RMI Expeditions Blog
Casey Grom and his Mt. Elbrus team reached the summit! Everyone is down safe and they will check in later today.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
On The Map
Posted by: Mark Tucker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Being on safari is nature at its most basic form. To see the food chain in the realm of nature makes you ponder on life itself. You take away a certain fresh outlook on the meaning of life on these safaris. And to see the living prehistoric creature that is near extinction, the rhino, keep the wheels spinning. We had a chilly start to the day up in the cloud forest on the flanks of the Ngorongoro Crater. We decided to stop in at a Maasai Boma or village where for 20 dollars each they gave us warmth in one of their cow dung huts with its dirt floor, no chimney, wood-burning modular homes. We got out of there pretty quickly but left with the flavor and fragrance of a life a bit different than ours. Nice folks and enjoyed the visit. The clouds eventually burnt off to a picture-perfect day in the bottom of the crater, the Eighth Wonder of the World. Yes the trigger finger took a bit of a warming up but no animal, bird, or plant escaped the lens of these safari pros. We even had some shots taken with out a memory card due to some rough roads and a bit too over excited at the chase of the perfect picture. Lots more opportunity for photos tomorrow as we move to yet another amazing park in Africa.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Hello from Mt. Elbrus -
Today the team got up a little early to make use of the firm snow to practice using our crampons, and we had a refresher on self-arrest too. After our morning session we enjoyed breakfast and then relaxed near camp chatting with other climbers till lunchtime. Shortly after lunch we had our summit talk where we discussed all aspects of the climb to come and then spent the remainder of the afternoon packing and finalizing all of our gear we will need for the climb.
Everyone has their face mask ready in case the wind howls like it did on my last climb. And we even managed to play a game of trivia where the winner gets to make a satellite phone call from the summit. So if there's someone out there who's favorite musical group is Krewella and loves Simba. Then expect a call around 1am. Which will be roughly 8:30-9am for us.
We'll check in again tomorrow after our big climb.
Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
So good to hear your voice! Earlier, I read the blog about the trivia question and thought that you might know that stuff! Enjoy the summit
Posted by: Joanne on 8/2/2014 at 4:46 am
Have fun on your summit climb! Casey is great at getting everyone to the top safely and with a smile on their face.
Posted by: Eric Y. on 8/1/2014 at 10:49 am
Posted by: Leon Davis, Mike Walter
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Mike Walter reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning around 6:30 am. The Expedition Skills Seminar - Paradise led by Leon Davis also made a successful climb to the summit today after several days of training on the mountain. Both teams began their descent around 7:30 after enjoying the sunrise and views from the crater for almost an hour.
The teams will return to Camp Muir for a short break and to re-pack their gear before continuing the descent to Paradise. We look forward to seeing both teams in Ashford later today.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Awesome job bro! im so proud! I bet it was amazing! GO JARYD U
Posted by: Parys Michelle Unangst on 8/1/2014 at 8:50 pm
Congratulations Jaryd & team on this tremendous achievement!! So happy you had the opportunity for this wonderful adventure Rad! Grampy wants to know what peak is next? Can’t wait to see you to hear all about it and see pictures. Be safe and love you! G’Pa and G’Ma
Posted by: C & C Mills on 8/1/2014 at 7:26 pm
It was cold in Mt. Kilimanjaro's Barranco Camp this morning, but very beautiful. We still couldn't see the world below, due to clouds, but we could sure see the steep Southern walls of Kibo Peak above. Giant icicles hung down from the glaciers and snowfields in the early morning shadows. Just as the sun hit our camp at about 8:15 AM, we set off into the cool shadows again. We didn't stay cold though, since our first task was to climb the steep lava ledges of the Barranco Wall. Our local guides, Eric and Charles, along with Eliapende and Vendelin, made sure that all felt confident in reaching up for the rough handholds and stepping from block to block to pass this imposing barrier.
