Mark Tucker here checking in from Kirurumo, a luxury tented lodge. Half of the team began their journey homeward bound. We wish them all the best on their travels. We stopped at Lake Manyara for some safari game viewing and ended up here. We are about a quarter of the way to Ngorongoro Crater, so a little bit of a drive tomorrow, but more safari in our near future. A luxury tented camp once again doesn’t look like anything on the mountain and everybody is enjoying it.
All is good, having a blast. Wish you were all here
Hello,
We finished our trek of Kilimanjaro today as we hiked the final leg out from Mweka Camp (10,000') to the Mweka Gate (6,000') and said goodbye to our mountain staff.
We met our driver and transferred back to the Dik Dik Hotel. After nice showers we enjoyed a great dinner celebration. We have some tired and sore team mates but everyone is very happy.
We are getting excited for the safari adventure that starts in the morning!
Please check out the photo below of Jan and Clint on the summit of Kilimanjaro on August 11th. The flag they are holding has been flown: on Mt. Rainier, Cotopaxi (Ecuador), Ixtaccihuatl & Pico de Orizaba (Mexico), the U.S. Capital, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, during Desert Storm, Fort Leavenworth, Albania, Germany during the removal of the Berlin Wall, and during Clint's retirement ceremony from the U.S. Army as Colonel.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Well hello, Mark Tucker checking in. Here in the living zone. Lots of trees, air's so thick you can cut it with a knife. The whole team is already in the rack. 7:30! What's that all about? We had a big day, a very successful day. Everybody can take a big, deep breath. All the team is here and doing well. Fantastic! I can start to relax a little bit. We've got a few hours left on the hill tomorrow but overall, we are looking great. Happy times, great dinner, early breakfast and we'll have a nice program with the team here that has been supporting us. Donate a bunch of gear and cash in their direction. They've done a fantastic job supporting us. Not that we couldn't do this without those 56 men that have helped us a long the way. So we are all looking forward to singing a song with them in the morning. So all is well. We'll keep in touch.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
RMI Guide Mark Tucker checking in from Kilimanjaro
Well hello, Mark Tucker here. On the top of Kilimanjaro one more time! Uhuru Peak looking all the way into Kenya, beautiful day! A big shout out to last week's team. Sorry to inform you, we had a pretty breezeless day. Hardly any wind. You guys had a tough day. You guys hung in there, fantastic. We have a colonel from the armed services with us on this trip and he brought out the Old Glory. A beautiful flag that he has had all over the world during his services. A real special moment for us all. The team is doing great. Everybody's doing well. We're going to go ahead and knock this one off and head on down here. All is well and thanks for checking in on us.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
RMI Guide Mark Tucker and team on the Kilimanjaro summit!
Hey again from Mt. Kilimanjaro checking in with our evening update. From the Karanga Camp, hovering around 13,000'. Well we had another great day, can't help but reported it. We climbed the Barranco Wall, which was a half hour of fun. I can't tell you how many pictures I shot and they are going to be looking good in the old photo album, I guarantee it. It was getting a little bit dusty so we called upon the rain god. We got a little sprinkle then we got into camp and the sky opened up a bit. It didn't really soak things but just enough to kind of keep the dust down. Now I see the summit above me, a billion stars out, a little cloud layer below, temperatures not too bad. We are all in good shape. There was no wet gear created. We were perfect timing on that so we are looking really good for our push up to high camp tomorrow. We are all thrilled. Had a great meeting. Went over a lot of details and as a team are doing very well. Don't you worry, we are having a good time and everything is A OK.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
RMI Guide Mark Tucker checks in from Karanga Valley.
Hi Steve - Judy has her first two open water dives tomorrow. We’ll take lots of pictures:-). Pulling for you to have the best experience ever tomorrow. Enjoy! Love you! Shari, Connor, Judy, and Micro
Posted by: Shari Fox on 8/11/2012 at 5:05 pm
Hi Steve!
