Entries from Expedition Dispatches

Last night as we prepared for our summit attempt, we could not get American football off of our minds. With Dustin and a couple others praying for a Seahawks win and myself along with all my Ecuadorian recruits pulling for the Packers, the howling winds, soaking mist and ominous cloud cap almost seemed to take a back seat. I say this because it was the mind frame I was in but in reality the weather was front and center. When we arrived in Ecuador, I gloated on our fortune of grand vistas and warm temperatures, but we all know how quickly things can change. And change they did.

With a 6:00 pm dinner and 7:00 pm lights out, we never learned the score but went to bed wondering. This is the main reason I didn’t sleep a single minute but my 11:00 pm alarm showed up unwelcomed anyway. As I ventured outside to inspect the winds, I was immediately greeted with a soaking mist ramming into me at 25 mph. This did not inspire me so I held off waking the group up for another hour thinking things might improve enough to warrant going up. And to my surprise it did! At 1:00 am the rain had turned to snow which made the prospect of climbing a bit more bearable, but the wind still screamed as it whistled through the Cayambe Refugio.

At 2:00 am five out of our eight climbers set off for what would be an uncertain ascent. The other three climbers stayed behind because of lingering chest illnesses they felt would improve with rest over cold, windy, snowy climbing.

It only took 15 minutes or so before our local guides began to express concern about ice covered rock and strong winds. We made the decision to go as high as we safely could, which led us through some steep rock steps and a sandy traverse back towards the glacier, which we visited a mere twelve hours previously. It was on this traverse we got the full taste of the wind’s furry. I know how strong a wind gust needs to be to blow me around and this giant fan was blowing at a constant, strong enough to have me leaning into it looking like Michael Jackson in mid performance, I’m guessing a steady 50 mph.

Shortly after passing this exposed spot it was clear our shot at the top was going to be thwarted. It wasn’t cold and the snow had even subsided a bit but the wind, through its howls, made the decision for us, we needed to turn around. This is never an easy decision to make but in the end it was the right one. Back at the hut we took a little cat nap and then woke to horrible instant coffee and some rope practice. We then packed up and headed out, back to the warmth of 8,000 feet and the fantastic burgers of Cafe LA Vaca, my favorite lunch place.

Now we are settled into one of the oldest haciendas in the country enjoying internet, a laundry service and hot showers. Our failure to reach the summit of Cayambe has only fueled the fire to get to Cotopaxi, also known as the jewel of Ecuador, tomorrow. We will keep you updated as we prepare for this 19,400' snow cone. Thanks for following.

RMI Guide Adam Knoff

Today we woke at 6:30 feeling good, had breakfast, then enjoyed a goodbye song and dance from our gracious crew of porters, cooks, and local guides. We finished the little celebration by handing out their well-deserved tips and then hit the trail one last time. 
It took a little over three hours to reach the park gate where the team had lunch then hopped aboard our awaiting bus for the ride back to the lodge. 

Finally we are all safe and sound, and a little cleaner after an amazing seven-day journey up and down Kilimanjaro. 
The team is currently relaxing and looking forward to Safari which starts tomorrow!

RMI Guide Casey Grom and a happy Kilimanjaro crew

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Scree...every uphill travelers worst nightmare. Today we got to see more of the mountain as we did our first carry. We left Basecamp, packs loaded up with food and fuel and made our way through the rocky terrain. The middle portion of the day looks like a cratered martian land. We weave our way around the craters to the final scree hills to camp. The last 100 feet are a butt kicker. Everyone showed determination and that they were willing to embrace the suck. After taking a well deserved break, we unloaded our packs, made are cache, and enjoyed the scenery of camp one. A couple hours of much easier downhill travel, we were back to the comforts of basecamp. The team did a fantastic job navigating the terrain and the altitude. We are looking strong and getting ready for our move. Now we will enjoy one more rest day before leaving basecamp.

Adios,

RMI Guide Hannah Smith and team

On The Map

Last  night our team endured the first full night at what many would consider a serious altitude.  15,200 feet to some serious mountain people would be cause for a scoff and teenage eye roll but for us, it means lots of huffing and puffing on top of waking up with a hangover that is not alcohol induced.  We look forward to that headache later but for now we are holding fast to acclimating and training.
So after shaking out the webs we ate a good breakfast, suited up and made the 1.5-hour hike to the toe of the glacier.  The wind blew hard all night and did not let up during the day.  This made reviewing skills a bit challenging but true-to-form everyone did great. 
After returnimg to the hut we enjoyed a great lunch, some life giving cola cola and a nice power nap.  
Now we are packing for the summit climb hoping the wind will die down just a bit.  Right now it is blowing a steady 25 miles per hour making the thought of 19,000 feet a little cold.  
So wish us luck as we climb through the night tonight.   We will let you know tomorrow how it goes.

RMI Guide Adam Knoff

On The Map

After a relaxing evening enjoying traditionally prepared foods at La Casa Sol, we awoke to a peaceful morning.  Most of the team spent some time prior to breakfast drinking coffee and appreciating our perch above Otavalo.  Following breakfast we loaded the bus and headed into town to experience one of Ecuador's finest craft markets.

The market in Otavalo is full of traditional goods: alpaca garments, woven bags, various other textiles, chocolate (Ecuador is famous for artisan chocolate) and coffee amongst a variety of other goods.  Some team members spent most of their time sipping artisan coffee.  Others used a combination of broken Spanish and hand signals to haggle with vendors.  Once we all reconvened the bus drove us to our rendezvous with the 4x4 trucks that would take us to the refuge on Cayambe.

