Entries By casey grom
We woke to beautiful, clear skies today and enjoyed the early morning warmth after a slightly chilly night. First up for the day was an all important breakfast with pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns, cereal and last but not least COFFEE. A special thanks to Jeff Martin for preparing a wonderful travel kit with plenty of it.
We hit the trail a little before 9am and slowly made our way passing dozens of tea houses, trekkers, and porters. We crossed several suspension bridges decorated with prayer flags that sit high above the valley floor with amazing views in all directions. After a few hours hiking we arrived at the big hill that leads up to the famous Namche Bazaar, which is the center of the Khumbu Valley. The team did a great job and before too long we all arrived in Namche just in time for a late lunch and before the snowflakes started to fall from the sky. We spent the remainder of the evening exploring this small town and napping as we continue to adjust to the new time zone and altitude.
Everyone is in good spirits and looking forward to our rest day tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Hello from the Khumbu everyone!
Today we caught our early flights from Kathmandu and safely arrived at the famous Lukla airport on what was one of the smoothest flights I've ever had. Luckily for us there were no clouds in sight which allowed us an easy and very scenic flight into the heart of the Himalayas. Once in Lukla we relaxed and had breakfast at one of the tea houses while our bags were sorted and readied for our porters.
We hit the trail just after 8 am and hiked casually along the trail taking in the clean fresh mountain air and all the beautiful sights of the surrounding peaks. We hiked for just over three hours stopping along the way to snap photos and enjoy the scenery of the lush green forest with towering snow capped mountains overhead.
The team is comfortably settled in to another tea house here in a village called Phakding that sits on the edge of a beautiful blue river.
All is well and everyone is delighted to be here.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and Crew
On The Map
Greetings from Nepal Everyone!
And welcome to RMI's first Nepal trek of 2014!
After some very long flights from the USA the team has finally arrived here in Kathmandu. Our first day was mostly spent catching up on some much needed sleep and adjusting to our new time zone, which is 9-12 hours ahead of everyone back home.
Our second day started off with the usual meet and greet where the team got to know one another and discussed the adventure ahead and made sure everyone had all the essential gear.
After a short break we headed into the main tourist center of Thamel for a quick lunch at the famous Roadhouse Cafe known for its tasty pizza.
Shortly after lunch the team set off to do a little site seeing in Kathmandu and stopped off at two of the most important sites, the famous monkey temple and the giant Boudhanath.
The evening ended with a nice dinner here at our hotel appropriately named the Yak and Yeti. And it was off to bed before our early flights.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and Crew
Posted by: Casey Grom, Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 19,348'
Summit on Cotopaxi!!!
We awoke to start our climb from the Refugio at 16,000' in a misty cloud, but as we ascended the thick fog gave way to clear skies and stars. Our ascent took a direct route that brought 100% of our team to the summit of https://Cotopaxi">Cotopaxi just as the sun began to rise.
We had a calm and relatively warm hour on the summit to make some calls and take photos while enjoying impressive views of the crater and surrounding volcanoes.
We are now all safely back in Quito and just returned from a delicious celebration dinner!
We are looking forward to being home with our friends and family soon!
RMI Guides https://Casey Grom and https://Solveig Waterfall
On The Map
Congratulations to Brian and the rest of you!
Posted by: Karen Easterday on 12/21/2013 at 5:30 pm
Congrats to everyone!
Posted by: Paul Judge on 12/20/2013 at 10:33 am
Posted by: Casey Grom, Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 16,000'
After almost two days of rest at the lovely Chilcabamba the team is feeling refreshed and excited for Cotopaxi. We had a leisurely breakfast and then finished our packing before loading up the van and heading uphill to reach the parking lot that allows us easy access to the mountain. The parking lot sits at about 15,000' and the climbers hut is just about a 1,000' above that. Our timing was perfect today as we hiked to the hut just after a small snow squall and shortly before the weather came back in. Lucky for us!
Our plan tonight is to get up around 11pm again and hopefully be climbing shortly after midnight. I'm expecting the climb take us around 7 hours if all goes according to plan.
Keep your phones nearby tomorrow morning. A lucky winner will make a summit phone call if the weather allows.
Wish us luck
RMI Guide Casey Grom and team
On The Map
God’s speed! Safe climbing!
Love you Brian M
Posted by: Duane Mycroft on 12/19/2013 at 5:20 am
Posted by: Casey Grom, Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 12,000'
We all enjoyed a restful, relaxing, and rejuvenating day off at the Chilcabama Eco Lodge just outside the Cotopaxi National Park. The Hacienda sits at about 12,000', which after our summit on Cayambe feels like sea level!
Our team took advantage of the thicker air with a variety of afternoon activities. Some of us participated in a cribbage tournament, some took naps, a few motivated folks went for a scenic jog, and we all spent time wandering the property taking in the beautiful plants and wildlife.
During the pre-dinner hours we discussed packing strategy and the game plan for Cotopaxi, and are excited and prepared to tackle our next objective tomorrow.
Wish us luck!
RMI Guides Casey Grom and Solveig Waterfall
On The Map
Posted by: Casey Grom, Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 18,997'
Summit!
