Entries from Expedition Dispatches

This is Chase and team checking in from the Sulphide Glacier! After three days of almost constant snowfall we finally enjoyed a bit of a break in the weather and even had a few hours of sun. About a foot of snow has fallen since our arrival but the training has continued as planned. Tomorrow we’re going to venture higher up towards the pyramid and see if conditions are suitable for a summit attempt. We’ll check in tomorrow afternoon!

RMI Guide Chase Nelson

The sprinkles began today at noon.  The full-on rain came at 1 PM, but by then we were snug in our new camp at Shira 12,600 ft.  The day had begun clear for us down at Machame, and we were treated to our first good views of Kibo, Kilimanjaro’s central peak.  We set out from camp at 8 AM and got walking up steeply rising rocky steps in a forest of giant heather.  The sun was on us -but only for about a half hour before clouds came over.  We kept working uphill, eventually in fog and a little murk.  The day involved a number of rock steps that required a good handhold or two to negotiate.  We were wearing rain jackets by the time we turned a corner onto the Shira Plateau.  We actually finished by walking several hundred feet downhill to reach camp.  The rain didn’t let up until after dark, but it just made it a little easier to stay inside and rest.  We still gathered in our nice and dry dining dome tent for meals and tea time and to share climbing stories.  By the end of dinner, the sky was back to stars and planets and the Milky Way.  We’ll hope the moisture takes a break. 

Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

At exactly 8 AM -the targeted departure time- we left the Arumeru River Lodge and drove East.  We did some people watching from our bus as we cruised the 90 minutes to the Machame Gate of Kilimanjaro National Park.  That had to suffice since we had no views of the mountain.  It was a solid carpet of cloud making things a bit gray, but we focused on the close-in views as we drove through a few changing vegetation levels getting to the 6,000foott elevation of the gate.  As usual, it took a bit of time getting checked in and registered with the Park, but we finally got to the good part -the walking- by 10:50 AM.  We set out in a big forest of moss covered trees.  The trail was pleasantly dry and fine for walking -since I’d warned the team that it would be slimy and muddy.  We gained elevation steadily as the hours went by.  The team did admirably and walked well, but all were quite impressed with porters zipping by at twice our speed with heavy loads balanced on their heads.  The gang was also impressed to come into a fully built, comfortable camp in the giant heather at 10,000 ft.  Our local staff of fifty porters, camp builders, cooks and guides had been busy.  We made it up in five hours and twenty minutes, surely a new world’s record, which we celebrated with afternoon tea and then a dinner and story-telling session in our dining tent.  There were many comments of surprise that Tosha, our head cook, could have produced such a great meal, so quickly, so far up a volcano.
Rain sprinkles began intermittently just after we reached camp but of course that didn’t bother anybody.

Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

Our Kilimanjaro team of ten climbers and one guide showed up ready to get ready this morning.  We met at 9 AM to introduce ourselves, and to review strategies, itineraries, policies.  In short order, we’d completed equipment checks, weigh-ins for loaded bags, and general preparations for hitting the trail.  This left team members with plenty of time for relaxing away the afternoon and chipping away at the evil jet lag.  Most ended up wandering the park-like grounds of our hotel and checking out the wildlife.  There were dik diks aplenty -the smallest of the antelope family.  There were velvet monkeys and small gangs of mongooses.  Occasionally we’d venture up the hotel’s Kilimanjaro observation tower, but the mountain never showed itself on this otherwise cloud free, blue sky day.  Too much haze and smoke toward the horizons.  We had a quiet and fine dinner and turned in excited for the coming day.  We get to walk uphill in a beautiful national park tomorrow. 

Best regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

The Mt. Rainier Summit Climb team, led by Brent Okita and Jess Matthews, called from Camp Muir. High winds, blowing snow and poor visibility kept the team at Camp Muir. The team began their descent at 8:45 a.m. and will be back to Rainier Basecamp around 1:00 this afternoon.

The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Solveig Waterfall reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The team climbed into a cap with some light precipitation and winds of about 15 - 20 mph. They spent a short time on top before starting their descent.

Congratulations to today’s team!

Our Four Day Summit Climb September 13 - 16 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning.  RMI Guides Brent Okita and Andy Bond led their teams to the crater on a clear and windless day.  The teams will enjoy the views from the top before returning to Camp Muir and then continuing their descent to Paradise.

Congratulations to today’s climbers!

Our Safari and Kilimanjaro adventure came to an end today.  But not with a whimper… it went out like a lion.  And coincidentally with lions, as it turned out.  We were up for an early start with great help from the friendly staff at Balloon Camp.  Setting off in our Landcruisers, we hadn’t gone more than a few hundred feet before seeing fresh tracks from lions and elephants in the dirt road.  When we got to the actual wildlife: Cape buffalo, (barking) zebras, wildebeest, hartebeest, eland… we were interested to see that their behavior was markedly different in early morning than what we’d seen during midday.  Our excellent naturalist/drivers Edson Kahangi and Juma Msangi explained that all the critters had been up in the hills hiding from predators in the night but were now a little desperate and nervous to get down to the watering holes and streams again.  We eventually saw why… the predators were well represented down there.  We saw a big mom cheetah and a cub having fun with each other and making a game of chasing Impalas.  We saw a big burly male lion striding proudly over for a drink while all other animals sprinted away.  We saw a lioness and her two cubs up in a tree for a snooze… nearby, a hundred vultures were cleaning up whatever the lions had breakfasted on.  And then it was time for us to flee all the predators too.  We had to get on the highway again, back toward Arusha.  We made a final stop at the cultural center to make a few more purchases (Maasai blankets were a big hit) and peruse the great art museum, then it was on to the Arumeru River Lodge.  We showered and repacked and had one last team dinner before most of the gang headed for the airport and ultimately home.  We seem destined for reunions and future trips together… reliving the wild time we had way out in Tanzania.  We made a pretty good team.  Thanks for following along. 
I’m going to snooze for a day and then start it all up again with another group.  Our last Kilimanjaro climb of the season.

Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

We began the day with a “so long” to Cory, who headed off -as planned- to compete in a marathon down in Capetown.  Then we set out from the delightful Plantation Lodge for our next Safari destination: Tarangire National Park.  Along the way, we toured a traditional Maasai village, watching tribe members dance and build fire and asking a lot of questions along the way about how the Maasai are able to hang on to their traditional ways in a modern world.  We entered Tarangire just after noon and within just a few minutes were seeing Impala, Zebra, and Wildebeest in numbers difficult to keep track of.  We saw great elephants and giraffes in the immense park and a few lions here and there, but for certain the highlights came close to the end of the day when we saw seven lion cubs playing and napping together while their mom/babysitter lounged nearby.  And that prepared us for the final sighting -a leopard napping in a tree with a freshly killed Impala stored in the crook of the same tree.  He/she didn’t pay much attention to us, but we payed plenty of attention to such a beautiful and formidable animal.  A few short minutes later we drove into Balloon Camp, our safari hotel.  Tonight we are back in tents, but more correctly they are tent-cabins and quite comfortable ones at that.  The staff put on a fine barbecue for our team, out under the stars near the swimming pool.  While dining, we could still hear nearby elephants trumpeting.  Just one more day to go, hard to imagine though that it will surpass today. 

Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir Team led by RMI Guides Elias deAndres Martos and Christina Dale reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today!  Elias reported great climbing with clear skies, and cool fall temperatures. The team has spent their week on the mountain learning alpine mountaineering skills. They will finish out their week of training before descending tomorrow afternoon.

Congratulations to today’s Team!