Entries from Expedition Dispatches
The team is all here and our adventure starts tomorrow!
Today we rested from the long flights and prepared our gear for the climb. We took a short ride into
Arusha, did a little shopping and visited the school that Clement's (our driver) children attend. Some of the team members brought gifts and candy that we handed out to the kids. Plenty of smiles there!
Everyone is doing well, a little nervous as usual! But ready to stretch the legs tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Hola! We're at
La Malinche. Everything was pretty smooth getting out of the city this morning and we had great views of
Ixta on the drive. Once we checked into out cabins at
La Malinche we went for a great hike to acclimatize. 3.7 miles and about 3,500 feet up to a prominent ridge on the mountain. After a few pics we reversed course and headed toward the dinner bell. We'll check in again tomorrow.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
On The Map
Buenos Dias from Ecuador! The team arrived last night ahead of schedule, with all our gear and we hit the town running today. After a team meeting this morning, we loaded up on coffee and breakfast and took a short drive to the equator to perform a few experiments. After some testing we were able to verify the precise location of the Middle of the World and head to lunch. Post traditional Equadorian food, we returned to the Southern Hemisphere to explore the Old Town of Quito. We were able to get some great views of the city from the ramparts of the Basilica before an afternoon lightning storm encouraged our descent. The Guilded Church, Presidential Palace and Virgin of Quito followed and we returned to the hotel for some rest before a gear check and dinner. Off to a great start down here!
RMI Guides
Jake Beren &
Ben Liken
We woke again today to completely clear and beautiful skies, and seemingly perfect weather for our move out of basecamp and up on the
mountain. The gang packed up quickly and were ready to march in short order. Anticipation has been building for a long time and everyone was ready to get the show on the road. We moved well and enjoyed a nice breeze that actually helped temper the heat of the sun. After about 4 1/2 hours of climbing we were setting up tents on the upper bench of
Camp 1 (16,700') and heading down for a super short back carry to retrieve our cache. As we were getting settled the wind was coming in and out and eventually it started snowing. The whole camp and surrounding cliffs got a beautiful dusting of 2 or 3 inches of snow. The squall eventually died down and I'm hoping for a calm rest of the evening...
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Buenos Días! Everyone has arrived on time in
Mexico City and most importantly we've got all our gear. We had our first team meeting at the hotel where we got to know each other a bit and went over the basics of the next nine days.
After that we braved the large crowd outside that has gathered for a free concert in the Zocalo. It sure feels like the biggest city in the world tonight. We had a great dinner just down the street at Café Tacuba, complete with a mariachi band. A few of the guys are checking out the concert while the rest of us are back in the hotel. We're headed for the mountains bright and early tomorrow to start our acclimatization.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
We're spending today resting and acclimatizing at
Plaza Argentina under a beautiful sunny sky. We slept in, ate some bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast burritos, drank maté, and are hanging out. This will be our last night here at basecamp before we head up on the mountain. The weather (as far as we've heard, anyway) is supposed to hold and should make for a nice move up to
Camp 1 tomorrow.
We'll check in tomorrow night and let you know how it went...
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Today's weather report: not so good. We woke up this morning here at
Plaza Argentina in a cloud with it steadily dropping gloppy snow. The prospect of a successful carry up to
Camp 1 was looking dismal but we decided to get up and fire the stoves anyway. Over the course of breakfast and our morning coffee the weather began to improve and by 10 am we were looking at some continuing light precip but nothing that would hold us back. The team rallied, geared up, and hit the trail. With a six-hour round trip effort we were able to put in a sizable cache of food, fuel, and cold weather gear up at Camp 1 (16,200'). The team performed well despite unstable scree and our first real taste of carrying big loads at high altitude.
Ciao,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Today our winter team made it to 11,500 feet on
Mt. Rainier! It was tough going at the end. We had thigh deep snow and we decided to make the safe decision to turn around.
The weather is beautiful but the conditions are tough. However, that didn't stop the team from having a great day up high.
It's a unique feeling being up here in the winter. We are all alone and we are enjoying Rainier's pristine beauty that can only be enjoyed in winter.
RMI Guide Jason Thompson is now giving a lecture in snow science and avalanche awareness.
That's all for now.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
A rest day! The gang has been hanging out most of the day today catching up on sleep, reading, and calories. Our first night in
Aconcagua Basecamp wasn't the smoothest... Despite sleeping quite well most of us were feeling a little lethargic this morning from spending the night at nearly 14,000'. Regardless, spirits are high after moving around a bit and getting prepared for tomorrow's carry/cache up at
Camp 1. The guides spent the morning packing group food and equipment and the team has been packing up their personal gear that they plan to cache. The weather has been a little funky but nothing terrible, hopefully tomorrow brings better or at least similar weather for our first foray onto the upper mountain...
Hasta mañana,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Today we spent the day visiting Tarangire National Park, home to more elephants per square mile than any place on earth. We saw hundreds of elephants and finished off the Big 5 with two leopard sightings. Plus we even managed to spot a cheetah relaxing in the shade of a small tree. We are spending the night in a tented camp called
Kikoti tonight.
Three days
safari has been a great way to recoup from the climb and bring our wonderful African adventure to a close. Everyone has had a great time and are looking forward to getting back home and sharing some of the stories and photos.
The team flies home tomorrow.
Thanks for following,
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Hey, Holley! You look awesome! We miss you! Have fun and come back safe and soon!
Posted by: Amy Craft on 2/13/2013 at 9:07 am
You all look fabulous and like pros!!!! So glad your first day went well!!!!! Love ya, Leslie
Posted by: Leslie DeCillis on 2/12/2013 at 8:36 pm
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