Well, what a day. We went to bed last night to cold temps and high winds and by the time we woke this morning at 2 am the winds had calmed and the temps were on the rise. The climbing was tough right out of camp today, mixed snow and rock conditions up the Knees Route made for some challenging conditions. However, once we crested the "Knees" the roller coaster ridge line of Ixta made for some great climbing. Conditons for the rest of the climb were ideal and we enjoyed a great summit and descent. We really snuck the climb in today because on the way down from High Camp conditions began to deteriorate. We are all currently on a bus to Puebla, where we will be resting and sightseeing tomorrow before gearing up for our climb of Pico de Orizaba.
Cheers,
RMI Guide Billy Haas
Hola! Billy here back at Camp 1 chilling (out) and filling (up on food) after a flawless carry to Camp 2. We moved well and had little trouble putting in our cache of the usual food, fuel, and cold weather/summit gear. We bumped into friends and acquaintances all along the way enjoying the better than decent weather. There were a few minutes of flurries and even a little thunder in the distance but nothing of consequence. As I write this we're basking in the sun, satisfied with the day's work.
Oh, we also met our third guide who traversed the mountain from the other base camp (Plaza de Mulas) and descended with us back to camp. His name is Pato, which means "duck," and he's a pretty cool dude. Not much else to report other than some inclement weather in the forecast, hopefully it doesn't slow our roll too much...
Until our next dispatch,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent and team
Randy…sounds like things are going well so far. In fact with all your chilling and filling and basking in the sun it sounds like you are on a very leisurely vacation…makes me a little jealous…haha. I know better but I hope you are enjoying the challenge. Lucas wanted me to tell you his great news that he just passed his MIG certification for a vertical up weld. He is so excited!
I miss you and I’m hoping Mother Nature remains kind to you.
Love Lisa
Posted by: Lisa Irwin on 1/21/2016 at 10:26 am
It’s National Hug Day, so a great big hug with warm thoughts to Dr. H from all of us! Have a good climb today!
Hi! This is Seth. We are in the Ngorongoro Crater where, miraculously, I have 3G service. We are having a great day exploring the area. We got an early start and visited a Maasai village located on the rim of the crater. After that we dropped down to the crater floor and started the game drive. It started off pretty slow for the first hour but then we saw a pride of eleven lions, a single rhino and then a pair of rhinos. The last two rhinos were pretty active which was really cool. After lunch we spotted a completely different pair of rhinos making it a five rhino day. Now we're heading back to the Plantation Lodge for another night before heading out to Tarangire National Park and Kikoti Camp tomorrow.
PS: We did not get rained on today.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall & Team
Hi everyone. This is Solveig calling in from high camp on Ixta. We're doing wonderful. Everybody just enjoyed a nice high camp meal and we are all tucked in getting ready for our summit bid tomorrow. We'll check in from the top. Ciao.
RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall
RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall calls in from Ixta High Camp.
Hi all,
Billy here checking in from Aconcagua Camp 1 after a smooth move on up from basecamp. We enjoyed sunny skies and a bit of light breeze, all in all a perfect day to head up the hill. After arriving mid afternoon we took our time settling in. We had to move our cache over to our actual campsite, setup tents and get moved in. Sometime after we had set up camp the notorious Camp 1 creek began to flow. This made for a little engineering project redirecting the flow of water around our tents and with just a little bit of effort we've managed to stay dry... So far anyway. Camp is a bit crowded with several teams so good tent spots are at a premium. We just scarfed a toretellini dinner and are crawling in for the night, all of us a bit tired but no worse for the wear.
Nighty night.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Posted by: Sam Falkenhagen on 1/20/2016 at 11:58 am
Jake,
Great that things are going smoothly. Looks fantastic from up there. Good luck to the team and with weather the rest of the way. Look forward in seeing Jake with hair..LOL
Cheers from The guys at Sound Beverage.
David
Hello, I am emailing from our safari at Lake Manyara National Park. We are having a great afternoon of game viewing.
The day started at the Dik Dik Hotel where we said goodbye to some of our team. About half the team is either headed back home or doing their own safari.
The rest of us have successfully shifted gears from mountain living to wildlife viewing. We were on the road just after 9 am and a few hours later we pulled into Lake Manyara. We had lunch just inside the park and then started the game drive. True to the nature of the trip we had 45 minutes of rain but now the clouds have parted, the top of the truck is open and there are animals everywhere.