It took over an hour, as expected, to get up 800 vertical feet of relief, but we did it, earning even better views of Kilimanjaro's central peak and glaciers hanging thousands of feet above. Then it was relatively easy walking to reach the Karanga Valley, but by the time we made that combination steep descent and ascent -in and out of the narrow valley, we were in cloud. We made it to Karanga Camp at 13,160 ft by 1:15 PM and began our now familiar and welcome pattern of resting, recuperating, eating and drinking through the afternoon.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Brother Brad & Brother Brian,
I know you guys are wearin’ out the mountain! Looks like a great trek. Enjoy the journey and take lots of pics. Can’t wait to hear about the climb.
Posted by: Steve on 8/1/2014 at 7:47 pm
Kevin! Hey babe! Got your vm today! Missed your call by 5 minutes as I was loading the car. :( you’re hiking a mountain and b is busy chasing h around the house and learning to walk better. That’s his mountain for now! :) h can’t even eat without b right there running him over! We love you and miss you! Keep going….. yall are getting close!
Posted by: Heather Davis on 8/1/2014 at 6:18 pm
Good evening!
We're writing from our hotel in Cuzco after a full day of visits along the Sacred Valley of the Incas. With the city of Ollantaytambo as the pinnacle of the day, we also had the time to pet the llamas and alpacas of a South American Cammel's zoo we visited. The walking we did among the different Inca ruins we visited along the Urubamba river, between elevations of 9,000 and 12,000 ft, continued to help us acclimate to the altitude.
Tomorrow, an early departure (4am) will bring us to the trail head to start our trek towards Machu Picchu... a week filled with great trail hiking awaits!
Our next post will be from the trails.
Best regards,
RMI Guide Elías and the team
Posted by: Mark Tucker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
This is not any surfing safari, although that doesn't sound too bad either. Our goal is not to catch the perfect wave, but it is to find the perfect sighting of so much wild game on a beautiful day. I'll take it. We forced ourselves to leave one lovely lodge to end up at another. We are at the Plantation Lodge situated midway between Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro Crater, which is the location of tomorrow's safari. The team did well making the transition from climbing to safari. Although that trigger finger took a hit today taking so many pictures, I have confidence it will pull off some amazing shots tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Our morning started with crystal clear views of the peak of Kibo (which contains Kilimanjaro's central crater). We were just above a sea of clouds, as we'd gotten used to yesterday afternoon. Our climb began just before 8 AM up the steady and gradual incline heading directly toward Kibo. We spent the day above "timberline" getting close up views of smaller desert shrubs and flowers. The upper sky began to cloud up, particularly as we approached our high point for the day at 15,200 ft. At this point we came around the castle-like "lava tower" and had to use our imaginations to visualize the steep escarpments above, cloaked in cloud. Those clouds let loose with snow showers as we began our descent toward the Barranco Valley. We quickly put on the weatherproof shells and marched downward through a mild blizzard. The showers let up as we reached the giant Senecios -the doctor Seuss themed trees that make Barranco so interesting. The team was in camp by about 3:15 PM. We were lucky enough to get some brief periods of sunshine as the afternoon progressed, allowing a chance to dry damp gear and as well to see the route for tomorrow up the Barranco Wall. We anticipate a calm night with some good and much needed rest at 13,030 ft above sea level.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
It was another beautiful day here on Mt. Elbrus! We woke to clear skies, calm winds and a amazing view of the enormous Caucasus range. We had our standard breakfast of porridge, boiled eggs, assorted meats, cheeses and coffee.
Today was our planned acclimatization day and the team set shortly after 8:30 and hiked for about 3 hours uphill and reached about 15,000', which was a new record for some! Along the way we ran into former RMI guide Craig Van Hoy. It was nice seeing an old friend and chatting with other Americans. We enjoyed the views took a few photos and then headed back down to camp for another amazing hot lunch cooked up by Russia's finest, Albina! The remainder of the afternoon has been spent relaxing in camp, listening to the thunder outside and taking naps.
All is well and the team is looking forward to doing a little technical training and resting tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
I see you’re making great progress, Liz I know you’re having a great time! Could someone explain to me what porridge is? I can wikipidea it or I can dig deep in my chef roots, but can you have someone please explain!
