The Four Day Summit Climb teams led by RMI Guides JJ Justman and Pete Van Deventer were unable to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier today due to gusty winds. The teams turned back after reaching the top of Disappointment Cleaver. The teams are descending to Camp Muir and then will continue their to descent to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Thanks to JJ, Jess, and Bridgette for guiding on the climb. I couldn’t have imagined a better experience. First of many mountaineering experiences, glad you guys were part of it. Looking forward to my next climb and hope to summit rainier with you another go around.
John Vasholz
Posted by: John on 9/14/2015 at 11:05 pm
Chad! Sorry to hear you couldn’t make it due to wind, we were all rooting for you back here at the ACE program. I am sure you have good stories to tell and we look forward to hearing them. Glad you didnt catch Summit fever. Enjoy the rest of your trip. Peace, bruh!
Great days at Tarangire. Wonderful night at Kikoti Camp. Checked back in at Dik Dik for shower and dinner, then off to the airport. Busy times, but good times... I'll send a roundup from Amsterdam.
Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The Four-Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Tyler Reid were unable to reach the summit due to strong winds. The team has safely returned to Camp Muir. They will descend from Camp Muir to Paradise this morning. We look forward to seeing the team in Ashford later this morning.
Hey, this is Dave Hahn calling in from safari in Tanzania. Hey, we had a great day in Tarangire National Park. We saw hundreds of elephants. We saw a million zebras, gazelles; we saw a couple of male lions sleeping. It was great day, wonderful day. We're at Kikoti Camp, just outside the National Park right now. Unexpectedly, we don't have internet tonight so I'm not sending a dispatch but thought I'd give you a yell and let you all know that we're all doing just fine. And we're looking forward to the very last day of our trip. Tomorrow, we'll go back through Tarangire and we'll make our way back to Arusha. But all is well and we'll be in touch. Thank you.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn checks in from Safari in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania.
The Four-Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Mike Walter reached the summit of Mt. Rainier around 6:40am this morning. The Five Day Summit Climb led by Leon Davis also reached the summit today.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!
Update 7:15 pm PT
Hi all...
We are safely back at camp after a long descent down a very wet and snowy central gully on the summit pyramid. The team stayed strong the whole way through and rounded out a great day after putting the whole team on the summit.
Now, it's just a walk through the woods tomorrow morning and we'll be back in Babylon!
2:07 pm PT
Hey everyone. It's Billy checking in from the summit of Mount Shuksan with our whole crew! Give a shout you guys,"Yeah!" I will give you guys a call when we are back down at camp , safe and sound. We are about to begin our descent.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
RMI Guide Billy Nugent calls in from the Mt. Shuksan summit!
We spent the day cruising for wildlife in a caldera. Ngorongoro Crater didn't disappoint. There was fairly heavy cloud glued to the crater rim in the morning when we were working around the circumference, but as we dropped into the interior, we got under the weather and enjoyed fine visibility. We saw vast quantities of wildlife including herds of wildebeest, cape buffalo and zebra. There were hippos galore and a solitary black rhino. The big cats stole the show though. At one point a female lion walked out into the road and lay down against the hubcap of one of our vehicles. This was despite a bunch of us leaning out to take pictures and a small traffic jam of land cruisers forming to capture the event. She couldn't have cared less about car occupants. All she knew was that she was hot and that the hubcap was offering a little shade.
Bryson, our driver, had to maneuver very carefully to get the vehicle moving without running over the big cat tail.
On the way out of Ngorongoro, we visited a Maasai "boma", or village, and learned a little about the famous tribesmen clinging to their traditional lifestyle.
Tomorrow, we'll move over to Tarangire National Park.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Hey, it's Billy here checking in from the Sulphide yet again on our Expedition Skills Seminar. We ended up not going for the climb today despite the perfect weather. There's a ton of new snow up on the upper summit pyramid. We figured we'd give that stuff a chance to sort of settle out and melt and see whatever it was going to do on the first truly hot day in quite a while. We let things just sort of mellow out up there, and we kept ourselves busy with ice climbing in and out of crevasses. We went for a little walk around the Sulphide Glacier and then capped off the day with some belaying and rappelling practice. Everyone is super excited for our summit attempt tomorrow. We'll call and hopefully check in from the tippy top and let you know what we run into up there. Alright. All for now.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
RMI Guide Billy Nugent calls in from the Shuksan Seminar.
It was a little easier getting up and getting going today since we didn't have to crawl out of tents on a mountainside. The gang was on the road, leaving the Dik Dik Hotel by 8:15 AM. It took several hours to wind through Arusha's traffic and to get over to Lake Manyara National Park. But the drive was very much worth the trouble. We rolled back the roofs on the two Toyota Landcruisers and went looking for wildlife. Within minutes, we saw elephants and baboons and monkeys. We ticked species after species, had a great picnic lunch and then saw the main attraction: lions lounging in an acacia tree. It was hard to leave the pair of big cats, but eventually we moved on to see hippos and pelicans, zebras and wildebeests. As the sun got low, we left the park and headed for the Plantation Lodge, our accommodation for the night. All were surprised and pleased to find themselves in the lap of luxury in a beautiful garden setting. We've come quite a way from sleeping on a tilt on cold dirt.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The Expedition Skills Seminar – Muir led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Mike King reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 7:22 am this morning. The teams reported clear skies and light winds. The team will spend one more day on the mountain training before descending. We expect them back to Rainier Basecamp tomorrow afternoon.
Congratulations to the Seminar Team!
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Thanks to JJ, Jess, and Bridgette for guiding on the climb. I couldn’t have imagined a better experience. First of many mountaineering experiences, glad you guys were part of it. Looking forward to my next climb and hope to summit rainier with you another go around.
John Vasholz
Posted by: John on 9/14/2015 at 11:05 pm
Chad! Sorry to hear you couldn’t make it due to wind, we were all rooting for you back here at the ACE program. I am sure you have good stories to tell and we look forward to hearing them. Glad you didnt catch Summit fever. Enjoy the rest of your trip. Peace, bruh!
Posted by: Ed on 9/14/2015 at 2:56 pm
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