RMI Expeditions Blog
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Torres del Paine
Greetings from Chileno Hut. Uneventful 10-mile day we had... just astonishing views left and right as we contoured the Paine Horns into the Ascencio Valley, which will eventually take us to the base of the Towers. Our goal is to see the sunrise, so we're heading to bed early.
We'll check-in from Puerto Natales tomorrow!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
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Training day on Antisana. After a good dinner last night and plenty of rest, the team was up and in good spirits this morning. After a relaxing breakfast with coffee, hot cereal, and chill out music, we geared up and headed uphill to the training site for the day.
The lower flanks of Antisana's glaciers are a rolling field of hard blue ice, making an excellent site to practice some of the more advanced mountaineering skills. We covered steep fixed line travel with ascenders, rappelling, and vertical ice climbing. Everyone had a good time today!
We wrapped the day up in the early afternoon, getting back to our base camp just after 1pm. This gave us plenty of time to crush some quesadillas for lunch and prepare for our summit attempt tonight.
We are going to have an early night tonight, and go for the top of Antisana this evening. Wish us luck!
We'll check in tomorrow when we're back down.
Until then,
RMI Guides Nick Hunt, Steve Gately, and the rest of the Ecuador team
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Today we visited the famous Ngorongoro Crater, and considered by many to be the 8th wonder of the world. The crater is what remains of a once massive volcano that erupted and collapsed on itself, leaving behind a giant caldera that's almost exactly 100 square miles. Every time we've visited the crater it's been excitingly different, and today was the same.
We were able to see many lions, some close enough that they actually stopped to smell the tires of our Safari vehicles. However, we were safely inside our vehicle, yet it was extremely exciting to be so close!
As we made our way around the Ngorongoro crater we saw tons of other wildlife, zebras, Cape buffalo, wildebeest, jackals, Giselle, countless raptors and many other large birds. It was quite a day to say the least, and I'm certain one that won't be forgotten by anyone.
We wrapped up the day with a visit to a Maasai village just outside the crater rim. The Maasai people are a nomadic tribe that have lived here for more than 500 years among the wildlife, while raising the cattle that sustain them. The team spent time visiting the homes of these kind and gentle people, with tour guides who shared their history and way of life.
We finished the evening here at the plantation lodge and are looking forward to what tomorrow may bring as we head to Tarangire National Park.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Posted by: Billy Nugent, Hannah Smith
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Well, the whirlwind is finally over... We enjoyed a breezy, sunny, but not too hot walk down from Plaza Argentina into Pampa de Leñas complete with multiple river crossings and the sore feet that come with a seemingly endless rocky trail. The camp at Pampa de Leñas turned out to be a ghost town... only the Rangers were there along with us and one herriero who was running a small mule team with our gear. The head ranger at the camp, Hugo, wished for me to pass on his hello to several RMI guides including JJ, Garrett, and Katrina. It's fun to see familiar faces like Hugo's over the years, and even though we only get to hang out over maté once a year we still feel like we know eachother. Anyway, our ragged team enjoyed a truly amazing meal prepared by Barco, our lone herriero which we devoured sitting around the fire. We ate a typical Argentine asado complete with roasted veggies, slabs of grilled beef, bread, and of course wine.
The next day was a bit of a slog but we managed to dispatch the remaining miles to the trailhead before the afternoon and before we knew it we were packed and on the van back to Mendoza. While the Rodrigo and the friendly staff at the Nutibara hotel are totally used to returning Aconcagua climbers there were certainly looks from other hotel guests while we were checking in. I guess they're not used to crews of people coming in dusty, sweaty, bleary-eyed, and stinking of mule farts with over a dozen filthy duffel bags piled in the lobby. Lucky for the people of Mendoza we cleaned up nicely and ate a casual meal at a nearby restaurant because we were a bit tired. We're saving our big celebration dinner for tonight at a fancy pants restaurant even though some of our comrades are gone already and others will be headed out this afternoon. Sorry amigos, you'll be missed.
