Entries By casey grom
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Expedition Skills Seminar Paradise led by RMI Guide Ben Liken reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Ben reported sunny skies and a lot of wind on the summit. The teams began their descent around 9 am. We look forward to greeting them in Ashford this afternoon.
Congratulations Climbers!
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Jambo from Africa everyone!
We have had an exciting last two days as we made our way to Tarangire National Park, known for their abundance of elephants, in fact, they have more elephants per square kilometer than any other place on earth.
Yesterday we spent about four hours driving through the park, which is mostly a savannah with a river running through it. We saw hundreds of elephants, zebra, wildebeest, Impala, Élan and plenty of other wildlife too.
We spent the night out in the African bush in a remote tented camp called Kikoti that overlooks Tarangire Park. We arrived to watch the beautiful sunset one last time and then enjoyed yet another wonderful meal.
Today we finished our safari with our drive back through Tarangire where we had hoped to see a leopard or cheetah, but sadly it wasn't to be. We have all enjoyed our last few days here in Africa and everyone is looking forward to getting back to the Dik Dik Hotel for one last shower before heading to the airport.
Missing all of our families and most of our friends ;)
Thanks for following.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and a happy crew
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Hello once again everyone
This was a marvelous day as we visited the famous Ngorongoro Crater, considered by some to be the 8th wonder of the world. We started early with hopes of catching more of the elusive wildlife.
Today we saw more Zebras, Cape buffalo, wildebeest, gazelles than anyone expected, in fact at such close range that we could almost touch them. We also saw plenty of hyenas, ostrich, Impala, hippos and got very close to a few lions, which was a highlight for everyone and even managed to spot a Rhino off in the distance. Needless to say it was a wonderful day of well deserved safari.
We then wrapped up the day with a visit to a working Maasai village. The Maasai are the local nomadic people that have inhabited this area for more than a thousand years and still try to exist with their same way of life.
Finally we returned to the amazing Plantation lodge to relax and enjoy another wonderful meal.
All is well!
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Today was our first day of safari and we headed to Lake Manyara National Park. It took a little over 2 hours to get there as we drove through Arusha and then the vast rural savannah of Tanzania. It's situated at the base of the eastern Great Rift Escarpment, and is home the the famous tree climbing lions, over 450 different birds, huge troops of baboons, hippos, and most of the other African animals.
It's been rather dry this year and unfortunately we didn't see the famous lions, but we did see plenty of other wildlife up close.
After spending a couple of hours of safari we made our way to the wonderful Plantation Lodge where we've been enjoying being spoiled and just finished another fantastic meal.
Everyone is doing great and are excited to see what tomorrow brings as we head to Ngorongoro Crater.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Hello again everyone.
What an amazing two days it has been! Yesterday's climb of Kilimanjaro couldn't have gone better. It was a beautiful and calm night and there was nearly a full moon that illuminated our way, although we had headlamps, we could easily have climbed without them.
Everyone did an outstanding job of supporting each other and taking care of themselves also, which made my job pretty easy.
After a long climb up we spent about 20 minutes on the roof of Africa taking in the view and also getting plenty of photos. We then headed all the way back to camp where we had a quick lunch before descending further down the mountain to our last camp at 10,000', where the air felt thick and warm.
Today we woke early and hiked the remaining way back down to the gate, doing our best to stay on our feet as the clouds rolled in and rain began to fall. It was a little slippery, but the team did just fine as we all knew there was a hot shower awaiting us back at our lodge.
We wrapped up the evening with a huge celebratory meal and some well earned cold drinks of our choice.
Everyone is doing great and we are all very excited about the safari which begins tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Open your heart and you will be forever drawn back to Africa
Posted by: candy briggs on 8/5/2015 at 9:13 am
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the July 25th Kilimanjaro Climb Team reached the summit of Kilimanjaro today.
Congratulations to the team!
