Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Another big day on Safari. We began peacefully enough at Plantation Lodge under cloudy skies. First up after hitting the main road at 8:45, was a little stop for tourism and souvenir shopping. Then we dropped back down into the Great Rift Valley and checked out a Maasai village. The men and women showed us a few dance moves and we compared high jumping ability. They demonstrated how they start fire the old fashioned way and then they brought our team into their small dwellings to explain life in a traditional village. Our team picked up a few more keepsakes after a little bargaining and then we headed for Tarangire National Park. Something changed when we drove past the first giant Baobab trees. As if by magic, there was wildlife everywhere. We came to a waterhole and watched elephants, a giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, impala, great crowned cranes, and mongooses start slurping it up -all at the same time. Roaming the savannas and river valleys, we came across a big male lion sleeping off a big night -by the looks of things. Rambling along on a bouncy dirt road, Melanie scored the sighting of the day, pointing out a big male leopard on a tree branch perhaps 40 yards away. We watched the big fella rest a bit more and then scamper down the tree trunk and melt into the grass. We saw at least a hundred (if not two hundred) elephants of all shapes and size. Most were in family groups shading under trees, some were actively eating trees, one trunkful at a time. We saw a tower of giraffes, we saw a gazillion gazelles. There were lilac breasted rollers and white backed vultures. We didn’t roll into Balloon Camp until 6 PM, but the friendly staff was there waiting to take the team to their "tent cabins". They then escorted us (we are still deep within the park, there is no fence separating us from the wildlife) to the swimming pool and barbecue deck to watch the sun set. There was a roaring campfire and an excellent dinner under the stars for our last night together.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Josh McDowell
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Five Day Climb August 25 - 29 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier on Wednesday evening. RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer and Josh McDowell reported a light breeze and clear skies. The weather at Camp Muir this morning is cloudy with a soaking rain. The team is hoping the rain dissipates for their departure and walk down the Muir Snowfield to Paradise. The team will celebrate their adventure in Ashford later today and conclude their program.
Congratulations to the Five Day Climber!
Posted by: Jake Beren, Avery Parrinello
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 10,781'
100% Summit!! RMI Guide Jake Beren and Team reached the summit of Mt. Baker today via the North Ridge. The team had perfect weather to take on the challenging route, and climbed strong.
Congratulations Team!
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
It was another pre-dawn start... not quite as early or arduous as our Kilimanjaro summit day though. We piled into the Landcruisers and rolled out of Plantation Lodge at 6:30 AM bound for Ngorongoro Crater. The clouds were already low and thick and we were gaining altitude -so by the time we hit the rim of the giant collapsed volcano, we were in fog and murk. Michael and Francis didn’t have any trouble bringing the 4X4’s along the rough dirt road, giving the team the quintessential “African Massage” as we bounced along. Visibility had improved by the time we dropped into the crater with the critters. We began -as we had yesterday- focusing on individual animals, until the scale of this new place became apparent and we started counting herds rather than heads. Zebras caught our attention initially, since they were swarming the road. But Cape Buffalo, Wildebeest and gazelles became commonplace and routine within minutes as we saw them by the thousand. Early on we happened on a big pride of lions resting in the grass. There were two big males and perhaps 15 females and youngsters of various ages. Those included three tiny lion cubs that continually climbed over and under their mom, giving out little yelps and meows. The lions would sit up from time to time looking intently at hartebeest and zebra who were trying to figure out how close was too close in their morning walk to water. We moved on to cross the crater and visit hippos and a million new birds. Our picnic lunch was alongside a bunch more hippos in another corner of the crater. By this point, the clouds were clearing and the day was warming up. Our goal following lunch was to find Rhinos. We scoured the hills at the margins of the crater, we trained binoculars on a hundred distant grey rocks and logs and suspect shadows under trees. But the Rhinos didn’t come out to play. We contented ourselves with finding two mature bull elephants with enormous tusks. In late afternoon, our guides put the cruisers in four wheel drive and took us up and out of the crater. We made it back to the Plantation in plenty of time for sundown in the lap of luxury.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