I wanted to thank our whole team for their hard work in making this expedition a smashing success... but I especially wanted to thank Hannah and our local guide Rolo for working their butts off for the rest of the team. You guys are rad.
Well, that's about it... Until next time.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Hello Everyone,
Tommy and I wish we could be there for the celebration. It was great being with all of you. It was a truly amazing trip. Reaching the summit and enjoying the time on the trail with each of you was terrific. Congrats on a successful trip back to Mendoza. Thanks again for being willing to help me when the injury occurred.
A special thanks goes to Billy, Hannah and Rolo for being the best guides ever!!!!
Posted by: Rick Jordan on 2/2/2017 at 8:57 am
Greetings once more from Ecuador!
Today was what climbers like to call an "active rest day". After our successful summit of Cayambe yesterday, our bodies need some time to recover and prepare for our next objective. But rather than just napping all day, we took the opportunity to exercise our minds and learn a few new technical skills.
We moved this morning from the hacienda to our Base Camp for Antisana, where we pitched a bunch of tents in the rolling meadows at the base of the peak. After a little bit of afternoon napping, we donned our thinking caps and filled the evening hours refreshing our knowledge on knots and practiced a crevasse rescue scenario around camp. This was followed by an incredible pasta dinner cooked by fellow guide Steve Gately. If he wasn't such a good guide, he'd make a pretty good chef!
With full bellies, we crawled in to our sleeping bags to get another good night of rest. Tomorrow morning we'll head out to the toe of Antisana's glaciers for more training in the field.
Stay tuned for updates tomorrow as we prepare for our second summit attempt!
Until then,
RMI Guides Nick Hunt and Steve Gately, and the rest of the Ecuador Team
Hola friends and family,
Well, it seems like we're actually doing it! We bid a hasty farewell to Mendoza this morning, and after a necessary empanada stop found ourselves in dry, barren, windy Penitentes. The afternoon was spent answering the question "to mule duffel or not to mule duffel," and as of now our gear is locked, loaded, and ready to lug uphill. Everyone is looking forward to throwing a pack on and starting the walk in to Aconcagua Base Camp tomorrow.
Ciao for now,
RMI Guide Pepper Dee
Shannon, you got this. Just be your usual mighty self… Love you Good luck to everyone on the team… Godspeed.
Posted by: Linda on 2/2/2017 at 8:59 am
Kiss some serious mountain ass Shannon! I’ll be cheering you from home.
Safe travels to the whole team!
Posted by: Kathie on 2/1/2017 at 8:44 am
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Torres del Paine
Good afternoon from "The Frances Domes Camp". We have just returned from our hike to what might be the visual highlight of our trip- The French Valley. After two days of short stages and rainy weather, we had outstanding meteorology to surmount the trail that leads up to the amphitheater where three to four thousand feet rock faces reign majestic over the park. Needles like the Cathedral or the Sword, or massives like the Blade, the Castle, or Paine Grande are nothing but jaw dropping. Hanging glaciers, turquoise lakes, and lenticular clouds above added just the extra touch to make the eight-hour round trip worthwhile.
We're approaching the end of our trip, but everyone keeps enjoying the fascination that awaits around every corner like the first day.
Today we moved to geodesic domes, which at the shore of Lake Nordenskjöld, provide some sort of surreal lodging alternative; pretty cool indeed.
Tomorrow another long day awaits, as we get closer to connecting the loop we started well over a week ago.
Remain expectant to more surprises!
RMI Guide ElÃas de Andres Martos and team
Wow! Sounds like some amazing scenery. I eagerly anticipate the slideshow when you return. It looks like everyone is doing great and really enjoying the trip. The glacial line dance is impressive. Hike well and stay safe. Can’t wait to see you in 2 days!
Posted by: Carter on 2/1/2017 at 9:07 pm
Wow, awesome pictures. Glad you can still do a little song and dance.
