Hey, it's Billy here checking in from the Sulphide yet again on our Expedition Skills Seminar. We ended up not going for the climb today despite the perfect weather. There's a ton of new snow up on the upper summit pyramid. We figured we'd give that stuff a chance to sort of settle out and melt and see whatever it was going to do on the first truly hot day in quite a while. We let things just sort of mellow out up there, and we kept ourselves busy with ice climbing in and out of crevasses. We went for a little walk around the Sulphide Glacier and then capped off the day with some belaying and rappelling practice. Everyone is super excited for our summit attempt tomorrow. We'll call and hopefully check in from the tippy top and let you know what we run into up there. Alright. All for now.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
RMI Guide Billy Nugent calls in from the Shuksan Seminar.
It was a little easier getting up and getting going today since we didn't have to crawl out of tents on a mountainside. The gang was on the road, leaving the Dik Dik Hotel by 8:15 AM. It took several hours to wind through Arusha's traffic and to get over to Lake Manyara National Park. But the drive was very much worth the trouble. We rolled back the roofs on the two Toyota Landcruisers and went looking for wildlife. Within minutes, we saw elephants and baboons and monkeys. We ticked species after species, had a great picnic lunch and then saw the main attraction: lions lounging in an acacia tree. It was hard to leave the pair of big cats, but eventually we moved on to see hippos and pelicans, zebras and wildebeests. As the sun got low, we left the park and headed for the Plantation Lodge, our accommodation for the night. All were surprised and pleased to find themselves in the lap of luxury in a beautiful garden setting. We've come quite a way from sleeping on a tilt on cold dirt.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The Expedition Skills Seminar – Muir led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Mike King reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 7:22 am this morning. The teams reported clear skies and light winds. The team will spend one more day on the mountain training before descending. We expect them back to Rainier Basecamp tomorrow afternoon.
Congratulations to the Seminar Team!
Hey, Billy here checking in again from our Expedition Seminar out on the Sulphide. All is going well. Our team is enjoying a significant improvement in the weather. We spent the morning doing some anchor systems, and we learned how to move around, how to manage rope on rocky terrain- both blocky rock and more fifth-class rock. That was pretty exciting and then we sort of changed gears for the afternoon. We headed out to a crevasse where the team honed their skills on crevasse rescue, so we had a great day. We're hoping to take a crack at the summit tomorrow, but we're not super sure if we're going to do it tomorrow or wait another day. There's a lot of new snow up on up on the summit pyramid and the next couple of days are supposed to be quite warm, so we might let some of that snow melt off. We'll give you a call tomorrow and let you know what we ended up doing. Check in and let you know where we're at. Alright. All for now. Talk later.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
RMI Guide Billy Nugent checks in from the Shuksan Seminar.
Our last day of the climb started out with perfectly clear skies at Mweka Camp. The team got together for breakfast, mentioning sore muscles from the day before, but with everybody smiling and excited for the finale. After breakfast, our staff sang the "Kilimanjaro Song" while we clapped and recorded everything. A few short speeches were made and tips distributed, before we all headed down the trail. This walk was all in forest -an extreme contrast to our time up in the ice and rock alpine zone just a few hours back. As we dropped 4000 ft, we looked for monkeys and birds and marveled at giant camphor trees. At our finish line, the Mweka Gate, the Dik Dik Hotel had put on a splendid picnic banquet. With full bellies and tired feet we boarded the bus/truck for the ride through Moshi and back to the hotel on the outskirts of Arusha. It was then a relaxing afternoon of getting clean and trying out the hammocks of the Dik Dik. We enjoyed a memorable victory dinner together, recalling with laughter how we'd been utter strangers just a week before. In the morning, the main body of the group will go off on a game-viewing safari. We wish Keith safe travels on his way home and we are counting on spying Peter and Charlotte across some muddy hippo wallow in these next few days.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Congratulations! Can not wait to hear all about. Safe travels
Posted by: Elese Sifly on 9/9/2015 at 4:08 pm
Congratulations to All the members of this great team, including these brave local men. Thank you for sharing these beautiful moments, as always. And now, it is time for a well deserved SA FA RI ! Enjoy
Hey, it's Billy here checking in from the Sulphide Glacier on Mt. Shuksan. We're on an expedition skills seminar. All is well here. We had a good day of training despite some moderately inclement weather, a little bit of overcast skies and some rain in the morning. But that didn't stop us from doing the snow school and learning some snow anchors and other skills, and everyone's doing well. Right now things are just starting to clear up actually for the first time so the team is enjoying the views and taking some photos, and we're all hanging out and going to rack out soon and head to bed and looking for another good day of training tomorrow. Alright so I'll call in tomorrow evening and let you guys know how it went. Alright bye for now.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
RMI Guide Billy Nugent checks in from the Expedition Skills Seminar - Shuksan.
