Entries from Expedition Dispatches
The Four Day Climb teams led by Andy Bond and JT Schmitt heading up to Camp Muir for their climb tomorrow, September 23rd, decided to turn around in the face of bad weather. The team made it to just before the Muir Snowfield where they took a cold and wet break and discussed the realities of their situation. The weather above them was the same but with freezing temperatures and higher winds, making an ascent to Camp Muir too dangerous to continue. The team celebrated their high point and returned to Paradise where they were shuttled back to dry clothes and hot beverages.
Summit!
Today we had a wonderful albeit long day climbing to the summit of Kilimanjaro. The team woke at 11pm as we planned to thankfully clear skies after a cloudy evening that had us wondering the lay ahead.
We had a quick breakfast of porridge, tea and coffee before hitting the trail at 12am.
We climbed in hour increments with 10-15 breaks in between, which we've been doing every day thus far. The weather was really nice, although it was a little cold which kept us bundled up for most of the day. It was one of the busiest days I’ve seen on Kili with more than 200 climbers, but the team timed everything just right and took great care of themselves.
The climb took about 7hrs to reach the top, and thankfully the sun had risen shortly before 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 of the sign that adorns the “Roof of Africa”.
It was a true test of endurance for most of the crew, and I'm really proud of everyone. We safely descended back to high camp, had a quick lunch, repacked and continued further down the mountain to our final camp on the mountain, where we are about to have dinner and then head to bed for some well deserved sleep.
Everyone is really looking forward to hot showers tomorrow to say the least.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili summit crew
On The Map
Posted by: Mike Walter, Ben Liken
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 13,300'
The Four Day Climb September 19 - 22 led by RMI Guides Mike Walter and Ben Liken were forced to turn back at 13,300' this morning due to high winds and deteriorating weather. The groups will return to Camp Muir and then continue down to Paradise later this morning.
Posted by: Brent Okita, Josh McDowell
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
Summit!
Mt. Rainier received some new snow over the last week filling in the route but today's climb was able to persevere and make tracks to the top. We have had some teams as well as route workers chip away at it when weather and conditions warranted, which helped tremendously. Thank you to all of them and congratulations to today's summit climbers!
RMI Guides Brent Okita & Josh McDowell
Thankful to have been a part of this Team and can’t thank the amazing RMI guides like Brent and Josh enough!! The entire RMI Team is top notch!!
Posted by: Brian Hodges on 9/22/2019 at 9:18 pm
After waiting all morning for the rain to stop and the clouds to lift we made our summit attempt. The clouds towered around us as we climbed up the glacier in the sun, getting a good look at Mt. Shuksan's snow-covered summit pyramid. Mother Nature had other plans for us as we approached 7,600’ the clouds closed in around us creating white-out conditions and forcing us to follow our footsteps back to camp.
RMI Guide Alex Halliday
Jambo everyone back home.
Well we’ve finally arrived at our high camp, after a good night's rest and a short hike up to 15,000ft. It has been mostly sunny all day with great views of Kilimanjaro and our route for tomorrow. Everyone is doing well and feeling good at this new altitude which is a good sign for things ahead.
The team just wrapped up lunch and discussed in great detail the plan for tomorrow’s climb. Everyone knows what what we’ll be wearing and what will be in the pack as well as the schedule.
Our game plan will be to wake at 11pm and have a quick breakfast at 11:30, then hopefully hit the trail right at midnight. Normally we try to leave a touch later, but there are quite a few climbers here tonight so we’re going to try and get a jump start on most of them.
I’m expecting the team to reach the summit in 7 to 8 hours (12:00 pm to 1:00 pm PST) if things go according to plan.
That’s all for now. And keep your fingers crossed for us!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew
On The Map
Good luck and wishes for clear skies/sunrise. We summited a month ago, but whiteout w snow.
Jambo
Posted by: Lin Moore on 9/22/2019 at 5:33 pm
Hello again everyone,
We had a slower start today to allow the many porters to hit the ever-narrowing trail. Right out of camp we were faced with the only real technical obstacle on the climb. This hurdle is the great Barranco Wall, which rises about 1,000ft and looks as intimidating as it sounds. Thankfully there is a nice goat trail that weaves its way up and through the wall and all the way to the top. Most of it feels more like steep hiking, but there are a few places that require the use of our hands to help us climb up.
The team did a good job of moving steady and allowing a few porters through with their loads precariously balanced on their heads. Which was astonishing to see!
After reaching the top we took a nice break and enjoyed the amazing views of the ice-ladened south face and valleys below. The team continued our hike for a few more hours up and down through a few valleys before reaching camp.
All in all, it took only about four hours for us to reach our next camp called Karanga, named for the big and beautiful valley which it overlooks and the peanuts that are grown far below in the valley.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Molly! I’ve been sending the blog to everybody! We are all cheering you on and praying for your health and a successful summit. I know in my heart you will succeed! I love you and miss you!
Posted by: Christopher Nagy on 9/21/2019 at 4:19 am
We are back at our Mt. Shuksan camp after a successful day of training on the slopes near our camp. The clouds have settled back in around us and we are having a round of hot drinks to keep morale up before dinner.
RMI Guide Alex Halliday
All is well here on Kilimanjaro!
Once again we woke to beautifully clear skies with even better views of Kilimanjaro and clouds obscuring the valleys below. Our morning ritual has been waking around 6:30 and getting everything in our tents packed up before heading into our very spacious dinning tent for quite the feast. It was a bit chilly this morning, but soon enough the sun had us hiking in just our light layers.
We hit the trail once again around 8am and hiked for an hour before taking our usual 15min break, then back on the trail for another hour. All total today we hiked for just over 6hrs before reaching camp which is set up and ready for us. Eventually the clouds rolled in an obscured the mountain for the final few hours.
Along the way we passed around the famous and beautiful Lava Tower reaching just over 15,000' setting new altitude records for some of the team. Everyone enjoyed the day and there was plenty of good conversations among the crew.
All in all it was a really nice day!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Keep going team. I can’t wait to meet you at the gate on Monday!!! You are all super heros to me!!!!!!
Posted by: Amy on 9/21/2019 at 1:50 am
Woohoo! Go Molly! I’m so excited for you! I hope you are enjoying every minute!!
Posted by: Lisa A on 9/20/2019 at 6:39 pm
After morning gear checks, a commute to the trail head, and four and half hours of hiking we are settled into our camp at the toe of the Sulphide Glacier. The rain held off for most of the day, only spitting on us occasionally. Looking forward to a better forecast for tomorrow and a good day of training tomorrow.
RMI Guide Alex Halliday
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Lady you have one hell of a bucket list
Enjoy the view from the top
Posted by: Christine Atherfold on 9/23/2019 at 7:13 am
Congrats!!! What a view from the top of the world. Can’t wait to hear all about it!
Posted by: Bruce McConnell on 9/23/2019 at 6:50 am
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