The Mt. Rainier summit climbs, led by Walter Hailes and Solveig Waterfall, reached the summit this morning. They reported 15-20 mph winds and were descending through a light cap over the mountain. The teams began their descent at 7:30 a.m.
Hello this is Elias with the Machu Picchu Trek. We are at our camp right below Nevado Salkantay under the impressive north face. We had a really good first day of hiking. We are in the vicinity of 13,000 feet. Everybody did really well. We are about to enjoy a nice dinner cooked by our amazing cook, Alejandro. Tomorrow we will visit Incan ruins and the Inca Calendar. and will keep you posted when we get to the next camp.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Elias de Andres Martos calling in from the Machu Picchu Trek.
Being on safari is nature at its most basic form. To see the food chain in the realm of nature makes you ponder on life itself. You take away a certain fresh outlook on the meaning of life on these safaris. And to see the living prehistoric creature that is near extinction, the rhino, keep the wheels spinning. We had a chilly start to the day up in the cloud forest on the flanks of the Ngorongoro Crater. We decided to stop in at a Maasai Boma or village where for 20 dollars each they gave us warmth in one of their cow dung huts with its dirt floor, no chimney, wood-burning modular homes. We got out of there pretty quickly but left with the flavor and fragrance of a life a bit different than ours. Nice folks and enjoyed the visit. The clouds eventually burnt off to a picture-perfect day in the bottom of the crater, the Eighth Wonder of the World. Yes the trigger finger took a bit of a warming up but no animal, bird, or plant escaped the lens of these safari pros. We even had some shots taken with out a memory card due to some rough roads and a bit too over excited at the chase of the perfect picture. Lots more opportunity for photos tomorrow as we move to yet another amazing park in Africa.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Hello from Mt. Elbrus -
Today the team got up a little early to make use of the firm snow to practice using our crampons, and we had a refresher on self-arrest too. After our morning session we enjoyed breakfast and then relaxed near camp chatting with other climbers till lunchtime. Shortly after lunch we had our summit talk where we discussed all aspects of the climb to come and then spent the remainder of the afternoon packing and finalizing all of our gear we will need for the climb.
Everyone has their face mask ready in case the wind howls like it did on my last climb. And we even managed to play a game of trivia where the winner gets to make a satellite phone call from the summit. So if there's someone out there who's favorite musical group is Krewella and loves Simba. Then expect a call around 1am. Which will be roughly 8:30-9am for us.
We'll check in again tomorrow after our big climb.
Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Mike Walter reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning around 6:30 am. The Expedition Skills Seminar - Paradise led by Leon Davis also made a successful climb to the summit today after several days of training on the mountain. Both teams began their descent around 7:30 after enjoying the sunrise and views from the crater for almost an hour.
The teams will return to Camp Muir for a short break and to re-pack their gear before continuing the descent to Paradise. We look forward to seeing both teams in Ashford later today.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Awesome job bro! im so proud! I bet it was amazing! GO JARYD U
Posted by: Parys Michelle Unangst on 8/1/2014 at 8:50 pm
Congratulations Jaryd & team on this tremendous achievement!! So happy you had the opportunity for this wonderful adventure Rad! Grampy wants to know what peak is next? Can’t wait to see you to hear all about it and see pictures. Be safe and love you! G’Pa and G’Ma
It was cold in Mt. Kilimanjaro's Barranco Camp this morning, but very beautiful. We still couldn't see the world below, due to clouds, but we could sure see the steep Southern walls of Kibo Peak above. Giant icicles hung down from the glaciers and snowfields in the early morning shadows. Just as the sun hit our camp at about 8:15 AM, we set off into the cool shadows again. We didn't stay cold though, since our first task was to climb the steep lava ledges of the Barranco Wall. Our local guides, Eric and Charles, along with Eliapende and Vendelin, made sure that all felt confident in reaching up for the rough handholds and stepping from block to block to pass this imposing barrier.
It took over an hour, as expected, to get up 800 vertical feet of relief, but we did it, earning even better views of Kilimanjaro's central peak and glaciers hanging thousands of feet above. Then it was relatively easy walking to reach the Karanga Valley, but by the time we made that combination steep descent and ascent -in and out of the narrow valley, we were in cloud. We made it to Karanga Camp at 13,160 ft by 1:15 PM and began our now familiar and welcome pattern of resting, recuperating, eating and drinking through the afternoon.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Brother Brad & Brother Brian,
I know you guys are wearin’ out the mountain! Looks like a great trek. Enjoy the journey and take lots of pics. Can’t wait to hear about the climb.
Posted by: Steve on 8/1/2014 at 7:47 pm
Kevin! Hey babe! Got your vm today! Missed your call by 5 minutes as I was loading the car. :( you’re hiking a mountain and b is busy chasing h around the house and learning to walk better. That’s his mountain for now! :) h can’t even eat without b right there running him over! We love you and miss you! Keep going….. yall are getting close!
Good evening!
We're writing from our hotel in Cuzco after a full day of visits along the Sacred Valley of the Incas. With the city of Ollantaytambo as the pinnacle of the day, we also had the time to pet the llamas and alpacas of a South American Cammel's zoo we visited. The walking we did among the different Inca ruins we visited along the Urubamba river, between elevations of 9,000 and 12,000 ft, continued to help us acclimate to the altitude.
Tomorrow, an early departure (4am) will bring us to the trail head to start our trek towards Machu Picchu... a week filled with great trail hiking awaits!
Our next post will be from the trails.
Best regards,
RMI Guide Elías and the team
This is not any surfing safari, although that doesn't sound too bad either. Our goal is not to catch the perfect wave, but it is to find the perfect sighting of so much wild game on a beautiful day. I'll take it. We forced ourselves to leave one lovely lodge to end up at another. We are at the Plantation Lodge situated midway between Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro Crater, which is the location of tomorrow's safari. The team did well making the transition from climbing to safari. Although that trigger finger took a hit today taking so many pictures, I have confidence it will pull off some amazing shots tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
It was another beautiful day here on Mt. Elbrus! We woke to clear skies, calm winds and a amazing view of the enormous Caucasus range. We had our standard breakfast of porridge, boiled eggs, assorted meats, cheeses and coffee.
Today was our planned acclimatization day and the team set shortly after 8:30 and hiked for about 3 hours uphill and reached about 15,000', which was a new record for some! Along the way we ran into former RMI guide Craig Van Hoy. It was nice seeing an old friend and chatting with other Americans. We enjoyed the views took a few photos and then headed back down to camp for another amazing hot lunch cooked up by Russia's finest, Albina! The remainder of the afternoon has been spent relaxing in camp, listening to the thunder outside and taking naps.
All is well and the team is looking forward to doing a little technical training and resting tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
I see you’re making great progress, Liz I know you’re having a great time! Could someone explain to me what porridge is? I can wikipidea it or I can dig deep in my chef roots, but can you have someone please explain!
Congrats on attaining the summit, guys!
Posted by: Rick L. on 8/3/2014 at 6:36 am
Brad, Tommy, Mark and Tanner - Hope all is well. Cant wait to see the pics.
Posted by: cheryl on 8/2/2014 at 5:48 pm
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