Entries from Expedition Dispatches
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Four Day Climb August 13 - 16 enjoyed clear skies this morning as they made their way from Camp Muir to the summit of Mt. Rainier. Although it was a bit breezy and there was a cloud deck below Camp Muir, climbing on the upper mountain was nice. The teams enjoyed spending some time in the crater rim before starting their descent. They will return to Camp Muir and then continue down to Paradise and complete their program this afternoon with a celebration at Rainier BaseCamp.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Posted by: Jenny Konway, Grayson Swingle, Kiira Antenucci
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Paradise met on August 11 with a full day of Technical training at Rainier BaseCamp. The following morning they loaded their packs and headed for Paradise. The team spent the next several days training on the lower slopes of Mt. Rainier and culminated their adventure by standing on the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. RMI Guide Jenny Konway reported a great day on the upper mountain with some breezy conditions. The team will make a complete descent today and return to Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon to properly celebrate their accomplishments.
Congratulations to the ESS-Paradise team!
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Our team loved sleeping in the "tent cabins" of Balloon Camp. Deep within Tarangire National Park and with no fences separating us from the wildlife we’d been observing, we were careful to observe rule one... don’t go out in the dark without an armed escort. It was still a little dark when we got the day going this morning. We enjoyed breakfast and then we split up... which might have been traumatic except those going in the "early car" were either heading home or to the beach and those of us in the "late car" were going out for a morning Safari... there were no losers. Those of us on Safari were immediately on high alert in the cool morning air, looking hard for leopards and lions. We searched along the margin of a vast and beautiful marsh and went good long stretches without seeing other people or cars. This certainly added to the thrill of discovery when we came upon two mature and majestic lions and one gorgeous lioness lounging about and waiting for the plentiful wildebeest/zebra/impala/elephant/giraffe/ostrich/water buck/buffalo/tourist to get careless and come within range. That didn’t happen while we watched, but then we didn’t watch for very long on this final day... there was still too much good stuff to see. About mid morning, we came upon a big pride (the count got tricky in the tall grass after 8 -including cubs and a full-grown male) going hunting. They stampeded zebra and wildebeest -which was exciting to see, and made their kill out of our viewing range, which was actually ok since by that point we were heading for the park gate and Arusha and scheduled flights home. There was still time in late afternoon back at the Arumeru River Lodge for a pre-flight shower, a re-pack and a good early dinner together. But then we had to say our goodbyes and break up what was left of a great team. Oddly, the most repeated declaration today was “this was more fun than I thought it was going to be”. We’re declaring victory for the RMI Expeditions early August Kilimanjaro Climb and Safari.
I’m sticking around for the late August one as well. Thanks very much for following along to this point.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Mike Uchal
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Northside
Thursday, August 15, 2019 - 8:32 PM PT
We are out of the mountains! It took a little extra time to make it happen. One of the vans apparently broke down on the way to get us, necessitating a return to Kislovodsk for another vehicle, and a few hour delay. The WAS van eventually showed up at base camp and unloaded its inhabitants and gear, and we proceeded to pack the back full with duffels. The river had risen, so rather than be in the van for the crossing, we walked across the nearby fields, crossed the river on a small bridge, and met the van on the far side. The four wheel drive road is always exciting as we sway back and forth with the ruts, and was made even more so by the uncanny resemblance of our vehicle to a clown car with everyone inside.
Though we arrived late to Kislovodsk, we got a delicious dinner at a Georgian restaurant on the central pedestrian mall. Tomorrow we transition back to big city mode, making our way to St. Petersburg.
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Mike Uchal, and team hurry up and wait
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Another big day out in East Africa. It was tough to leave the comfortable Plantation Lodge this morning, but we had things to do and places to see. We stopped for some plain old tourism in the morning--shopping for gifts and souvenirs. Next up was a visit to a Maasai village. The Maasai are famous among the many tribes of Tanzania for holding onto their traditional ways. The villagers demonstrated their chanting and singing. They showed how high they could jump and invited our team to join in the competition. They brought us into the central corral, built of thorny branches and trees arranged in a tight circle, where their cattle are protected from predators each night. After demonstrating building a fire without matches, they explained a little of how their families are structured and welcomed us into their well-built but very small homes made of sticks, mud and dung. Our team tried bargaining for some of the handmade craft pieces the Maasai women were offering and then we got on the road for Tarangire National Park.
Tarangire is a vast park encompassing three parallel river courses. As soon as we were past the giant baobab trees that mark the park entrance, we began seeing zebra, impala and wildebeest in such numbers that we began taking these animals for granted. We got selective, only wanting to slow down for giraffes and elephants. None of us were casual or blasé about seeing a big sleepy leopard draped over the branches of an acacia tree. He or she (there was some debate) was exceedingly beautiful. We spied a lioness watching the world from a camouflaged clump of brush on a riverbank. And we saw many elephant families of mothers with their young ranging from 6 months to a year or two. We watched them feed and rest in the shade, we saw them using their trunks as straws to pull water from underground. We saw grassy savannas and thickets of trees and palms. Essentially we saw wildlife and wilderness from horizon to horizon. When we were deep within the park, we entered Balloon Camp, our lodging for this, our final evening together. We savored an evening watching sunset, moonrise and “bush television” (a campfire) before dinner.
