Entries from Expedition Dispatches

“It’s a funny thing about life, if you refuse to accept anything but the best you very often get it.”  W. Somerset Maugham

And that’s what we have with this group, the best. Each person brings something unique which together creates something greater,  something which makes the team keep giving their all as we make consistent progress on our push towards the summit. 

Today, the team bid goodbye to Camp One and moved to Camp Two on Aconcagua.  We had a “record-breaking“ moment right before we left Camp One. The team looked forward to moving to Camp Two as we had caught a brief glimpse of the camp yesterday, dropping off our cache, refueling our bodies, maybe sneaking in a little internet and finally heading back down the mountain while surfing the scree on our boots. Now, camp two is our home for the next few nights.

This trip, at least for me and I’m sure this also echoes the sentiments of a few others, has been all about learning, not only learning about each other, but learning about our own individual physical and mental obstacles we face and have overcome and yet to be overcome. The mountain is only there to test the fortitude we already have inside and to make us stronger. 

One of my favorite books is Robert Fulghum’s “Everything I Needed To Know I Learned In Kindergarten”, and so, in the spirit of learning, I now present to you “Everything I Didn’t Want To Know But Learned Anyway On Aconcagua”

1.    The words Chardonnay and shower can sound remarkably similar at high altitude.
2.    Adults still love story time.
3.    When you’re having a hard time with the climb and searching for reasons to continue, all you have to do is remember Guide Michael’s words “Whatever motivates you”
4.    No matter what you do, no matter what people may say, always keep your spoon……..and in some cases, your fork. 
5.    Be wary of unknown salt shakers.
6.    Make sure you pass food around the table until it gets back to the person who it was originally handed to.
7.    And finally, the most important thing to remember, the one thing that you must always keep in mind, especially when you need someone in your corner to help you with that final push to the summit…… Andy Always Wins.

Climber Benjamin Koch

We awoke early today and left behind the comforts of our beautiful lodge and have headed to the mountain towards the start of the climb. Starting shortly before 8am we drove along the rural country side for about an hour and half to reach the park entrance. Most of the area surrounding Kilimanjaro has been cultivated and primarily used for coffee production and for a variety of other agriculture needs, but there are still some areas that have been untouched and resemble more of a savannah that Tanzania is known for. The base of Kilimanjaro is more forested and resembles a jungle or cloud forest. Traditionally it supports a large part of the banana production for this area.

Once at the gate we had all of our gear weighed and divided into loads for our porters to carry before hitting the trail. Once everything was in order we started our climb slowly making our way up the winding trail. The team hiked for a little over five hours to reach our camp for the night. Everyone did great and enjoyed finally getting some much needed exercise.

Unfortunately there was some more rain, but thankfully not as much as last weeks climb had to deal with. 

After settling in the team was served a nice warm meal and then headed off to bed for a nice full night of rest.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the # 2 Kili crew.

Here we are, day eleven,

Out on the trail, it is only seven.

This morning brought us cans of spam,

Full of that, I’m sure I am.

Uphill we went to carry more,

Full of jokes and riddles galore.

If you think we're done, you're sorely mistaken,

But there's a mountain to climb and we won't be shaken.

1 bag, 2 bag, 3 bag, blue,

No matter the location, we'll have a view.

We start to feel lost without Dulce de Leche,

Alas, we’ll be fine, as this is our heyday.

Tomorrow, we move, up and up,

Did I remember to put enough coffee in my cup?

On to camp 2, we hear it has Wi-Fi,

No matter, we say, because we have bigger fish to fry.

RMI Guide Ben Luedtke

Casey Grom here checking in with RMI's Kilimanjaro Climb # 2 of 2024!

All is well here in Tanzania and most of the team arrived yesterday morning after some very long flights. It was a short and uneventful ride to our Lodge that is nestled in between Arusha and Moshi and not so far from the base of Kilimanjaro. The team spent the day relaxing and getting adjusted to the nearly 12hr time change.

We had a leisurely morning today and had our first official meeting at 8:30 where we did a round of introductions and then discussed the program for the coming days ahead. We spent the remainder of the day getting our gear packed up, exploring the grounds of our Lodge, which is incredibly peaceful and has monkeys running around keeping us entertained.

We wrapped up the evening with another delicious meal and plenty of friendly conversations. Everyone is doing well and excited to hit the trail tomorrow and get a little bit of exercise.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew # 2

THE CLIMB BEGINS
Today we awoke for an 8am breakfast, the last luxurious basecamp breakfast for a week and a half. Hell has it really only been a week in this dust?! From meeting in peruivian airports to tent mates, how have we only known each other 9 days and in tents for 7?

We quickly ate our food and stashed away our future mountain lunch. Before long we were making our way up the mountain again. This time we kissed goodbye to the sweet creature comforts of basecamp… have no fear the speaker made it on the pack list! Up the winding switch backs, through the penetentes, over the glacier streams, and up the final scramble to our new home, campo uno. We set up camp, acquainted ourselves with our new bathroom situation, and started treating our water.

