RMI Expeditions Blog

Now we’re talking!  We made it into the mountains.  It wasn’t easy, the helicopter pilots in Nepal are working overtime these days and so it took longer than anticipated for our three loads of people and gear to get in.  But the weather was nice and the team was patient.  By 1 PM we were all in Lukla at 9300 ft.  After a little lunch we hit the trail.  A benefit of coming in “late” was that we virtually had the trail to ourselves.  We strolled along the ridiculously turbulent rapids of the Dhudh Kosi and ultimately crossed the river on a swinging cable bridge.  The team pulled into the Sunrise Garden Lodge in uptown Phakding just as the sun set.  Day one is in the books. 

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Well, we have come to the last night of our trip, which is to be spent glamping within Tarangire National Park. It was a long day of safarying, but we pushed through the doldrums of a hot afternoon to see three beautiful, male lions and then a leopard right at dusk! Big Five complete; and a huge shoutout to Steve, our excellent safari driver.

Tomorrow a touch more safarying, a bit of shopping and then we're off to the airport to return to the United States of America.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

We managed to assemble our entire trekking team in Kathmandu today.  Ten trekkers and two guides joined forces far from home to begin a new adventure in the Himalaya.  It was a busy day, to be sure.  We met after breakfast to do introductions and to go over strategies and priorities for our trek to Gokyo. Then we embarked on a Kathmandu city tour with a fearless driver and a very knowledgeable city guide, Nraj.  The team was amazed at the seemingly chaotic traffic patterns and the creative electrical circuitry hanging from each pole.  We started with a thorough tour of Bodinath -the largest Buddhist stupa in Kathmandu.  We visited a school of Thanka art and made a circuit (clockwise) of the great central dome.  We then survived a ride to the other side of town to visit the Monkey Temple, to see the critters and the fabulous view of the city from the hilltop perch.  As fascinating as the city is, it was considered important to get back to the Yak and Yeti hotel for packing and prepping for tomorrow’s early departure. We conducted equipment checks and talked over how to pack.  We rested and then got together for a last “big city” dinner.  We hope to fly first thing tomorrow. 

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Apologies for missing a couple days worth of blogs, we have been bumping around in an extended Land Cruiser, completely distracted by looking at animals.

Yesterday, we left the comfort of the Rivertrees Country Inn, which has made a great home base throughout the expedition, and ventured to Lake Manyara National Park. The wildlife being described as sleepy in this park is somewhat laughable to anyone who has never been to East Africa. But either way, it is a good place to get acquainted with “safarying”: figure out the focus in the cameras, know when you need a soda or coffee as a pick me up and just generally understand what it feels like to bump around in a car all day while looking at animals.

At Lake Manyara we were treated to quite a nice show of elephants, these being the African Savannah Elephant, the largest land animal in the world. We even spotted a handful of Masai Giraffe, the tallest land animal in the world. In fact, Tanzania is the land of giants. Today in the Ngorongoro Crater we saw the Kori Bustard, which is possibly the heaviest bird that can fly and we also had an up close encounter with mating Southern Lions and the White Rhino, not to mention plenty of massive Cape Buffalo. In fact, that leaves us just a leopard shy of seeing the Africa’s Big Five safari animals. Maybe tomorrow…

In the morning we will head for Tarangire National Park and spend our last night in Tanzania at a lodge in the bush!

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

The whole team reached the summit just before 8am and we are safely back at Barafu Camp, with plans to descend to Mweka this afternoon.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

Today was the first day it didn’t rain on us while hiking! And actually it didn’t rain here at Barafu this afternoon. The moon is nearing a full stage and the afternoon clouds are descending, as has been the pattern all week.

The team is climbing strong, feeling strong and looks ready to take this thing on. Of course, still “pole pole”.

Wish us physical strength and mental power.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

We started our day by scaling the Barranco Wall, an intimidating feature that turns out to just be a really straightforward traffic jam situation. As we reached the top, our camp waiters were there with hot drinks and biscuits (of the Euro variety, not an awesome southern biscuit). After the lovely snack we made the couple of up and downs, cutting across valleys and over ridges to our camp on the open slopes of Karanga (Peanut) Camp. The weather is trending drier, but still with afternoon rains. It's hard to obtain an accurate forecast here, but mornings tend to be more clear with the clouds lifting through the day. If that trend and the drying trend continue to play out, I have a good feeling about being able to reach the summit!

While a summit is never guaranteed every team member has shown that they can do it. It won't be easy (it never is), but we can do it. Anyways, tomorrow we move camp one more time and then plan to alpine start during the night (25th here, 24th in the states). For now, we will enjoy our pork schnitzel dinner and get one more good night's rest. 

Thanks for following along.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

There was bacon at breakfast, real bacon, not a piece of ham being called bacon as often happens elsewhere around the world. So we were off to a good start. Full bellies met calm conditions although the clouds were both below and above us and a wet afternoon appeared inevitable. Making the climb to Lava Point, things were pleasant and we made pretty standard time. Members of our gracious camp staff were there with a trailside lunch that would give us the energy to then descend to Barranco Camp. Lava Point is the highest location we will reach before summit day (15,200'). As we headed down from there, the skies opened up and rain/snow mix chased us down the hill at not such a pole pole pace. Either way, it was a reasonably pleasant downhill through the Giant Senecio, an endemic tree to Kilimanjaro. For the night we bask below the Barranco Wall, ready to tackle that obstacle tomorrow.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

The day dawned absolutely blue above us and we were afforded our first views of the upper reaches of Kilimanjaro. In the distance Mount Meru called on our attention, but only for a moment as we had plenty of work ahead, getting from Machame Camp to Shira Camp. The clouds lifted with us throughout the day and we ended up spending most of it in a cloud. But hey, no complaints; yesterday gave us some serious perspective. Perhaps some early trials and tribulations are just what we need.

As always, a huge shoutout to our lovely camp staff that breaks down camp after we leave, hikes past us and sets camp up for our arrival. As I slip into my tent, duffel bag already on the floor, I am just absolutely grateful for their service and genuine friendliness. We're in great hands!

Well, for now we're having some tea and getting prepared for tomorrow, where we will continue to set some personal altitude records and inch ever closer to our objective... a picture with the famous sign!!

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

Sunday, 10:29 am PT

Today was a thorough soaking and a lesson in the sort of diligence that will help us keep our layers dry and our gear clean. It did rain the whole time, but it couldn't quite dampen the excitement of the first day on the trail. Tea time was a bit quiet, but dinner of moroccan beef with rice and potato/pepper/olive salad brought us back to telling stories and chatting about life. As always, our camp staff is incredible and their help makes us feel at home, halfway around the world.

Go Seahawks,

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier