RMI Guide Zeb Blais and the Four Day Summit Climb reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Zeb reported light winds while on the summit. The team departed the crater rim around 7:30 am and is making their descent to Camp Muir where they will pack up before continuing their descent. We look forward to seeing the team in Ashford this afternoon.
Congratulations Climbers!
Greetings from Moscow,
The team arrived in Moscow today and our Russian adventure has officially begun!
There are no more trips to the store to buy that last minute item that you think you might need to bring just in case, no more chances to clear off your desk of the last few remaining to-do items. It is go time. We are headed for Mt. Elbrus.
But before we fly south, we are going to explore Moscow tomorrow and all it's amazing sights. And we will get a big dose of Russian culture, food and history along the way. The perfect introduction to this country.
RMI Guides Jeff Martin and Pete Van Deventer
Success! We did it!
We officially stood on top of the highest point in Europe. It was the nicest day I've ever had here on Elbrus- clear, calm, and great overall climbing conditions! Add on top of that our local guide Vladimir (hero) not only negotiated a snow cat ride of a life time, but he broke trail all day to help us achieve our goal. The team did a great job of climbing and taking care of themselves all day.
We enjoyed the summit and amazing views for about 20 minutes before descending back to camp, where we had a quick lunch and headed all the way back to Cheget for hot showers and beer! We have just wrapped up the evening with dinner and are headed out to explore the Cheget nightlife.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and a happy crew!
This was a relatively easy day for our team. We had nice, warm sunshine on the tents when we rolled out for 8 AM breakfast. As we'd become accustomed to, the world below was hidden beneath a thick blanket of cloud and the Roof of Africa was shining and clear above us. The cloud sea rose as the day went on, but so did we, staying one jump ahead in the sunshine. In such nice weather, there seemed to be no hurry, so Eliepende led our crew at a leisurely four-hour pace. We'd left 13,100 ft Karanga Camp at 9 AM and we cruised into 15,200 ft Barafu Camp at 1 PM. After a fine lunch and an inspiring discussion of our summit plans and preparations, the gang retired for a couple of quiet hours resting in the tents. We're doing a 5 o'clock dinner so as to have plenty of rest before our insanely early departure for the top.
The evening is still calm and clear and we have high hopes for success.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Dave - wishin u & ur team the best of the best of views from Africa when u summit. And care on safari, i hear they grow the kitty’s bigger n Africa than we do.
Safe travels.
Posted by: Mary on 8/3/2014 at 6:16 am
I’m Brads sister and have been keeping up with your climb. Very excited for your accomplishment! Good luck at the top!!!! Be careful on the decent.
CAROLINE
The Mt. Rainier summit climbs, led by Walter Hailes and Solveig Waterfall, reached the summit this morning. They reported 15-20 mph winds and were descending through a light cap over the mountain. The teams began their descent at 7:30 a.m.
Hello this is Elias with the Machu Picchu Trek. We are at our camp right below Nevado Salkantay under the impressive north face. We had a really good first day of hiking. We are in the vicinity of 13,000 feet. Everybody did really well. We are about to enjoy a nice dinner cooked by our amazing cook, Alejandro. Tomorrow we will visit Incan ruins and the Inca Calendar. and will keep you posted when we get to the next camp.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Elias de Andres Martos calling in from the Machu Picchu Trek.
Being on safari is nature at its most basic form. To see the food chain in the realm of nature makes you ponder on life itself. You take away a certain fresh outlook on the meaning of life on these safaris. And to see the living prehistoric creature that is near extinction, the rhino, keep the wheels spinning. We had a chilly start to the day up in the cloud forest on the flanks of the Ngorongoro Crater. We decided to stop in at a Maasai Boma or village where for 20 dollars each they gave us warmth in one of their cow dung huts with its dirt floor, no chimney, wood-burning modular homes. We got out of there pretty quickly but left with the flavor and fragrance of a life a bit different than ours. Nice folks and enjoyed the visit. The clouds eventually burnt off to a picture-perfect day in the bottom of the crater, the Eighth Wonder of the World. Yes the trigger finger took a bit of a warming up but no animal, bird, or plant escaped the lens of these safari pros. We even had some shots taken with out a memory card due to some rough roads and a bit too over excited at the chase of the perfect picture. Lots more opportunity for photos tomorrow as we move to yet another amazing park in Africa.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Hello from Mt. Elbrus -
Today the team got up a little early to make use of the firm snow to practice using our crampons, and we had a refresher on self-arrest too. After our morning session we enjoyed breakfast and then relaxed near camp chatting with other climbers till lunchtime. Shortly after lunch we had our summit talk where we discussed all aspects of the climb to come and then spent the remainder of the afternoon packing and finalizing all of our gear we will need for the climb.
Everyone has their face mask ready in case the wind howls like it did on my last climb. And we even managed to play a game of trivia where the winner gets to make a satellite phone call from the summit. So if there's someone out there who's favorite musical group is Krewella and loves Simba. Then expect a call around 1am. Which will be roughly 8:30-9am for us.
We'll check in again tomorrow after our big climb.
Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Mike Walter reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning around 6:30 am. The Expedition Skills Seminar - Paradise led by Leon Davis also made a successful climb to the summit today after several days of training on the mountain. Both teams began their descent around 7:30 after enjoying the sunrise and views from the crater for almost an hour.
The teams will return to Camp Muir for a short break and to re-pack their gear before continuing the descent to Paradise. We look forward to seeing both teams in Ashford later today.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Awesome job bro! im so proud! I bet it was amazing! GO JARYD U
Posted by: Parys Michelle Unangst on 8/1/2014 at 8:50 pm
Congratulations Jaryd & team on this tremendous achievement!! So happy you had the opportunity for this wonderful adventure Rad! Grampy wants to know what peak is next? Can’t wait to see you to hear all about it and see pictures. Be safe and love you! G’Pa and G’Ma
Dave - wishin u & ur team the best of the best of views from Africa when u summit. And care on safari, i hear they grow the kitty’s bigger n Africa than we do.
Safe travels.
Posted by: Mary on 8/3/2014 at 6:16 am
I’m Brads sister and have been keeping up with your climb. Very excited for your accomplishment! Good luck at the top!!!! Be careful on the decent.
CAROLINE
Posted by: Caroline on 8/2/2014 at 1:21 pm
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