Entries By casey grom
Hello again everyone.
We had a early departure from the Dik Dik Lodge and drove east for about two hours to reach
Kilimanjaro National Park. Our drive took us through the rural country side of Tanzania which is full of banana and coffee plantations, markets and plenty of people headed between home and the local water well. It was very surreal to see so many folks who depend on these wells for their water, especially watching them walking with 5 gallon jugs carefully balanced on their heads.
Once at the gate we took a short break to sign in and allow our team to arrange all the loads and hire all of our porters for the seven-day climb. Our team started with 11 climbers and quickly grew as we acquired all the support of cooks, waiters, camp crew and porters and we ended up at a total of 68!
Just before 11 a.m. we set off on the trail that ascended through the forest and slowly climbed all the way up to just shy of 10,000'. It took the team a little over four hours to reach our camp and everyone did fantastic and enjoyed the hike.
The team just finished dinner and are all comfortably resting in our warm sleeping bags- thanks to the hot water bottles our gracious crew prepared for us.
Not quite roughing it yet!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Hello everyone and welcome to RMI Expeditions' fourth
Kilimanjaro Climb and Safari of the 2013 summer! The whole team arrived last night after some very long flights and have been comfortably resting here in Africa just outside of Arusha, Tanzania in the wonderful Dik Dik Hotel.
After catching up on some much needed sleep we started the day with a nice breakfast of fresh juices, fruits, eggs and delicious bread while watching the local monkeys play in the yard. We then had our official team meeting where we had a round of introductions and discussed the intricacies of our upcoming climb. We spent the remainder of the afternoon packing and enjoy the beautiful grounds of our hotel. We wrapped up the night with an amazing five-course meal that finished with everyone favorite: bananas and chocolate ice cream!
Everyone is doing great and we are all very excited about the adventure that lies ahead.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and Crew
The
Expedition Skills Seminar – Emmons led by
RMI Guide Garrett Stevens called from Columbia Crest at 6:56 am, the team arrived at the summit around 6:30 am PT. Garret reported clear skies with a marine layer below at 5,000’, moderate winds and cold temperatures on the Emmons route. The team will return to their high camp for a final night on the mountain.
RMI Guide Casey Grom & the
Four Day Summit Climb approached the crater rim of Mt. Rainier shortly before 7 am. Casey reported 100% of the team members would be reaching the summit. He also reported winds from the west and good route conditions.
Congratulations to today summit climbers!
The Four Day Summit climb led by Thomas Greene and Billy Nugent reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Thomas’ team was starting their descent from the crater rim at 7:45 am. They reported high clouds building, cold temperatures and calm winds.
The teams will continue their descent. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's summit climb teams!
It was a great day here in St. Pete's!
We started the day with a walking tour of this beautiful city led by our wonderful local guide Natasha. She took us to the major sites and enlightened us to the 300 years of this city's history. We took a short break where some folks did a little exploring on there own, and others headed to the famous Hermitage where we learned that if someone spent one minute at every piece of art, it would take 8 years to view it all! Needless to say, we saw only a fraction of it.
Later in the evening the team headed out on a final tour of this majestic city by boat. We spent an hour touring the city from its many canals, which was a great way to wrap up our
trip.
It's been a wonderful adventure with a great team. We are all thankful for the great weather we've had, but are looking forward to getting back home.
Missing all of our families and most of our friends.
See ya soon!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Well the team has arrived in beautiful
St. Petersburg. It was a long day of travel: three-hour bus ride followed by a three-hour flight. It's warm here and the sun doesn't set until nearly 11pm. We went on a short walk to stretch the legs and had a wonderful dinner at a great little cafe nearby.
Everyone is doing well and looking forward to exploring the city tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Hello everyone:
It was a pretty mellow day here in
Cheget. The team spent the day resting after our big climb. We mostly just relaxed around town doing a little shopping and catching up on some emails at the hotel. Everyone is packed up and ready for our trip to St. Petersburg tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Update 10:30 a.m. PST:
Success!
It was a wonderful albeit tiring day for all. We started our climb with a 1:00 a.m. wake up call and hit the trail by 3:00. It was a beautifully clear and calm night for climbing. The team did an amazing job at taking care of themselves and pushing hard to reach the
highest point in Europe. It took about seven hours to reach the summit and less than half that to descend back to camp. We had a quick lunch and headed downhill for showers and a great celebration dinner with our local support.
Everyone is extremely happy and tired!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Casey Grom and team reached the top of
Mt. Elbrus this morning! After spending some time on top to enjoy the views and take some photos, the team began their descent. At 3:00 a.m. PST and back at the Garabashi Hut, Casey sent the photo below showing the team on the summit!
On The Map
Hello everyone:
Today is our rest day before we make our
summit attempt. We got up a little early for a little crampon practice while the snow was still firm and familiarized ourselves with our ice axes. We had breakfast and then spent a little time playing cribbage. After lunch we had our summit talk to prepare ourselves for tonight's climb. Everyone is ready and all we need now is a little good weather!
Keep your fingers crossed for us.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Hey everybody this is Del, one of the Elbrus team members, reporting from about 12,000 feet on the
southside of Elbrus. Today we did an acclimatization hike to 15,000 feet and everybody did well. We've got a strong team and a great group of people with diverse backgrounds. Greg, another team member, fabricated a set of horseshoes from some steel he scavenged and a lot of people have been playing on the mountain. Besides that, we've been napping, reading and socializing to pass the time. Our cook, Albina, has been feeding us well and the food has been tasty. The weather has been pretty good from this Hawaii boy's perspective and we're all looking forward to making our summit attempt tomorrow night. We're doing well and our spirits are high!
Del and the RMI Elbrus Gang
Hi Chris and Jess,
Love following the climb and your progress ... I can only imagine how awesome it must be. Everything is looking up for you guys ): , haha. Enjoy, stay safe and I look forward to seeing the photos!
Love you guys,
Lorraine
Posted by: lorraine bocci on 8/22/2013 at 7:16 am
Chris - Jess sending extra energy your way—the next 9,000 feet is a breeze…enjoy… you two rock.
Posted by: Bocci clan on 8/21/2013 at 10:13 am
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