Entries from Expedition Dispatches

This is Mike checking in for our Mexico Volcanoes team. All our climbers arrived over the last two days with bags in tow. We had a quick team meeting last night and a good dinner. Today we are enroute for our acclimatization hike on La Malinche. This dormant volcano has a dense pine forest that covers the lower slopes. The route gets above tree line after a few hours and ascends to a ridge that weaves its way to a nice summit. The air is clear here now so we are getting some good views of Ixta & Popo on our exit from Mexico City. Our hike today is approximately 9000' of gain/loss so we'll keep our fingers crossed for good weather. We will sleep at 10,000' in a former Olympic training facility....from the 1968. We won't have service at our cabins. I'll check in tomorrow while enroute to Ixta. The group is excited to get going.

Thanks for following along. 

RMI Guide Mike King

Saturday, January 13, 2024

Greetings from High Camp!

Today we woke to the sound of rain drops on the tent. Which you’d think we’d be accustomed to at this point, but thankfully the rain stopped as we were having breakfast. We had a relatively nice three hour hike to High Camp with a brief view of Kili looming high above. Everyone did great and the team is feeling good. 

The team has just wrapped up lunch and discussed in great detail the plan for tomorrow’s climb. Everyone knows what we’ll be wearing, what will be in the pack, as well as the schedule. 

Our game plan will be to wake at 11pm and have a quick breakfast at 11:30, then hopefully hit the trail right at midnight. The team has been doing great thus far and I’m expecting us to reach the summit in seven to eight hours if things go according to plan.

Wish us luck!

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kilimanjaro summit bound team!

Hello Everybody. 

Team is still moving uphill here on Kilimanjaro. We thankfully had a few hours this morning of dry weather before the rains returned. It was a blessing for sure, since our only major obstacle for the climb was right out of camp. The Barranco wall was mostly dry and allowed the team to navigate this steeper section more comfortably. 

The team hiked for about four hours plus a few short breaks to reach our new camp for the night called Karanga, which overlooks a large beautiful valley. Unfortunately everything is obscured by the thick clouds and rain. But it’s good to be at camp where there is plenty of hot drinks and warm food to help make us more comfortable. 

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the swim team!

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Hello again everyone -

The Kili team is still hanging tough! 

We left our second camp called Shira this morning just after 8am and didn’t make it to far before the rains returned. The team made it to our high point (15’000) thus far called Lava Tower where the rains turned to heavy wet snow. Unfortunately the usual beautiful views were obscured but the team did great and everyone is feeling good, minus being a little more damp than we’d like. 

We continued down valley to our new home for the night in Barraco valley. And thankfully the rains have tapered and we are enjoying a little break in the very abnormal weather we are having. 

Fingers crossed the weather will break and we can dry out a bit and enjoy some much needed sunshine. 

RMI Guide Casey and the Kilimanjaro swim team!

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Jambo Everyone 

We are still here on Kilimanjaro! 

After a good nights rest and a full breakfast with plenty of coffee the team set off uphill for day two. We only hiked for a short while before the rain sadly returned, but we continued to persevere as we did yesterday. It was a pretty wet day so we took our time to stay safe and arrived in camp a little over 5 hours of being on the move. The team is doing well and in good spirits and very much looking forward to some much needed sunshine. 

We have enjoyed some delicious warm meals and joyous conversations in our dinning tent which has helped keep the morale high. 

If anyone back home is play “the rain in Africa” by Toto. Please turn it off!

RMI Guide Casey and crew

Happy new year everyone! 

The team finally made to Tanzania despite cancelled flights and some crazy reroutes. Our normal 2 days turned into just a few hours on the ground before heading to the mountain. 

Today the team did a great job of getting everything organized before leaving the beautiful River Trees Lodge. We then made our way to the base of Kilimanjaro to meet our awaiting staff that will assist us along this journey. 

It was an enjoyable ride as we headed northeast of Arusha through rural Tanzania passing many coffee plantation and banana farms along the way. 

We were fortunate to hike a few hours before the rain started and the trail turned muddy. Nonetheless, the team did great and we were all elated to reach our camp and hopped into some dry clothes and have a warm meal before heading to bed. 

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Persevering Crew!!!

Monday, December 11, 2023 - 8:45 pm PT

So it goes with climbing sometimes we take what the mountain gives us and unfortunately that isn't always the summit. The team awoke around 11pm to beautiful weather and had an incredible few hours of climbing under the stars on the upper slopes of Antisana. Every member of Team Cuy Frito showed off their impressive strength navigating a breathtaking and complex glacier, it was really a sight to see. As the team got just above 18,000 feet, we encountered some instabilities in the snow and made the decision to turn around due to avalanche concerns. While we didn't get to stand on top of this one, it was still a wonderful day of climbing. It has been a joy to watch the team come together as one big goofy family over the course of this adventure. We will all be coming back with memories to last a lifetime and our head's held high knowing we kicked some serious butt in the mountains along the way. Thank you for all the support at home and we will be seeing you all soon!

RMI Guide Michael Murray

The team has arrived at Antisana base camp and we are organizing gear for our summit attempt tonight. We are hoping for favorable weather to get this thing done. Wish us luck up there and send us some positive energy and clear, dry skies!

RMI Guide Michael Murray

Well there ain't no rest for the wicked but thankfully we aren't wicked and we had ourselves a wonderful day of rest at the scenic Casa Ilayaku today. Gear was dried out while birds were watched and various animals visited during a stop at a local bird sanctuary and petting zoo, and fun was had by all. We will be checking out of the Hacienda tomorrow morning before making our way to Antisana basecamp where we will stage for another summit attempt tomorrow night. I didn't think it possible but morale has soared to unprecedented levels and we are looking forward to wrapping this trip up in good style with another strong push in the mountains. Friends and family you are certainly all missed at home and we look forward to seeing you soon.

RMI Guide Michael Murray

Friday, December 8, 2023

"I don't know where I'm a gonna go when the volcano blow"

-The Late Great Jimmy Buffett

Well thankfully the volcano known as Cayambe did now blow today but it was in fact summitted by members of Team Cuy Frito! We rose early (11pm if you can call that early) to put the final touches on our gear organization and scarf down a little "breakfast" before heading out onto the mountain to make our summit attempt. Skies were cloudy with some light wind but spirits were high as we started our ascent via headlamp. As we continued to climb, the wind increased and as we climbed up into the clouds we found ourselves covered in ice but the team remained strong and continued all the way up to the top at 18,996 feet. I could not be more proud of how the team battled some less than ideal conditions to end up on the summit. We returned back to the high hut for a more traditional breakfast and treated ourselves to celebratory lunch before ending our day at the Casa Ilayaku Hacienda, where we will be relaxing and recovering before our final objective of the trip, the volcano Antisana. Something tells me we will all be sleeping well tonight, we have certainly earned it. Hope all is well back at home and we appreciate your support!

RMI Guides Dustin Wittmier & Michael Murray