RMI Expeditions Blog
Posted by: Dave Hahn
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If it weren't for the spectacular wildlife within the great Ngorongoro caldera, we'd spend the day fascinated by the geography anyway. We were up on the crater rim in dense cloud this morning, with just a hint of the vastness of the interior to this collapsed volcano. But as we traversed the rim, we were granted better views of the expanses within. Driving down in, we began to see "spots" and "dots" that gradually took shape as wildebeest, zebra and Cape buffalo. We spent the day driving from one side of the crater to another, stopping for lions, jackals, hippos, rhinoceros, and birds great and small. We began to see so many species that we seemed to stop taking notice of things like zebra and gazelle, which until yesterday had seemed exotic. We watched a pair of ostrich, out on a date. We saw seven lionesses conked out and sleeping within feet of the road. We saw old and solitary bull elephants, wandering amongst bull elephant skeletons. We saw warthogs and hyenas and herd after herd of wildebeest and zebra. We saw male lions, fat and happy to be lounging about in the sun while every other animal wandered around them in wide circles. After a picnic lunch near a lagoon full of hippos, we checked out a few more corners of the crater and then headed up the wall for our exit. On the rim, we visited a Masai village and learned how the tribe manages to hold onto traditions while preparing their children for the modern world. And then it was back to the luxurious Plantation Lodge for the evening. Tomorrow, Tarangire National Park.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Talk about shifting gears... we went from climbing to cruising, just like that. Today we got on the road shortly after 8 AM and briefly toured the outskirts of Arusha before heading out across the Rift Valley of Tanzania. Our goal for the day was a tour of the the Lake Manyara National Park. To get there we traveled in two modified land rovers, gazing out the windows at Masai tribesmen and their animal herds along the highway. We reached the park at about noon and had a relaxing lunch under the big trees, keeping an eye peeled on the surrounding forest for whichever beasts might also be contemplating lunch. As it turned out, there were just a few monkeys and birds checking us out. After lunch, we toured the park's dirt roads, checking out giraffes, baboons, zebras, wildebeest and warthogs. We spied a couple of elephants and plenty of exotic birds, but we didn't see big cats or hippos. There is always tomorrow... which for us is an expedition to the Ngorongoro Crater. Tonight though, is not to be rushed. An evening at the luxurious and tranquil Plantation Lodge. We'll get in our open topped safari vehicles again at the crack of dawn, hunting for big game.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Hard to believe we were at 10,000' in the "Giant Heather Zone" just this morning. We had a big blue sky overhead, which hasn't been exactly common on this trip. It rained at some point in the night, cleaning the dust out of the air and making everything fresh and new. After breakfast, we watched as our 57-man support team sang and danced through an excellent song about our shared adventure. We were once again amazed at the talents of our porters, cooks, guides and camp staff. The morning hike down 4000' to the Mweka Gate of Kilimanjaro National Park was easy, by our standards. We quickly got into the forest zone and the big trees and listened to birds singing as we walked. We reached the end of our climbing trip by mid-morning and were amazed and surprised to sit down to a fine outdoor picnic set up for us at the park gate. The ride back down through Moshi and along the highway toward Arusha kept each of us glued to the windows, gazing at people, shops, farms and Tanzania in general. Coming back to the Dik Dik Hotel was quite relaxing. We were greeted as friends by the staff and made very welcome. It was an afternoon of showers and catching up with the electronic world. Our victory dinner was a chance to take stock of the trip so far and an opportunity to say goodbye to Richard and Kurenai who will fly out tomorrow as the rest of us go on safari.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
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Categories: Mountaineering Fitness & Training
My Favorite Training & What Worked
I recently got to attempt my summit of Mt. Rainier. Although we were not able to reach the summit because the route was impassable, I was in the best shape of my life and was able to reflect on all of my training, what worked, what didn’t, and what I enjoyed doing to train for the climb.
A lot of my training worked quite well to get me ready for my climb. Here are a few of the exercises that worked best:
Gym
Stairs/Stepmill: The stepmill became my best friend while at the gym prepping for Mt. Rainier. It was very functional movement that would let me do interval training, side stepping, and long climbing durations.
Versa climber: The versa climber is an amazing cardio tool that I discovered at the ProClub in Bellevue. It serves as great cardio combined with functional movement and is very difficult to do for long periods of time. This was one of my love/hate relationships at the gym given the benefit I took away from it.
Running: Running is something that I hate in this world… especially on a treadmill. I prefer hiking and getting outdoors. However, I could not ignore the benefit that running gave me in general conditioning. I tried to get outside as much as possible, cover distance, and put in hill/stair training while I was out to break up the monotony.
Mountain Conditioning Course: This was one of my favorite parts of training. The ProClub in Bellevue offers a class twice a week that is solely focused on conditioning for hiking. This class offered a social aspect to my training with people who were training for Mt. Rainier, the Enchantments, Everest Base Camp as well as others who had already summited Mt. Rainier. This class offered circuit training, conditioning, and strength training all combined into functional movement.