The adventure isn’t finished just yet, we still hope for new discoveries in the morning...but everyone has airplanes to catch at some point tomorrow.
Best Regards,
Dave Hahn
Posted by: Mike King, Josh McDowell
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
It's another beautiful day and the Four Day Climb teams are enjoying clear skies and light winds as well as a full moon last night. The teams reached the summit of Mt. Rainier around 5:30 AM. With the nice weather they enjoyed some time in the summit crater before starting their descent. The team will continue down to Paradise later this day and conclude their program with a celebration at Rainier BaseCamp.
Congratulations to all the climbers!
Congratulations to Caleb and the entire crew!
Posted by: Ann on 8/16/2019 at 6:09 am
Great job! We can’t even see the mountain today so glad you got up it! I am excited to see the pictures!
Posted by: Lena on 8/15/2019 at 11:59 am
The Mt. Baker Easton Glacier team led by RMI Guide Andy Bond reached the summit of Mt. Baker today. Andy reported beautiful weather and a fun route. The team is en route back to camp where they will spend the evening before descending tomorrow.
Congratulations Team!
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Mike Uchal
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Northside
The mountain time is coming to a close. We managed to get everything stuffed into, tied to the side, or strapped under our packs and split freedom the moraine camp this morning. Loads were heavy, but we were moving with gravity, and we made it to base camp nice and quickly. It's only been a week up high, but after a week if rocks and glacier, the green of plants down low looks like it was done in technicolor. Base camp comes with perks: pizzas, caucasian pies, and cold fantas, cokes, and beers. We took the afternoon to sort gear back into duffels to be better set up for our coming flights, soak feet in the mineral springs, and enjoy a last bit of the mountain. The vans will be here in the morning for us and before we know it, we'll be back in town.
The trip is not over though. Still to come, adventures in Kislovodsk and St. Petersburg.
RMI Guides Pete, Mike, and team we're psyched to be done with boots
Great job Marcky-poo! Cant wait to have you back at my place. Miss you and love you!
Posted by: Lindsey on 8/15/2019 at 10:09 am
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
It was cloudy and cool at Plantation Lodge when we set out at 7 this morning. And it was cloudier and cooler still when we reached the rim of the giant collapsed volcano that we intended to spend the day inside of. We each had jackets or sweaters on as Fabian and Godson brought the Landcruisers down the steep and exposed road into the Ngorongoro caldera. We began seeing wildlife immediately. Herds (big herds) of wildebeest, zebra and Cape buffalo. We went on the prowl, looking for big cats and rhinos. This would be our only opportunity to see black rhinos... but we came up empty on that score. Those guys were a little too shy to come into range of our binoculars. We did see some cats -big and small- there was a serval cat and there were some lions. We got a look at a lioness staring intently through the grass at some unsuspecting buffalo. And ultimately we saw two full grown male lions lounging on what turned out to be a sunny afternoon. We saw hippos and elephants and secretary birds and bustards. There were hyenas and jackals and vultures. By day’s end, we were barely turning our heads to see gazelles as they’d become too run of the mill and common. We saw plenty of other Toyota Landcruisers -it is high season for tourism after all. We crisscrossed the crater and bounced over darn near every dirt road, still standing with our heads out the tops of the vehicles at 5 PM trying to see every last critter and geological wonder we could. Finally we escaped the caldera and came home to our comfy hotel. We watched the sun set and the moon rise, had a relaxing and reminiscing outdoor happy hour before a fine dinner in the dining room.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Posted by: Brent Okita, Avery Parrinello
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climb August 11 - 14 reached Columbia Crest, the highest point on Mt. Rainier, just after 7 AM. RMI Guides Brent Okita and Avery Parrinello led their teams on a beautiful, beautiful day with light winds. After enjoying the views from the summit, the teams began their descent from the crater rim. Once back at Camp Muir they will take a short break and then continue down to Paradise.
Congratulations to today's climbing teams!
Congrats Edd!! I’m so excited for you, albeit a bit jealous that I didn’t get to see what you did! I hope it was an amazing experience! I can’t wait to hear all about it. Thinking I need to try again & hope the weather will cooperate.
Posted by: Julie Frisbey on 8/14/2019 at 8:51 am
Thank you, Casey, Jessica, and Matias(my rope team lead) for helping me get up to Rainier! I thoroughly enjoyed your company. Big thanks again! Btw, I was so dazed yesterday I didn’t turn on my iPhone to accept Casey’s offer to airdrop transfer pictures. Please remind RMI office to send us the picture link. Take care, Donald
Posted by: Donald Chong on 8/17/2019 at 8:56 am
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