We had it pretty good on the mountain... but it sure was nice to sleep in beds last night and to take showers this morning. We breakfasted at the Arumeru River Lodge and then hit the road at 8 AM with our drivers/naturalists/guides Francis and Michael. We didn’t do too badly in the rush hour traffic skirting Arusha. Before very long we were out in open and dry country, pushing west into lands dominated by the Maasai tribes. We saw plenty of cattle herds being brought to or from water by Maasai herdsmen in their distinctive Tartan blankets. We reached Lake Manyara National Park a little before midday and popped the tops of our two stretch Landcruisers. We then stood with our heads and cameras out the roofs of the vehicles, looking for what might be hiding. We found monkeys and baboons, of course. But also Cape Buffalo and Elephant families and a hippopotamus momma and child lounging in water lilies a few feet from the road. There were hundreds of exotic birds for Keith, there were distant giraffes for Guillaume. We got a little used to seeing wildebeest and zebra and impala. We looked up in the branches of every tree we came to, searching for lions, but they weren’t available today. As the afternoon went along, the animals -and our expeditioners- got sleepy and so Michael and Francis pointed the Landcruisers toward the cushy Plantation Lodge. We sipped sundowners while watching the sun go down, dipped in the pool and generally lived the good life in this perfectly laid out compound of accommodations and gardens. We got together for a fine dinner -with many noting that it was almost as good as Tosha’s 15,000 ft fare- and we hatched plans for a pre-dawn start in the morning.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Posted by: Casey Grom, Leon Davis
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
It's another beautiful day with clear skies and light winds on the upper flanks of Mt. Rainier. RMI Guides Casey Grom and Leon Davis led their Four Day Climb August 24 - 27 to the summit this morning. The teams enjoyed the views and took photos for almost an hour before starting their descent from the crater rim. They will conclude their adventure this afternoon with a celebration of their accomplishments.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Congrats Suz and Donna! What an unbelievably, beautiful sunny day to summit the mountain and what a great achievement!!! Way to Go! Kirsten & Frank
Posted by: Kirsten on 8/27/2019 at 5:26 pm
Congratulations to Donna and Suzanne and the rest of the Team ... Well done!!!
Posted by: Binotto Family on 8/27/2019 at 2:05 pm
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
After such a massive and intensely challenging day as our summit bid, today was cruiser... and downhill cruising at that. We woke at 6 AM in the forest, commenting to one another that 10,000 feet was sure an easier altitude for sleeping than 15,000. We enjoyed one last excellent breakfast on the mountain and came out into the morning sunshine for the "gratitude ceremony". Our entire fifty-man staff assembled and began singing. They danced and clapped through the Jambo song, and the Bomba song, then assistant cook Benson took them -laughing- through the Churra song. The laughing became uncontrollable when Peter showed his Minnesota dance moves. Then we did a few small speeches and handed gratuities to each of the staff along with handshakes and “Asante Sanas”. We thanked them very much for helping and befriending us. Minutes later, at 8 AM, we were on the trail and heading down into the rain forest. It took just a few hours to walk carefully down the four thousand vertical feet of slippery trail past some giant trees and a few Colobus monkeys. We shared the track with porters from a number of other expeditions, running at top speed with big loads balanced on their heads. Everybody was ready for the finish. The gang assembled for a final group picture at the Mweka Gate trail sign around 11 AM. Then we dutifully lined up to sign the park service ledger and loaded onto our bus for a short ride to a picnic area. Tosha and our camp waiters, John, Alfredy and Damien, served us an excellent lunch out in the strong sunshine. We said our goodbyes and got on the bus for the big (2.5 hour) ride through the Tanzanian countryside back to Usa River and our lodge. Folks were understandably ready for showers and internet and an easy afternoon of getting ready for Safari. We celebrated over a victory dinner, outside with the monkeys and Dik Diks. The Arumeru staff honored the team with a surprise cake and a song. Finally, we did our toasts and our goodbyes to Joe, who’ll be winging his way home tomorrow while we continue the adventure.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Posted by: Eric Frank, Jenny Konway
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guide Eric Frank thinks it's a beautiful day to climb Mt. Rainier. Eric along with RMI Guide Jenny Konway and the Four Day Climb August 23 -26 reached the summit just before 7 AM today. The team reported clear skies but with strong winds from the top of Disappointment Cleaver to the summit. The teams enjoyed almost an hour in the crater enjoying the views before starting their descent. Once back at Camp Muir they will repack and get ready for the final descent to Paradise. Their program will conclude with a celebration at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Marlena, you are my hero!
