Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Hello RMI Blog followers,
This is Team Russia coming at you live from the little town of Cheget. And as usual it was a fun adventure just to get here. The team was up early to head to the airport in Moscow where we hopped on our jet that flew us to Mineralnye Vody, known for its abundant mineral springs. But we are not on a spa retreat! We're climbing!
We jumped on our private transfer bus that shuttled us to this quaint little ski town. And upon arrival I was greeted with hugs and smiles from all my friends here that have assisted us over all these years. It's a long day of travel so the team just kicked back and took in the mountain views that we've been desperately waiting for. Finally!! We are in the mountains and the incredible mountain,
Mt. Elbrus is a hop, skip and a jump away!
RMI Guide
JJ Justman
On The Map
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide
Jake Beren reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The team spent some time on the summit before starting their descent at 9:47am. Jake reported light winds and warm temps at the top of the mountain, with a cloud deck around 11,000'.
Congratulations to today's team!
Sunday July 12th 7:41 pm PT
The team woke at midnight to cloud and light snow at 11,000 ft. We got up and rallied anyway, packing and eating a hot breakfast. We set off into the murk at around 2:30 AM and snowshoed for several hours by Braille in the whiteout. Finally we got a little visibility down at 8000 ft, the base of Ski Hill. The glacier surface didn't freeze up last night and so we had some nervous moments crossing soft and saggy crevasse bridges. One of our team went neck-deep in a complicated hole just below
Mt. Francis - one of the very last crevasses we had to deal with, actually. We plucked him from the ice, but not without a fair bit of grunting and cursing and straining at the ropes. Then it was a simple but strenuous uphill climb to the old site of basecamp (there is nothing there now -which is normal in late season). Quite literally, we'd just put our packs down, at around 11:40 AM, when two beautiful K2 Aviation ski otters landed and took us to Talkeetna. The afternoon was a busy one, drying and sorting everything around the K2 hangar and connecting to the world again. We'll have a victory dinner tonight at the West Rib, perhaps with a toast or two thrown in. And then we look forward to a comfortable night's sleep at the Talkeetna Motel. Tomorrow we'll leave each other and be out on our own for the first time in three weeks.
Thanks very much for keeping track of our climb.
Until Next Time,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
There are many exciting aspects to this adventure in
Russia. And today certainly was one of them. Our team enjoyed a beautiful day exploring the rich history and culture of Moscow. Svetlana was our city tour guide and she whisked us around town explaining so many things it is hard to remember. I do though remember how cool the Kremlin is as well as Red Square. We visited Cathedral after Cathedral where the artistry will take your breath away. It was enough that when it was over I had to pass out and take a siesta! Now, our team is refreshed and we are looking forward to another great evening in town. However, it will be back to business soon as we plan on departing tomorrow for the mountain.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Well... and our trip came to an end! Today the group departed Peru and most of our climbers will be arriving home, with the memories of two weeks in the Andes. Behind are the quebradas (valleys) the cochas (glacial lakes) and of course, the rajus (snow covered mountains) that had been home and playground during our climbing seminar in the
Cordillera Blanca, the CAPITAL of Andean climbing, without a doubt.
We had an incredibly successful trip with motivated-to-learn and dedicated-to-perform climbers. Nevados Urus East, Ishinca and Copa proved a great progression for folks, while implementing expedition skills, culminated a trip that served as learning grounds for alpine climbing in the greatest ranges of the world. We leave you here some pictures while we already look forward to next year's editions of our
RMI Peru program!
Thanks for following along,
RMI Guides
Elías deAndres Martos,
Robby Young and team
Another day of nice weather...YEAH! A few hours of hiking and here we are at
Barafu Camp at 15,000 ft. The team got busy upon arrival preparing for the early morning departure from here toward the summit, sorting through the stay and go gear since we will come back thru this camp on our way down from the summit. We all pooled together our favorite treats and made up some tasty looking lunches. We took a short hike up to get familiar with the start of the climb that will confront us with our alpine start from High Camp to the summit of Kilimanjaro.
It's nap time now before our early dinner then we will take another short rest before starting our summit attempt. The team continues to do well, wish us luck!
RMI Guide
Mark Tucker & Team
On The Map
RMI Guides
Pete Van Deventer, Sid Pattison and the Moondance Adventures Team reached the summit of
Mt. Rainier early this morning. The team was walking off the Crater Rim at 8:35 am. Pete & Sid reported light winds and light snow as they moved through the cloud cap at the top of the mountain.
Congratulations to today's team!
July 11, 2015 7:58 pm PST
All enjoyed the "low" altitude sleep at 11,000 ft last night. Such a relief from the past few days at higher and colder locales. As was always the plan, we chose to stay in place today in order to get on a night-time schedule for exiting the lower
Kahiltna Glacier. It was a fine day for resting, even as the weather seemed to deteriorate around us. Our hope was that clear skies and a cool night would make travel safer (from a crevasse standpoint) and easier. That might not happen tonight as there is still plenty of cloud, but we'll get up at midnight and head for our pickup point anyway. As usual, we'll need good luck and good weather to get down and off the mountain.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Hello from
Russia! Most of the team is here and we will be meeting the rest in a couple of days. I am excited as ever to visit this great place once again!
In the Moscow streets I saw the typical herds of tour buses visiting this beautiful city. I saw brides and grooms holding hands placing their lock of committed love on the bridge of trees. I made dinner reservations at my favorite restaurant where neither of us could understand each other and we all smiled and laughed.
This is one of my favorite adventures! We are tourists. And we are welcome with open arms to the wonderful people of this country. We just finished dinner and yes those that know me, I had beef carpaccio and pasta with truffles finished with a double espresso. Yes, the life of a mountain guide!
Tomorrow we will enjoy a beautiful city tour where we continue to learn the deep history and culture of
Russia. I like to rely on heavy images and videos. After all, who wants to read my incoherent ramblings. A picture speaks a thousand words. So stay tuned and enjoy our adventure!
RMI Guide JJ Justman and the team
Can we have a couple more beautiful days please?! I don't like to beg but if we can continue with weather like this we would greatly appreciate it.
A nice lazy start to the day was our plan in order to miss the traffic while climbing the Barranco Wall. The Barranco Wall is a series of rock bands just out of camp that gets your attention and requires your hands from time to time. At the top of the Wall we took some photos and gave each other some high fives before continuing on our way. We then traversed below the upper mountain for a couple hours to end up at
Karanga Camp (13,160') for the night. Camp is situated on a bit of a slope but our staff did a fine job of finding some pretty flat ground for the tents.
We continue to adjust both mentally and physically to this extreme environment; we're meeting the challenges head on. This team did there homework, taking training to heart prior to the climb and the investment is paying off. What a great group to climb with on Kilimanjaro!
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
On The Map
Congrats to Molly and Colleen!
Posted by: Mark Murphy on 7/13/2015 at 1:04 pm
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