RMI Expeditions Blog
This was a short, but significant day for the Kilimanjaro team. We climbed the great Barranco Wall. Things started out pretty clear and sunny down at camp, and we got great views of the massive and steep walls of Kibo above. The glaciers and frozen waterfalls all looked tenuously attached to the mountain and stuck out in stark contrast to our desert-like surroundings a mile below. We waited until 9:45 AM to give the army of hard-working porters first shot at the narrow ledges of Barranco and then we began working our own way up. Our local guide team, led by capable and calm Freddy, shepherded us from ledge to ledge, making sure we always knew where the next good solid handhold was. We made steady progress and soon topped out on the wall, 750 steep vertical feet above our starting point. It only took a couple more hours then of traversing several valleys to reach Karanga Camp at 13,160 ft. We got in just in time as it began to rain and even snow a bit shortly after our arrival. We'll see if it is just the normal afternoon buildup of moisture, or some more significant shift in the weather.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Posted by: Casey Grom, Leon Davis
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 11,600'
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Leon Davis were unable to summit Mt. Rainier this morning due to avalanche hazards, poor weather, and difficult route conditions. The teams reached 11,600' before making the prudent decision to turn around. The teams left Camp Muir at 8:05 am to start their descent back to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp in Ashford later today.
Thanks Casey and Leon. Was a fun attempt and we’ll surely be back!
Posted by: Nicholas Hruch on 9/7/2015 at 9:40 am
Oops wrong mountain! Sorry!
Posted by: Madge on 9/6/2015 at 3:46 pm
Posted by: Brent Okita, Lindsay Mann
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 11,400'
The Mount Rainier Summit Climb turned at 11,400’ due to new snow and avalanche concerns. RMI Guide Brent Okita reported that the weather was beautiful but chilly at Camp Muir. The teams are safely off the mountain and will be back to Rainier Basecamp early afternoon.
JPW good luck to you and team
LYM
Posted by: CHRIS WALKER on 9/7/2015 at 9:19 am
Anticipating a great adventure tale - way to go Kimberly & team!!
Posted by: Jennifer on 9/5/2015 at 1:34 pm
This was a great day of climbing. It dawned crisp and clear at Shira Camp. Kibo, Kilimanjaro's main peak, was visible in all it's glory. We still couldn't see much out to the west because of clouds and murk, but everything was nice and blue up above. We got walking at 8:30 AM and made good, steady progress climbing toward Kibo. Inevitably, the clouds formed up as we went along, but we still enjoyed dramatic views of the hanging ice fields and steep mountain flanks ahead. We reached the 15,000 ft Lava Tower in early afternoon, and shattered everybody's previous altitude records in the process. Then our long descent into the Barranco Valley began. The good weather held for us and we even had a few sunny moments again as we got into the garden-like surroundings of our camp for the night. We passed under 30 ft high Giant Senecio plants... Seemingly straight out of a Doctor Suess book, and reached camp at 13,000 ft shortly after 3 PM. We are now camped below the Great Barranco Wall, but that of course, doesn't need to be climbed until tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Keep on going and stay safe!
Posted by: Elese on 9/6/2015 at 8:56 am
Congrats on hitting the 15,000 Mark. The best is yet to come. Stay strong!
Posted by: Jackie on 9/5/2015 at 10:10 pm
Posted by: Zeb Blais
Categories: North Cascades
Sahale Mountain is the perfect place to start your alpine climbing career. The climb has it all: a thick, forested approach to the Boston Basin Camp on a tough climber's trail, low angle rock slab climbing, a intricate glacial navigation and even a pitch or two of 5th class rock climbing. While this may sound daunting, the relatively low mileage and vertical gain for the trip make it a very accessible climb for those looking to improve their movement skills and get a taste of alpine climbing. For experienced mountaineers, it's pure fun. Late this August, the constantly changing terrain and the remote setting of Boston Basin provided a stunning backdrop for four days of climbing for our small group of four climbers, fellow guide Robby Young, and myself.
While Sahale Mountain is a good introduction to the North Cascades, it is still a physically demanding climb that requires climbers to show up prepared. The approach is arduous. With heavy packs full of food, fuel, tents, climbing gear and layers, the thin climbers' trail winds through the forest about 3 miles and around 3,500' vertical up to the lowest camp in Boston Basin. One of our team counted crossing over 300 downed trees on the approach (he claimed to be accurate, but my hunch is that he cooked the books a little on that number). Regardless of the actual number, this wasn’t a well-maintained city sidewalk!
