RMI Expeditions Blog
Chillin' at Casa del Sol...
Well, we enjoyed another great day down here in Ecuador with a nice hike, good weather and good company. After meeting our local alpine guide David and an early departure from Quito we made our way to the north towards our acclimatization objective Cerro Fuya Fuya, but also Otavalo, and most notably Cayambe. While the clouds prevented us from peeping Cayambe while on Fuya Fuya, we were still able to enjoy views from the summit of the surrounding volcanic caldera and the large lake below. The whole team moved well and enjoyed the day out and about. We're now posted up at a beautiful guesthouse up above the city of Otavalo called Casa del Sol, enjoying a beer and waiting for dinner. Tomorrow, however, the real adventure begins as we make our way up towards Cayambe...
More to come!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Today is another rest day at base camp. Yes, I would love to make this dispatch invigorating, full of excitement. However, I'm not a magician. I'm a mountain guide.
JM and I treated the team to our world famous Aconcagua Egg Hash Scramble this morning. Now, we are chilling, reading magazines and Kindles, and snacking more on fresh fruit. It's a lazy day in camp and we are enjoying it before we move up to camp one tomorrow.
Stay tuned!
RMI Guides JJ Justman and JM Gorum and team
On The Map
Posted by: Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Well, we are closing out another great day on safari. The main difference today is that we are all going home instead of staying in a hotel.
It's been a marvelous trip made exceptional with a very successful Kilimanjaro Climb and Safari. We had great animal viewing everyday and today we were up close with more elephants, giraffes and two female lions. It's just been non stop action for almost two weeks.
We will be having one last meal together before leaving for the airport in about an hour and a half. Then it's a long set of flights for everyone on our way back to the US.
Both of my Kilimanjaro climbs and safaris have been really special which is 100% due to the fun folks that joined RMI, and to the Dik Dik staff that goes way above what you could expect out of an in-country outfitter.
Thanks everyone!
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
February 3, 2016
Welcome to a series of dispatches from our most recent expedition seminar in Ecuador! This morning we officially met for the first time as a team and enjoyed a nice breakfast at our hotel before heading out on a cultural tour of Quito, Ecuador's capital city. We started off our sightseeing with a visit to the geographic equator and an interesting sort of a natural history museum at the same site. We saw all sorts of cool stuff like enormous anaconda skins, crazy spiders, a spiny Amazonian fish that will swim up your urethra, and even a real human shrunken head from the jungles of eastern Ecuador. Crazy stuff. We spent the afternoon visiting the old town of Quito which is a Unesco World Heritage site with many buildings dating back to the 1500's. Lots of cool churches were visited and we learned about Ecuador's tumultuous political history as we saw the sights with our local cultural guide Angel. We've got a great group of guys and we are all excited to get out tomorrow and feel a little altitude. Although, it could be said we're starting out acclimation process right here in Quito, hanging out at just over 9,000'.
Talk tomorrow...
February 4, 2016
We woke today to broken clouds and another lovely morning here in Quito. Jaime, our local man with a plan (he's our coordinator for nearly everything we'll do) decided to join us on our climb of Rucu Pichincha just for fun. After a quick taxi ride over to the Teleférico and a scenic ride up the gondola we began our approach towards Pichincha's rocky summit through gentler, but beautiful green mountains. Our team moved well for the most part despite feeling the acute burn of our first serious dose of altitude. The summit block involved a bit of easy scrambling but before long the team found themselves on the summit, albeit in a sea of clouds. Still, we were able to catch a few glimpses of the active part of Pichincha's caldera, la Pichincha Guagua and down to the buildings of Quito filling the valley far below. We celebrated our last night in Quito with a great pizza dinner and are all looking forward to getting outta town tomorrow on our way eventually to Cayambe in the north.
Later!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Booted up and ready to go! So says Team Aconcagua. Actually, our boots are already off! We just returned to base camp after a successful, secret, covert operation aptly named, "Carry to Camp One".
The team did great and how couldn't they? We were blessed with sunny skies and calm winds! An absolutely gorgeous day to acclimatize to 16,400 feet. We are now snacking on cucumber/tomato/avocado salad and sipping cokes, Tour de France style!
Everyone here says hello to family and friends. Tomorrow we will take a well deserved rest day to maximize the recovery benefits of base camp before we are moving on up to the big leagues!
RMI Guides JJ Justman and JM Gorum
On The Map
Waltz ! Enjoy your last rest day and get ready to conquer that mountain ! We didn’t win power ball either !
Posted by: Bernie on 2/4/2016 at 6:51 pm
I can only imagine all the hard work and planning that has gone into a trip like this. You all should be proud. Great accomplishments from hard working young men and women.
Posted by: Sandra Blake on 2/4/2016 at 12:23 pm
Posted by: Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Hey there. This is Seth calling in from Kikoti Camp way on the far side of Tarangire National Park in Tanzania. We are on the last part of our trip here. Today on safari was great with lots of elephants very close to the car and plenty of other stuff to see in Tarangire. Weather was really clear today. No rain insight for us that's for sure. About 90 degrees in Tarangire and totally clear skies almost all day long. We're going to all meet up for dinner around 7:00 for our first evening celebration as a team. Tomorrow we'll get up fairly early to head back into the city of Arusha back to the Dik Dik Hotel. We'll have one more dinner together tomorrow night before we all head to the airport to be on the same flight out on KLM at about 10:00 tomorrow night. Closing in our last day of the trip. It's been great. Not sure if everybody wants to leave but we are getting back to the USA. I'll check in when we are heading out to the airport from the Dik Dik Hotel.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall calls in from Kikoti Camp, Tarangire National Park.
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
On The Map
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
Posted by: Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
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
On The Map
Greg
Get outta here guys…it’s getting bad up here.
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
Posted by: Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
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
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Team Chapman is hoping Jason is having a great time! Enjoy! We love you!
Posted by: Team Chapman on 2/7/2016 at 7:20 am
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