Entries By casey grom
Hello everyone. After a day of long flights, our team arrived in Quito last night and moved into the Hotel Mercure Alameda to rest and recover.
This morning the team indulged in a great breakfast including various local fruits and dishes. After a quick orientation meeting, we headed out for a city tour and visit to the Equator. Warm weather and a sunny day made our time walking around the city enjoyable. We were able to visit Independence Plaza, the Jesuit church La Compania, and the Virgin of Quito - a 100+ foot statue with gorgeous views overlooking the city.
Seated at 9,350 feet, the air in Quito is thin, especially for those of us coming from sea level. The city tour, in addition to exposing us to some of the best sights in Quito, gave us a chance to stretch our legs and aid in the acclimatization process. The time that we spend here is building the base to increase our chances of success later in the trip.
We spent the afternoon exploring the Equatorial line and phenomenon associated with it. We watched basins of water, only a dozen feet apart, swirl opposite directions on each side of the line and learned when the indigenous people first discovered their location.
After taking a few hour siesta, the team met for our first dinner to round out the day. The conversation and laughter at our table made it feel like a group of old friends, who will only grow closer in the coming days.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Hello everyone.
We just had another wonderful day here in Tanzania!
Today we visited Tarangire National park that is home to more than 6000 elephants. So needless to say we saw plenty, in fact, they were everywhere we looked. We even had one cross the road just a few feet behind our vehicle and saw one about a week old that everyone wanted to bring home. We witnessed the usual suspects of zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, antelope, a few lions and even managed to spot a cheetah enjoying a little shade beneath a tree.
Tomorrow will be our last day here. We'll make our way back through the park, take a quick shower at the Dik Dik lodge and then head to the airport. I'm sure the whole team is looking forward to getting home and sharing their stories and pictures from this astonishing adventure.
Thanks for following our team!
RMI GUIDE Casey Grom and Team
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Today we visited the famous Ngorongoro Crater. It's a 1.2 million year-old caldera full of wildlife trapped by the steep outer walls.
We saw more than our share of lions today! So close that the lions were literally under our vehicles. It was moderately hot and the lions cooled themselves in the shade of our cars. We also visited a working Masai village and were amazed at their simple yet hard life that they live.
The whole team had a wonderful day and are looking forward to even more safari tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
What an amazing adventure. Take lots of pictures. Love & hugs to the Mountains.
Posted by: Juli on 9/27/2012 at 6:02 am
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Day one of our safari brought us to Lake Manyara, known for its famous pink flamingos and tree climbing lions. It took us about two hours to get there from our hotel. The drive took us through the vast open plains of Africa inhabited mostly by the Maasai people. Once in the park we rolled the tops of our land-cruisers back and drove through while standing up. It's currently the dry season and the lake was mostly gone for now, but we saw many animals- elephants, water bucks, Thompson giselles, impalas, dik diks, zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, and too many birds to name. No big cats today but hopefully tomorrow we'll see plenty.
Everyone enjoyed the day and we are currently resting at the fabulous Plantation Lodge. See for yourself. We will be headed out early tomorrow to try and beat the heat and catch the animals at breakfast, so to speak.
It's off to bed for now,
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Great going guys, beautiful surroundings! Lots to see and take pic’s of!!!! Enjoy the relaxing part of the trip. Carpe Diem!!! ;o)
- Cat
Posted by: Cat on 9/26/2012 at 4:19 am
Hello everyone back home this is Casey Grom checking in from our Kilimanjaro trip. Just wanted to report that we are all safely back at high camp and we had a 100% reach the summit today. Pretty amazing day. Weather was still perfect again for us going up. Little chilly, so we're having to do a little dancing to keep our fingers and toes warm but all in all the group did fantastic. As I said we returned to high camp, we're packing up and we're actually going to be descending a few more thousand feet to our last camp, Mweka Camp. If I get a chance I'll try to send in a written dispatch. And if not we'll certainly check in sometime tomorrow when we get off the mountain. That's all for now, everyone's doing great and look forward to trying to share few photos in a couple days with you guys.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
RMI Guide Casey Grom checks in after summit climb.
On The Map
I have been following your progress, looks like you folks are having a great time wish I were there. Keep safe and have a wonderful journey.
Posted by: Priscilla Neal on 9/24/2012 at 3:43 am
COngrats to you and your team Casey. I have great memories of Kilimanjaro! All the Kili girls spent the weekend together and Lucy and Corell say hey. High fives from Richmond
Posted by: Elsie Bemiss on 9/23/2012 at 7:30 pm
RMI Guide Casey Grom checked in via satellite phone on Saturday night, September 22 at 10:01 p.m. PT from the summit of Kilimanjaro, The Roof of Africa. Casey was very happy to report that all team members had reached the summit it was a perfect day, sunny and beautiful. "It is a fantastic day up here" Casey said.
