Entries from Expedition Dispatches
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
Posted by: Mark Tucker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
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
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
On The Map
Posted by: Robby Young, Eric Frank
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Peru Seminar
Elevation: 18,871'
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!
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz, led by Mike Haugen, spent the week training as they built up to their summit push. With an alpine start from their high camp on the Kautz Glacier, the team began their quest. They accomplished their summit goal just after 7:00 a.m. this morning and then began their descent via the Disappointment Cleaver Route. Mike reported moderate winds and snow. The team will make their way back to Ashford later today.
Posted by: Seth Waterfall, Ben Liken
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Mt. Rainier Summit Climb teams, led by Seth Waterfall and Ben Liken, reached the summit at 6:45 a.m. With some wind and snow falling, the teams began their descent shortly after tagging the top. As of 7:50 a.m. they had descended to 12,500' and are moving well back to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's summit climbers!
I threw out my back hours after snow school and had to withdraw from the expedition. So happy for the teams summit!
Posted by: Alex on 7/22/2016 at 8:35 pm
Way to go Christy and Brian! So happy the weather was good. Have a safe trip home :)
Posted by: Krissy on 7/22/2016 at 3:49 pm
Posted by: Robby Young, Eric Frank
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Peru Seminar
Elevation: 16,200'
Greetings all! This is the Peru Expedition Skills Seminar team. We are currently sitting at high camp, Moraine Camp, on our last objective of our trip, Pisco Oeste. We're sitting here at 16,200 feet or so and just enjoyed a nice dinner and a beautiful sunset over some of the highest peaks here in the Cordillera Blanca of Peru. And we're now in bed getting ready for a climb, which we will wake up for in a couple hours to go to the summit of Pisco Oeste at 18,741 feet. The weather here is beautiful so we're looking forward to a good day of climbing tomorrow, and we will check in once we get down back to base camp sometime tomorrow afternoon or evening. We will talk to you then. Ciao.
RMI Guide Robby Young
RMI Guide Robby Young checks in from Moraine Camp on Pisco Oeste.
Hola! We are back at base camp safe and sound, tired but happy. A frigid, clear dawn kept us in our tents a bit longer this morning. With the first rays of sun peeking over the southwest face of Alpamayo, we knew our descent had to happen. We needed to be off the glacier before any ascending climbers reached the bergschrund over the col, otherwise we would be stuck waiting for the bottleneck to clear. We packed, and started our descent. An uneventful journey brought us to the warmth of the meadow where our cook Raúl was waiting for us with lunch ready to eat. After a couple nights of freeze dried food at our high camp; sweet potato fries, quinoa soup and a local dish "causa;" never tasted so good! Even at 14,000'. We spent the afternoon packing for tomorrow's departure towards town, and finished the day with a jump into the river for some needed hygiene (Yeap, these guys are classy, even in the mountains!). Our next post will be tomorrow from our hotel in Huaraz.
Best regards,
ElÃas and team.
Hi Bob, these blogs are THRILLING!
Posted by: Pat Pritz on 7/22/2016 at 5:51 am
I love and miss you Daddy. Can’t wait to see you soon.
Posted by: Kate Stainton on 7/21/2016 at 9:27 pm
Posted by: Geoff Schellens
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Peru Seminar
This morning we gathered for breakfast, drank our fill of coffee, and then hopped on our van for a 45 minute bumpy ride out of Huaraz. Once at our trail head we dawned our light packs and began hiking. Soon the rolling grass hills gave way to steeper rock steps and eventually Laguna Churup. Laguna Churup is a stunning alpine lake at 14,200' with fantastic views of the central Cordillera Blanca. Under perfectly blue skies and a light wind we had lunch and soon everyone stretched out on the rocks for a little nap. After a little siesta we started our descent back to the TH and then on to the hotel. The whole team did a great job today, I had to rein them in a few times as the excitement cranked up the pace.
We are resting and doing some shopping this afternoon before dinner. Spirits are high and we are all excited to get on the trail tomorrow.
Thanks for following along,
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens & Team
Posted by: Mark Tucker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Right now I'm watching a gigantic, large tusked elephant tearing apart an acacia tree just a few feet away from the porch of my stilted tent platform in the full moon light. Funny how a creature that large could literally sneak up on our digs for the night here at Kikoti camp, just outside Tarangire National Park. It has been another perfect weather day with just enough clouds and breeze to keep the bush land from being too hot. After an hour of driving we stopped for a tour of a Masai Boma. It's very interesting and always amazing to see the hearty souls living in the traditional style. Another hour put us in the park where we enjoyed just amazing landscape and crazy plant life. If that wasn't enough throw a couple thousand animals in the mix. We ended the day with a most flavorful bounty back at camp. Tomorrow we have another half day on safari in Tarangire as we make our way back to the Dik Dik.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker & Team
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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
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