An enjoyable aspect of any rest day is "sport eating", because you know that you will burn through the calories and you get to sort through all the extra food you brought on the expedition. Today we started with Steve's North American scrambled eggs. The team went for a walk to aid in acclimatization and returned to guide made cheese pizzas.
Everyone is relaxing and getting gear ready for the carry to Camp 1 tomorrow. Those minor headaches we had upon arrival yesterday have gone and appetites are strong! The team is excited to see what lies ahead.
It's always sunny in Plaza Argentina.
RMI Guide Mike King
February 1, 2015 6:00 am PT
Seth here checking in from our last camp on Kili. We are down at 10,000' and boy does the air feel thick and good. We started our summit push yesterday, technically, with an 11:00pm wake up call. We hit the trail at two minutes past midnight and reached Uhuru Peak (Kilimanjaro's summit) at 6:44am. The climb was pretty cold with a strong wind out of the Northeast. The climbers buckled down though and made a great effort in tough conditions.
After returning to high camp we packed up, had a late breakfast and started down to Mweka, our camp. At the halfway point we started to get some rain showers that made the tough trail a bit tougher. True to form though the team rallied and we made camp in good time.
Everyone is relaxing now after a late lunch and looking forward to the hike out tomorrow.
RMI Guide Seth WaterfallJanuary 31, 2015 8:00 pm PT
Hey, this is Seth calling from the top of Kilimanjaro! It's 7:00 a.m. our time. Nine of the climbers went to the summit today. One of our group decided to hang back in high camp and wait for us to return, but everybody else is up here on Uhuru Peak, the very highest point of Kilimanjaro. The tallest peak in Africa and one of the largest free-standing mountains on Earth. It has been one of the coldest days I've had up here. We've had a wind blowing at us and put a little rime ice on our parkas and whatnot. But now that the sun's been up on us a little bit and having fun up here, we're gonna take finish taking pics and swing back down through high camp and to our camp at 10,000 feet tonight. I'll check in from there. That's it from us from the top of Kilimanjaro.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall calls in from Uhuru Peak.
Way to go Patty! You did it! So very proud of you. Congratulations and safe travel back home.
Posted by: Dave on 2/2/2015 at 7:41 am
Patty - You did it!!! Congratulations and the best to all on the team. I am very happy for you and proud of what you just accomplished. Watching you persevere through all the training and planning and then reading about the cold and wind on the final ascent to the top to reach your goal - You amaze me!!! I love you!!! John
The sun has been shining on us all day, and the temperatures are pleasant, but something has changed: early this morning the tents gave a foretelling rattle, and then the wind settled in. While the wind hasn't been too strong yet, mostly it just makes a lot of noise, the forecast is hinting that the winds may strengthen tonight, and that they may persist for at least a week. We are hoping that they allow us to move up tomorrow, and that a forecasted lull may give us our shot. At this point, everything is ready for us and we are in Dr. Suess' proverbial waiting place, so we just have our fingers crossed for our summit window to show itself. Keep your fingers crossed for us,
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer, Juan, Alex, and team
Despite having a rogue mule disappear with one of our bags last night, the group enjoyed delicious grilled chicken and Steve's famous pasta salad. The bag eventually rejoined our group late last night, thanks to the amazing gauchos that we work with.
We are relaxing at Plaza Argentina, 13,800 feet after a beautiful day with more views of the highest peaks outside of the Himalaya. The group woke early and rode Mules across the Vacas River, always a highlight on an Aconcagua expedition. We are looking forward to our first rest day of the climb tomorrow.
Stay tuned to see how the group, "out chills" the rest day.
RMI Guide Mike King
Hi all. Billy here with the last installment from our riveting series of blog posts documenting one of this year's RMI Aconcagua expeditions. We officially wrapped up our program last evening with an amazing dinner at Francesco Barbera complete with all of the pageantry you'd expect from a fine dining experience in Argentina: cocktails, wine, delicious handmade pastas, dessert, coffee. We deserved a little luxury after so much hard work in such a harsh environment and indeed there was much rejoicing. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the members of the team for their patience, dedication, and hard work all along the way and to thank Katrina and Billy Haas for being exceptional guides and teammates the whole trip too.
