It's Casey and Billy checking in from down south! We've been hanging out in Quito for the last couple of days and the whole crew is already having a blast, and being situated at over 9,000 ft, we've already begun our acclimatization for our climbs. The first day around town was excellent. After a great breakfast at "Spicy" aka the hotel restaurant, we hit the town on a city tour to get a dose of history and colonial architecture. We had the chance to visit the Basilica, Presidential Palace, among other incredible buildings dating back from Spanish colonial times. This place is OLD, compared to American cities. Quito was founded in 1532! After the city tour, the group split. Half of the team headed to the Plaza de Toros and the other half went to a cool museum along the equator. The crew at the plaza had the fortune to witness a series of bullfights. Definitely barbaric but also a unique cultural experience unique to countries with Spanish influence. The other team enjoyed the interesting exhibits and experiments at the equatorial museum. The evening brought a lively night out for the team. After reuniting back at the hotel everyone went out for an amazing dinner. Local music and dancing was a great addition to the dining experience. Filet Mignon, Malbec? Who knew that you could acclimatize in such style!
Day 2 has thus far been a blast as well. The entire team headed up to the volcano Pichincha for a little exercise to help with the acclimation process. After a 40 minute gondola ride we were deposited high on the slopes of the volcano and were greeted by sweeping views of Cayambe and the city below. The high point for our hike brought us to approximately 14,300 ft.; nearly the summit of Mt. Rainier! The whole team is climbing and acclimating well thus far. Tonight, being Sunday, will hopefully turn out to be a bit quieter than the previous but we still plan to have another nice meal out on the town! Tomorrow we will to leave the city following an early wake-up and head out to the Illinizas for some more training.
We hope all is well back home and will check back in as the trip progresses.
Viva Quito!
At 7:50 a.m. RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer radioed from the highest point in Washington, Columbia Crest on Mt. Rainier! It’s a clear day, light winds and a good route. After the the team walked back across the crater, they began their descent at 8:30 a.m.
I’m writing this from the Swiss Alaska Inn in Talkeetna. We flew out from Kahiltna Basecamp yesterday evening, after breaking down our camp and breaking trail back to the airstrip. Now we’re eating pancakes and eggs in the big city, re-adjusting to indoors life. We’ve got a few things to do around town before we catch our afternoon shuttle to Anchorage. It was a great trip all around. Everyone is a little sunburned, but otherwise no worse for the wear. Thanks for following along, and thanks to all the climbers who made this trip a memorable one.
The Four Day Climb, September 27 - 30, enjoyed a beautiful sunrise this morning on Mt. Rainier. Weather conditions and new snow on the route prevented them from reaching the summit today, however, they did ascend to Ingraham Flats to check out the views. The group has descended from Camp Muir and will return to Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
This is our final program for the 2019 Mt. Rainier season. Thank you for following along with our climbs!
Hello from Kikoti Camp,
It was another amazing day on safari. We left the Plantation Lodge this morning and headed south to the last park we will visit on our safari, Tarangire National Park. En route, we stopped at a few curio shops to get gifts for our family and friends back home. Wood animal carvings, Maasai blankets, African masks, carved bowls, and few paintings will all make the journey home.
Once we got into the park, the game viewing was a little slow at first. Our luck certainly changed after lunch. Not only did we see a leopard, we also saw a female cheetah with three cubs, several big elephant herds, giraffes, warthogs, and even a unicorn. Actually it was Thompson Gazelle that lost a horn, but from a distance, it definitely looked like a unicorn.We have seen a lot of animals the last few days and covered a lot of beautiful miles. We are now at our last lodge, a luxury tented camp right on the edge of Tarangire. The views are incredible and the sounds around camp remind us that we really are out in the African bush.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and what a perfect spot for our last night in Tanzania. Tomorrow, we drive back to Arusha, pick up our climbing gear and head to the airport for our flights back home.