Tonight we feast on quesadillas and Indian style tasty bites… good thing we have our blue bags at the ready (RMI please take the hint). Tomorrow we have another big day, a carry to 18,000' feet. On this trip we’ve learned many things. We’ve learned why the moon waxes and wanes differently in the southern hemisphere. We’ve mastered the game of euchre. We’ve etched our guides pet peeves into our brains so as not to do those things..purposefully at least. But what we have yet to learn is our future on this mountain, we can only continue to set ourselves up for success, having each others back, and controlling what’s in our power to control. Summit or not, one thing we will walk away from this mountain without a doubt is what we’ve learned about ourselves, our proven strength, our attitude, and our camaraderie as a team of strangers turned friends.

I’d like to make a call out to our two biggest fans Eddie and my mom Michelle, and our other fans the polish team and the burrows. We have yet to decide on a team name, please send your suggestions in the comments, no guarantees we will use it, but we would love your thoughts!

And lastly. Happy early birthday to my ride or die Ambre, I love the hell out of you and I hope you have the best birthday. Lord knows I was thinking of you crossing that river!

Climber Mikayla Demers

The team stood on top of Pico de Orizaba at 7:30 this morning. We had calm air and partly clear skies to begin our hike up the steep moraine trail. Once in the labyrinth the trail was covered in firm snow & ice, which was unexpected based on how dry the surrounding area was. The team was moving up the glacier around 5 am. Once on the summit the pyramid shadow cast by the rising sun greeted everyone and was a highlight of the trip. The descent is always hard on toes and knees but we got back to Piedra Grande hut and packed up for the bumpy ride down in the trucks. 

We are back in Sr. Reyes’ hostel and packed for flights tomorrow afternoon. This has been a great trip with a stellar group of climbers, especially since we had summits on Ixta via a forgotten route and a classic Orizaba summit day. Thanks for following along.  

RMI Guide Mike King

Photo credit: Mike Greene

"Rest is the sweet sauce of labor"

-Plutarch

Today was a day of rest, as well as a day of mystery. Who is commenting on the blog anonymously? Is Alaska simultaneously the most Northern, Western, and Eastern state? Can burros actually type? Cows are eating chickens? We may have answers to some of these questions, but others remain a mystery.

Anywho, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast before taking a nice walk to stretch the legs and spent the rest of the day relaxing, charging devices,  and mentally preparing to leave our sweet base camp sanctuary for the upper mountain. In the next ten days we will test ourselves mentally and physically as we come together to climb higher on this mountain with a goal of summiting the tallest mountain in South America. It will not be easy, but I have faith in this team that we can buckle down and take care of business up there. We sincerely appreciate the love and support we have been receiving from home, it truly makes a difference. 

I will leave you all with a Haiku from our time at basecamp:

Wine, Steak, Starlink, Naps

We Are Not Playing Euchre?

Yeehaw, Uphill Now

- RMI Guide Michael Murray

El burro sabe mas nosotros?

The mules don’t go past Base Camp but we do. We carried half our supplies and equipment from base camp to Camp 1 today at 16,400ft. Our heavy loads, the elevation and lose footing challenged all of us. We all made it and hopefully will sleep well tonight. The return to Base Camp was much faster and more fun. 

The mules do this for room and board.  Seven of us paid to sleep in a tent and haul gear/supplies up abd down the mountain. 

Personally I am impressed and extremely thankful for the team dynamics. Everyone is so supportive, encouraging, concerned for each other. We met less than a week ago but everyone truly cares for each other. We all have the same goal- for All of Us to have fun and reach the summit. 

Some of the mules don’t seem to play as well together, so, even if we are not smarter, we have that over them.

XXOO,

Climber Norm Cognetto 

We had a nice relaxed day off in Puebla yesterday. The team struck out in some smaller groups to walk around Puebla. Seems like good  food, drink and site seeing was had. Today we head to Tlachichuca for a quick stop at Servimont’s historic soap factory turned climbers hostel to repack for our last summit attempt, Pico de Orizaba 18,491’. The remainder of the day will be spent taking trucks up a long and windy road to the Piedra Grande hut. Once there we will go for a short hike uphill to see the rocky and circuitous trail we will begin our climb on. We’ll check in hopefully from the summit tomorrow morning with a more detailed report once back down to the hostel. Thanks for following along. 

RMI Guide Mike King

A day of rest, a lie in, coffee in bed, maybe a bagel, a nice long hot shower, a day at the spa for some, a day without kids, we all have our definition, our dream.  A day of rest at 13,800 ft is a little different.  Today is the day where you plan for the carry to Camp 1, gear is divided and camp essentials are split between us all.   It’s first come first served - do I want a frying pan, a grill, 3 bottles of fuel, or 2000 bags of dried spaghetti bolognese?   What will fit in my bag?  One person who has it all sorted is Ben, he’s called in Rob to carry his bag. 

The part of the body that doesn’t get a rest day is your brain - have I packed everything, have I included enough food, can I carry that monster a.k.a 100-liter rucksack, should I snag a porter?  And this is supposed to be a vacation.  

The wind at base camp was pretty raucous today - a couple of tents (not ours) were seen blowing across the camp being hastily pursued by wildly gesticulating would have been mountaineers. 

All in all, a good restful (?) day, only interrupted by a vigorous stroll up to the start of the glacier at 14,500ft - a new high for a member of the team. However, the altitude is having an impact.  Last night the team was playing cards, after about 1 hour of playing rummy Andy commented

“is this Rummy, I thought it was Euchre, it’s seem a lot like rummy”.  It was time for bed. 

Climber Myles O'Neill