Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Jambo amigos!
Well we’ve finally arrived at our high camp, after a good night's rest and a short hike up to 15,000ft. It was mostly sunny all day with great views of
Kili and our climbing route for tomorrow. The team is doing great and feeling well at this new altitude which is a good sign for things ahead.
We’ve just wrapped up lunch and discussed in great detail the plan for tomorrow’s climb. Everyone knows what we’ll be wearing and what will be in the pack as well as the schedule. Our game plan will be to wake at 11pm and have a quick breakfast at 11:30, then hopefully hit the trail right at midnight.
I’m expecting the team to reach the summit in seven hours or so if things go according to plan, and if the weather is in our favor.
The team is planning on making satellite phone calls from the summit to loved ones back home. So if you have a loved one with us please keep your phones handy and if you receive a call from a strange number please answer.
Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the summit bound Kili crew
On The Map
After a full day of rest in the historic and colorful city of Puebla the team is ready to attempt to reach the
highest point in Mexico! We left Puebla this morning for Tlachichuca and Señor Reyes' climbing hostel and former soap factory. Here we ate a hardy lunch and admired the climbing history that has passed through on the way to Orizaba before loading up in a 4×4 truck to making our way to our camp for the night at 14,000 feet. Its sunny up here with gusty winds and clouds below to the East. Now we are getting ready for some sleep before waking up to climb through the night.
RMI Guide Grayson Swingle
On The Map
Ecuador Volcanoes, day three.
This journey is only three days old but the number of firsts for me has surpassed the last three years. What I mean by firsts is simply having an experience down here I have not had in the 15 years I’ve been guiding these mountains.
For example, I’ve never ventured off the equator tour to go find local home brewed corn beer. I’ve never been told by one of my climbers that they decided to venture out onto the fire escape, only to lock themselves out, with their roommate, and wind up on roof of the lobby looking down directly at the front desk waving to get let back in. I also have never broken two hours ascent time to the summit of
Rucu Pinchincha, which we did yesterday without even trying. Yes, that’s fast.......
To continue this trend, we blitzed our second acclimating hike today on a mountain called Fuya Fuya, reached the summit in record time, decided we should keep going and found ourselves on the second summit a kilometer away that I have never even considered going to. The views of Quito were amazing and the team was psyched to have two summits reached instead of one. Right when I thought the day should find its way back to normal, I was again surprised. When we descended and reached the parking lot a few of the guys asked if the lake we were parked next to was good for swimming. After a few typical guy jokes about fish that swim where fish don’t belong and shrunken heads, not attached to our necks, three crazy men stripped off their cloths, high fived and jumped into the lake. Of course at that point jokes about great white somethings happened but jokes aside, swimming in that lake has never happened! Kudos to my “brave” teammates who took the plunge.
After those shenanigans, we all piled back into the bus to head into Otovalo to praise our adventurous spirits and eat some pizza. At this point I was just waiting for an earthquake or meteorite to hit the bus, just to keep the streak alive. It didn’t happen.....Gracias!
Now we are resting nicely at our beautiful hacienda soaking up the warm sun and humid air. When the weather isn’t raining, it can be almost perfect.
In a couple hours we will have another nice team dinner then prepare to head to Cayambe. Our fist “big” objective of the trip. Stay turned for tomorrow’s dispatch on high intensity market negotiating, crazy 4x4 truck rides and a new sleeping altitude for most. With this team I have no idea what might happen.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff & Team
Rest days are the best days. Days for reading, napping, sport eating and shooting the breeze. We all did plenty of that plus a few chores. Everyone had to visit the
base-camp doctor, to which everyone received a green-light to go up the mountain. More shuffling of gear was done to get ready for our carry tomorrow. Tomorrow we will head up to Camp 1 to cache some of our gear. With nice weather in the forecast, it's going to be good day.
After while crocodile,
RMI Guide Hannah Smith and Team
We had cold temperatures and moderate winds this morning when we woke up. The upper mountain was engulfed in a dark grey cloud with snow eventually spinning lightly through the air. Our
high camp at 19,600’ was visible so we drug our feet getting camp broke down. The weather didn’t seem to be getting better or worse, so we headed up. Cold gust of wind and overcast skies followed us up. We are at camp, hunkered down in our tents. The process of making water keeps the guides busy for the remainder of the day and well into the night. Our fingers are crossed that since the precipitation arrived earlier then expected, it will blow out overnight. If that doesn't happen, we’ll likely have a weather day here at Colera and attempt on the 27th. You all will know more, when I know more. Good night from 19,600’.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
Hello again everyone.