From literally the snows of Kilimanjaro to the African plains, this has been a hell of a trip. Thank you again to those who checked in daily to read our dispatches and to everyone who left the motivating comments while we were on the mountain.
Best regards,
RMI Guide Jeff Martin & Team
The Four Day Summit Climbs led by RMI Guides Andres Marin and Geoff Schellens were forced to turn at the traverse to the nose of the cleaver (11,000’) due to unstable snow. The teams performed snow tests which confirmed the snow instability. The weather this morning was clear but windy with gusts of 45 mph as the teams descended back to Camp Muir.
The Expedition Skills Seminar – Muir led by RMI Guides JJ Justman and Pete Van Deventer are making their ascent to Camp Muir today to begin their week of training and climbing.
In the movie "Spinal Tap" there's a comical part where the rock god explains to an interviewer that, whereas most amplifiers only go up to ten, his "goes to eleven" in case he's really rocking out and "needs that extra push." Well, our strong team definitely needed no extra push in making it to 11K camp today.
After a calm night at 9600' we woke to clear skies and prepared to "go to eleven." After caching some gear and food in a snow hole ( which we'll pick up tomorrow) we enjoyed the feeling of dramatically lightened packs and sleds as we moved up. Arriving in camp the team had its first experience with building a true Denali-style fortified camp. Some people were shoveling, some were cutting blocks, some were carrying them: everyone was working hard and in an hour or so we had a veritable Great Wall in place. Everyone enjoyed the upper body workout and the concrete results. The sun sets late at 11K (it's about 10pm now and still brilliant) and folks are settling in to a well-earned sleep.
Tomorrow will be a "half-rest" day: we'll be making a three-hour trek to retrieve our cache, but without the work of breaking down and setting up camp we'll be able to also rest and acclimatize.
RMI Guide Kel Rossiter
Mark Tucker calling from Lobuche. I'm leaning up against the window to try and get some reception. Can you believe it? We have no wifi, I so apologize. The team is doing well, we're bunking down. We're going to push up to Gorak Shep tomorrow. Had a great hike from Pheriche today. Boy we have really starting to feel like we are up, up, up. So, thin, thin air and getting thinner. Tomorrow marks the 65K endurance race coming from Gorak Shep. And so we are going to root some of these folks on that we've been parallel over the course of our trip. We'll be glad to see them, but I am not too jealous of them running from Gorak Shep to Lukla in a matter of hours. I kinda like what we are doing, so we'll check in again later.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Happy Easter Elsie! I feel like I should be writing “there goes Peter Cottontail. Hoppin’ up Mt Everest’s trail…”, but the air seems a little thin fur hoppin’ right now -ha!
Easter blessings and safe journey to all :)
Mary
Posted by: mary tryer on 3/30/2013 at 3:38 pm
Happy Easter to all!!! God’s Speed and Grace ... on this Blessed Easter!!! Love you Buzz, James, Luke and Team Tucker!!! Awesome job!!!! Blessing Be to All! nancy
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Andres Marin left Camp Muir (10,060') on an alpine start and traveled above Ingraham Flats reaching 11,500' before turning around due to unstable snow conditions.
The team began their descent from Camp Muir shortly before 9 am. We look forward to meeting the group in Ashford this afternoon.
The Four Day Climb reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at about 7:45 am PDT. RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Josh McDowell lead their teams up the Ingraham Direct Route on what Dave Hahn described as a near perfect climbing day. They crossed the crater to reach Columbia Crest, where they celebrated with high fives and selfies before starting their descent.
It’s been an honor and pleasure climbing with you all yesterday. I will never forget the moment. Thank you again Dave, Tom, Cal, Team B guides, and all the climbers.
Posted by: Indradjit Harbani (Aji) on 6/3/2023 at 5:07 pm
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Hey Steve - sorry to hear you didn’t quite summit! How many did you end up with this year? Looking forward to climbing with you next season!
/john
Posted by: John Murray on 9/30/2019 at 2:28 pm
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