Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Northside
Good morning from Moscow! The whole team trickled in over the course of yesterday, showing up a bit bleary eyed and time-confused by last night. We didn’t stray far from the hotel to find dinner, catch up a bit with old friends who are part of the team, and meet new ones. Everyone made a pretty quick exit once our plates were cleaned to crawl into bed and start the process of re- calibrating our clocks. This morning, everyone is already looking refreshed and renewed, ready for our tour of the sites of Moscow: St. Basil’s Cathedral, Red Square, Lenin’s Tomb, and the Kremlin are all ahead of us. We’ll enjoy the day of sights before we turn our attention to the mountain and the real reason that we’ve come! We’ve got a great team, and everyone is excited to get to climbing so stay tuned as our expedition gets underway!
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Everyone and everything made it through. Through Amsterdam, through immigration, through customs, through the baggage carousels. We've got a climbing team ready to begin the Kilimanjaro odyssey. These folks all know one another... a good number are related... and absolutely everybody was ready to sleep at midnight when dinner broke up. Long flights and lots of movies, miles and time zones between Taos, New Mexico, USA and Usa River, Tanzania. We'll dive into the details of getting set to climb -tomorrow.
Best,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Lots of eyes on you guys, green with envy and sparkling with vicarious excitement.
Posted by: Ann Blake on 8/2/2017 at 7:11 am
Posted by: Mark Tucker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Safari time at Lake Manyara National Park. The drive into the park took us a couple hours. The animals were out in force and a few clouds helped keep the temperature nice. Our all wheel-drive Land Cruisers took us comfortably very close to thousands of native creatures. This was a pretty nice introduction to the incredible bio-diversity that Africa has, and everyone enjoyed the day. We had a nice lunch in Campsite 1 but no tent time for the team on phase two of the trip. Our lodge has received thumbs up from all. Very comfortable here at the Plantation Lodge, and the dinner could not have been better. Up early for our next park in the morning.
All is well here in Africa,
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Our last day in St. Petersburg!
The team had a great final day here in Russia. We visited the very famous Hermitage Museum, where we saw paintings and sculptures by many well-known artists including Rembrandt, Michelangelo and even Da Vinci, to name a few. It's one of Russia's great treasures and houses several million pieces of art collected over the last few hundred years. It consists of five buildings, each with three floors, and has hundreds of rooms. We did our best to take in the highlights in a little over two hours.
We took a quick lunch before stopping by the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, that's decorated almost entirely with mosaics and then wrapped up the day with a wonderful evening boat cruise to see this amazing city by water.
It's been a wonderful adventure here in Russia, but it's time to say our goodbyes and return to family and loved ones.
Thanks for following,
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Well done!
Posted by: Brinkley Pound on 8/1/2017 at 12:20 pm
Posted by: Andy Bond, Bryan Mazaika, Jessie Poquerusse, Chad Gaffigan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons July 28 - 2 August, 2017 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning around 7 am. RMI Guide Andy Bond and the team headed to the White River Camp Ground on Sunday after two days of training at Rainier BaseCamp. They started on the route on Sunday and ascended to Camp Schurman yesterday. They made an alpine start this morning and were pleased to report great weather and route conditions and that 100% of their team reached the summit today. The team will return to camp today for their final night on the mountain. Following some additional training the team will descend to the trail head and return to Rainier BaseCamp tomorrow.
Congratulations to the Emmons Seminar Team!
Posted by: Eric Frank, Hannah Smith, Dustin Wittmier
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Summit Climb July 29 - 1 August led by RMI Guides Eric Frank, Hannah Smith and Dustin Wittmier reached the summit of Mt. Rainier around 5 am this morning. The team enjoyed the views from the crater before beginning their descent. They will take a short break at Camp Muir before continuing down to Paradise.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb team!
Congratulations Josh, Luke and Zac! You made it! Great team work
Posted by: Anne Lysen on 8/2/2017 at 8:00 am
Congrats to all the Lysen brothers!
Excellent work!
Warm regards,
Ray & Carol
Posted by: Ray Lysen on 8/1/2017 at 5:47 pm
Posted by: Mark Tucker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek
Yesterday we had a wonderful albeit long day climbing to the roof of Africa The team woke at the enjoyable hour of 11 pm to clear skies and a light breeze. Chilly to say the least at 15,000 ft. We had a brief midnight breakfast of oatmeal hot drinks and biscuits Hitting the trail right around midnight We climbed in hour increments with 15 minute breaks in between. Which we've been doing every day thus far. The weather started out fine but the higher we climbed the wind would increase. By the time we hit the crater rim about 19,000 ft it was a bit chilly but we were prepared and ready for all conditions.The climb took about 7 hours reach the top, the sun had risen shortly before reaching the top to help warm us and boost morale after climbing through the night. Once there we hugged each other, enjoyed the view and took plenty of pictures. It was a true test of endurance for most of the crew and I'm really proud of everyone! We descended back to high camp had a quick lunch , repacked and continued further down the mountain, where we had dinner and then headed to bed for some well deserved sleep.
Today we woke at 6:30 feeling good, had breakfast, then enjoyed a goodbye song and dance from gracious crew of porters, cooks and guides numbering 55. We finished the celebration by handing out well deserved tips and then hit the trail one last time. It took a little under three hours to reach the park gate a short drive to where the team had lunch then hopped aboard our bus for the ride back to the lodge. Finally we are safe and sound, a little cleaner after an amazing 7 day journey up and down Kilimanjaro.
The team is looking forward to safari which starts tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker & Team
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Plane, trains and Automobiles!
We traveled nearly all day and have finally arrived in one of the most beautiful cities of Europe, St. Petersburg.
Things went relatively smooth despite 2 van rides and 2 flights. We got checked into the hotel here and then ran out for a quick dinner followed by a short but scenic stroll to the top of St. Issac's Cathedral for a nice view of the city.
While enjoying the view, there happened to be a small fireworks display that was a welcome surprise.
Everyone is doing well and looking forward to seeing this city tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Posted by: Jess Matthews, Joe Hoch, Nate Goodwin
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guide Jess Matthews and the Five Day Summit Climb team July 27 - 31, 2017 made an early start for the summit and reached the crater rim at 5:30 am. The team enjoyed blue skies and minimal wind on a beautiful day. The team spent an hour on top before starting their descent. The team will return to the trail head at Paradise and then continue to Rainier BaseCamp in Ashford.
Congratulations to today's Five Day Summit Climb team!
Ross - Good Job brother. Sd. ATA Team!
Posted by: Vasu on 8/1/2017 at 1:03 pm
Congratulations! So proud of you Samantha! You rock girl. ❤
Posted by: Kamini on 8/1/2017 at 8:09 am
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Hello all,
Thankfully everyone easily survived our celebration dinner and made it home at a decent hour. Today was a rest day for us in Cheget and most of us took it easy. We mostly relaxed, packed up gear, and did a little exploring around the valley. We also went out to a nearby restaurant that has a trout pond where we watched locals fish and enjoyed a nice lunch.
Tomorrow is our travel day from the mountain to St. Petersburg, so we are off to bed as we have a very early departure.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
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Crush it Sonam…
Posted by: Josh on 8/2/2017 at 1:31 pm
Wishing Robin n Lisa and all the rest of the team my very best
Posted by: Rich on 8/2/2017 at 10:13 am
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