Posted by: Sandy on 1/31/2017 at 1:06 pm
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Safari!
Today was the first day of safari for us and we headed east to visit Lake Manyara, which is known for its tree climbing lions, flamingos, and more than 400 different species of birds.
The day started with a slight sprinkle of rain, and slowly increased to nearly a full-on downpour. Thankfully the weather broke and we had a really nice rest of the day viewing the wildlife that hardly seemed to notice us, despite being only feet away at times.
We didn't manage to see any of those famous lions, but we had a very close encounter with elephants. Nothing dangerous, but they passed close enough that we could have almost touched them.
We did manage to see wildebeest, zebras, Cape buffalo, giraffe, hippos, baboons, impalas and so many birds we lost count. It was a pretty nice introduction to the incredible bio-diversity that Africa has, and everyone enjoyed the day riding around in our safari vehicles.
We finished the day spending a few hours relaxing and exploring the grounds of our amazing lodge, the Plantation Lodge. Clearly, we are no longer "roughing it".
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Safari crew
Posted by: Ben Liken, Pepper Dee
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Hey all,
Our entire team has arrived in Mendoza and excited to get moving toward the mountain. But we can't go to Aconcagua before our inaugural steak and Malbec dinner, so we hit the town and took care of business. Now with stuffed stomachs we are ready to get a full night's rest after a long journey to South America. Tomorrow we will head into the Andes!
Stay tuned,
RMI Guide Ben Liken
Cumbre! Today we successfully summited Cayambe, our first big objective of this seminar.
We woke up this morning (last night?) at 11PM and were greeted with the closest thing to ideal climbing conditions: clear skies, no wind, and cool temperatures. Whatever sacrifices were made to the weather gods last night clearly worked out for us!
After a quick breakfast in the hut, we geared up, turned on the headlamps, and began our long day of climbing. We started our climb with about an hour of scrambling over rocky terrain, making our way to the toe of the glacier. Once there, we donned our crampons, ice axes and climbing ropes to begin the technical climbing. Unlike most mountaineering routes in the United States that utilize many switchbacks to ease the pain of ascending steep slopes, the route on Cayambe is fairly direct, cutting straight up "the gut" of the slopes. You gain altitude quicker, but the climbing is bit more strenuous.
Our team persevered, however, and as we neared the summit ridge, we were ready to tackle the crux of this climb: a steep, exposed traverse through a maze of seracs and crevasses. Although the traverse is relatively short, gaining roughly 200 feet of vertical elevation, managing that type of terrain at 18,800' above sea level is never easy. This team handled it in good style, though, and we gained the summit ridge just after sunrise this morning, giving us stunning views of Antisana, Cotopaxi, and Chimborazo as we walked the final 15 minutes along the ridge to the summit of Cayambe.
We successfully made our way down, and we are now relaxing at the oldest hacienda in Ecuador, giving our bodies a chance to recover as we prepare to move tomorrow to the base camp of Antisana, our second objective of this trip. I'm sure the entire team is looking forward to a good night's sleep tonight!
Until tomorrow,
RMI Guides Nick Hunt and Steve Gately, and the rest of the Ecuador team
On The Map
I am ecstatic to read this news this morning! Congrats to everyone, and sincere thank yo to the weather gods!
Posted by: Denise reynolds on 1/31/2017 at 8:20 am
Nice work ! Congrats Nick and team !
Posted by: Jim Nixon on 1/30/2017 at 8:26 pm
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Wow!!!! The pictures are amazing! What a fabulous trip! Cannot wait to hear all about it!!! Lots of love! Have a safe journey home!
Erle
Posted by: Erle Broughton on 2/3/2017 at 9:41 am
The photos in these posts are fantastic! How are you getting these amazing shots? Are you using some sort of filter that makes them look like artwork?
Aspiring photographer here
Thanks
Tiina
Posted by: Tiina Moore on 2/2/2017 at 7:02 am
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