Entries from Locations
Come on baby! A couple more nice weather days for us and it can storm all it wants up here in the high country of Tanzania. It all boils down to needing a bit of luck when climbing big peaks like Kilimanjaro; when the mountain says no you need to listen. Even on climbs when you do not get to the top of are filled with events and memories that stick with you. I have great confidence that this entire team will stand on the roof of Africa, with safety leading the way. It is such a unique thing we do up high, to be allowed to stand on the summit is really icing on the cake. We take away an immense feeling of satisfaction on all climbs. The team has checked off all the prerequisite to get this done.
When we leave
Karanga Camp tomorrow morning, our summit push begins. We'll take a bit of a break at Barafu, the high camp, then up up and away! Man, this is exciting. All the prep work that has gone into this, the great support by all involved back home, is all making this last bunch of hours a reality. We promise to make you proud of what we do, impressed on how we did it, and thank for this beautiful mountain in supplying us this adventure. All is well at 13,000' on Kilimanjaro. We will check in with you tomorrow!
RMI Guide
Mark Tucker
On The Map
RMI Guides Billy Nugent and Lindsay Fixmer, along with the
Four Day Summit Climb, reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Billy reported calm and beautiful conditions on the summit. The teams are descending to Camp Muir where they will spend some time before continuing on to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them back in Ashford this afternoon.
Congratulations!
We just wrapped up our 5 day
North Cascades Custom Climb in Boston Basin. Dan, Augie, and I took advantage of the excellent weather to get some serious climbing done on Sharkfin Tower, Sahale Mountain, and the West Ridge of Forbidden Peak. Special thanks to Dan and Augie for coming out to the Pacific Northwest to push their comfort zone with real alpine adventures and wild terrain. Let's do it again next year!
RMI Guide
Mike Walter
In the North Cascades of Washington, RMI Guide
Jake Beren and team reached the summit of Mt. Shuksan via the
Fisher Chimneys this morning. The team is back at high camp for the night and has been enjoying sunny, warm, and perfect weather.
Congratulations Climbers!
Hello from 3800 Assault Camp (as our Russian friends call it). Since we were reunited with all of our gear yesterday and had some time to contemplate the piles, today was the perfect day to once again bump up a portion of that gear to our next camp at
Lenz Rocks (about 15k). We woke to brilliant azure skies and cooler temps: perfect climbing weather. By 9 am we were donning harnesses and crampons, and clipping in to the climbing rope for the first time of the trip. The terrain below Lenz was our first snow climbing of the trip, and the conditions were perfect for cramponing. The group moved very well through the first stretch, but it began to feel like we were racing the weather a bit. First, a few errant clouds drifted across our climbing route on a light breeze, temporarily reducing our visibility. Then, just as we neared our destination, there was a distant rumble of thunder. At Lenz we didn't rush with our cache, using the time at a new altitude to help our acclimatization, but we didn't linger either. With our gear stored, we headed down into very low visibility and a couple of more distant rumbles. We moved very well downhill with light packs and some motivation, ultimately beating the weather to camp. Not long after we were tucked into tents snacking, the first flash of lightning alerted us that the storm had arrived. We sat, counting the seconds between flashes and cracks, listening to the tattoo of hail and graupel on the tent walls. By dinner time things had calmed down, and we ate dessert while watching spectacular colors play on the clouds as the sun set. We are hoping that our luck with the weather continues, and that tomorrow will give us the opportunity to move camp once again. We'll be in touch tomorrow.
RMI Guide
Pete Van Deventer,
Jeff Martin, and Crew
Yet another nice day. A bit breezy as we approached our high point of the trip so far. Altitude records for most, than a couple thousand feet descent into
Barranco Camp home for the night. The team continues to do just what they should to move smooth and efficient. We pulled into camp nice and early, so much so that we even took a short hike to a waterfall and the base of the Barranco Wall, the first part of our climb tomorrow. Mixed in the team is a couple of families; fathers, daughters and sons, even an uncle. Great to see them out in the hills and having a gas. A few clouds have moved in obscuring a view of the upper mountain but we may get lucky in the next hour to get a few photos of the peak in the beautiful alpine glow condition we can be rewarded with for such an effort put forth.
RMI Guide
Mark Tucker & Team
The
Four Day Summit Climbs Teams led by
RMI Guides Seth Waterfall and Mike Haugen reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Seth reported clear skies, no winds and a super nice day for climbing.
The teams were starting their descent from the crater rim just after 7 am today. They will return to Camp Muir for a short break before continuing down to Paradise. We look forward to seeing the teams at Rainier BaseCamp later today.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb Teams!
RMI Guide
Mike Walter and Team reached the summit of
Forbidden Peak. The team is leaving the Boston Basin area after a successful week of climbing.
Congratulations Team!
Greetings,
We had a good first night at
Camp 1. Everyone is doing great and feeling strong.
We did sleep in a little this morning and woke up to a beautiful cloudless day. A welcome treat after the last few mornings of rain. After breakfast we headed downhill to pick up our cache that we left two days ago. It was a quick roundtrip and we were back in camp by lunch. Since it was a rest day, we fired up the stoves and had quesadillas for lunch and lounged around camp.
Starting tomorrow, we will be on the glacier for the rest of the climb. We wanted to get a little review in, so we went out on the glacier to practice some cramponing and ice ax arrest. We are all ready for tomorrow!
Now we are back at camp hydrating and trying to make a dent in our pile of snack food.
Dinner will come soon enough and we enjoying the late afternoon sun and the constantly changing colors on the upper mountain. What a view.
All the best,
RMI Guides Jeff Martin, Pete Van Deventer, and team
On The Map
After a peaceful night at the Kikoti Lodge just East of the
Tarangire National Park boundary, we had breakfast and ducked back into the park. As experienced safari aficionados, we no longer stopped the vehicles for common zebras and wildebeest. But we were happy to pull over to watch a monitor lizard cross the road. And seeing a lion guarding his fresh kill got our attention. The king of the savannah also got the attention of about twenty elephants on their way to the water. They trumpeted and snorted when they sensed his presence and -giving him some space, took a detour to reach the water. We saw a few thousand other animals and birds, baobab trees and acacias on our way back out to the main park exit. Then it was Tanzanian highway driving with a few stops for tourism and sightseeing on the way back to Arusha and the Dik Dik Hotel. All that remains now is a dinner together and a few shuttles to the airport over the next 24 hours as we split up and begin to circle the globe toward home.
It has been a chock full couple of weeks in Africa. Thank you for keeping track of our team!
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Hi Mark!
Sorry we missed your call. This whole experience is thrilling. We love you. Mother & Dad
Posted by: Maury & Evie on 8/11/2014 at 4:15 pm
Way to go Steve, Connor and crew! Hope you are having fun! Make that summit and bring back lots of pictures!
Posted by: audrey on 8/11/2014 at 5:04 am
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