Once we emerged from the thick forest, Boston Basin greeted us with spectacular views of granite peaks in all directions. North of camp Mount Torment and Forbidden Peak look as intimidating as their names imply. East of camp, Sharkfin, Boston Peak and Sahale fence in the Quien Sabe—Spanish for who knows—Glacier. Simply camping in this setting is worth the price of admission, but at this point the fun was just beginning.
After setting up camp, we rested for the remainder of the day to get an early start on a day of training for our summit bid. Much of the climbing on Sahale consists of moderate rock, so our team focused on rock movement for much of our training day. Between camp and the Quien Sabe Glacier lies 1,400' of low and moderate angle granite slab walking. Moving on this terrain requires skillful footwork and good balance. After practicing smearing, edging and route finding on rock we gained the glacier. Donning crampons, harnesses and ice axes we delved into efficient movement techniques for snow, ice and glacial travel. With our team's improved movement skills, we headed back to camp ready to tackle our objective the next day.
We rose early, in full darkness, to set ourselves up for a potentially long summit push. Due to light snow accumulations over the winter and a hot summer, the Quien Sabe had very little seasonal snow remaining. The route wound from the far north edge of the glacier to the south where the glacier bumps up against a rock arrete at 8,200'. The climbing was straightforward and there was only one section of glacier where we needed to walk with absolute focus on each step.
At the south end of the glacier, we moved onto rock for about 50' vertical feet and then climbed directly up a steep snow face. We had watched teams navigating the bergshrund (the largest, highest crevasse on a glacier) just north of this area the previous day while we were training. We decided the jumbled ice plugs and snow bridges they had crossed were not something we wanted to tangle with unnecessarily, and we believed that we had spotted a smoother route to the South that eliminated the hazard of walking through broken ice of the "direct" route.
Above the bergshrund, we found smooth climbing onto the ridge. Often a moat can form between the glacier and the rock, which can make the transition from glacier to rock difficult, but this wasn’t the case for us. A small step off the glacier onto the solid rock of Sahale's summit ridge was all it took. 50' of 3rd class scrambling put us on the ridge headed for the summit pyramid.
Robby and I short roped our teams along the narrow rocky ridge until we arrived at the last steep pitch leading to Sahale's pointy summit. This pitch presents a 4th or low 5th class move or two to get to the highest block of granite on top. We pitched out this section, running our rope out to the top and belaying our climbers up the short step. What a great way to top out! Without a breath of wind on the summit, our team enjoyed the high perch for a full half hour before starting the descent.
Our team moved well across the softened the surface of the glacier, and soon we were back on the rock slabs above camp stripping crampons. We just had a couple of short stretches of slab to down climb to get back to our tents. The team pulled it off in great style and we finished the climb telling stories and watching a beautiful sunset.
With gravity and the motivation of a meal in town helping us, we descended the climbers’ trail back to our cars. Soon we were enjoying cold beer and Marblemount's best barbecue, Que Car BBQ!
Whether you've done a pile of 14ers or this is your first mountaineering trip, Sahale is a great trip.
_____
Zeb Blais is a senior guide at RMI Expeditions. He has climbed and skied mountains across the globe. In the spring of 2014, he set out to traverse Tajikistan's Fedchenko Glacier on skis. Find Zeb on Instagram at @zebblais.
While Sahale Mountain is a good introduction to the North Cascades, it is still a physically demanding climb that requires climbers to show up prepared. The approach is arduous. With heavy packs full of food, fuel, tents, climbing gear and layers, the thin climbers' trail winds through the forest about 3 miles and around 3,500' vertical up to the lowest camp in Boston Basin. One of our team counted crossing over 300 downed trees on the approach (he claimed to be accurate, but my hunch is that he cooked the books a little on that number). Regardless of the actual number, this wasn’t a well-maintained city sidewalk!
Once we emerged from the thick forest, Boston Basin greeted us with spectacular views of granite peaks in all directions. North of camp Mount Torment and Forbidden Peak look as intimidating as their names imply. East of camp, Sharkfin, Boston Peak and Sahale fence in the Quien Sabe—Spanish for who knows—Glacier. Simply camping in this setting is worth the price of admission, but at this point the fun was just beginning.
