The Mount Rainier Four and Five Day Summit Climbs, led by Kel Rossiter and Ben Liken, reached about 12,300 feet before thunder and lightning forced the team to turn. The team is safely back at Camp Muir and began their descent to Paradise at 9:00 a.m. The skies are currently hazy with a fair amount of smoke in the skies from various wildfires in eastern part of Washington. Geoff Schellens and the Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz turned from their summit attempt yesterday at 13,300 feet. They will finish their day of training and be back at RMI Basecamp later this afternoon. The RMI Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons, led by Eric Frank, checked in from camp this morning. Their team is doing well, training today, and preparing for their summit bid in the morning.
Early departure from one of the world's largest cities. Traffic not so bad as we made the three-hour drive to our first big mountain, La Malinche at 14,636 feet. A nice lunch was had near this peak that is surrounded by fields of corn and beautiful stands of pine trees. We made a quick turn of unloading our equipment in the digs for the night, which is a comfortable cabin with fireplace and even a hot shower. It was all uphill from there. Great to get out and hit the trail. The idea was to the top but getting used to the altitude and some new equipment was the priority. We made good time up the lower forested area and found the team on the summit ridge at the same time as a strong weather impulse hit the upper mountain. Hail, rain in the clouds, no visibility and wind a howling gave us great training with the kit that was pulled from our packs to keep us protected from the nasty weather. A number of our team hit new altitude records and a smooth descent has us fed and clean in the digs for the night. All is good wish u were here.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Hey, this is JJ Justman. We are checking in from Karanga Camp here at 13,000+ feet on Kilimanjaro with Team Orlando. We're doing great. We're heading to high camp tomorrow. We had a beautiful day of climbing the Barranco Wall, which was pretty exciting. Actually the team is bummed that some of the rock scrambling and a little exposure is over, but everyone is feeling great!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
RMI Guide Brent Okita and the Four Day Summit Climb team were walking onto Columbia Crest, the highest point in Washington State, at 7:05 am this morning. The team climbed into a light cloud cap, but otherwise had calm weather. They are now en route back to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's teams!
Hola from Mexico City!
The team and I did some last minute shopping today in town to support our adventure ahead. It's a perfect summer day at 7,200 ft, which is a good altitude to start at. It's not too busy here in the Zona Roza area. People are enjoying life all around.
We are going after three big hills on this trip and will be filming along the way. This will be a fun!
More news tomorrow,
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Jambo! The group is all down at 10,000' at our last camp. The weather was great for our summit push but we walked into a misty cloud above camp. It's drizzling a little as I type this.
We started our climb with an 11:30PM wake up call and 12:30AM departure. There wasn't much wind all night but we did get a little chilly. We hit the crater rim just before sunrise and watched the sun come up from just below the summit. After our summit pics the team descended well and we were back in camp before 10:00. Tomorrow we have a few hours of hiking in the morning and then back to the Dik Dik Hotel.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall[Audio from the summit below]
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall calls from the Roof of Africa!
Hey, this is JJ Justman with Team Orlando on Kilimanjaro. We reached the Barranco Camp at just over 13,000 feet. We had a great day getting up here and the team is doing well. We are going to settle in, have dinner and move on from there. Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Go go JJ…Waltero from IN / Aconcagua…Did I tell you you are my new favorite cinematagropher !
Posted by: Waltero on 8/11/2015 at 7:37 am
The view looks amazing! Enjoy it while you can. Glad everything is going so well. The relaxation will be necessary for another strong climb tomorrow. Hope to see a few summit snapshots! Good luck Catarina, and everyone else too.
Hello from High Camp on Kilimanjaro. We are having great weather on this trip so far. We're hoping it keeps holding for a couple more days.
Today was a pretty light day on the trail. We were under three hours moving up from 13,000' to 15,000'. Our plan for the rest of the day is to relax and get ready for the climb. If all goes well we will be near the summit when the sun rises in the morning. Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Jared- the summit is almost yours! I cannot imagine what you & Scott will see & feel once you scale the mountain & are on top! So glad you are with Scott. Bless your hearts! Love you, Mom
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer and the Five Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Zeb Blais reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at about 6:50 am this morning. The team climbed into a cap with some high winds and a bit of rime. They have started their descent and are en route back to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's Teams!
We are at Karanga Valley. That's one camp below high camp. We had another great weather day and the crew is strong. I'm going to hand off the rest of the dispatch to some of the folks on the trip.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Barranco Camp was one of the most gorgeous places on earth. Today's climb was fantastic. We prefer our rocks scrambled, so we took the opportunity to have fun on the Barranco Wall (tell your friends). Looking forward to moving on to high camp tomorrow and then making the summit push starting tomorrow at midnight. #chillimanjaro
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Sunrise must have been breathtaking! You guys rock!
Llex I can’t wait to hear all about it when you return to Orlando!
Heather
Posted by: Heather on 8/12/2015 at 7:04 am
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