After spending some time enjoying the views the team will descend to the 10,000' Mweka Camp for their last night on the mountain.
Congratulations to Casey Grom and all of the Kilimanjaro September 15th team members!
On The Map
Hi Everyone,
The team did a great job again on the short hike up to our high camp. It's been a long journey but everyone is in good spirits and we are all excited about tonight's climb.Our plan is to wake at midnight, have a quick breakfast and then be walking by 1am. If all goes according to plan then we hope to be on the summit just after sunrise.We will spend the next few hours resting, preparing our gear and hopefully getting a little sleep too.
The climb will break down into one hour stretches with 10-15 min. breaks between each hour. Our pace will be slow but steady with lots of breathing as we ascend to "The Roof of Africa" 19'340ft above sea level. We'll do our best and will try to call from the summit.
Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and Crew
On The Map
Ken and Leeza! I believe you are at the summit right about now. :-). Thinking of you and best wished to all! Sabine and Larry
Posted by: Sabine Calkins on 9/22/2012 at 6:01 pm
We are thinking of you all & sending good vibes for endurance and ease! We love you, Jordan!
xoxox
Posted by: Susannah Wally on 9/22/2012 at 3:16 pm
Hello again from Africa.
All is well here as we continue to have fantastic weather for our climb. Once again the team impressed me with their performance on the 1,500' high Barranco wall in just over a hour. We were one of the first groups out of camp and had most of the trail to ourselves with only a few porters passing along the way. Those that did impressed us with how they scaled the near vertical wall with 50 lbs balanced on their heads.
We then traversed over to the Karanga Valley and descended a few hundred feet and then climbed back up and are now resting comfortably at camp. Its a beautiful camp with the summit of Kilimanjaro above us and the Karanga Valley below and we can see the forest that surrounds the mountain and the savannah beyond that. Quite a sight to say the least!
The entire team is doing great and I believe everyone is in awe over the fact that we leave camp each morning still standing and yet we always arrive with the new camp set up and waiting on our arrival.
Enjoying the good life and looking forward to moving to high camp tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
It was another wonderful day here on Kilimanjaro with clear skies to start the day. We hiked for just about six hours all total today starting at 12,200' and then climbed up to 15,300' and then descended back down to 12,800'. Everyone did great and thoroughly enjoyed the climb and many of the team members set new altitude records for themselves. The climb took us up across the Shira Plateau, traversed over to Lava Tower and then underneath the Arrow Glacier. We then descended into a valley that sits at the base of the Great Barranco Wall. Along the way we stopped and admired the unique vegetation that is only found in the high altitude of Africa. We saw many giant lobelias, groundsels and hundreds of Senicio trees that look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book.
The team is now resting comfortably in camp and are looking forward to climbing the Barranco Wall tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Glad everything is going great,Megan & Wes hope yall are having fun love Mom & Dad.
Posted by: David & Juli Erickson on 9/21/2012 at 2:01 pm
Hi Ken and Leeza - glad to know you and the rest of the team are doing very well on this exciting adventure. Thank you, Casey, for the updates. Best wishes to all! Sabine and Larry
Posted by: Sabine Calkins on 9/20/2012 at 1:43 pm
We were greeted by crystal clear skies this morning which allowed some amazing views of Kilimanjaro and the route ahead. The team did a great job this morning getting packed up and hitting the trail after a breakfast full of fresh bread, fresh fruits and fried eggs. Not to mention the 10 hours of sleep we had!
The trail out of camp slowly climbed out of the forest and up onto the Shira Plateau. We watched in amazement as the porters moved past us with ease while balancing loads on their heads. Our crew certainly out did themselves by having prepared another feast for lunch about half way up the climb. It was a nice surprise to arrive at lunch with the tables and chairs waiting on us.
It took us about five hours to reach our next camp on the plateau and again camp was set up and our group was happily awaiting our arrival.
Needless to say the team had a wonderful day and everyone is doing great. We will rest here at 12,200' for the night to help with acclimatization and will head up again tomorrow morning.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Hi mom & dad! I miss you guys but i am having a great time with Kara! She has shown me your pictures and they look amazing! Kara Has taken me on a lot of walks and I get to sleep on her bed with her!! I miss u guys but I’m hiking bull run with Kara this weekend so it’s pretty much the same thing hehe hope you are having a fantastic time :)
Love your darling dog jake!
Posted by: Jake Mountain on 9/19/2012 at 7:25 pm
Thanks for the great write ups Casey- Sounds like a fantastic trip that will be in our future—
Posted by: Sterling & Sue F. on 9/27/2012 at 7:50 pm
Hiya Team!
I’m so glad you all got to see elephants and so many other cool animals! Love the pic of baby eli! Sooooo cute!!! Enjoy your last day at the awesome Dik dik resort. Drink a Kili or two for me. ;o) Cheers and safe travels back home!!!
- Cat
Posted by: Cat on 9/27/2012 at 5:50 pm
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