Entries By casey grom
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Today we left the busy city and headed north to continue our acclimatization and experience some of Ecuador's wonderful culture.
Our drive north took us to the small town of Tabacundo were we turned off the highway and drove up a cobbled stone road to the base of our next hike. Our hike for the day was the beautiful Cerro Fuya Fuya, which is large grass covered mountain with a small rocky summit that overlooks a small lake. Although Fuya Fuya is considered a small mountain here in Ecuador it is nearly as tall as Mt. Rainier, but not nearly as tough. Today's climb took just over 3 hours to reach the summit and make it back to our vehicles and everyone did great. Thankfully we timed it perfectly, because no sooner had we arrived back to the cars then the rain started to fall.
We quickly left the trailhead and headed for our new home for the night at Hacienda Hosteria San Luis. San Luis is nestled in between our first climbing objective, Cayambe and one of South Americas largest markets, Otavalo. Normally we would spend the day exploring the grounds of this working ranch, but the rain is still falling and now we are relaxing, listening to the frogs croak and enjoying the peacefulness and the warmth of the fireplace. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves and I'm sure are looking forward to a nice meal and a good night sleep.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Hello Everyone and welcome to RMI's Ecuador Expedition 2011.
The entire team safely arrived last night and headed straight to our nice hotel, Hotel Mercure Alameda, to get a little rest after the long flights. We started today with a huge Ecuadorian buffet breakfast full of delicious breads, pastries, fruit, juices and washed it all down with plenty of coffee. After filling our stomachs we sat down for a round of meet and greet that included an orientation and overview of the program ahead.
Just after 10 a.m. we headed out the door on our city tour of Quito, starting off with a visit to the colonial old town. We were lead by our local guide Jorge though the narrow roads with stops at the Basilica, church of La Campania (built in 1605), the monastery of San Francisco (built in 1535) and a visit to Independence Square to see the President's Place. Next up was a quick stop atop the Panacilla which is a small hill overlooking Quito with a 200' statue of the Virgin of Quito. The views where wonderful of this 2 million-plus city. We finished the tour by heading a little to the north to stop and visit both hemispheres at the Equator from where Ecuador gets its name. It was fascinating to see the Coriolis effect in both hemispheres with different results in just a few feet. It made believers out of most, but I hear there are still a few skeptics among us.
We headed back to our hotel for a quick gear review and a little shopping before dinner and have now returned to catch a little shut eye before tomorrow's adventure.
All is well and everyone is excited to be here.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Charles,
Have a great time. I’m posting the blog!
Debbie Growe
Posted by: Debbie Growe on 12/5/2011 at 10:10 am
Spencer, looks like a great group of people. Have fun, be careful and make sure you don’t get too “hangry”.
Ti Amo.
Karen
Posted by: Karen Geiger on 12/2/2011 at 7:59 am
Posted by: Casey Grom, Tyler Jones
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 10,500'
Our Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir was a microcosm of mountaineering: athletic, challenging, moments of joy and occasional disappointment, but ultimately and most importantly a safe adventure. Heavy rain on Monday negated our planned ascent to Camp Muir, but we had a productive day at Rainier Basecamp going over numerous techniques. We reached Camp Muir on Tuesday and spent the next three days practicing skills and preparing folks for future climbs. These skills were crevasse rescue, cramponing, ice climbing, beacon searches, rope travel, route finding and more! Conditions at Muir were sunny, windy and icy most of the week. We encountered a layer of hard ice on the surface of the Cowlitz Glacier (and above) which unfortunately prevented a summit attempt. Our high point was the top of Cathedral Gap, approximately 10,500’.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Posted by: Casey Grom, Pete Van Deventer
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 10,060'
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer and the Five Day Summit Climb led by Casey Grom checked in from Camp Muir this morning. Due to high winds, blowing snow and poor visibility the climbers were unable to leave Camp Muir this morning to make their summit attempt. The telemetry at Camp Muir and the guides state that wind speeds were consistently 70 - 80 mph with a high of 102 mph during the 1 am hour. The teams are safe and warm in the hut enjoying breakfast and hot drinks at 10,000'. They will be starting their descent from Camp Muir at 9 a.m. PT.
The Four Day Summit Climb led by Casey Grom returned safely to Camp Muir at 8:53am. The team left Muir for their summit attempt at 3am, by 7am they had reached their highpoint of 12,000’. Casey reported inches to feet of new snow with drifts, “It’s like winter up here!”
The Five Day Summit Climb just arrived to Rainier Basecamp in Ashford. They are enjoying some breakfast and warming up after a rain and snow descent from Camp Muir this morning.
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Lauren
Félicitations!
Excellent travail, je suis très heureux pour vous et pour l’équipe!
Gatorade est impressionnant:)
Posted by: Timborazo on 12/5/2011 at 12:51 pm
So Spence, I spent the day raking leaves… not sure it compares to yours. First summit bid tomorrow?
Posted by: Scott Arnold on 12/4/2011 at 4:44 pm
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