After setting up camp, we rested for the remainder of the day to get an early start on a day of training for our summit bid. Much of the climbing on Sahale consists of moderate rock, so our team focused on rock movement for much of our training day. Between camp and the Quien Sabe Glacier lies 1,400' of low and moderate angle granite slab walking. Moving on this terrain requires skillful footwork and good balance. After practicing smearing, edging and route finding on rock we gained the glacier. Donning crampons, harnesses and ice axes we delved into efficient movement techniques for snow, ice and glacial travel. With our team's improved movement skills, we headed back to camp ready to tackle our objective the next day.
We rose early, in full darkness, to set ourselves up for a potentially long summit push. Due to light snow accumulations over the winter and a hot summer, the Quien Sabe had very little seasonal snow remaining. The route wound from the far north edge of the glacier to the south where the glacier bumps up against a rock arrete at 8,200'. The climbing was straightforward and there was only one section of glacier where we needed to walk with absolute focus on each step.
At the south end of the glacier, we moved onto rock for about 50' vertical feet and then climbed directly up a steep snow face. We had watched teams navigating the bergshrund (the largest, highest crevasse on a glacier) just north of this area the previous day while we were training. We decided the jumbled ice plugs and snow bridges they had crossed were not something we wanted to tangle with unnecessarily, and we believed that we had spotted a smoother route to the South that eliminated the hazard of walking through broken ice of the "direct" route.
Above the bergshrund, we found smooth climbing onto the ridge. Often a moat can form between the glacier and the rock, which can make the transition from glacier to rock difficult, but this wasn’t the case for us. A small step off the glacier onto the solid rock of Sahale's summit ridge was all it took. 50' of 3rd class scrambling put us on the ridge headed for the summit pyramid.
Robby and I short roped our teams along the narrow rocky ridge until we arrived at the last steep pitch leading to Sahale's pointy summit. This pitch presents a 4th or low 5th class move or two to get to the highest block of granite on top. We pitched out this section, running our rope out to the top and belaying our climbers up the short step. What a great way to top out! Without a breath of wind on the summit, our team enjoyed the high perch for a full half hour before starting the descent.
Our team moved well across the softened the surface of the glacier, and soon we were back on the rock slabs above camp stripping crampons. We just had a couple of short stretches of slab to down climb to get back to our tents. The team pulled it off in great style and we finished the climb telling stories and watching a beautiful sunset.
With gravity and the motivation of a meal in town helping us, we descended the climbers’ trail back to our cars. Soon we were enjoying cold beer and Marblemount's best barbecue, Que Car BBQ!
Whether you've done a pile of 14ers or this is your first mountaineering trip, Sahale is a great trip.
_____Zeb Blais is a senior guide at RMI Expeditions. He has climbed and skied mountains across the globe. In the spring of 2014, he set out to traverse Tajikistan's Fedchenko Glacier on skis. Find Zeb on Instagram at @zebblais.
Jambo from Shira Camp at around 12,500 feet. We enjoyed a rain-free day from start to finish. Early risers back down at Machame Camp claim to have seen Kilimanjaro's main peak before clouds hid her cliffs and glaciers. We ate breakfast at around 7:30 under partly cloudy skies and got walking at 8:15 under sunny skies. It was a day of serious altitude gain as we covered half of yesterday's distance but still got up 2,500 vertical feet. There were dramatic changes in vegetation as we came out of the forests and through various zones of plant life flourishing in arid conditions. A large part of the day was spent working up along a ridge of old and weathered lava. Eventually we saw our first Senescu and Lobelia plants. The first of what will be many. The climb finished with a traverse out to the west, where ancient lava flows built a broad flatland between Kibo- Kilimanjaro's main peak and Shira, its western satellite. The gang are all climbing well and continue to marvel at just how much dirt and dust will fit under human fingernails in this environment. Temperatures aren't so cold yet, despite our having pushed up to roughly 12,500 feet.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Go Dori ! Go Dori ! Go Dori ! Go Dori ! Go Dori ! Go Dori ! Go Dori ! Go Dori !
Posted by: Laurie on 9/5/2015 at 9:45 am
Yay Jenell!! Hope everyone stays safe.
