Hello everyone back home this is Casey Grom checking in from our Kilimanjaro trip. Just wanted to report that we are all safely back at high camp and we had a 100% reach the summit today. Pretty amazing day. Weather was still perfect again for us going up. Little chilly, so we're having to do a little dancing to keep our fingers and toes warm but all in all the group did fantastic. As I said we returned to high camp, we're packing up and we're actually going to be descending a few more thousand feet to our last camp, Mweka Camp. If I get a chance I'll try to send in a written dispatch. And if not we'll certainly check in sometime tomorrow when we get off the mountain. That's all for now, everyone's doing great and look forward to trying to share few photos in a couple days with you guys.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
RMI Guide Casey Grom checks in after summit climb.
I have been following your progress, looks like you folks are having a great time wish I were there. Keep safe and have a wonderful journey.
Posted by: Priscilla Neal on 9/24/2012 at 3:43 am
COngrats to you and your team Casey. I have great memories of Kilimanjaro! All the Kili girls spent the weekend together and Lucy and Corell say hey. High fives from Richmond
RMI Guide Eric Frank called in from the crater rim of Mt. Rainier at 7:30 a.m. The Five Day Summit Climb September 19 - 23 was just approaching the summit. They reported cold temperatures with light winds and an overall beautiful day. RMI Guide Geoff Schellens led the Four Day Summit Climb September 20 - 23 to the summit also. The teams spent just over an hour on the summit before starting their descent. They will return to Camp Muir to re-pack their gear before continuing down to Paradise. We look forward to seeing both teams at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's summit climbers!
RMI Guide Casey Grom checked in via satellite phone on Saturday night, September 22 at 10:01 p.m. PT from the summit of Kilimanjaro, The Roof of Africa. Casey was very happy to report that all team members had reached the summit it was a perfect day, sunny and beautiful. "It is a fantastic day up here" Casey said.
After spending some time enjoying the views the team will descend to the 10,000' Mweka Camp for their last night on the mountain.
Congratulations to Casey Grom and all of the Kilimanjaro September 15th team members!
Hi Everyone,
The team did a great job again on the short hike up to our high camp. It's been a long journey but everyone is in good spirits and we are all excited about tonight's climb.Our plan is to wake at midnight, have a quick breakfast and then be walking by 1am. If all goes according to plan then we hope to be on the summit just after sunrise.We will spend the next few hours resting, preparing our gear and hopefully getting a little sleep too.
The climb will break down into one hour stretches with 10-15 min. breaks between each hour. Our pace will be slow but steady with lots of breathing as we ascend to "The Roof of Africa" 19'340ft above sea level. We'll do our best and will try to call from the summit.
Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and Crew
Our Four Day Summit Climb Team led by RMI Guide Brent Okita reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. Brent radioed early this morning and reported high clouds with hail and winds at about 25mph. The team spent about 15 minutes on the crater rim before starting their descent and are now en route to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's teams!
Hello again from Africa.
All is well here as we continue to have fantastic weather for our climb. Once again the team impressed me with their performance on the 1,500' high Barranco wall in just over a hour. We were one of the first groups out of camp and had most of the trail to ourselves with only a few porters passing along the way. Those that did impressed us with how they scaled the near vertical wall with 50 lbs balanced on their heads.
We then traversed over to the Karanga Valley and descended a few hundred feet and then climbed back up and are now resting comfortably at camp. Its a beautiful camp with the summit of Kilimanjaro above us and the Karanga Valley below and we can see the forest that surrounds the mountain and the savannah beyond that. Quite a sight to say the least!
The entire team is doing great and I believe everyone is in awe over the fact that we leave camp each morning still standing and yet we always arrive with the new camp set up and waiting on our arrival.
Enjoying the good life and looking forward to moving to high camp tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
RMI Guides Seth Waterfall and Tyler Jones reached the summit of Mt. Rainier! The Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir team enjoyed beautiful, warm weather on top and after taking summit photos, began their descent at 10:00 a.m. The team will stay at Camp Muir tonight and descend to Paradise tomorrow afternoon.
Congratulations to today's summit climbers!
It was another wonderful day here on Kilimanjaro with clear skies to start the day. We hiked for just about six hours all total today starting at 12,200' and then climbed up to 15,300' and then descended back down to 12,800'. Everyone did great and thoroughly enjoyed the climb and many of the team members set new altitude records for themselves. The climb took us up across the Shira Plateau, traversed over to Lava Tower and then underneath the Arrow Glacier. We then descended into a valley that sits at the base of the Great Barranco Wall. Along the way we stopped and admired the unique vegetation that is only found in the high altitude of Africa. We saw many giant lobelias, groundsels and hundreds of Senicio trees that look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book.
The team is now resting comfortably in camp and are looking forward to climbing the Barranco Wall tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Glad everything is going great,Megan & Wes hope yall are having fun love Mom & Dad.
Posted by: David & Juli Erickson on 9/21/2012 at 2:01 pm
Hi Ken and Leeza - glad to know you and the rest of the team are doing very well on this exciting adventure. Thank you, Casey, for the updates. Best wishes to all! Sabine and Larry
Hi this is Seth. Today we did a dry run for our climb by heading up to Ingraham Flats this morning. The wind was blowing us around a bit but at least the sun was still out. After spending an hour at 'The Flats' we dropped down onto the Cowlitz Glacier for a round of crevasse rescue training. The crevasse that we picked out was great and everyone was brave enough to go down in it. Now we're relaxing for the evening. Tonight we climb!
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
We were greeted by crystal clear skies this morning which allowed some amazing views of Kilimanjaro and the route ahead. The team did a great job this morning getting packed up and hitting the trail after a breakfast full of fresh bread, fresh fruits and fried eggs. Not to mention the 10 hours of sleep we had!
The trail out of camp slowly climbed out of the forest and up onto the Shira Plateau. We watched in amazement as the porters moved past us with ease while balancing loads on their heads. Our crew certainly out did themselves by having prepared another feast for lunch about half way up the climb. It was a nice surprise to arrive at lunch with the tables and chairs waiting on us.
It took us about five hours to reach our next camp on the plateau and again camp was set up and our group was happily awaiting our arrival.
Needless to say the team had a wonderful day and everyone is doing great. We will rest here at 12,200' for the night to help with acclimatization and will head up again tomorrow morning.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Hi mom & dad! I miss you guys but i am having a great time with Kara! She has shown me your pictures and they look amazing! Kara Has taken me on a lot of walks and I get to sleep on her bed with her!! I miss u guys but I’m hiking bull run with Kara this weekend so it’s pretty much the same thing hehe hope you are having a fantastic time :)
Love your darling dog jake!
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I have been following your progress, looks like you folks are having a great time wish I were there. Keep safe and have a wonderful journey.
Posted by: Priscilla Neal on 9/24/2012 at 3:43 am
COngrats to you and your team Casey. I have great memories of Kilimanjaro! All the Kili girls spent the weekend together and Lucy and Corell say hey. High fives from Richmond
Posted by: Elsie Bemiss on 9/23/2012 at 7:30 pm
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