Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Hello!
Greetings from Hotel Andino in the beautiful Huaraz City, Peru. Our expedition prep got off to a stunning start with a picturesque trip up to Puca Ventana (Red Window) at 11,600'. The additional elevation and light exercise will be crucial as we prep to move up the
Ishinca Valley at 14,400' tomorrow morning. A casual lunch at the climbing hangout Cafe Andino kept us energized through the afternoon as we began the packing and gear sorting for our upcoming week in the Cordillera. Tonight we enjoy the comforts of civilization at our hotel for one last night. Our next dispatches will be from the high valleys as we move closer to our first climbing goal of Ishinca (18,143'). Stay tuned, friends!
Buenas Noches,
RMI Guides Robby Young, Eric Frank, Edwin, and the ESS-Peru Team
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 jump start on our hike. I didn't hear a single complaint about riding up 1,500' before we started our two hour hike to the top of a local peak called Cheget, which is also the name of the town we are staying in. The hike went well with mostly clear skies and we even caught a few glimpses of
Mt. Elbrus between the clouds.
After our hike we made it back to town relatively quickly thanks to the ski lifts, where we had a hot lunch waiting on 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 local outfitter and to top it off we celebrated one team members birthday!
Things are good here.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Jambo from Kilimanjaro-
We are checking in from Camp One,
Machame Camp at 9,800' and everyone is doing great.
We woke early this morning and had a nice breakfast at the Dik Dik. We loaded the vehicle and after a quick stop at the open air meat market we reached the Machame Entrance Gate at 6,000'. After some photos and the fun began as we started on the trail. Being a cloud forest it held true for most of the climb but now here at 10,000' the skies are clear and beautiful. We have clear views of the summit and associated glaciers and life is good here in the very comfortable dinning tent.
Have a nice day,
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
On The Map
Well... This is it. The final blog for the July 1 - 13, 2016 is sadly here. However, as is the case, we had an amazing day in
Saint Petersburg! Our local city tour guide Elena, was amazing as we strolled around the entire city. I have been here 13 times now and today was simply put, the coolest tour I have had in St Petes. I am sad as I sit here writing this blog during our last dinner. Our entire team has been absolutely amazing. It is not every climb where complete strangers come together and have such an amazing adventure.
Thank you for following along. The team sends giant hugs and kisses back home to friends and family! Thanks for your support.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
RMI Guide Jake Beren and the
Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz team reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning via the Kautz route.
Jake reported clear skies on the summit. The team will spend some time on the summit before making their descent. The team will spend one more night on the mountain before descending off the mountain tomorrow.
Way to climb!
Greetings from Huaraz!
The ESS-Peru team has arrived safely in Huaraz. After a short night of sleep yesterday evening, we left the chaos of a busy Lima city behind, traveled up the Pacific coast, over a 14,000' pass, and down into the Ancash Valley; home of the
Cordillera Blanca Range (The White Mountains). We kicked off our stay at Hotel Andino with an incredible dinner, as usual, and are looking forward to the incredible views of the mountains from our hotel balconies in the morning. Tomorrow, our expedition prep begins. An acclimatization hike tomorrow morning to 11,500' into the hills above Huaraz City (pop. 127,000) will serve a crucial purpose as we coax our bodies into their high-altitude form.
That's all for now. Thanks for following along!
RMI Guides Robby Young, Eric Frank, and the ESS-Peru Team
The Four Day Summit Climb led by
RMI Guides Seth Waterfall, Christina Dale, and Katrina Bloemsma reached the summit of Mt. Rainier just before 7:00 a.m. PDT. Katrina reported clear, breezy skies above Disappointment Cleaver. The teams will spend some time celebrating on the summit before beginning their descent. We look forward to seeing them in
Ashford this afternoon.
Congratulations climbers!
It's all coming together now. We made our final preparations today here in the town of Usa River Tanzania, located at the base of the tallest mountain on this continent. Myself and eight hearty souls are taking on the challenge of
climbing Kilimanjaro starting tomorrow. It will be tough to leave the luxury of our lodge but the team is fired up for the adventure ahead. A very nice group of folk have started to bond here in the lowlands and and a tight nit team is just a few days and thousands of feet uphill.
Early tomorrow morning we will leave for the trail head and start our climb to the "Roof of Africa".
Stay tuned,
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
The longest day is finished. We "woke" at 10 PM at 11,000 ft, broke camp and hit the trail by midnight, bound for basecamp. Heavy packs and sleds and miles of glacier later, we pulled in to what had been basecamp three weeks ago. That is all gone now though with the finish of the climbing season. We saddled up one last time to go thirty minutes more for the "upper strip" -a better stretch of late-season glacier, and then two beautiful K2 Aviation Otters came in to fetch us. We were back in
Talkeetna by 10 AM and eating drinking drying sorting and celebrating for the next 24 hours... Oh yeah, and showering and sleeping too. It was a fine finish to an excellent climb. Thanks for following.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team
Zdravstvuyte (hello) from Russia,
Things are good here in Russia. We left Moscow this morning and have traveled via plane and bus to the beautiful Caucus mountains.
Our flight took us to southern Russia near the Black Sea, or if you remember Sochi from the Olympics, it not too far from there. We flew into Mineralnye Vody. This part of the country is predominately rural and is responsible for much of the agriculture that the larger cities depends on. We were meet by our trustworthy guide Yuri, whom I've climbed with many times. Then hopped in our van for the 3hr drive up the
Baksan Valley to the base of Mt. Elbrus.
The small town we are in is called Cheget, and it doubles as a ski town in winter and converts to climbing in the summer. We didn't do a ton of exploring this afternoon due to the rain and the adjustment of the time that we are all still feeling.
However, tomorrow we will do our first acclimatizing hike and do a little exploring.
All is well here and the team is excited to stretch our legs a bit!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
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Happy birthday, T! We’re rooting for you and S out here in sunny SoCal! Lotsa love, E, B, & D!
Posted by: Elspeth on 7/12/2016 at 3:58 pm
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