On The Map
CONGRATULATIONS Giulia!!!! So very happy for you!!! : )
Posted by: Katie K on 8/3/2015 at 6:19 am
Casey, Sarah and Team - How thrilling! Congratulations to all on this opportunity; well-done!
M&D
Posted by: Janet on 8/2/2015 at 9:11 am
Hello again everyone!
It started as a beautiful day here on Kilimanjaro but once again the clouds enveloped us as we left Karanga Camp and made our way uphill to our high camp, Barafu Camp. This camp sits on a ridge line around 15,000 ft which eventually leads to the summit of Kilimanjaro. It's a relatively large camp spread up and down the ridge and we are sharing it with all the other climbers using this route; I'd guess that there are ~100 other climbers here with us.
Everyone is doing very well and we are excited to start our climb early in the morning. The team will have a early dinner and if all goes according to plan we hope to have breakfast and be hitting the trail shortly after midnight. We'll have a nice slow pace that should take us around 8 hours to reach the summit. So keep your phones handy as I said, one lucky climber will get to call home from the "Roof of Africa." That will be around midnight for those of you on the east coast.
Fingers crossed!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Hi Giulia - so you´ve reached the top of Africa - well done - hope you get a wonderful view up there & a good celebration & rest before the descent. Great to get your PC- Look forward to seeing a Photo of you all up there. Take care - love Tessa
Posted by: Tessa on 8/2/2015 at 6:06 am
Jambo Everyone
Things are going well and the team is doing great here on Kilimanjaro.
Today the team had a leisurely start as we wanted the sun to warm us up before our only semi-technical part of the climb. The trail out of camp starts off relatively mellow and then quickly ramps up as we ascend the great Barranco wall. It's truthfully not as intimidating as it looks, but when does a thousand foot cliff ever look easy. Thankfully the route winds its way up the cliff through ramps and small rock steps and eventually on to easier terrain. Everyone did a great job of taking it easy and I actually think they all enjoyed the challenge we had. It was a very busy day and there was fair bit of traffic on the route as all the porters and climbers slowly made our way to the next camp here above the Karanga Valley.
Today was a relatively short day for us as this will be our last camp before we move up to our high camp tomorrow.
As usual we've had a trivia challenge that one lucky winner will receive a satellite phone call from the summit. It won't happen until we reach the summit, but that's not too far away. I'll let everyone know when that might happen on tomorrow's dispatch. So stay tuned!
We are spending the remainder of the day relaxing and enjoying the royal treatment by our gracious staff here on Kili.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Hello again from Kilimanjaro -
Today the team had our usual start at 7am with a full breakfast at 7:30 and hit the trail just after 8. The skies were clear and it felt wonderful to be hiking uphill in the warmth of the sun. Our route today took us up to about 15,000' (setting new altitude records for some) as we passed a landmark known as Lava Tower and then descended down into the Barranco valley. This valley is full of giant groundsels and senecio trees that look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book.
As we arrived at camp the clouds enveloped us once again and we are currently relaxing back in our tents waiting on dinner.
Everyone is doing well and enjoying the climb.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Hello from Kilimanjaro!
Today the team woke to mostly clear skies, but the clouds in the distance told us we shouldn't linger long. So after a nice breakfast with fresh fruits and scrambled eggs we hit the trail headed uphill. We climbed up the rocky ridge that leads to the Shira Plateau making good time, stopping only to take breaks and let the endless line of porters pass as they easily made their way up with their loads carefully balanced their heads. It is astonishing how easy they made it look!
Our gracious crew had sprinted ahead to have camp waiting for us and it was a welcome site after hiking for just over 4 hours. We arrived in time for a hot lunch and thankfully, just before those clouds started to sprinkle on us.
Everyone is doing great, especially since we are all warm and dry in our camp.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and Crew
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Bett, you are inspiring. Congratulations on reaching your goal. Such determination. Can’t wait to hear about it.
Posted by: Peggy Meyer on 8/22/2015 at 8:21 am
Keep climbing Janet and Bet!! Thinking of you!
Posted by: Di on 8/22/2015 at 8:19 am
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