Summit Day on Kilimanjaro!
This one went just perfectly from start to finish. We woke at 11:30 PM had a bit to eat and drink and then went walking toward the top at 12:30 AM. It was clear and cold... colder still as we got higher, naturally. But the best thing was that the night was calm. Wind never bothered us on this day. All agreed that it was quite difficult, just the same. The altitude involved was new for each of our climbers, and predictably it hit some harder than others without too much rhyme or reason. We didn't have 100% to the summit... Nine of ten made Stella Pt on the crater rim and seven of those nine made it over to Uhuru... The highest point. The guide managed to drag himself up as well, but only with the ample assistance of our local staff. Freddy and his guides: Gunther, Eliapenda, Charles and Filbert, along with Oswald made huge differences in our enjoyment of the morning. We hit Stella Point at 7 AM just after a magnificent sunrise. By 8 we were at Uhuru and we spent thirty minutes there. We'd made it back to high camp before noon and after a fine brunch we were on our way down the vertical mile to Mweka Camp at 10,000 ft. We reached camp at 4 PM, tired but quite happy.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team
Hey! It's Billy here checking in from the Sulphide Glacier on Mt. Shuksan where the most recent storm cycle actually left us with a nice coating of new snow. Things are exceptionally beautiful here right now but the fog's kind of moving in and out. And our team has built camp and settled on in and we just enjoyed some dinner. And we're gonna rack out and hit the hay pretty soon here to get us ready for a big day training tomorrow.
Weird stuff definitely today on the lower glacier. We actually saw multiple frogs on the glacier so the team hasn't decided whether or not that's a good omen or bad omen but we're hoping that it's a good one. And we're hoping to get an awesome week of learning and climbing. So, that's all for now. We'll check in again tomorrow, and let you know how the day went.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent and Team
RMI Guide Billy Nugent checks in from the Sulphide Glacier on Mt. Shuksan.
Hey, this is Dave Hahn checking in from Kilimanjaro. We summited this morning. We had a beautiful morning. We left High Camp at about 12:30, and we were at Stella Point on the crater rim at 7 a.m. Perfect conditions up there no wind and clear, very nice. We were on Uhuru Peak, the highest point in all of Africa by 8 in the morning. And we all made it down safely to our high camp, Barrafu, and now we're going to continue on down, and we'll send you a dispatch from the Mweka Camp. All is well.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn checks in after successful climb to the summit of Kilimanjaro.
Another great day on Kilimanjaro. Yesterday's clouds went away in the night and we were treated to a sparkling and clear, sunny morning. Looking up more than a vertical mile from Karanga Camp, we could see all of Kibo's glaciated southeastern flank. As we've gotten used to, there was a sea of cloud below us -only permitting a brief glimpse now and again as to what might be down there. But we are more focused on what lies above these days. We started climbing at 9:30 AM and in just over two hours we'd gained 2,000 vertical feet and we strolled into Barafu Camp at about 15,000 feet. It was an easy afternoon then of eating, planning and napping. We are in bed early (6PM) because we plan to be up and climbing in the middle of the night. A little luck on the weather doesn't seem to be too much to hope for now... It is calm and the afternoon clouds are fleeing fast. We could have a wonderful climb.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Hurray William and Hudson! Knew you could do it! Hope you documented everything! Can’t wait to see you pix!
Posted by: MamaB on 9/11/2015 at 11:41 am
Great job everyone! Congratulations Steve and Lindsay!
Posted by: jen and pete on 9/10/2015 at 10:23 pm
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