Posted by: John Schupbach on 7/31/2014 at 9:36 pm
Posted by: Lindsay Mann
Categories: Mountaineering Fitness & Training
RMI Guide Lindsay Mann recently sat down with the crew at MTNmeister, a five day-a-week podcast that that explores the training, stamina, strength, and psychology of outdoor mountain athletes. Below is an excerpt from Lindsay’s interview where she discusses some perspectives on training for Mt. Rainier:
MTNmeister: Talk a little bit about the types of preparation you should be doing with types of mountains like Mt. Rainier…obviously it can just get scaled up from there, there are a lot of people who do larger Himalayan peaks actually train on Mt. Rainier so that would be a good place to start. Where would that training start?
Lindsay Mann: I definitely recognize as [a] guide that my lifestyle revolves around being in the mountains and that’s not the reality for all of the people that we climb with. Though, I think it’s important for people that do have a more typical lifestyle is getting in some endurance training. Obviously running is great, [really] any type of endurance [training]. Also, training with a pack. I climbed with my dad and he had to be in New York City a couple of weeks before coming out to Rainier so he climbed as many stairs as he could carrying a 40 pound pack. He just filled a bunch of water jugs and put them in his pack.
I think that is an important part of that too, if that’s how you do end up training (doing some sort of stairs) is [remembering] to train for the way downhill. So, mentally think about getting to the top, but people forget that they also have to get off of the mountain. I think that for us as guides, the number one thing is getting back home safely. Remembering that training downhill, both mentally and physically, is an important part of the training.
I think that switching it up too, endurance stuff, having a strong core, being creative about your training is very important.
MM: The downhill part that you mentioned, how are you normally descending the mountains?
LM: We go down the same route typically that we go and I think it’s just [remembering to use] a lot of the efficiency techniques that we teach on the way up, like the rest step which I’m sure many people have heard of…
MM: Would you explain the rest step?
LM: The rest step is a stance where you have your lower leg straight and your upper leg is bent so all of your body weight is resting on your skeletal system instead of on your muscles. And then just a quick step to that next rest stance so that once again all of your weight is on that lower leg resting more on your skeletal system. It’s a nice small step so that you are saving as much energy as you can on the way up and getting a little bit of a rest with each step.
MM: So you are putting more pressure on your skeletal system and saving your muscles for the endurance basically?
LM: Yeah, essentially saving your muscles for the way down. On the way down you don’t want to lock out your leg - you just can’t do it. It’s a lot harder just to walk down.
MM: You mentioned that your father was training by climbing up and down stairs and he had his backpack full of water, how do climbers know that the training is going to be appropriate for the type of trip they are going to do because they probably have never been to that location, unless it’s you as a guide who has gone there fifty times so you know exactly what it’s like. Do you recommend a person that is going to go up a mountain like Rainier to work with a guiding company like you on the training aspect too? Or is it just looking on the internet, following some other sorts of guidelines?
LM: We actually have a specific training and fitness page and there, there are a lot of good training tips. There are a variety of training tips, for people that have a more “regular” lifestyle, like a nine-to-five job. Also, interspersed in there is some of the training that we guides do. That’s one of the best tools that our climbers can use. My dad actually, after he was training, wrote a blog piece on there about the training that he did. He spent a lot of time training in New Hampshire, so he [describes] some hikes that he did that he felt prepared him adequately for Mt. Rainier in his progression.
Listen to the entire podcast and see more of MTNMeister’s episodes at mtnmeister.com.
______
Lindsay Mann is a lead guide with RMI Expeditions and has guided and climbed around the world, including a recent all women's ski mountaineering trip to Alaska's Wrangell St. Elias. Learn more about the trip by listening to the full interview.
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Wow. Looks like a clear sky and beautiful weather. Good for you. Congratulations!
Posted by: Fernando de Aragon on 8/2/2014 at 6:33 pm
Congratulations !!! Great summit picture. Thanks to the guides for everything. Enjoy your. success.
Posted by: Josie on 8/2/2014 at 9:41 am
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