Entries from Expedition Dispatches
This is the last day of the trip for us. We've had a really nice day here in St. Petersburg. We kicked off the morning by beating the crowd to the Hermitage Museum. Once we got in we disbanded and everyone took in the seemingly endless art works at their own pace. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the experience there.
Now we've all met up again for a boat tour on the canals. The weather is really nice here with plenty of sun and just a little crispness in the air.
Tomorrow we'll all head to the airport for our flights home. It's too bad the weather kept us from getting to the top of
Mt. Elbrus but this group has really made the most of the situation.
Pete and I feel really lucky that everyone had such a positive attitude throughout the trip.
Thanks guys!
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Hi all,
Today is our last day on
Shuksan before we hike out tomorrow. We spent the morning relaxing getting in and out of our tents as the rain storms were sporadic. By early afternoon it seemed stable enough and we did some training. First we practiced knots and hitches, then we moved on to building snow anchors, and wrapped up with some crevasse rescue scenarios. We are now back in tents as a very dark ominous looking cloud quickly approaches.
That's the latest from Shuksan,
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens & Team
The
Four Day Summit Climbs led by Lindsay Mann and Tyler Jones were unable to leave Camp Muir last night. The team experienced heavy thunderstorms that brought much lightening and 6 inches of new snow to Camp Muir. The teams plan to leave Camp Muir shortly and will be back in Ashford in the early afternoon.
Congratulations to today's teams!
We had a mixed bag of weather this trip: some sunshine, some rain, some thunder, some lightning. A strong low pressure system moving in from the south has been causing heavy rain and flash flooding in Oregon and Washington, but we were able to squeak in an enjoyable climb today. We climbed from our bivy sight at 5,700' on Mt. Shuksan, climbed up through the
Fisher Chimneys, on to the White Salmon Glacier, up Winnie's Slide, onto the Upper Curtis Glacier, up Hell's Highway, and onto the Sulphide Glacier before weather forced our hand and we headed back down to camp. We had a full day of climbing, and almost got to the top. Now we're back in our tents, safe, dry, and content, listening to the rain. The squirrelly weather did provide us with this beautiful sunset last night though!
RMI Guide Mike Walter
These are the days that I really love being a mountain guide. Sharing the beauty of
Mt. Rainier in September can only be understood by experiencing the beauty of Autumn on Rainier.
The wild flowers are popping in full color. The marmots are whistling. And despite marginal weather, the low marine layers really make the mountains appear luminous and majestic.
The photos don't do it justice so get off the couch, push yourself away from the desk and get on out here!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Hi all,
Well we lucked out with the weather yesterday and made the summit of
Mt Shuksan. If you had asked me our chances of climbing yesterday morning I would have said not good. The sky was very dark with heavy clouds hanging all around the summit, but as we started climbing they seemed to dissipate. Kirk and Harry did a great job despite being a bit nervous about the rock climbing necessary for the summit pyramid. We left our camp at around 7:30 AM and found ourselves smiling on the summit by 12:30. All in all a great day.
Today we are resting and recovering during the intermittent rain showers and will hopefully get some more training in when we can.
That's all for now,
RMI Guide
Geoff Schellens and Team
Greetings from
St. Petersburg, Russia. This has been one of the two days without rain on the trip and we are psyched! We really had a great tour of the city with our local guide Tatiana. We visited St. Issac's cathedral, Peter and Paul's cathedral and fortress, and the Church of our Savior on Spilled Blood.
Tomorrow we'll be touring the Hermitage museum and then taking an evening canal tour for the last day of the trip.
Here's a photo from St Issac's.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Our
Four Day Summit Climb Teams led by RMI Guides Tyler Reid and Garrett Stevens were roped up and ready to go early this morning but the ensuing lightening storm and thunder showers kept the teams at Camp Muir. They plan on leaving Camp Muir at about 8 a.m. this morning and will make their way back to RMI Basecamp early this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's teams.
12:30 p.m. PST : RMI Guide Geoff Schellens just called into RMI to let everyone know the team reached the summit of
Mt. Shuksan at 9,127'! Geoff Reported that the sky was dark and cloudy with a few sprinkles, but the rocks were relatively dry. The team has started their descent and will report when they are back their base camp. The have another day of training planned before heading out of the North Cascade Range on Friday.
Congratulations Team!
Hello everyone or as they say here in
Africa, Jambo,
The gang is finally all here after their long flights. Today we had our official team meeting where we did a round of introductions and had an overview of the Kilimanjaro program, shared a few stories and discussed all the gear needed for this adventure. Most of us spent the rest of the day relaxing here at the peaceful Dik Dik Lodge or snuck off for a quick nap to help adjust the nearly 12hr time difference. And just so everyone back home knows, we are about a 1/2 day ahead of you. Everyone seems excited and ready to go and we finished the evening off with another delicious 5 course meal.
Stay tuned,
RMI Guide
Casey Grom and Crew
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Janet and Peter,
Although it wasn’t what you planned, it sounds like you had quite the adventure, Maybe Peter should have brought his raft! I can’t wait to hear all about your trip. Love you both!!!!
Jeanine
Posted by: Jeanine on 9/6/2013 at 6:44 pm
Hi Juli, Megan and Wes.
What an exciting time you have had for the last few days. We are so proud of your efforts. Looking forward to seeing the pictures. Love and prayers, MOM, Memaw
Posted by: Mary Alyce Hall on 9/6/2013 at 12:21 pm
View All Comments