Hiking
Hiking was one of the best things that I was able to incorporate into my training. What better way to train for a hike than hiking itself? The best part of my hiking training was the confidence in my abilities that some of these bigger hikes gave me once on Mt. Rainier.
• Mailbox Peak: 6mi round trip, 3100’ elevation gain, 4800’ highest point
• Colchuck Lake + Aasgard Pass: 11mi round trip, 4400’ elevation gain, 7841’ highest point
Altitude
Training at altitude was another key to feeling good on my summit attempt. I traveled to Colorado to bag some 14ers and did Camp Muir once. Knowing how the altitude would impact me and quickly learning the benefit of pressure breathing were key in my training.
Colorado: A week before my climb I had the opportunity to go to Denver for work which provided me the chance to hike several peaks over 14,000’ and see what the altitude would do to me. Additionally, this gave me a chance to do back to back days of serious hikes to see how a climb to Muir followed by a summit day would be like.
• Grays & Torreys: 8.25mi round trip, 3600’ elevation gain, 14270’ highest elevation
• Quandry: 6.75 mi round trip, 3450’ elevation gain, 14265’ highest elevation
Camp Muir: 10mi round trip, 4600’ elevation gain, 10000’ highest elevation
I only climbed Camp Muir once during my training even though it was one of the best training hikes near Seattle. I did this for several reasons - first, I wanted to prove to myself that I could do that part of the route so that when my trip came I could approach it with confidence. Second, I did not want that route to turn into what the Tiger Mountain cable line trail had become to be - a dreaded training hike that was no longer fun (I was doing that trail twice a week for training).
Backpacking: Pratt Lake: 11.5mi round trip, 3000’ elevation gain, 4200’ highest elevation
Backpacking was a fun part of my training where I carried over-weight pack for an overnight and I was able to test out my gear and equipment while out in the field. This was a great opportunity to check out my pack, boots, and clothing to ensure they were the right fit and equipment for the summit attempt.
Things I Wish I Had Done More
There were a few things that after attempting my summit I wish I had done more of in my training routine:
Hike more with full pack weight or an overweight pack: Carrying a 40 pound pack up the mountain and at elevation can start to tire even the most fit people. Training more with what that weight would feel like and just making it a part of every hike earlier on would have made a big difference. On each hike I did I would add in a decent amount of weight (25-30lbs) but only hiked at full weight once. Going back, I would have started with full weight much earlier in my training time and even gone overweight to help my body be stronger when I was at elevation.
Hike at a steady pace for long durations: RMI does a great job at managing energy expenditure if you listen to their advice. One thing that our guide targeted was that no matter the difficulty of the terrain that our energy expenditure would be the same. For example, if it was flat we might move a bit faster but that would be the same energy required as slowly going up a steep part. In my training I found myself hiking for a bit and taking 15-30sec resting periods and continuing vs going for a hour and then breaking. Although my micro rests were very helpful and made me move very fast, they were not ultimately the slow steady pace I would need for alpine climbing. Looking back I would have tried to maintain steady paces/energy expenditures for the duration of my training hikes, taking scheduled breaks and pushing myself through the tough points where I traditionally took a micro break.
All in all, all of my training was beneficial to the climb but there were definitely some things that helped more than others. I will make some tweaks to my training schedule before my next climb, and start carrying a heavier pack for training earlier. It is very important to invest in your training and start early because I saw more than one climber struggle with their fitness on the mountain. On a rope team, you are either an asset or a liability, and at the end of the day, all of your training is putting more fuel into your Mt. Rainier summiting fuel tank. So train hard and be an asset to your team - it only makes your climb better!
- Jeff Marcoux
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Jeff Marcoux is an avid hiker & lover of micro brews who lives with his wife in Seattle, WA.
Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!
I can only confirm what Jeff said about hiking with weight before the actual effort to get up Rainier. I trained with a 50 lb pack for weeks so that the actual pack weight would be less no matter what. I also hiked for, at least, an hour and a half at a time with no breaks to approximate the pace on the mountain. That alone helped me push through the tough spots.
Posted by: Kevin Donavan on 9/25/2013 at 10:09 am
Posted by: Geoff Schellens, Leon Davis
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 8,000'
The Four Day Summit Climb Teams led by RMI Guides Leon Davis and Geoff Schellens were forced to turn around at 8,000' today en route to Camp Muir. The teams experienced wet and windy weather with low visibility. They made the tough decision to descend and return to Paradise. The teams arrived at Rainier BaseCamp just before 3 pm PT.
