on the top, the teams will begin their descent back to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to the team!
The guide team monitored weather conditions throughout the night, only to find snow and poor visibility each time we looked out of our tent. With our time frame and weather forecast, our plan for the day is to pack up camp and take as much time as we need to get down the Chimneys safely. We'll send another dispatch from town.
Until then-
RMI Guide Zeb Blais & Team
Our last couple of Safari days were chock full of wildlife, natural beauty and exploring. Tarangire National Park certainly delivered. We saw hundreds of elephants dotting the landscape in family groups of fifteen to twenty. We saw thousands and thousands of zebra and wildebeest. Beautiful and exotic birds were everywhere. We saw several great sleeping lions and we looked in every acacia tree for more big cats. Despite the best efforts of our two dueling sharp-eyed naturalists; Driver Joseph and Climber Chris, we never did see the leopards and cheetahs although we were pretty sure they were watching us. Something left for next safari. None of us will soon forget this one though, and the peaceful night we spent out in Kikoti Camp overlooking Tarangire. We watched a troupe of baboons climb a sheer rock face that final evening for no other reason than to watch the sunset from the top of the rock. We'll keep their example in mind -it is often worth going out of one's way to see the wonders of this planet.
Today we are flying back around this gigantic planet toward home. Thanks for following along on our climb and safari.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The Four Day Summit Climb teams led by RMI Guides JJ Justman and Pete Van Deventer were unable to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier today due to gusty winds. The teams turned back after reaching the top of Disappointment Cleaver. The teams are descending to Camp Muir and then will continue their to descent to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Thanks to JJ, Jess, and Bridgette for guiding on the climb. I couldn’t have imagined a better experience. First of many mountaineering experiences, glad you guys were part of it. Looking forward to my next climb and hope to summit rainier with you another go around.
John Vasholz
Posted by: John on 9/14/2015 at 11:05 pm
Chad! Sorry to hear you couldn’t make it due to wind, we were all rooting for you back here at the ACE program. I am sure you have good stories to tell and we look forward to hearing them. Glad you didnt catch Summit fever. Enjoy the rest of your trip. Peace, bruh!
Great days at Tarangire. Wonderful night at Kikoti Camp. Checked back in at Dik Dik for shower and dinner, then off to the airport. Busy times, but good times... I'll send a roundup from Amsterdam.
Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The Four-Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Tyler Reid were unable to reach the summit due to strong winds. The team has safely returned to Camp Muir. They will descend from Camp Muir to Paradise this morning. We look forward to seeing the team in Ashford later this morning.
Hey, this is Dave Hahn calling in from safari in Tanzania. Hey, we had a great day in Tarangire National Park. We saw hundreds of elephants. We saw a million zebras, gazelles; we saw a couple of male lions sleeping. It was great day, wonderful day. We're at Kikoti Camp, just outside the National Park right now. Unexpectedly, we don't have internet tonight so I'm not sending a dispatch but thought I'd give you a yell and let you all know that we're all doing just fine. And we're looking forward to the very last day of our trip. Tomorrow, we'll go back through Tarangire and we'll make our way back to Arusha. But all is well and we'll be in touch. Thank you.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn checks in from Safari in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania.
The Four-Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Mike Walter reached the summit of Mt. Rainier around 6:40am this morning. The Five Day Summit Climb led by Leon Davis also reached the summit today.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!
Update 7:15 pm PT
Hi all...
We are safely back at camp after a long descent down a very wet and snowy central gully on the summit pyramid. The team stayed strong the whole way through and rounded out a great day after putting the whole team on the summit.
Now, it's just a walk through the woods tomorrow morning and we'll be back in Babylon!
2:07 pm PT
Hey everyone. It's Billy checking in from the summit of Mount Shuksan with our whole crew! Give a shout you guys,"Yeah!" I will give you guys a call when we are back down at camp , safe and sound. We are about to begin our descent.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
RMI Guide Billy Nugent calls in from the Mt. Shuksan summit!
We spent the day cruising for wildlife in a caldera. Ngorongoro Crater didn't disappoint. There was fairly heavy cloud glued to the crater rim in the morning when we were working around the circumference, but as we dropped into the interior, we got under the weather and enjoyed fine visibility. We saw vast quantities of wildlife including herds of wildebeest, cape buffalo and zebra. There were hippos galore and a solitary black rhino. The big cats stole the show though. At one point a female lion walked out into the road and lay down against the hubcap of one of our vehicles. This was despite a bunch of us leaning out to take pictures and a small traffic jam of land cruisers forming to capture the event. She couldn't have cared less about car occupants. All she knew was that she was hot and that the hubcap was offering a little shade.
Bryson, our driver, had to maneuver very carefully to get the vehicle moving without running over the big cat tail.
On the way out of Ngorongoro, we visited a Maasai "boma", or village, and learned a little about the famous tribesmen clinging to their traditional lifestyle.
Tomorrow, we'll move over to Tarangire National Park.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Congratulations guys what a team effort to get to the summit. Training right now for my summit bid either in 2016 or in 2017.
Posted by: Kevin Stone on 9/18/2015 at 7:30 am
Congratulations guys what a team effort to get to the summit. Training right now for my summit bid either in 2016 or in 2017.
Posted by: Kevin Stone on 9/18/2015 at 7:29 am
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