Posted by: Angela Gordon on 8/26/2019 at 5:44 pm
Congratulations, Emmy, well done! One more down on your Bucket List!!
Love you!
Evie
Posted by: Evie D on 8/26/2019 at 10:46 am
We’re down at Mweka Camp, in the trees at close to 10,000 ft. A long way from this morning’s summit. And an even greater leap from where we started the day at Barafu Camp.
We actually started the day yesterday -at 11:30 PM. As usual, we didn’t all get great sleep ahead of the summit bid. Those of us lying awake in our pitch black tent interiors got to listen to persistent rain showers rattling on our shelters. When the alarms went off and we got outside, we found ourselves in a wet cloud... but very near the top of it since we could see stars overhead. We ate our midnight “breakfast” and got walking behind Naiman at 12:35 AM. The clouds washed in and out at our level a few more times in that first hour of climbing, but ultimately we got above it all and had a fabulous night for stars. The moon came up as a perfectly oriented smile on the horizon. We had no ability to capture the image, so it was just something to enjoy thoroughly in the moment as we trudged in line up the rough rock path. As expected, life got colder as we climbed higher. We took short rest breaks and put on every stitch of clothing we had. The sun finally came up once we were hitting 18,000 ft and life got easier (and more beautiful) as we reached the crater rim at Stella Pt by 7:05 AM. The walk along the crater to Uhuru was amazing. Rain in the area had cleared the ever-present haze and so we could see a good chunk of Tanzania that normally stays hidden from above. We hit Uhuru at 8 AM and our timing was excellent. We had the top to ourselves -another rarity- which we took full advantage of. Twenty five minutes later we were headed downhill. The descent was smooth and we made fine progress (with ample help from our amazing staff). We got back to High Camp at 11 AM. Tosha cooked us up a great “brunch” which fortified us for packing and bailing out of high camp by 12:40. The descent to Mweka was mostly in murky cloud, and it must be admitted that we all just wanted it to be done, the trail is rocky and requires a ton of concentration (tough to come by 15 hours into a summit day). We rolled in just after 4 PM and the fine camp waiting for us made every inch of the descent worth it. This will be our last night on the mountain... it seems likely that nobody will have trouble sleeping.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Congratulations to all! Enjoy the party before you leave camp in the morning. Watch out for the frog going up the mountain. Hopefully, he remembered to pack everything.
Posted by: Jeff Tracy on 8/26/2019 at 2:51 am
Congratulations on a successful clime to the top! I don’t know most of you, but I’m proud of all of you anyway! I pray that your trip down is as successful as the ascent. And many thanks to Dave for his wonderful blog describing your adventure. It was almost like being there you paint such a great picture with words. God bless you all, Kathy
Posted by: Kathy Ward on 8/25/2019 at 1:48 pm
Posted by: Brent Okita, Hannah Smith
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guide Brent Okita reported windy conditions on Mt. Rainier from High Break to the summit crater. The teams spent a little time to make any clothing adjustments, get a bit of food and water and then started their descent from the crater rim around 7:30 AM. We look forward to seeing all the climbers at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to all climbers!
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Awesome climb, awesome guides, good advice. professional team. Thanks josh! Take care.
Paul
Posted by: Paul koltronis on 9/2/2019 at 2:04 am
Way to go, dad! What an amazing accomplishment. . . You never cease to amaze us! We love you and are so proud of you!
Safe journey to the mainland.
Love and God Bless,
Bo, Chris, and Carlton
Posted by: Bo, Chris, and Carlton on 8/29/2019 at 2:20 pm
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