The Mount Rainier Summit Climb, led by Mike Walter and Solveig Waterfall, successfully summited this morning. The teams were leaving the crater rim at 7:15 a.m., reporting light winds and blue skies.
Congratulations team!
It has been an adventure full of adversity. The weather on Elbrus has been so finicky. We didn't even see the mountain until a day ago! This morning the winds were still howling but certainly not as much as the last few days. Today was our last hope at making the summit. We awoke and headed out at 4AM and the climbing was tough with moderate winds. The winds stayed steady at 35mph and the team simply did an amazing job. It's not easy climbing in less than ideal conditions. At 9:15AM we reached the summit of Mount Elbrus. It has been a long day and we are all very happy to be safely down in Cheget. Tonight certainly calls for a celebration.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
After a very good night sleep we woke shortly after the sun kissed our tents and had an elegant breakfast of coffee, quinoa porridge, pancakes, and toast. Once we had had our fill we packed up camp, and started off for the day's hike. A light breeze kept the temps comfortable as we continued up the Santa Cruz Valley this morning. Shortly before noon we broke off the main trail and headed up a series of switchbacks to gain the high valley where base camp was waiting for us. Here we also caught our first glimpse of Alpamayo. We arrived into BC and settled into our tents and relaxed for the afternoon before tea time and then dinner. Our cook Hilario, is fantastic, every meal is better than the last, the team is becoming spoiled. It will be a sad day when we have to eat our freeze-dried dinners.
Everyone is doing great, staying healthy and happy.
Thanks for following along, more tomorrow.
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens
This is your ESS-Peru team checking in from our hotel in Huaraz. We awoke early this morning to yet another amazing breakfast of scrambled eggs, garlic toast, and espresso from our cooks Emilio and Franklin. It proved to be just what we needed after a long day climbing to almost 19,000' yesterday, to make the descent from Pisco Base Camp to the trailhead to catch our bus back to civilization. We're spending the afternoon here in the hotel cleaning up and prepping for a celebratory dinner, to relive the amazing adventure we've had over the past two weeks in the Cordillera Blanca. It's been an incredible journey in arguably one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world. Tomorrow, we begin the drive back towards the ocean, and onto planes in Lima, back to our loved ones in the States. Until then, buenos noches.
RMI Guides Robby Young, Eric Frank, Edwin, and your ESS-Peru Team
The Four Day Summit Climb July 20 - 23, 2016 led by RMI Guides Mike King and Kel Rossiter reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning with clear skies and winds around 15 mph. The team began their descent from the crater rim just before 8 am.
We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp later this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!
After a great day of acclimatizing to 15,000 feet on Mt. Elbrus our team has decided to take a day of rest. So today will be filled with reading, playing cards and watching Tommy Boy for the 102nd time. We will also get out and play in the snow refreshing our mountaineering skills.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
David and Team, thinking of you everyday. Glad to hear the weather has cleared and you’re relaxing at 15,000 feet! All is good at here….after a week in AK, the family is happy to be home. You’ll be happy to hear that we took Foster on gondola ride and he “hiked” around at the top as he’s also a mountain climber. All too soon he’ll be joining you on one of these!
We woke up earlier than we would have liked this morning and met for breakfast at 6:30 after putting the finishing touches on our packing. At 7:00 the van arrived and we loaded up and hit the road. By 10:30 we arrived at Cashapampa, the town at the trail head of the Santa Cruz Valley, unloaded the van, shuffled gear around and helped corral the donkeys to be loaded. Just after 11:00 we started up the trail, weaving through the narrow canyon for a bit before climbing up to more open, pleasant, terrain further up valley. Our donkeys passed us just before 5:00 PM and in half an hour more we found our camp at Llama Corral. Our cook, was already hard at work making an outstanding dinner for us. That's all for now, tomorrow we will make our way up to BC.
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens
Sipping tea on the porch of our luxury tents, watching the bush wake up around Tarangire National Park is pretty darn peaceful. Before heading back to the Dik Dik Lodge, we spent some more time game viewing in the park. If you've never been to Tarangire, some day try and get there; you won't be disappointed! After our game drive, we made a quick stop in town for a few last minute gifts, some might even have your name on them! Back at the Dik Dik, we had one last fine meal before saying our good byes. The next stop for the team is Kilimanjaro International Airport to begin flights home. This trip has been filled with great experiences that have created memories to last a lifetime. I'm going to miss everyone...until our next trip together!
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Thank you, Mark, for taking care of our loved ones on what I know was an awesome experience. It was so great to have your blog so we could keep up with you all on the trip.
Posted by: Odette Hankins on 7/22/2016 at 11:39 am
We survived another stormy night up here on Elbrus. It definitely is nice staying in a hut rather than tents. Especially when lightning strikes and the whole ground rumbles underneath.
It looks like Elbrus got that nasty weather out of its system. Later this morning the sky cleared and for the first time the team saw the mountain! We took advantage of the day and went up to 15,000 feet to acclimatize. The team did great and we are now resting back at camp. It is still a little windy so we are waiting and watching for the right opportunity to make a summit push.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Greetings, RMI blog followers! This is your ESS-Peru team standing on the top of Pisco Oeste at 18,871ft. Beautiful day as always in the Cordillera Blanca. Barely any wind and we are standing in the sun. We're all super psyched to get up this high in the culmination of our trip. Our crew has a very important message for those folks at home. [Team cheers!] We're going to enjoy the sunshine on the top for a bit more and then start walking down, then our journey home begins. Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Robby Young
RMI Guide Robby Young calls in the Pisco Oeste summit!
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Awesome job guys! Trevor Hayes, we are proud of you!!
Amanda and JT
Posted by: Amanda Hayes on 7/24/2016 at 5:33 pm
Congratulation to Dale Fogg and the team! You all are pretty amazing!! What an accomplishment
Posted by: Georgette and Gabby on 7/24/2016 at 4:06 pm
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