We had a slower start today to allow the many porters to hit the ever narrowing trail. Right out of camp we were faced with the only real technical obstacle right out of camp. This hurdle is the great
Barranco Wall, which rises about 1,000 feet and looks as intimidating as it sounds. Thankfully there is a nice narrow trail that weaves its way up and through the wall and all the way to the top. Most of it feels more like steep hiking, but there are a few places that require the use of our hands to help us climb up.
The team did a good job of moving steady and allowing a few porters through with their loads precariously balanced on their heads. Which was astonishing to see!
After reaching the top we took a nice break and enjoyed the amazing views of the ice-ladened south face and valleys below. The team continued our hike for a few more hours up and down through a few valleys before reaching camp.
All in all, it took only about four hours for us to reach our next camp called Karanga, named for the big and beautiful valley which it overlooks and the peanuts that are grown far below in the valley.
We spent the remainder of the day relaxing and playing cribbage, which has been quite the hit.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the 2nd Kili crew
On The Map
After a good night of sleep, lots of coffee, and a two hour breakfast the team explored the city of Puebla today. We love this city for its charm, beautiful churches, and friendly people. The hotel we stay in has a huge rooftop terrace that gives us a view of
La Malinche to the North, our last climb to the west and our next goal to the east. Yesterday, as we descended Ixta, our group was tired, wind blasted, and hungry so talk of another mountain was not appealing. But, today is a different story, our team is well fed and rested and happy to embark on the next climb. Here are just a few quotes from the group today: "I've traveled to over 50 countries, and Puebla is blowing my mind!" And, "I'm in a great mood!" Yep, we are lucky to have these folks to climb with.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
We continued feeling like a cowboy by riding a mule across the river this morning. The river is painfully cold, so it was nice to avoid walking across. After a short ride we were back to traveling by foot. We exited the Vacas Valley and entered the Relinchos Valley. The views are gorgeous with steep rock on one side and rolling hills on the other. By the end of our walk we reach
Aconcagua Basecamp just under 14,000'. Its a welcoming sight. We are greeted with juice and pizza. You feel rather civilized up here. Comfort food of shepard's pie and a welcome cake were enjoyed by all for dinner. The team is psyched and doing well.
Later alligator,
RMI Guide Hannah Smith and team
On The Map
Today we woke up to another beautiful day in Ecuador. After breakfast our team, now complete with our outstanding local guide Jaime, headed for the teleferico (gondola) and began our first acclimatization hike on a beautiful ridge overlooking Quito. The entire team styled our climb to
Rucu Pichincha, breaking a couple of altitude records along the way. After some time on the summit enjoying just enough weather to make for dramatic light without spoiling any views, we headed back to Quito to rest and pack up for our move to Fuya Fuya and Otavalo tomorrow. The whole team was happy to get up in the mountains today and are feeling great, we hope our streak of great weather continues!
RMI Guide Chris Ebeling
This camp has an amazing view, especially when we have so much moonlight with a near full moon. If you can get yourself out of the tent during the night, the light illuminates the Polish Glacier and all the surrounding peaks. This Team has enjoyed the plentiful stars and seemingly 3D Milky Way during the first part of the trip and now the moon light will brighten the path early on our summit day.
The rest day has been fairly standard, big breakfast and lots of reading and hanging out in the tents. There have been some high clouds that have made the day cooler than previous and we have been fortunate with such favorable weather. Tomorrow we will pack up camp and move up to
19,600’. The day will go by fast as we get tents set up, make lots of water and prepare for a summit attempt on Saturday morning. The next five days include a lot of effort and ground to cover, fingers crossed the winds are light and the sun burns bright.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
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All the best on this last leg. Good weather and safe footing. From Ma, GG and Dawn
Posted by: Barbara Sluboski on 1/26/2019 at 8:22 pm
We are all sending good thoughts your way for tomorrow!
Posted by: Angi Merlone on 1/26/2019 at 2:58 pm
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