Posted by: Leisa on 9/5/2015 at 8:12 am
The Mount Rainier summit climb teams, led by RMI Guides Eric Frank and Zeb Blais, were unable to summit this morning and turned on the Disappointment Cleaver. Although the weather was clear, calm, and cold, the avalanche danger and new snow kept the team from continuing their summit bid. Both teams are safely back at Camp Muir and are planning a 9:00 a.m. departure to begin their descent to Paradise.
I know you are disappointed you didn’t get to summit, but we are so proud of all of you. Can’t wait for you to come home so we can celebrate!
Posted by: Kim on 9/4/2015 at 8:07 am
The climb is underway. We were up early today, carrying bags and packs to the magic bus/truck for the ride to Kilimanjaro. We enjoyed a last comfortable breakfast at the Dik Dik Hotel and said our goodbyes to the staff there as we climbed on board the great expedition vehicle. We were on the road just after 7 AM and at our destination, the Machame Gate to Kilimanjaro National Park by around 9 AM. Our expedition staff sorted loads and hired porters as we snacked, drank water and shooed monkeys from our staging area. Our climb began around 10:15 as we set out through the forest at nearly 6000 ft above sea level. Gaining 4000 feet over the course of about five and a half hours, we were encouraged to be on dry ground and good trail. There was significant cloud cover, but no rain until we'd very nearly reached Machame Camp at 9890 ft. Even then we only had a few minutes of sprinkles as we moved into our tents. An afternoon snack and a delicious dinner in our dining tent took us to darkness and the end of a fine first day. We were all happy to be finally walking in a pretty place after so many less than fun days of packing, traveling and preparing.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team
Kate and Erwin: the pictures are already amazing. Texts came through from Bill. All the family send love and are checking the blog daily. All the best to the entire group! Elizabeth
Posted by: Elizabeth on 9/5/2015 at 7:17 am
What an amazing journey both physically as well as spiritually! Safe travels to you all!
Posted by: Kelly Smith on 9/4/2015 at 9:31 am
Posted by: Mike Walter, Pete Van Deventer
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 11,200'
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guides Mike Walter and Pete Van Deventer turned at Disappointment Cleaver due to fresh snow on the route with high avalanche conditions. The teams have left Camp Muir and are en route to Paradise.
Sorry for the bad luck. I was at same spot in 2012 and had to turn back due to snow danger. The mountain will be there tomorrow.
Posted by: john newland on 9/4/2015 at 7:35 am
Bummer…Happy Labor Day Wknd…Walter-o
90 F + Hot + Humid + Storms Indiana
As you have plenty - Fwd Snow + Ice
Posted by: Walter Glover on 9/4/2015 at 6:28 am
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Our Kilimanjaro climbing team has come together at the Dik Dik Hotel on the outskirts of Arusha, Tanzania. The team actually assembled 24 hours ago, but it took until today for the guide to catch up and join the party. Couldn't get my rickety old 747 to start for the hop across the Atlantic. The team, in the drowsy grip of jet lag and the tranquility of the Dik Dik gardens, barely noticed my absence. Today was a day of rest and recovery... and of preparation for a great adventure. Eleven of us introduced ourselves and began the fun "work" of building a climbing team. We went through the various details of packing and getting organized for a journey through multiple climatic zones and a hoped for shot at the 19,340 ft high point of Africa. With just a few wonderful meals together, we're well on our way to being spoiled by the kitchen and dining staff at the Hotel. Our intention is to break away from all of this luxury in the morning...To get on the road by 7 AM, with the hope of being walking a few hours later. It will be great to replace the images of crowded airports and long security lines with visions of paths in lush forests and glimpses of distant snow-capped peaks.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team
One day down, enjoy the incredible beauty during each hike and the rest at the end of each day.
Posted by: Jackie on 9/3/2015 at 2:38 pm
So proud and inspired by you, Charlotte! Hugs and prayers from CDS and wishing for a great adventure for all of you. Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” — Anais Nin
In my mind, no matter what, you are all living a life of great proportion!
Posted by: Julie Tonks on 9/3/2015 at 10:37 am
Congratulations Dori & team!! What a wonderful accomplishment!
Posted by: Robin Knudson on 9/8/2015 at 8:02 am
Sending lots of love to all! So proud of Jenell and everyone!!
Posted by: Katrina on 9/8/2015 at 4:33 am
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