As planned, the climbing team was up at midnight and on the trail shortly after 1 AM. There were stars and a big bright moon, but plenty of clouds as well. It was tough to know just what we could expect in the weather department. Yesterday afternoon and evening had produced a couple of inches of new snow on the ground, starting just uphill from our camp. We set out walking in it. The best thing was that there was no wind. We made pretty good time, stopping roughly every hour to rest. Predictably, it was tough going. It was dark, unrelentingly steep, and progressively colder as we ascended. We were breaking altitude records for a number of the team. But we had extremely good and capable help from our guide team. Freddy Kileo's crew of Vendelin, Francis, Eliapenda and Kundasai, along with Oswald, really came through. Everyone felt challenged by the climb, but the team rallied in the face of all the difficulty and discomfort. We pulled up onto Stella Point on the crater rim just at sunrise, which was stunning. But at Stella, we also got hit with some pretty mean wind gusts. We pushed on toward Uhuru Peak, the highest point in Africa, and conditions improved. We weren't alone up there on this beautiful day, but we weren't paying too much attention to other teams. There was excitement and pride in the fact that our entire team had made it to the top. We shot some happy pics and shook hands and hugged. Chris and Jeffrey Hendricks celebrated their one year anniversary on the summit.
We didn't spend too long at 19,340 ft above sea level. It was cold and we wanted to get down to more abundant oxygen. Leaving the top at 7:30, we were back down to Barafu Camp by 10:30. We brunched, packed our bags and got on the trail again. In the course of the afternoon we dropped another 5,000 vertical feet to 10,000 at the Mweka Camp. We are back in the giant heather zone and looking forward to finishing the descent tomorrow.
Best Regards
RMI Guides Dave Hahn
On The Map
What a great accomplishment! Congratulations to everyone. Happy one year, Chris and Jeff! I’m trying some wedding cake in remembrance.
Posted by: Joan on 9/22/2013 at 9:31 pm
So awesome! Chris and Jeff, an anniversary to remember! love, margit
Posted by: Margit Liesche on 9/22/2013 at 6:46 pm
Posted by: Billy Nugent, Zeb Blais
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 12,300'
The Four Day Summit Climb September 19 - 22 led by RMI Guide Billy Nugent & the Five Day Summit Climb September 18 - 22 led by Zeb Blais were unable to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The teams left Camp Muir en route to the summit but were forced to turn around at the top of Disappointment Cleaver (12,300') due to a cloud cap that was descending. The cloud cap brought limited visibility and increased winds. The teams returned to Camp Muir to rest and dry out. They began their descent from Camp Muir a little after 8 am en route for Paradise.
We look forward to seeing the groups at Rainier BaseCamp later this morning.
Glad you guys are safe. (Following Lissa and Joanna but glad for all of you.) You guys are a success for trying and going so far, and being willing and able to go the distance. Sorry the weather made it rough and you had to turn around at “Dissapointment Cleaver.” I’m guessing with that name, you guys weren’t the first to have to deal with having to turn around at that place. What an adventure!:)
Posted by: dawn n. on 9/23/2013 at 5:05 pm
Having made it to the top of the Cleaver with the team… It was awesome. Rainier made it pretty clear it was in no mood to let anyone summit on Sunday.
I can’t say enough about all the RMI guides. They are great. Thanks, guys.
Posted by: Wytold on 9/23/2013 at 7:56 am
RMI Expeditions, this is Dave Hahn with the Kilimanjaro climb. 100% of the team up on top of Uhuru, highest point in Africa! Beautiful day! Do you hear this team? [Shouts in the background.] Sunshine, blue sky, great friends, great team, nice and safe. We'll call you when we get back to camp. Thank you.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Dave Hahn calls from the Roof of Africa.
On The Map
Thanks for sharing this beautiful view of creation!!!
Posted by: Joanne on 9/22/2013 at 1:31 pm
Congratulations!! Liz & Kym we’re thankful that you had a clear view at the top after all of that blood, sweat & tears. I bet that Safari is starting to sound nice right about now. Have a safe return
Posted by: John Schupbach on 9/22/2013 at 10:16 am
Posted by: Seth Waterfall, Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Mt. Rainier Summit Climb led by Seth and Solveig Waterfall reached the summit at 7:00 this morning. The guides reported clear and cold weather conditions. After spending some time on the summit, the team began their descent at 7:45 a.m. We look forward to congratulating them back in Ashford at Rainier Basecamp this afternoon!
Fantastic lead! I had a great time and was so glad we had a window to summit.
A truly professional team with the Waterfalls, Andy And Nick. Thanks so much for keeping things safe and fun. Look forward to seeing you all on future climbs.
Posted by: Scott Anderson on 10/1/2013 at 8:06 pm
The 2 best guides at RMI working together
Posted by: Tom on 9/22/2013 at 4:29 am
We were treated to a clear view of the upper mountain this morning, which was spectacular and short-lived. Thick clouds were forming by our 8:30 AM departure for high camp. We quickly got above the upper limit of any significant vegetation and so when the clouds came in close around us, there really wasn't much to see. Lava and pumice. We were on a great stairmaster, and so we patiently did our exercise. It took just 2.5 hours to climb the 2,000 vertical feet to Barafu ("ice" in Swahili) Camp. Timing was exquisite as persistent and heavy sleet began to fall. Our excellent support staff had built a fine camp for us to shelter in. We rested, ate, drank and got ready for our main event. We are in bed early and trying to manage our excitement for a midnight start to a big summit day. The sleet has quit and the stage is set.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
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Yay, more photos! Beautiful! I’m so glad you have great weather.
Posted by: Mara on 9/25/2013 at 2:59 pm
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