Glad all is well and trust the rest of the trip will be equally if not more so…
Mark Tucker checking in from the Barranco Camp, Kilimanjaro climb extraordinaire. Well, I'm looking at about ten jillion stars, beautiful night. Let's see here, about 10 days ago I think it was quite windy and a lot of dust. Not tonight, not today. Very comfortable climbing conditions and not to worry, the team is doing just fine. We are looking forward to the short hike tomorrow, a late start to let the other teams get a head start on this little more rocky climb section. Not to worry, doing great, having fun, wish you were all here. See you tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
RMI Guide Mark Tucker checks in from Barranco Camp.
Mark Tucker checking in from Camp 2, Kilimanjaro, the Shira Camp. Well over 12,000'. You can see your breath tonight, a little bit chilly. What a great day. Perfect climbing conditions. We received a little sprinkling yesterday so the dust has been settled. We had a little cloud cover so it made quite comfortable climbing up to camp today. Then it started to rain just a little bit when we arrived so we are already in the tents. We were fortunate enough that the mountain popped out right at sunset tonight. We have now seen the peak. Everybody is quite thrilled with that. Lots of pictures as you can well imagine. The team is doing very well. Everybody's healthy and we've been moving nice and smooth and we're all developing these great techniques for the summit to come. We have a clear night and we'll talk to you tomorrow after a pretty good-size day. We're all looking for it.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
RMI Guide Mark Tucker checks in from Shira Camp on Kilimanjaro
Mark Tucker checking in from 9,999'. Camp 1 on Kilimanjaro on the Machame Route in the Machame Camp reporting all is well. We just had a great day. A little bit overcast. It actually sprinkled just enough to keep the dust down. Last trip it was quite a dusty monster but boy, conditions just couldn't be better. The team is climbing very well, no issues. Great meal, no headaches. Everybody is just climbing into their tents and looking forward to a nice rest. Big day tomorrow but nothing these guys can't handle. Obviously I've got a couple of layers. I've got my heavy coat on just to stay comfortable but it is very pleasant out tonight. The clouds have now blown out and it is a very starry, starry night. We have a real nice camp, a little higher than most groups, so we have our own little private Idaho, which is sort of a bonus. As usual there are a few other teams out here but they are doing okay as well. We are having a blast and we appreciate you guys keeping tabs on us. We'll report back sooner than later.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Hey mom! Looks like you’re having a smooth start and that’s awesome. We are all keeping updated on the blog. We really liked the look of the jungle! Lots of love.
-Evan, Connor, Grandma, Grandpa
Posted by: Evan Aseltine on 8/8/2012 at 3:24 pm
Dick, Brad and Tyler - Looks like you are enjoying your trip so far. Sending this blog to all our friends. Hugs, Gayle
So, our team is now assembled at the Dik Dik Hotel in Tanzania, getting ready for our climb of Kilimanjaro. It is a long way from the US and sometimes mother nature makes getting where we want to go (out of Chicago in a windstorm) a bit more difficult. Nonetheless, we are all here and with most of our luggage......two of the team are missing bags. Our local staff has worked hard to assist us by making additional transfers to the airport to pick up our gear. We have it pretty good in the ol' USA, just some of the places we wish to visit are not at the same level of infrastructure and support we are used to. I look at it that we are a guest in their country and appreciate any help I can get. Bottom line two more equipment checks tonight and some late night packing. Then we will be good to go in the morning.
We celebrated two birthdays tonight with cake, candles, singing and presents. Not a bad place to celebrate! This is adventure travel at its best and tomorrow we start on the mountain.
It doesn't stand a chance against this team!
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
We had a nice drive out of the park today as many elephants stole the show. We made a stop for more shopping and a visit to an orphanage. We had a last great meal with some day rooms to make sure no dust is brought back state side. It is nice when things go like clockwork the whole trip through. No rain or snow on the big hill this time, but we were ready. We had a nice view of the mountain at sunset on our way to the airport.
What a pleasure working with this diverse group these last couple of weeks.They all climbed with great style. Keeping me thrilled with this life I lead.
Look forward to meeting up with them again!
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Did you get close enough to see the flamingos?
Posted by: Carl and Cindy on 8/14/2012 at 4:44 pm
Steve, the hippos are huge. Apparently the hippos are
are not bothered by people being nearby.
Mom
Posted by: Darlene Fox on 8/14/2012 at 4:11 pm
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