Tonight we will stay at the Plantation Lodge, home of the best margaritas in Tanzania. We'll check in again tomorrow.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall and the Safari All Stars
Good evening from the Altzomoni Hut!
After a long drive, multiple vehicle transfers due to muddy washed out roads, and a little bit of extra walking, we are all getting some rest in preparation for heading up to high camp tomorrow.
It was a beautiful day with excellent views. We even had the good fortune of catching a glimpse of Popo erupting this morning on our drive! Everyone is feeling strong and excited to hit the trail in the morning.
We'll check in from camp tomorrow night!
Buenos noches!
RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall
Hello from the La Malitzi Resort! We are snug in our beds nestled on the flanks of La Malinche, a 14,636' extinct volcanic remnant. We spent the day in this Parque de Nacional stretching our legs and lungs for the first time since we all gathered in the city. We were treated to perfect weather and excellent hiking temperatures. However, as is often the case driving in Mexico, we were delayed by an enormous traffic jam. A bottleneck not in the city this time, but instead shortly before arriving at the mountain. Mexico City was recently hit by a large storm that deposited snow at relatively low elevations. Since this is quite a rare occurrence, the local news outlets have been broadcasting a continuous cycle of footage of families up playing in the snow; some touching it for the first time!
With all the media attention, there were hundreds of cars trying to access the La Malinche trailhead and things quickly slowed to a halt.
After waiting as long as we could, we left our overnight bags with the driver to sit in traffic, and began the journey through the literally thousands of local hikers towards our goal of reaching the upper slopes of the mountain. Given our time frame, we had no chance of reaching the top, but we hiked for 3 hours amidst a herd of parents, grandparents, children and dogs running past us and often stopping to inquire where we were from and if we were going to look for the snow, as well.
When we reached our high point, we bundled up and rested for a half an hour or so, allowing our bodies to recover while enjoying the expansive views from 13,300'.
Upon our arrival back at 10,000' our driver had finally reached the resort, checked us in, and most importantly made sure the propane water heaters were warming up for a well deserved shower. It was nearly dark as we got settled and we were all anxiously awaiting the fantastic dinner that Rogelio (our transportation coordinator) promised.
It did not disappoint! We feasted on steaks, chorizo, tortillas, beans, guacamole, and grilled vegetables resting on small charcoal grills on our table.
Everyone is now off to bed for a solid 8 hours of rest, and then tomorrow we begin our journey toward our first objective, climbing Ixta!
Well check in tomorrow from the Altizomoni Hut!
RMI Guides Solveig Waterfall, Billy Haas and the team
Hi this is Seth checking in from the lobby bar at the Dik Dik hotel. Everyone is already in party mode.
We awoke to mostly cloudy skies this morning but no rain. After a french toast breakfast we enjoyed a song from our awesome crew and then hit the trail. The group shows out a little on the decent as everyone was anxious to get down but some caution was still required on the slick rocks and roots.
We had a quick lunch at the park gate and then loaded up in the truck. After driving back to the hotel everyone has cleaned up nicely and is getting ready for our celebration dinner.
I'll send some summit pics from yesterday as well.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
You guys look awesome, so proud of all of you but a special shout out to my guy, Bobby!!!
Posted by: Lesle Belling on 1/18/2016 at 3:29 pm
CONGRATULATIONS!!! I’m so happy for ALL of you! I bet you never enjoyed a hot shower so much in your whole life. I can’t wait to see all of the photos and hear all of the stories and trekking experiences. Thank you, Seth, for your updates each day. All of us “back home” appreciated them more than you know. Enjoy celebrating your accomplishment and praying for safe travels home!
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Randy…sounds like things are going well so far. In fact with all your chilling and filling and basking in the sun it sounds like you are on a very leisurely vacation…makes me a little jealous…haha. I know better but I hope you are enjoying the challenge. Lucas wanted me to tell you his great news that he just passed his MIG certification for a vertical up weld. He is so excited!
I miss you and I’m hoping Mother Nature remains kind to you.
Love Lisa
Posted by: Lisa Irwin on 1/21/2016 at 10:26 am
It’s National Hug Day, so a great big hug with warm thoughts to Dr. H from all of us! Have a good climb today!
Posted by: Linda Sitton on 1/21/2016 at 6:55 am
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