Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
A night at "low" altitude in 10,000 ft Mweka Camp did us a world of good. The team showed up at 7 AM breakfast rested and ready for anything. What we got was more perfect weather. We did our "gratitude ceremony" with our 49 man staff just before setting out for our final walk. The lead guides made a few speeches, gratuities were distributed, hands got shaken and then we got to the good part... our staff sang, danced and clapped hands as we joined in. We got on the trail at 8:30 and instantly were back into the thick and shady forests. The trail was about as good as it could be, but there were still slippery and slick stretches on some steep inclines. We each navigated these obstacles with great care but invariably up to a dozen porters carrying heavy loads on their heads would come thundering down the wet trail at flank speed to pass as we slowed down. It only took us about 2 1/2 hours to drop the four thousand feet to the Mweka Gate. We were lucky enough to see a few black and white Colobus monkeys up in the big trees on the way. Our bus was ready and waiting to take the team a few minutes away from the gate for a fine picnic lunch before the big drive back to the Arumeru River Lodge. Each of us was happy to be finishing, but sad to be saying goodbye to the staff who’d helped us in immeasurable ways.
After a few hours on the highway -studying Tanzania from the windows- we rolled into our lodge at 3 PM. Folks went straight for the showers and then stayed pretty busy for the rest of the first afternoon back in the comfortable world. We prepped a bit for Safari, some visited the mountain staff in their nearby homes, some went through e-mail and photos. We got together for a victory dinner outside on a patio under the stars. The hotel surprised us with a celebratory Kilimanjaro cake and some fine singing.
Everybody is excited at the prospect of sleeping in a bed tonight... but we won’t be sleeping late in the morning. Our Safari begins bright and early.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Mike Uchal
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Northside
Elevation: 15,200'
Things looked pretty perfect this morning, so we loaded up our packs and started climbing. Lenz Rocks is a somewhat exposed camp and there aren't so many tent sites, so we were happy to be some of the first out of camp with full-looking backpacks intending to stay up high tonight. The breeze mainly kept things pleasantly cool as we worked our way up the glacier, intensifying only just as we reached Lenz. It took the whole team working together to keep a handle on tents as we got them set up. Now, we are comfortably moved into our abodes, resting for the summit push tomorrow. The winds are supposed to continue to diminish overnight, so things are shaping up nicely.
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Mike Uchal, and team "can we leave this break yet?"
On The Map
Posted by: Casey Grom, Cole Thompson, Ben Luedtke
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Mt. Rainier Four Day Climb August 9 - 12 led by RMI Guide Casey Grom reached the summit this morning around 7:15 AM. The guides reported a beautiful day with light winds. They will enjoy some time in the crater before starting their descent. Once back at Camp Muir the climbers will have a short rest to refuel and re-pack. The hike down from Camp Muir will take the team around 2 and 1/2 hours and the shuttle will then return them to Rainier BaseCamp where they will enjoy a bit of celebration.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Mike Uchal
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Northside
Elevation: 12,300'
Sunday, August 11, 2019, 10:36 PM PST
Our hope was that the forecast was overly aggressive in its wind prediction, but early in the morning, long before the sun rose, wind started to buffet our huts. As the morning wore on, the wind in camp wasn't much more than a touch unpleasant, but the evidence of its strength up higher rated in the plumes if snow ripping across the glacier above. It wasn't a difficult decision to stay in camp today in the comfort of our huts and try again tomorrow, when the forecast has the winds dropping to a manageable level. We passed the time with a lot of reading, napping, and some light core strength.
Hopefully we see the forecasted change tomorrow!
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Mike Uchal, and team "we have collectively read an entire library"
On The Map
--Update--
Wake up was at 11:30 PM last night, breakfast was at midnight. We set off for the summit at 12:45 AM in perfect conditions for climbing. It was cool at 15,000 ft Barafu Camp, but not terribly cold. The sky was clear and the air was calm. As expected, there were plenty of teams going for the top, but we didn’t encounter much in the way of traffic jams. We went 90 minutes before our first rest break and then kept it to just ten minutes so as not to get too cold. Basically, we climbed for nearly six hours in the dark with the air getting progressively thinner and colder. The team handled it all quite well and we rolled onto the crater rim at Stella Point at 6:30 AM, just as the sun tipped over the horizon. We had a magnificent walk along the crater rim in the light of the new day, arriving at the true summit, Uhuru, at 7:24 AM. It was time for a few hero shots and handshakes. We spent nearly a half hour at Africa’s highest point and then began the big descent to thicker air. We dropped down dusty scree fields and pulled back into high camp at 10:45 AM. It was a relief to get out of all the cold weather clothing, since it was now hot, and back into hiking clothes.
Our staff served us up a great “brunch” and then we packed up once again and skedaddled. We got headed down at 12:30 PM and dropped a further 5,000 vertical feet to reach Mweka Camp at the start of the forest. To be sure, our gang worked hard and folks were tired, but everybody made it in to camp by 4:00 PM, which is quite a respectable finish to a big day. Appetites are returning, headaches are fading and hopes are high for a full night of sleep in low altitude, well humidified air. People are starting to talk about showers...the end is near.
We did great things today, but not without a huge boost from our local staff. From our guides, to the kitchen crew, and porters.. many went the “extra mile” in every sense to help us achieve, and enjoy, our dream.
Best Regards,
Dave Hahn
--Original Post--
Hey this is Dave Hahn calling from Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. We summitted today. We were on top of Uhuru, the highest point in Africa, at about 20 minutes after 7 this morning 25 minutes after 7. Pretty good - excellent conditions, nice and calm, beautiful day. Now it's ten minutes after 11 in the morning and we are back at High Camp. We are going to rest up here a little bit and then go down to Mweka Camp, way down there at 10,000 feet. That will be a full day. We have been up since 11:30 last night. I'll check in when w are down at Mweka Camp. We are all good here.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn calls to report reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro.
