Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Things were a little breezy at Shira Camp this morning and it looked like it was nuking up on the crater rim of Kibo, Kilimanjaro's main peak. Our team had enjoyed the sunset at Shira, and the stars in the clear night sky, so a little wind didn't keep anybody from loving the sunrise as well. Our packs were on and we were walking straight toward Kibo by 8:20. As compensation for the breezes, we were granted sparkly blue skies above and a bright white sea of clouds below.
We gained altitude steadily as today's walking was much easier than yesterday's rock hopping. In just a couple of hours we were up over 14,500 ft and breaking everybody's previous personal altitude records. We kept right at it, cresting at 15,200 ft beside the "Lava Tower" at noon. By this point we were right up under the glaciers and giant walls of Kibo. We'd climbed right out of the Moorland Zone of vegetation and into the Highland Desert Zone. The team had no troubles coming down the steep trails beyond the Lava Tower and so we got rid of about two thousand vertical feet on our voyage down into the exotic vegetation of the Barranco Valley. We checked out the Lobelias and the Giant Senecios as we went. It seemed the perfect afternoon for taking in a thousand new sights, from waterfalls to dark caves in the Lava and Basalt. Our new camp was already built and waiting for us just on the edge of the cloud sea and we were again amazed at the strength and speed of our loc al staff. Now we are settled in at 13,000 ft below the intimidating Barranco Wall... but the wall can wait until tomorrow. Tonight we'll watch the light change on Kibo's glaciers, rock walls, icicles and towers.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The Four Day Summit Climb led by Nick Hunt reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The team had clear skies and light winds. They have started their descent and are en route to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's Team!
Posted by: Ed Viesturs, Peter Whittaker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Summit Climb led by Peter Whittaker and Ed Viesturs reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. Peter reported a smooth route, clear skies and winds of 10 - 15 mph. The team has started their descent and are en route back to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's team!
So exciting! Congratulations to the entire team!
Posted by: Molly G on 8/11/2016 at 3:37 pm
Posted by: Zeb Blais, Chase Nelson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Peru Seminar
Elevation: 14,400'
We are in our tents taking a little break before dinner. About two hours ago hail and rain caught us on the tail end of our training day at Ishinca Base Camp.
Before the afternoon storm we took advantage of our incredible venue to learn knots, anchors, rope ascension and rappelling. The huge glacial erratics just outside our camp provided the perfect place to rappel and ascend on overhanging terrain. Just as we were coiling up the ropes to head back to camp, pea sized hail began to pelt us. We retired to our mess tent where we were greeted with hot chocolate and popcorn.
We're heading back there shortly for dinner, hoping it's as good as last night's feast. Hilario our cook ended dinner with one of the best chocolate mousses I've ever had- it's going to be hard to top that!
RMI Guides Zeb Blais, Chase Nelson and team
At daybreak today, we could finally get a look at our spectacular surroundings. The clouds were gone from overhead, and it seemed that the ones under us were miles below. Machame Camp, nestled within the giant heather, seemed a fine place but we were anxious to go higher. We got on the move a little before nine and quickly found ourselves on a steady and steep hill climb. There were plenty of big steps through broken volcanic rock but eventually we crested a ridge and followed that toward the majestic upper slopes of Kili itself. At about 12,500 ft we deviated from the ridge and moved north, traversing toward a new horizon on our left. We crested that at 12,800 ft and caught our first views of the Shira Plateau stretching out to the West. We then dropped a few hundred easy feet to our new home... already built and waiting for us at 12,600 ft. The afternoon was spent resting, eating and drinking. Each time out of the tents we were a little startled by the gigantic views... of Mt. Meru standing at 16,000 ft to our west and of Kili standing at 19,000 ft immediately to our east. We'll head straight toward Kili tomorrow morning.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Fantastic report. Can’t wait to hear more! Great work, everyone.
Posted by: Susie Lambert on 8/10/2016 at 1:43 pm
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, JM Gorum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Northside
Elevation: 12,300'
Sometimes you get thrown a total curveball, which was the case with our Mt. Elbrus expedition today. Apparently there has been a stomach bug simmering in the group, and it reached its boiling point last night. With most of the team suffering and feeling less than 100%, it was an easy decision to stay put and rest and recover today. That ended up lining up well with the forecast, as the next couple of days look better than today or tonight. So with that positive note, we'll get a good night's sleep so that we wake up ready to get back to work.
Best,
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, JM Gorum, and team
On The Map
We woke this morning to sunshine and French toast for breakfast... and coffee of course. Not a bad way to wake up. After our leisurely breakfast we geared up and headed out on another acclimatization hike this time to nearly 15,000'. We were on the trail for around 3 1/2 hours and over the course of the hike the weather gradually deteriorated. We felt a little bit of hail on our way back to camp but nothing terrible. Still, there are signs of the snow forecasted for tonight and tomorrow starting to show up. We won't mind a little weather on our last training/rest day before heading on our summit push Friday. Friday's forecast is looking good so we have our fingers crossed that it won't change. After our hike the gang went down to the cafe at the top of the gondola and hung out a bit... Good times over here in Russia.
Til tomorrow!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
After a spending a rest and acclimation day at Camp Muir, the Five Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The team had clear skies all the way to the summit.
Congratulations to today's team!
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Tyler Reid reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. Tyler and team climbed above the clouds today and had clear and sunny skies.
Congratulations to today's team!
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos, Eric Frank
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Peru Seminar
Elevation: 15,925
Hello, this is the Artesonraju team calling from Moraine Camp, (high camp). Unfortunately we cannot celebrate a summit, but we were short of it today. We had to bail 150 meters prior to the summit, that's roughly 450 feet, given the bad snow and ice conditions that we had on the head wall, but we did put up a fight on a challenging climb. Everybody's doing great here. Looking forward to getting down to basecamp and eventually to Vaqueria tomorrow. So stay tuned for our full report on the trip in a couple days. Hopefully all are doing well at home. Thanks for following. Bye.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos calls from Moraine Camp.
Welcome down, safe & sound!! Kim, you (and the team) are amazing adventurers! I try to imagine that amount of effort for that many days in that frigid cold and wind, and needless to say, it’s impossible. Great job on all fronts and congratulations on this tough climb!!! XXX Trish
Posted by: Trish on 8/12/2016 at 4:01 pm
Hi Kim , We are very proud of you & the entire team!!! It must have been a very exciting climb! We look forward to hearing all about this expedition & of course seeing the amazing photos!! Travel safe & stay well!! Love, Dad
Posted by: SHEL on 8/10/2016 at 7:47 am
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I can’t imagine what beauty you are seeing! If the skies are clear I bet the stars are amazing! Look forward to hearing all about it!
Posted by: Pam Bethea on 8/11/2016 at 9:03 pm
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