It was a beautiful day here on Elbrus.
We had a normal start to our day with breakfast in the hotel and then loaded up all our climbing gear and drove to the base of the ski lift where we rode not one, but two gondolas and a short snow cat ride to reach our new home for the next few days and happens to sit at just over 12,000ft. It's rather comfortable up here, as our outfitter has taken a few shipping containers and converted them into simple bunk rooms.
Once we got settled into our new home we headed uphill on another acclimatizing hike and reached about 13,500' before returning to camp where our wonderful cook Dasha had a nice hot lunch waiting for us.
We spent the remaining of the afternoon relaxing, walking around and just enjoying the views of the Caucasus Mountain Range. We also had a cribbage lesson to prepare for the upcoming tournament.
Thanks all for now.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Wow! It has been a whirlwind. This is the first chance I have had to catch my breath. We have explored St. Petersburg and it's beautiful museums and churches. We took an evening canal tour and ended the evening with a bit of Karaoke (not on the itinerary). Most of us, me included, should keep our day jobs. A few of our team mates will remain to some additional site seeing but the majority of us have left St. Petersburg and are making our way home. Our bags are filled with local treasures for friends and family members and heads our spinning from our recent experiences and plans for upcoming adventures. It has been a wonderful trip and it's been my pleasure to spend time abroad with this great team.
Until next time,
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Congratulations to today's Five Day Summit Climb Team July 8-12, 2017 who reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 7 am this morning with 100% of their team. The climbers enjoyed an hour on the summit of Mt. Rainier under blue skies and moderate winds. The will descend to Camp Muir and continue down to Paradise this afternoon to conclude their program.
I am glad our group completed the summit together. Thanks to Andy, Mike and Peter for their expertise and patience. I had a great time and will use the confidence from this successful climb to complete any other difficult task that I might face in the future.
Posted by: Chad Miller on 7/17/2017 at 10:36 am
Congratulations to the entire team!
Garrett, I’m so proud of you for doing this. I so glad you have developed such a love for the beauty nature gives us and for your sense of adventure!!!
Posted by: Maria (Garretts mom) on 7/12/2017 at 6:46 pm
The city life is nice, but it's back to the mountains for your ESS-Peru champions. We're back at it again, climbing from 10,500' to 15,000' on our approach to Copa Base Camp. The views here at camp are otherworldly. The looming south face of Copa dominates our view up the hill, fluted with spines of snow and ice as the western glacier spills over the summit plateau into space. Our views back down to the valley are just beginning to glow red and pink as the sun begins its descent on our day. We're going to get a great night of sleep tonight, planning to sleep in to best prepare ourselves for our move to high camp at 16,400' tomorrow afternoon. We can't contain our excitement. We'll keep you informed. Keep following along and send us good vibes for the biggest climbing of our trip.
RMI Guides Robby, Steve, William, and your ESS-Peru team
I am jealous! What an incredible experience! Collectively, we are keeping fingers crossed for the team to reach the ambitious 6,000+ m peak goal! Stay strong! You can do it!
Hilda, the one that “EATS MOUNTAINS FOR BREAKFAST” will be having a big feast tomorrow morning!
Posted by: Martina Kalusova on 7/12/2017 at 7:53 am
Good morning. This is Eric and John calling from the summit of Mount Shuksan. It's about 10:45 here. We had a great climb on the Upper Curtis this morning to the Southeast Rib of Mount Shuksan. Right now we are just looking out over a whole sky of smoke unfortunately. We're taking in the scents of the bonfire that's currently in southern British Columbia, which has blown in a bunch of smoke in, which looks a lot like clouds. So right now we just see the tops of the peaks around us but down below there's really heavy coverage from the smoke that has blown in. We're going to descend down through the smoke, potentially move a little lower to try to avoid it and get down where some trees can filter it out for us. Tomorrow continue our descent all the way out to the car and the end of our climb. Thanks for following along. We'll see everyone soon.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
RMI Guide Eric Frank calls in from the Mt. Shuksan summit.
