Entries from Expedition Dispatches
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
After a good night's sleep and a hearty Russian breakfast the team headed out for our first acclimatization hike. The weather was beautiful with plenty of sunshine and clear skies. Our hike was on the flanks of a neighboring mountain called Cheget, named for the small town below it. Cheget rises sharply out of town and is a steep ski resort in the winter. It has several chair lifts that came in handy for the ascent and descent. Along the way we were treated to some amazing views of Elbrus and a large portion of the Caucasus mountain range. Everyone was thoroughly impressed!
After our hike we returned to town for a traditional Caucasus lunch of borsht, carrot slaw, and a meat roll. The team then headed back to our hotel and started packing for tomorrow's move to our base camp on Elbrus.
Everyone is doing great and we are all excited about tomorrow.
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Jambo
We are here at Machame Camp. Everyone is doing well and hoping to be out of the clouds soon. The mountain hasn't shone itself yet but maybe tomorrow as we continue our ascent to the Shira Plateau.
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Hello Everyone,
Today the team left behind the busy city life of Moscow and have arrived safely at the base of Mt. Elbrus. We caught an early flight to Mineralnye Vody, which is known for its abundant mineral springs and then headed to the mountain via a four hour bus ride. The drive was reminiscent of the rural Midwest we have back home, full of farms and beautiful sunflower fields that stretched on as far as the eye could see sometimes. The only difference was that the cows seemed more content standing in the middle of the road than in the fields. It sure made for an exciting ride to say the least!
The plains quickly gave way to the deep Baksan Valley that sits at the base of Caucasus Mountains.
Everyone still seems a little tired from all the travel, but we are all happy to be in the mountains now.
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
After 17 hours in the air we arrived at the Dik Dik hotel with all team members and bags to boot. A great way to start the trip with nice accomodations and a good looking crew.
Today we have been checking equipment, both personal and group, also going over trip detail and dates for our safari ahead.
It has been overcast so far today, but may burn off later; if so, we may take a walk to stretch our legs and we should have a great view of Kilimanjaro from on top of the water tower located on the hotels manicured grounds. The trail leads us from the hotel passed the huge organic garden we have been feasting out of since our arrival.
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Hello Everyone,
Casey here checking in from Moscow.
All is well and the team arrived yesterday evening. We had a quick meet and greet, then headed out for a bite to eat before calling it a night as everyone was feeling the jet lag.
Today we had a wonderful breakfast and then set off on today's adventure. We spent most of the morning in and around Russia's famous Red Square. We started off with a quick visit of Lenin's Tomb, then headed to the Kremlin for a few hours. Up next was a short subway ride to one of Moscow's many Cathedrals and then headed back to see the beautiful St. Basil's. Several team members did a little exploring on their own and others got a quick cat nap back at the hotel. We have just returned from a nice meal and are getting ready for bed again. Tomorrow we have an early departure and catch one more flight before we get to Elbrus.
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Hey!! We got flown off Denali this afternoon. It was our 21st day on the mountain and it began with low cloud and unflyable conditions. We cooked up a casual breakfast on the glacier and waited patiently, checking in hourly with K2 Aviation via sat-phone. By mid-afternoon, the sun was trying to peak through and our visibility had improved a great deal. K2 was having some difficulty with thick cloud blocking the approaches on their side of the mountain, but they kept on trying to find holes. At three PM their perseverance paid off, in came the airplanes and out we went. The gang is getting together one last time in just a few minutes. Time for a triumphant feast at the West Rib and a few toasts to a good mountain, good luck and good friends.
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Hey, this is Dave calling from Denali. We made it from 11,000' to base camp today. It took a long time: we started walking at 3:30 in the morning and got here about 2:30 p.m. Hard weather conditions on route, hard crevasse problems but everyone made it through okay. It's nice to be down. We haven't gotten picked up yet. The weather wasn't good enough to fly in but hopefully tomorrow morning.
Hey, this is Dave calling from Denali. We moved from 17,000' to 11,000' today. There was a lot of new snow down below and we were post holing through deep snow all the way down the West Buttress, down to 14,000' and all the way to 11,000' breaking trail. It all went really well. Today was a nice day, nice, calm and sunny.
Now we are camped at 11,000'. We hope to get up in a few hours and make our way to the airstrip and perhaps be there and ready to fly out tomorrow morning. So, I'll give a call if that happens. Today is Monday so that would be Tuesday morning that we would be at the airstrip if all goes well on the lower glacier. Talk to you soon.
The team is still stuck at 17,000' in blizzard conditions. Has been snowing continuously and winds blowing around 30 mph or so. The group is doing well; they have plenty of food and fuel and are just hanging out until the weather gets better. They will see how the weather looks in the morning. Dave will give us a call tomorrow with an update.
The team is at 17,000' right now. They were going to head down to 14,000' this morning but a snow storm moved in so they are just waiting. Dave was glad they headed to the summit when they had their small window of opportunity. Weather dependent, the team will descend further down the mountain. With the snow storm it is more likely that will be tomorrow.
July 10, 2010 - SUMMIT!
Dave Hahn and team reached the summit of Mount McKinley, North America's highest peak, yesterday evening. They had some wind up high but everyone was doing well.
Congratulations!
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