RMI Guide JJ Justman called at 7:05 a.m. The Mt. Rainier Summit Climb teams were beginning their descent from the crater rim! The weather on the summit was a bit windy but clear skies made for nice views in every direction.
Congratulations to today's summit climbers!
Our Four Day Summit Climb teams for August 17 - 20 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The teams enjoyed beautiful weather with clear skies and a lots of bright moon light. After spending time in the crater, they started their descent. As of 7:00 am PT, RMI Guides Elias de Andres Martos and Mike King reported that they were descending Disappointment Cleaver. We look forward to greeting the teams at BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to today Summit Climbers!
We packed up Pisco Base Camp this morning and headed back to the trail head. Everyone is ready for some solid rest and is welcoming the return to civilization, but it's been a fun couple weeks of climbing. The views we've seen and the adventures we've shared are going to stick with the team for a while.
Tonight we celebrate a successful trip and pack our bags one last time. We'll be heading out to catch planes back home tomorrow evening.
Thanks for following along!
RMI Guide Zeb Blais
Daybreak and moonset at Kikoti were just as wonderful as sunset had been yesterday evening. The team enjoyed a quiet and excellent breakfast before hitting the road at 8 AM. We were right back onto the rough dirt tracks of Tarangire National Park. There was plenty of great exploring over the following four hours... Lots more elephants, zebras, giraffes, vultures and eagles. We scanned gullies and great plains, looked high and low. No more big cats, but we all figured it was ok to save some things for our next safari. This one wrapped up at noon as we started eastward on the road back toward Arusha. We made one stop at the cultural heritage center on Arusha's outskirts. Everybody was getting more and more "time conscious" though -as is natural with an international flight looming. We got back to the quiet grounds of the Dik Dik in time for some repacking and freshening up. Then we enjoyed a final -excellent- dinner together. The ride to the airport began just after sunset and the team cheered to see Kilimanjaro's 19,000 ft heights glowing above a few low clouds. It has been an exciting couple of weeks in Africa.
By now the gang is on the wing, homeward bound. I'll hang out for another round of Kili climbing and looking for cats. Thanks for keeping tabs on us.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Our Elbrus Northside trip concluded in one of my favorite towns to visit in Europe, St. Petersburg. Finally sleeping in to a leisurely hour, we met our tour guide and bus at 10 am and departed on a circuitous path through the history filled city to see the sites. St. Petersburg is home to some of the more stunning cathedrals in Russia, and those were a primary focus of the tour, passing by the Church of our Savior on the Spilled Blood, St. Nicholas’ Cathedral (a cathedral dedicated to the Saint of travel and maritime navigation, which is of huge significance in a city founded to be the maritime capitol of Russia, and the home of it’s navy), and St. Issac’s Cathedral. The massive scale of St. Issac’s is something to behold, and on one side, its huge columns still bare the scars left from mortar and artillery shells fired at the city during its 600-day siege in World War II. We also passed the warship that fired the symbolic first shot that began the Bolshevik takeover of Russia’s government, and found ourselves finally at the Hermitage.
The Hermitage is comprised of the former winter palace of the Romanov dynasty, as well as several buildings that were added on later by different emperors and empresses, and is home to an art collection in excess of 2.7 million pieces. Our guide spent an hour taking us through the buildings, pointing out some highlights, a Michelangelo, two paintings by DaVinci, and several by Rembrandt. After the hour, our tour guide released us to wander through the stunning rooms ourselves at our own pace. That evening we regrouped for a canal boat tour, beginning on the river Nevski, which runs through the heart of St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, the days of recent rain (many of which we had experienced!), had swollen the rivers and canals, so that the boat was unable to make its way through the usual circuit of canals that run through the heart of the city, as the passages under the bridges were too low, but we still were able to see the summer gardens and several more palaces from the unique perspective of the canal.
That led us to our final dinner as a group. The Jerome presented the perfect destination, and when the chef came out to show us the special — a beautifully marbled cut of local prime rib weighing almost a kg, everyone was sold. Delicious local beef, and several bottles of Spanish Rioja provided the perfect ending celebration to a really special trip that everyone enjoyed. We were sad to part ways the following morning, some of us very early, for flights back to the US. This was a special group of climbers to work with, and JM and I would like to thank everyone for their hard work and incredible perseverance and positive attitudes. We look forward to running into everyone in the mountains again soon, and thanks to all who followed along on our adventure!
Signing off,
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer and JM Gorum
The Expedition Skill Seminar - Paradise met in Ashford on Sunday to being their week of training. After a full day on the grounds of Rainier BaseCamp getting ready for their trip, they left early the following morning to begin their climb. The weather was beautiful and the team spent their days training on the glacier of Mt. Rainier. Yesterday the team ascend to Camp Muir where they spent the night. With an alpine start they left Camp Muir to make their summit attempt. The team enjoyed the views from the top of Mt. Rainier with clear skies and light winds. Nick and team will return to Camp Muir to re-pack their gear and make their final descent to Paradise. Congratulations to the Paradise Seminar Team!