Hello again everyone.
It was a beautiful day here in Russia. We had a nice relaxing start to the day with a traditional Russian breakfast of porridge, eggs and bread. Then made our way to the local ski lifts to help give us a jumpstart on our hike. I didn't hear a single complaint about riding up 1,500' before we started our hike to nearly the top of a local peak called Cheget. Normally we got to the top of the peak but being close to the border of Georgia, the Russian military had the upper part closed to climbers for some odd reason. Regardless, we enjoyed stretching our legs.
The hike went well with mostly clear skies and plenty of other hikers enjoying the day, and we even caught a few glimpses of Elbrus too.
After the hike we made our back to town relatively quickly thanks to the ski lifts, where we had a hot lunch waiting for us. After lunch we dropped off our gear and made a quick stop to pick up a few extra items and even managed to try on a few local hats.
We wrapped up the evening with another nice home cooked meal here provided by our ever so gracious local outfitter.
Things are good here.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons team, led by Pete Van Deventer, is currently on the Mt. Rainier summit! After a 5-1/2 hour ascent from Camp Schurman to the top, the team is basking in the sun and enjoying their time taking in the views. They will begin their descent back to Camp Schurman shortly. We look forward to congratulating them tomorrow when the team will descend off the mountain and make their way back to Rainier Basecamp.
Josh hope your staying warm and enjoying your summit climb . Love you and thinking of you. Hope you didn’t get any altitude issues! Dad Mom and Caleb and Bailey.
Posted by: Sandy Calcanis on 7/12/2017 at 5:18 pm
Happy to hear the weather permitted the team to summit safely! Thinking about and missing my husband Kyle who is climbing with his buddy Pete. So proud of you guys and thankful for the awareness it drives to Summit4Angelman. Can’t wait to reunite the family on Thursday in Phoenix! Love, Shawna, Madden, Declan & Conrad
RMI Guide Walter Hailes led his team to the Mt. Rainier summit this morning. Topping out at 7:30 a.m., the team enjoyed an hour taking in the views with light winds, sunshine and warm temperatures.
The team began their descent at 8:45 a.m.
Hi from Huaraz! The team started its adventure in the Cordillera Blanca today with our classic hike up to Lake Churup at 4200m, just shy of Mt. Rainier's summit elevation. We had a beautiful day that prompted great views of the mountains. We had a leisurely afternoon, enjoyed a great team meal and arranged our duffels for tomorrow. We'll be writing next from our camp on our approach to Alpamayo basecamp tomorrow.
Have a great night,
Elías de Andres Martos and team
Hello from Huaraz!
Your ESS-Peru team is back safely in Huaraz after a week in the Ishinca Valley. Two successful summits, a lot of learning, a dash of weather and adversity, and several spectacular sunrises and sunsets were experienced during the last week in the mountains. We're happy to be enjoying this bustling beautiful city this evening, eating our favorite traditional Peruvian dishes, enjoying local cervezas, and watching the sun set over this spectacular mountain range. This evening brings us much needed rest and relaxation before our final four-day climb of 6,000+ meter Nevada Copa beginning tomorrow. We'll hike to base camp in the morning, with our exceptional cook staff in tow, ready to attempt our biggest objective of the trip. We'll keep you updated, wish us luck!!
RMI Guides Robby Young, Steve Gately, and your ESS-Peru Team
Team, guys and the GIRL, so exciting to follow your progress! You are strong! Have fun, good weather and best of luck! Looking forward to photos from the amazing summit of Copa!
Posted by: Martina Kalusova on 7/11/2017 at 8:36 am
Shipping containers…What happened to the petrol tanks as quarters mate ? ! Good acclimatatizing go go go.
Posted by: Walter Glover on 7/13/2017 at 4:27 am
The snow cat ride looks like way too much fun. Glad to see the weather is treating you well.
Posted by: Marcia utela on 7/12/2017 at 6:13 pm
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