Entries from Expedition Dispatches
We had our best day yet climbing on the lower slopes of Kilimanjaro today. By no means is it vertical rock climbing, however, ascending the
Great Barranco Wall really makes you feel like you are climbing!
After we reached the top of the wall we traversed at an altitude of 14,500'. The weather didn't turn on us. However, the clouds rose up and engulfed us in a light mist as we climbed the final section into camp. We are now nestled in at Karanga Camp and the entire team is doing fantastic!
Tomorrow is high camp. An then the summit so don't go too far. We will have a summit report for you Sunday!!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
On The Map
Today team
Expedition Skills Seminar - Paradise was relieved to crawl out of our tents to clear skies and warm temps. Last night, directly after arriving in camp after crevasse rescue training we were graced with a purifying rain burst but then rudely interrupted by a brief but intense lightning and thunder storm. It cleared in time for dinner and a peaceful sleep.
After packing up camp this morning, a stimulating walk through a large crevasse field and icy section brought us to Camp Muir at 10,060 feet. Here we will rest and prepare for our summit climb tonight. Folks are happy to be moved into the bunk house here and even happier to hand off some group gear to a guide heading down hill. Yea for lighter packs!
Wish us luck tonight on our climb.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
We're on safari!
We didn't sleep in too much today. We left the hotel just after 9 AM and spent some time in the city of Arusha. We did some shopping and stocked up on drinks for the road. After about 2 hours of driving we had lunch and entered
Lake Manyara National Park. The game viewing here is always great and the lake is very full these days. Here's a shot of a large elephant crossing the road in front of us.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Today was a fantastic day for the team as we achieved greater acclimatization. We entered the dry and rocky terrain of the Highland Desert Zone where large volcanic boulders dot the landscape. Our trail gently ascended the Shira Plateau and we the reached our high point near
Kilimanjaro's Lava Tower at 14,900'.
After a long break to soak up the thin air we descended into the Barranco Valley. We are now comfy and cozy in our SlingFin dining tent drinking hot tea and eating popcorn at 12,800'. Everyone is having a great time and we are looking forward to another great day on Kilimanjaro.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
On The Map
Today's
Four Day Summit Climbs led by RMI Guides
Brent Okita &
Billy Nugent reached the summit crater of Mt. Rainier just before 7 am PT. Brent reported clear skies, a windless and gorgeous day. The smoke from the Eastern Washington fires seems to have cleared and the cloud deck is below Paradise at about 5,000’.
The teams will return to Camp Muir in the late morning and then continue their descent to Paradise. We look forward to seeing the teams at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!
The
Paradise Glacier Seminar is in full effect with loads of exciting training taking place. We have a beautiful camp at 8,500 feet on the Cowlitz Glacier surrounded by steep walls and breathtaking crevasses. Our team is all in great spirits and thriving in what has been described as a high excitement summer camp for aspiring mountain climbers. The weather is not as sunny as the two previous days but at least some of the forest fire smoke has subsided opening up some great views. We are all getting psyched for our move to Camp Muir tomorrow.
Team Paradise sends their best to family and friends.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
Everyone is back at the Dik Dik hotel safe and sound! It was a whirlwind past few days on
Kilimanjaro as we went from 15,200 feet up to 19,340 and all the way out in just over 24 hours. The team did really well and the weather was good, even though we got rained on a bit after the summit.
The weather for our climb was amazing and we all had great conditions on the summit. We started just after midnight under a partly cloudy sky. It was a windless night and that kept the temps from dropping to extreme lows. That said we did climb to over 18,000 feet before the sun came up so staying warm required us to be vigilant with our gear. Everyone kept their focus though and we all made it up. We summitted in a big wave spread out over about 45 min which was really cool for me as I got to spend a lot of time on top.
After returning from high camp we resisted the urge to relax too much as we still had a decent hike down to our last camp. As we snacked on french toast the clouds came up and we started to get some light rain. The rain picked up as we hiked down to Mweka camp and that added some challenge to the day but our excellent staff had dry tents and hot tea waiting for us. After dinner we dropped onto our sleeping pads for a well deserved rest.
This morning we woke up to more cloud cover. After another excellent meal we had a wrap up celebration with our mountain staff. The guys from the Dik Dik do an amazing job and we all wanted to make sure that they know we greatly appreciate the hard work. Then we hit the trail. A few hours of hiking was nothing for this crew and before we know it we were down at the gate.
We will have dinner in a couple of hours and toast to the great times we had on Kilimanjaro! Tomorrow it's safari time!!!
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Today the trail became steeper on
Kilimanjaro and rockier as we left the Giant Heather Zone. The team did a great job as the terrain got rockier. We even climbed some large rock bands testing our solid footwork on the slippery rocks.
We now are in the Moorland consisting of unique grasses and beautiful wild flowers unique to East Africa including Lobelias and Senecios.
After climbing a wide ridge we gained the broad and sloping Shira Plateau. It was a terrific day and we would love to include photos but the heavy mist kept the distant views out of sight. However, now at Shira Camp (12,200') we are hoping it clears offering our first view of the upper stretches of Kilimanjaro.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
On The Map
The
Four Day Summit Climb teams led by RMI Guides
Mike Haugen,
Garrett Stevens and
Elias de Andres Martos reached the summit of Mt. Rainier just before 7 am this morning with 100% of their team members. The teams reported very cold and windy conditions. They will spend a bit of time on the summit and then descend to Camp Muir. After a short rest to repack and refuel they will continue their descent to Paradise.
Congratulations to today's teams!
It was a great day here in St. Pete's!
We started the day with a walking tour of this beautiful city led by our wonderful local guide Natasha. She took us to the major sites and enlightened us to the 300 years of this city's history. We took a short break where some folks did a little exploring on there own, and others headed to the famous Hermitage where we learned that if someone spent one minute at every piece of art, it would take 8 years to view it all! Needless to say, we saw only a fraction of it.
Later in the evening the team headed out on a final tour of this majestic city by boat. We spent an hour touring the city from its many canals, which was a great way to wrap up our
trip.
It's been a wonderful adventure with a great team. We are all thankful for the great weather we've had, but are looking forward to getting back home.
Missing all of our families and most of our friends.
See ya soon!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
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Kalani and Dom, wow! Way to go, so proud of both of you and happy to be able to follow your adventure and cheer you on from afar. Be safe and enjoy! We miss you!!! Warm aloha…Sioson ‘ohana.
Posted by: Kimi Rapada on 8/2/2013 at 6:46 pm
Dom and Kalani, Awesome climb so far, huh? Can’t wait to hear all the details. Be safe. Debbie V
Posted by: Debbie on 8/2/2013 at 9:14 am
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