RMI Guide Brent Okita and the Four Day Summit Climb August 16-19 team checked in at 6:50 am from the summit of Mt. Rainier. Brent reported a very nice day with 10 mph winds. They were a bit chilly waiting for the sun to hit them during their ascent but they know the rest of the day is going to be really warm. They will return to Camp Muir and then continue to Paradise and Rainier BaseCamp.
Congratulations to today Summit Climb team!
We are safely back at base camp after our entire team made the summit of our final peak of the trip, Pisco Oeste. Pisco was the third summit of the trip and the team is feeling accomplished with everyone making summits on Ishinca and Urus as well. It was a great effort for the team and the camaraderie put forth to make it a successful trip for everyone was incredible.
While we're all smiles now, this morning was a different story. We woke to thick clouds and light snow falling on our 16,000' high camp. We shrugged it off and began our breakfast routine. By the time we were packed and ready to climb the snow had abated and the clouds showed signs if parting. An hour into the climb and we were staring at beautiful stars and moonlit mountain faces.
For a couple hours we had nothing but blue skies. Then as we neared the top, winds picked up and clouds began to build on the summit. We climbed on bundled up in puffy jackets. On top we were in and out of clouds, the weather parting for summit photos and glimpses of the famous peaks of the Cordillera Blanca, Alpamayo and Artesonraju.
It was an absolutely phenomenal climb and the way down was fast and smooth.
We're grateful for the help of our local guide William, our porters and our astonishing cook Helario, who makes masterpieces out of anything. It's been a great ride and I can't wait for my next opportunity to come back to the 'Blanca!
Cheers!
RMI Guide Zeb Blais
Posted by: Richard Bergey/Bonnie Bergey on 8/18/2016 at 5:38 pm
So glad the clouds parted for the team, blessed! The food sounds fantastic, lucky you are working off the calories. Safe journey back home, can’t wait to hear the stories.
We tore ourselves away from the luxurious Plantation Lodge this morning in search of more animals. Tarangire National Park has delivered nicely. We spent the day looking at hundreds of elephants, thousands of Zebra and wildebeest, eagles, vultures, superb starlings and dik diks. Certainly the high point was watching seven lions... Including several generations of cubs, turning a wildebeest into an all-you-can-eat buffet. They were absolutely ruling the waterhole -until a band of thirsty elephants moved in. The lions dragged their carcass a discreet distance into the shrubs and stayed away from the happy elephants. We watched it all. We then went exploring, enjoying the vastness of Tarangire. We scanned every boabab and acacia tree for leopards but haven't yet seen them... Same with the cheetahs. We know they are out there though and we'll hope to see them tomorrow morning.
Tonight we are quite comfortable in the tent cabins of Kikoti Lodge out on the beautiful estate boundary of Tarangire. The team enjoyed the end of their last full day in Africa by watching the sun set over a campfire. Tomorrow we'll have that last chance at the cats as we spend the morning going back through the park before hitting the highway for Arusha and Usa River.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
I haven’t been able to follow your whole trip but I just read/caught up and wow! Can’t wait to hear all about it! Safe travels friends.
~JanieMac
Posted by: JanieMac on 8/18/2016 at 5:59 pm
Kate and Ben, How exciting to see nature at its finest. We can’t even imagine what it was like to see all those magnificent animals in their element. Enjoy your last day. Seems like your adventure had just begun. Looking forward to seeing all your pictures. Safe travels. Love mom and Ted.
Posted by: Janet Armentrout on 8/18/2016 at 4:42 pm
The Four Day Summit Climb August 15 - 18, 2016 enjoyed an alpine start from Camp Muir under a beautiful full moon. RMI Guides Jake Beren and Ben Liken reported great climbing with warm temperatures and calm winds. After spending time on the summit both teams left the crater rim on their descent just before 7:30 am PT. We look forward to meeting the groups back at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!
One year from a septuagenarian and never having participated in snow activities probably is not the most propitious period to start mountaineering, especially on Mt. Rainier. It was Theodore Roosevelt, though, who said, “... Far better is it to dare mighty things, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.”
Being in good physical conditioning and active all my life I decided to follow Teddy’s advice. I made it to Ingraham Flats and realized appropriately that my slower pace was a deterrent to team members’ having a successful climb. No regrets from me, though. I met wonderful professional guides who were patient and indulgent with me throughout the climb.
I am proud of those individuals who summited. I also take particular pride in cultivating a friendship with young 18 year old Kyle who impressed me deeply with his poise, maturity beyond his years, self-discipline, physical ability and love of his family of whom he spoke proudly. Go through life Kyle, spreading your wings and soaring as high as you dare to achieve mighty things as Teddy most assuredly would say to you.
RMI is a professionally run company. Its professional staffs are highly skilled mountaineers who place a premium on customer safety. While safety is their number one priority the professional guides establish prudent parameters for customers to maximize available opportunities to apply their skills for a truly memorable and amazing experience.
Unbelievable experience! Great job by all the climbers!
Posted by: Scott on 8/22/2016 at 8:14 am
You all rock. Enjoy the view, savor the accomplishment.
Posted by: Ken on 8/21/2016 at 2:58 pm
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