On The Map
Posted by: Steve Gately, Josh McDowell
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Steve Gately and Josh McDowell reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning! The teams were stepped inside Mt. Rainier's summit crater around 7:00 AM. Steve reported nice weather with light winds and a cloud deck at 9,000'. We look forward to seeing the teams in Ashford later today.
Congratulations climbers!
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Dominic Cifelli, Matias Francis
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 6,200'
Our team woke up just after 7am to dense fog and intermittent rain. This group is positive and experienced in the back country, so it was no problem. The skies still have not cleared up, but we were able to cover the topics of technical gear, walking and advanced scrambling all while staying relatively dry. Not wanting to get the team too wet, we took shelter in our tents after breakfast, waiting for a break in the weather. We are now back in camp, relaxing outside as the sun is just starting to poke through. It is warm and any wet items have dried out by now. The team is looking forward to climbing tomorrow and we will check in, hopefully from the top!
RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Mike Uchal
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Northside
Elevation: 15,200'
We got our first day of glacier climbing in, and finally used all of the gear that we've been carting through airports and carrying up trails. Our main goal was to move our tents up to our high camp at Lenz Rocks and get some acclimatization time in too. We accomplished both. We roped up and climbed 2.5 hours of warm, sunny, and sometimes in the clouds glacier. Just below Lenz Rocks, we found the wind, the telltales of which we'd been watching for awhile. It wasn't any match for us though, and another half hour of climbing got us to our cache site.
The trip down is direct and fast. What took four hours to get up took maybe an hour to get down as we opened our strides up and rolled out of the wind back into the furnace.
We're hoping conditions look good in the morning to make our move and prepare to head for the summit.
Best,
RMI Guides Pete and Mike, and team "why are the hut doors all made for people who are 5 feet tall?"
Great to hear the winds have calmed and the team is doing well. Awesome pictures! Sounds like Marc is still always looking to do an extra leg long after mostly everyone is spent. “Similar to Mt. Whitney”. Also, was wondering how it felt to have no issues with the hut doors for Marc since the 5 foot height was comfortably taller. :-). All the best to the team and my Buddy.
Posted by: Jimmy Hoadrea on 8/14/2019 at 10:04 am
Another day of perfect weather on Kilimanjaro. We’re starting to feel lucky. A few of the team ventured out in the dark last night to capture long exposure shots of the night sky and the moonlit mountain. At dawn we were far above the clouds and in perfectly calm and clear conditions. We set out from 13,300' Karanga Camp around 9:00 AM on a moderate but steady grade. Before long we reached the end of any vegetation and came into the Alpine zone. Without tree cover, we could see all of our neighboring expeditions and all of their associated porters moving as if in some mass migration. Hundreds of people with loads on their backs and or heads, all moving steadily toward Barafu Camp (Swahili for “ice”) at 15,000'. We arrived in short order at 11:30 AM, with everybody feeling strong. Our purposely easy afternoon was spent lounging about, eating, drinking and prepping for tonight’s summit bid. Normally folks lose their appetite at altitude, but Chef Tosha prepared a fine spaghetti dinner and none of our team let it go to waste. After dinner, it was a tough thing to quit watching the beautiful sunset and fading light, but the gang retired to the tents early. We’ll be up in just a handful of hours for our alpine start and a climb to the Roof of Africa.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
The climb sounds like so much fun. Wish I could traveled with you all. Wishing all well as you reach the top.
Posted by: Cynthia Chitwood on 8/11/2019 at 5:54 am
I am enjoying the blog and what an incredible journey! Can’t wait to hear all about your experiences especially reaching the summit….Michael Shannon!
Posted by: Dona Marrah on 8/10/2019 at 10:52 am
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Mike Uchal
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Northside
Elevation: 12,300'
After two days of carrying big packs and moving from near sea level in Moscow, to 8,000' at Base Camp, to 12,000' at Camp 1, it was a fine day to rest and let our bodies catch up to the altitude. We had a leisurely rolling breakfast and coffee session outside the dining hut in the sun, watching climbers on the route above, some still ascending, some descending from their midnight departures. Some of us found nooks to tuck into and devour our books, while others stood around and chatted. Caffeine consumption was a theme for most.
We did a short climbing refresher on the toe of the glacier in the afternoon, double checked that our climbing equipment and skills were ready for a carry to 15,000' tomorrow, and then returned to camp to nap and wait for dinner. The most exciting part of the day was saved for just before bed when Pamela spotted a red fox cruising through camp. Everyone pulled out to catch a glimpse, though the fox was quick to slide behind some rocks, out of sight. Our plan tomorrow is to make a small cache of gear at our next camp, Lenz Rocks, in preparation for a move and summit in short order.
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer and Mike Uchal, and Team "we saw a red fox and it wasn't the clothing brand"
Keep pushing Dan!
Posted by: Tom Maddalena on 8/11/2019 at 1:57 pm
Glad everything is going smoothly. At least you saw a Red Fox and not a Red Bear. LOL . Saying hi so my Sonny Boy, Marc.
Papa Bear
Posted by: David Gollob on 8/10/2019 at 9:30 am
Well done!! Jeff Tracy, we willl celebrate at Boma at WDW in your honor tonight!-Team Falls
Posted by: Team Falls on 8/12/2019 at 4:57 am
Congratulations, Mike, to you, your team, your RMI guide, and the staff on reaching the summit!
Posted by: Pat Winiarski on 8/11/2019 at 2:12 pm
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