I've had tons of fun and can't wait to come back next year...
Til then.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Hello! We are all up at high camp as of 12:00pm our time. We had a fairly mellow hike up here today. We took another relaxed morning with breakfast at 8:00. Some excitement during breakfast came in the form of a helicopter landing in camp. It circled a few times and touched down twice. Then it stayed on the ground for a few minutes and took off again. That's the first time I've seen a helicopter on Kilimanjaro.
Our hike was super smooth and everyone is doing well with the altitude. We are about to have lunch and discuss the climbing plan. After that we'll relax, get an early dinner and then wake up and climb.
If all goes well, my next check in will be from the summit.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Sending good thoughts and prayers from the mountains in Whisller to the BIG mountain in Africa. So excited for you! You are the perfect example of setting goals and coming up with a plan for flawless execution. I think John is going to write a book about it. Love you!
Posted by: Regina on 2/1/2015 at 8:43 am
Patty Kudla & Ernest Hemingway linked for eternity! Go Patty go. Can’t wait to hear that you saw the face of Africa from the top. Best to all the adventurers everywhere.
We had a perfect move day to Aconcagua Camp 2! The day dawned calm, bluebird, and warm, and looked like the ideal day to push up higher to our next camp at Guanacos Tres (a confusing name since it is our camp two). We packed the tents once again, shouldered packs that were once again heavy, and set out. It's not a far climb, as most of the elevation gain happens right out of Camp 1, and three hours later we were walking into our new abode. We are now happily settled in and are looking forward to another rest day tomorrow. So far everything is going very smoothly and according to plan, and we all have our fingers crossed that it stays that way.
Hasta mañana,
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Alex Barber, Juampi, and team
This is the RMI Aconcagua team checking in from Casa de Piedra on day 2 of our trek to base camp.
We had a sweltering five-hour day trekking into camp. Fortunately, we got the winds within a half hour before reaching Casa de Piedra. We saw our first glimpse of Aconcagua today with stellar views of the South Face and Polish Glacier! The team is learning valuable expedition skills such as, setting up tents in the wind and relaxing in a tent. We are looking forward to a big dinner and a good night's sleep before heading up to 13,800ft tomorrow.
Everyone is healthy and in good spirits.
RMI Guide Mike King
Yeah!
We made it off the trail today and after a quick lunch and a semi-successful sage sauce recipe aquisition in Penitentes we loaded all of our duffels onto the van and hit the road for Mendoza. We got into town around 5:30 or 6, checked into the hotel, and finally got those showers we´ve been dreaming of for so many weeks. Our sunburned, dirty faces definitely make us stand out among the normal people of the city but what can you really do? We´re headed out for a brew pub and a casual dinner tonight before we have our official celebratory dinner tomorrow night at a fancier restaurant. I´ll check in one more time tomorrow evening to officially wrap the expedition up.
Ciao, headed for some cervezas...
RMI Guide Billy Nugent & Team
Hi this is Seth.
The team is all up at Karanga Valley (13,200'). We started the day at a really relaxed pace with a later breakfast than we are used to. After that we enjoyed the views and sunshine, some dancing and a little frisbee while most of the other climbers jammed up the climbing route. After almost the whole camp moved out we climbed up the steep Barranco Wall by ourselves. After a lunch break on top we hiked to Karanga Valley. The cook made us an amazing second lunch in camp which was well received by this crew. Things really get rolling tomorrow as we head to high camp.
I'll check in when we get there.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall & Team
WOW!! You will soon be on the summit!!! YAY! Patty, thinking of you as you soon ascend to the top of Africa! It looks AMAZING! Wish I were there! Eat well…Stay strong… and enjoy your summit climb! God Bless you and your team! Love ya
Posted by: Sally on 1/31/2015 at 1:34 pm
Very soon now & you will be Summit bound. So exciting! May the sunshine and clear skies crown your BIG accomplishment! Go Team! Go Carrie! Xoxo
Anybody got blisters?
Posted by: tina baker on 2/2/2015 at 9:56 am
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