Entries from Expedition Dispatches

After a full day at Camp Muir adjusting to the altitude, taking in the views of the surrounding glaciers and neighboring mountains The Five Day Summit Climb Team led by RMI Guide Jenny Konway reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. Jenny reported great climbing conditions and beautiful weather. The team has started their descent and are headed back to Camp Muir, and will be back at Paradise this afternoon.

Congratulations to today’s team!

It has been cloudy all day but that made for a very comfortable hike up to the Shira Plateau, 12,200’, and our second camp on Kilimanjaro. The hike out of camp was steep for a couple of hours with a beautiful traverse to top out the day.  En route to camp we encountered a short section of rock scramble which had everyone paying attention and will get us ready for our climb up the Barranco Wall in a couple days. Here at over 12,000’, we were greeted with a camp fully set up and a hot lunch. We are hopeful the skies will clear and we will be able to enjoy the sunset and get a peak at the upper mountain from tonight’s camp. The team is in good shape snacking, exploring and resting and hoping for clear skies tomorrow.

RMI Guide Mark Tucker

On The Map

The Four Day Summit Climb team led by RMI Guide Kel Rossiter reached to summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. Kel reported a great day of climbing with beautiful clear skies. The team has started their descent and are en route to Camp Muir

Congratioulations to today’s team!

SUMMIT! After a week of training and learning alpine mountaineering skills the Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The team ascended Mt. Rainier by navigating the Katuz Ice Chute. RMI Guide Mike Haugen reported great climbing conditions with calm and clear skies.

Congratulations to today’s team!

Alpamayo team heading down hill.
As we crawled out of our tents this chilly morning we saw clouds whipping around Alpamayo and throughout the range. Very glad we climbed yesterday. We packed up, had coffee and began our descent by mid morning. Three rappels from the col got us back on the glacier and easy walking back to Moraine Camp. The team did great despite being tired form the efforts of yesterday. At Moraine Camp we took a good long break before shouldering our heavy packs again. We picked our way through the rocks and slabs leading back to Base Camp. Ilario, our base camp cook, was waiting and had individual pizzas for us shortly after rolling in. We are all glad to be back in the land of trees and grass, tired but happy. This afternoon we are organizing gear for the donkeys to haul down tomorrow and resting. Tomorrow we will make the walk all the way to Casha Pompa, and catch our shuttle back to Huaraz.

That’s all for now,
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens and the A Team

All is well here at 10,000ft Machame Camp, Camp 1, on Kilimanjaro. 
We left the Arumeru Lodge this morning and enjoyed the views of the local community and lots of farms growing bananas, coffee and corn.  The flanks of Kilimanjaro provide very fertile grounds for all of these great crops.  After a couple hour drive we arrived at the Kilimanjaro Nation Park gate.  We registered our team and paid our entrance fee to the Park Staff and with permit in hand, we loaded our packs and began our climb.  We had a steady ascent of 4,000ft and in just less than five hours arrived at our first camp in fine form.  Perfect conditions in the cloud forest made for an enjoyable climb. We all settled in to our tents and discussed camp life and our prperations for tomorrow’s ascent.  Dinner is now complete and we are certain to enjoy many more great meals thanks to our wonderful chef and staff. Everyone is returning to their tents as we are still adjusting to our new time zone and catching up on a bit of jet lag. 

RMI Guide Mark Tucker

On The Map

The team made it to St. Petersburg yesterday. We went out to a nice team dinner, and a few folks left early this morning to get back home. The rest of the group spent the day touring the wonderful city of St. Petersburg. The cathedrals and palaces here are ornate beyond measure. We spent the afternoon cruising through the canals on our own private boat, and finished the evening with an excellent dinner at the historic Astoria Hotel, complete with a celebrity appearance.
Most of the team leaves early tomorrow morning for the U.S. It’s been a great trip all around. Thanks to all of the team, and to everybody following along.

RMI Guide JM Gorum

All is well here in the Baksan Valley, at the base of Elbrus where we’ve settled into our comfortable hotel. We made the most of the local ski lifts, (to save our knees of course) and hiked up the neighboring peak to start our acclimatization. It started off a little cloudy today, but eventually cleared for some decent views of Elbrus. After our ascent we headed back down to town for a nice lunch and headed over to the local climbing shop to pick up a few last minute things. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, getting our bags packed and just wrapped up another enjoyable Russian dinner with some wonderful Georgian soup.
All is well here and we’ll check in again tomorrow!

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

On The Map

Amazingly, most of the team actually got some sleep last night before I made my rounds to wake folks up just past 11:00pm. The night sky was amazingly clear and calm, and though the temps at camp were below freezing it felt a lot warmer than I had expected.
Our 7 1/2 hour ascent covered a variety of terrain from scree to rock, and got colder as we gained altitude. In fact, all the Camelback hydration systems people insisted on bringing froze and became useless until low on our descent.
What a big mountain. Our team couldn’t believe that our summit bid could go on for so long. But, at about 7:30 we finally reached the summit, Uhuru Peak at 19,340’. What was most impressive was that everyone summitted! The team just put their heads down, pressure breathed and got it done. But a big thanks needs to go out to our local guides: James, Freddy, Peter, Patrick, Naiman and Venance. They worked tirelessly to help the team achieve this dream.
Following our summit, we were greeted with a nice lunch upon arriving back at camp, then there was the five-hour hike to our next camp at about 10,000’ Mweka Camp. Sore feet and knees were casualties of the descent, but it sure feels good to be down here now. Especially after another great meal prepared by Tosha, our chef.
The eyelids are growing heavy, so I’ll bid you all good night.

RMI Guide Brent Okita

On The Map

The Four Day Summit Climb July 22 - 25, 2017 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning.  RMI Guides Mike Walter, Lydia Johnson and JT Schmitt reported clear skies and calm winds.  The team will return to Camp Muir and continue down to Paradise.  They will conclude their program with a celebration at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.

Congratulations to today’s climbers!