We are now moved in and situated for the next two days.  Sunday will consist of basic mountaineering skills training review.  The plan is to wrap up early and wake up during the night to climb Cayambe.  The entire team is getting acclimated and itching to give our first big objective a go!

RMI Guide Adam Knoff

What up Doc! Today we enjoyed our first rest day. We started with a leisure breakfast followed by a visit with the Basecamp doctor. In order to continue up the mountain everyone has to get the ok from Dr. Richard. Richard checked our lung sounds, blood pressure and O2 saturation. The whole team passed with flying colors! With the ok from the doc and the team all feeling good, we sorted our gear for our carry tomorrow. We will move a bunch of gear that we don't need at Basecamp to Camp 1. Not only does this help us get all of our gear up the mountain but this will also help with acclimatization with Camp 1 sitting at over 16,000 feet. It will feel good to continue getting higher and higher up this mountain.

Hasta manana,
RMI Guide Hannah Smith and team

On The Map

Today is the day we finally pack up our chubby duffel bags, steal some chocolate filled croissants from our top notch breakfast buffet and hit the road.   Quito is a beautiful city, home to an incredible history and architecture but it is also home to 3 million people.   Buses here burp massive diesel fumes imitating tiny volcanoes and the horns are not quite a song bird, so after a few days, the country is calling.  
On this note, our team all proved they are a timely bunch being packed and ready by 7:30, so we loaded Victor’s magic bus and headed toward our second acclimatization mountain, Fuya Fuya.   If you strapped a gps on crow and flew it to the mountain it would only fly 85 miles or so but on the ground, that distance took three hours or cover.  Upon arriving in the small town of Otavalo, our bus head upward into the hills on old cobble stone roads, similar to what you would find in Europe.   Halfway to the trailhead we were stopped by a child no older that seven who had a rope tied across the road.  In a fantastic show of entrepreneurship, he engaged those tiny arms, pulled the rope tight and forced the bus to a surprised halt.  Out of pure respect for the hustling toll collector we paid him his asking price and off we went.   
Where the road ends, there is a beautiful crater lake formed by the sinking of the volcano in its last eruption.  We parked, shouldered our light packs and made the two hour hike through interesting native fauna and steep grassy slopes to the summit of this 14,000 foot peak.  Being an adventurous crew, we then traversed west along a skinny ridge to Fuya’s neighbor peak providing some fourth class rock scrambling and enjoyable steep movements.   Unfortunately the clouds decided to join the party and occlude our grand vista of surrounding peaks and the deep blue lake but overall the weather stayed dry and warm.  
An hour long descent brought as back to the bus and another hour, back to town.  Our toll collector did not greet us on the trip down but his encounter certainly provide a laugh for the rest of the evening.   
After a nice lunch we landed at La Casa Sol or the sun house, in English, where we practiced some knots, ate dinner and enjoyed a good nights rest.  Tomorrow we move up to Cayambe where things begin to get a bit colder and more real!  
More to come.   

RMI Guide Adam Knoff

Hello again everyone

We had a good nights rest last night and today just a short hike up to 15,000ft to our High Camp. It was mostly sunny today with great views of Kilimanjaro and our intended route for tomorrow’s climb.
The team has just wrapped up lunch and discussed in great detail the plan for tomorrow’s climb. Everyone knows what what we’ll be wearing, what will be in the pack, as well as the schedule.
Our game plan will be to wake at 11pm and have a quick breakfast at 11:30, then hopefully hit the trail right at midnight. The team has been doing great thus far and I’m expecting us to reach the summit in 7 to 8 hours if things go according to plan.

I’m also going to bring our Satellite phone to hopefully make a few calls from the summit.
So everyone back home please keep your phones handy and if you receive a call from a strange number please answer. We are seven hours ahead of the east coast time zone.

Wish us luck!

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew 

On The Map

Giddy up! We woke to a chill in the air and ice where there was once a puddle of water. Today we turned off the Vacas Valley and headed up the Relinchos Valley. Several ribbons of water separated us from where we wanted to go. Instead of rolling our pants up and confronting the painfully cold water, we opted to hop onto mules and ride them across. For a brief moment we all got to pretend we were an Argentinean cowboy. Back on two feet, we spent the day making our way to basecamp. The views were jaw dropping and Aconcagua stayed in our view the entire day. Her summit calls but not just yet can we go. First we must rest from a day well done. Tomorrow we will soak in basecamp and also start preparing our loads for our carry to Camp 1 the following day.

Nighty night,
RMI Guide Hannah Smith and team

On The Map

Hello everyone

We had a slower start today to allow the many porters to hit the ever narrowing trail. Right out of camp we were faced with the only significant technical obstacle for this climb. This hurdle is the great Barranco Wall, which rises about 1,000' and looks as intimidating as it sounds. Thankfully there is a nice narrow trail that weaves its way up and through the wall and all the way to the top. Most of it feels more like steep hiking, but there are a few places that require the use of our hands to help us climb up.

The team did a good job of moving steady and allowing a few porters through with their loads precariously balanced on their heads. Which was astonishing to see!

After reaching the top we took a nice break and enjoyed the amazing views of the ice ladened south face and valleys below. The team continued our hike for a few more hours up and down through a few valleys before reaching camp.

All in all, it took only about 4 hours for us to reach our next camp called Karanga, named for the big and beautiful valley which it overlooks.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

On The Map