We did it, most of us anyway, but I have to wonder if those that turned around short of the summit didn't make a better decision. I say that because it was one of the toughest days I've had on Cayambe in a long time. It was cold, windy, and snowy almost the entire day. The conditions were safe to climb in, but it was far from enjoyable. Six of our nine climbers made the summit and the three that chose to head down early did so because I believe they simply weren't enjoying it.
We started our day rather early with breakfast at 11pm and were walking shortly after midnight. The first hour of the climb went rather smoothly as we made our way to the start of the glacier. We took a short break to adjust layers, put our crampons on and rope up for the ascent. It seemed like as soon as we started walking the wind picked up and the snow began to blow. Unfortunately for us the blowing snow was coming straight down the glacier and directly into our faces. As we painfully made our way uphill, we had to stop and put on our Gore-tex to protect us from the conditions. We slowly battled our way for the next few hours taking short breaks and finally after seven trying hours stood on the summit. It was so windy on top we only stayed for just a few minutes before quickly descending back down the glacier.
Once safely back at camp the team made quick work of getting packed up and we headed down valley to thicker air and a wonderful cafe where we filled bellies before heading south to our home at Chilcabamba for the next few days. I'm sure everyone will sleep soundly tonight and we are looking forward to taking a rest day tomorrow.
Everyone is in good spirits!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
yay daddy!
Posted by: Marianne Mycroft on 12/16/2013 at 1:56 pm
Way to go Dad!!
Posted by: Gabe Mycroft on 12/16/2013 at 1:55 pm
Posted by: Casey Grom, Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 15,300'
Greetings everyone back home. This is Casey Grom checking in from the RMI Ecuador Volcanoes expedition. Just wanted to let you know that everyone's doing fantastic. We are up here at the Refugio or the hut this sits at the base of glacier on Cayambe. We just finished dinner and packed our bags for tomorrow's climb. We took the day to get up early and go for a nice hike up to the glacier to do a little climbing review. Everyone did fantastic. The weather is looking pretty good. It was incredibly nice today; sunny almost all day. A little bit of clouds now but the forecast is pretty good. So we are going to be getting up about 11 PM and hopefully walking a little after midnight. We'll do our best to check in from the summit. I'm anticipating is is going to take us about seven hours to reach the summit. Sorry we are having some technology difficulties with charging some of our iPhones up here but will hopefully have some pictures sent tomorrow when we descend after our climb and we get cell reception or Wi-Fi access. Everything's great and looking forward to sending some pictures to you guys. Thanks.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Casey Grom calling in from Cayambe's Refugio.
On The Map
Posted by: Casey Grom, Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Hi Everyone!
We are enjoying a relaxing evening here at the beautiful La Casa Sol near the city of Otavalo.
We left the comforts of Quito this morning and headed into the mountains (where many of us actually feel more comfortable!) for our second acclimatization hike. As we watched the city disappear in the rear view mirror we traded well paved roads for cobblestones and washboard. The van bumped along, and our driver skillfully negotiated the hazards of rural driving... while we all fought the urge to hold our breath and cross our fingers. Maybe we should have, because our luck soon ran out and Friday the 13th delivered us a logistical sucker punch.
With a loud crack, our vehicle let us know it was done going uphill for the day. A dislodged cobblestone had broken the axel and stopped us, quite suddenly, in our tracks.
Fortunately, our group has the perfect easy going attitude, and after getting the baggage and van transfer sorted out, we shouldered our daypacks and set off for some slightly more oxygenated exercise. Nearly three hours and five miles later we arrived at the trailhead!
One of our local guides, Esteban (nicknamed Topo), had been busy reorganizing our logistics while we strolled, and he and a few others arrived to our rescue shortly thereafter in shining Toyota Hilux's.
Delivered safely to our hacienda we enjoyed a delicious dinner and are now all busy packing our gear and getting organized and prepared to tackle our first big objective. Wish us luck as we travel towards Cayambe tomorrow!
RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall
On The Map
Posted by: Casey Grom, Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 15,000
Hello again everyone
Today we had a very nice hike to help with our acclimatization on a nearby peak called Pichincha. It is one of the many local peaks that is situated above Quito and is used by many climbers to help adjust to the higher altitude here in Ecuador. We made use of the gondolas to help us gain access to around 12,500 ft then hiked the additional 2,500 ft to the summit. It took our team roughly 3 hours to gain the top after a little scrambling up the final bit to reach our high point thus far. It was a personal high point for a few of us, and the entire team did a fantastic job. After spending a bit of time on the summit and getting are photos we descended all the back to our hotel for a brief nap before dinner.
Everyone is in good spirits and looking forward to tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew.
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Congratulations on a job well done. We love looking at the pictures, Dot and Rog
Posted by: dot hemminghaus on 3/31/2014 at 8:07 am
Pastor Sylvia from Tx! Hi, I wish you a wonderful trek! I am looking forward to reading your posts, and seeing your beautiful pictures. that you for sharing your journey with all of us! Victory for you all! Pastor Sylvia Joplin
Posted by: Sylvia Joplin on 3/22/2014 at 8:54 pm
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