Another day in Paradise! The team is enjoying a sunny, glorious day in base camp. The great news is everyone woke up feeling good. It can be a difficult first night at 14,000 feet and the doctor here in camp even confirmed that everyone is marvelous during our medical check-up.
Today is a rest day. However, after a scrambled egg and veggie breakfast we all got busy organizing gear for tomorrow's carry to Camp One. For now we are going to finish packing and I, personally, am going to start drinking one of the four 2-liter coca colas that I brought with me. All this organizing is making me thirsty!
RMI Guides JJ Justman and JM Gorum and team
Hi there, Mike. Wow, 60-mile an hour wind! You guys are doing great with the good medical check-up results. Mmmm! Lunch sounded great: cucumber/tomato,avocado salad! Happy climbing, Mom and Dad
Posted by: Joan and Spence Vigneau on 2/5/2016 at 5:00 pm
Lookin forward to the summit pic Mike. You got this one. Slip in under the weather window like Everest,Kili,Whitney and longs. Good luck to you. Eric
We are wrapping up day two of our safari and its been really great! We all got up early and were out the door just after 7 a.m. It was a quick drive to the entrance of Ngorongoro Conservation Area and after checking in with the rangers we made our way up to an overlook on the crater rim. There wasn't a cloud in the sky so the view was amazing.
Before dropping to the bottom of the crater we stopped at a Maasai village where we were welcomed with a dance and a song and then took a tour of their boma (enclosed group of huts).
Once we got down to the crater floor things started a little slow but after an hour we spotted the first of five Rhinos. They were progressively closer to the road as we encountered them. The rhinos were great but we still hadn't seen any lions. That changed rather quickly as the day continued. We spotted a lone female who was up and moving within 50 yards of the cars. Then we drive up on four other females lying in the road! As we pulled up one of them even moved under our car to get some shade. That's about as close as you can get!
Everyone has amazing pictures and videos to take home now and we still have two more days of safari!
What will we see tomorrow? We'll keep you posted.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall and team
Hello all,
We have just pulled in to Plaza Argentina, our base camp for the rest of the climb. The team did very well getting up here, and everyone is feeling great at almost 14,000 feet. We have enjoyed some tasty snacks, and are now kicking our feet back, listening to some Waylon Jennings, and soaking in the views. We have a much-deserved rest day tomorrow, and we'll talk to you then.
RMI Guides JM Gorum and JJ Justman
That’s from Steve and I…mostly Steve lol. hope the climb is going well bro, be safe and have a great time!
Jon and Steve
Posted by: Jon on 2/5/2016 at 12:38 pm
Hi there, Mike,
We’re following your blog. It looks like it’s really cold and very windy there with gale force winds and above. Take care and be safe.
Mom and Dad
Posted by: Joan and Spence Vigneau on 2/2/2016 at 5:23 pm
Hello! We have started the safari with a real treat. After being in Lake Manyara National Park for about 20 minutes we had a herd of elephants walk right in between our two cars. Enjoy the close-up video below.
They are really amazing animals and our group was really happy to see the giant pachyderms up close. We'll continue on our game drive for another hour or so before heading to the Plantation Lodge for the evening.
Tomorrow we will head to Ngorongoro Crater and visit a Maasai Village. I'll check in again tomorrow.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Hello from Casa de Piedra at 11,000 feet. The team had another great day trekking under an Argentinian sky. Speaking of sky we have had a little bit of precipitation. The clouds engulfed Aconcagua so we were unable to get a glimpse of the mountain. Hopefully tomorrow! Everyone is feeling fantastic by the way. We send shouts out to family and friends. Tomorrow... Base Camp!
RMI Guides JJ Justman and JM Gorum
JM : I am following your climb, enjoying the scenery. Enjoy, have fun and be safe.
Posted by: Floyd Tirey on 2/4/2016 at 12:14 pm
I expected the Rockies to be a little rockier than this…that John Denver is full of shit. Have a great time Greg…watch out for Bigfoot because I heard from a friend of mines dad that he lives there.
Hello from the Dik Dik Hotel. We are all off the mountain and enjoying a fun evening recounting our adventure.
We awoke early this morning and were treated to a pancake breakfast with fresh fruit and coffee. After that we had a really fun closing ceremony with the Dik Dik staff.
There was a small matter of a three-hour hike to the park gate but it was enjoyable and there was no rain!
We were all pretty happy to get a hot shower after a week of camping and now everyone is looking forward to sleeping on a bed!
Tomorrow we start our safari at Lake Manyara and we will be staying at the Plantation Lodge. I'll check in again from there.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Hi this is Seth checking in from our last camp on Kilimanjaro. We are all down from the summit safe and sound.
We had a great climb that started off with a pretty good snow storm for Tanzania and ended with clear skies on top. Everyone made it to Uhuru Peak as well which was great. That makes 100% success for my two trips this season.
After the summit we had sunny skies back to high camp where we had a late breakfast and a brief rest. Following that we made our way down the notoriously steep Mweka descent trail to our final camp.
Of course we had a few rain showers get to us on the way down. That has just been the nature of Kili this season but we are all dry in our tents and planning on an early dinner.
Tomorrow we will head out in the morning and expect to be back at the Dik Dik hotel by early afternoon. Our safari starts the next morning!
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall calls in from the summit of Kilimanjaro.
Its about that time. Our Aconcagua team is ready to hit the trail. We have our duffel bags ready for the mules and light backpacks ready to be slung over our shoulders. Needless to say, the team is anxious to get moving. Tonight will bring us to Lenas camp where we will enjoy hanging out with the cowboys eating steak and sleeping under the stars.
RMI Guides JJ Justman and JM Gorum
Team Aconcagua reporting for duty! The gang is here and we are ready to get the show on the road. Yesterday we spent the day relaxing and enjoying the wonderful city of Mendoza. Today, we are securing permits, heading to Penitentes where we will finalize our packing and then...we will relax and enjoy more great food. Stay tuned as the team advances towards base camp.
RMI Guides JJ Justman and JM Gorum
Jambo! We have just pulled into High Camp. Our tent sites are on the low side of camp so I'm calling the elevation 14,900'. The group did great again today. We have all been moving as one cohesive unit which will make the climb tonight go really smooth.
Our weather has taken a turn for the better with a clear night last night and an absolutely perfect morning. The team got a great view of the upper slopes of Kili at breakfast this morning and it looked so good they said, "If it was a President it would be Baber-ham Lincoln."
They really thought that joke was funny, I think it's the altitude kicking in.
We are up here with plenty of time to rest, fuel up and prepare for the long climb to the summit tonight. The next time I check in will be from up top so wish us luck!
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
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Hi there, Mike. Wow, 60-mile an hour wind! You guys are doing great with the good medical check-up results. Mmmm! Lunch sounded great: cucumber/tomato,avocado salad! Happy climbing, Mom and Dad
Posted by: Joan and Spence Vigneau on 2/5/2016 at 5:00 pm
Lookin forward to the summit pic Mike. You got this one. Slip in under the weather window like Everest,Kili,Whitney and longs. Good luck to you. Eric
Posted by: Eric on 2/4/2016 at 4:07 pm
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