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Greetings from 13,150 ft in Karanga Camp on Kilimanjaro. The team started the day in the garden-like Barranco Camp below the great rock wall of the same name. It was a perfect weather day right from the outset. There were no winds and no upper level clouds although the lower sea of clouds continued to hide the rest of the world from our view. We got moving toward the Barranco Wall just aft 8:30 AM. The lower third of the lava wall is a set of ledges that tend to get one’s attention. Both hands are needed on the rock holds and the feet need to be carefully placed as we move from ledge to ledge. It all gets a little more exciting as several hundred porters (from our own team as well as from the numerous surrounding teams) attempt to politely squeeze by with awkward and heavy loads balanced on their heads. The wall relents in its middle sections and turns into steep switchbacks with occasional odd steps. At the top, we were back to hands on rock to get over the final escarpments. All told it took us about two hours to get on top of the wall. It was a great feeling to pull onto the flat and have unimpeded views of Kibo’s cliffs and ice fields above. We then moved down and East across several shallow valleys before we crossed a deep and steep sided one -the Karanga Valley- to reach our camp on the opposite rim. It took roughly four hours to reach Karanga. We were just in time for lunch and an afternoon snooze. After dinner we stared up at the Milky Way and the southern cross and Kibo glowing in the moonlight.
Best Regards
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos, Chase Nelson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
On The Map
everest top of the world guides
Posted by: ali abrahim on 12/1/2011 at 8:37 am
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
The group got a much-needed rest day in La Paz that included some shopping, laundry and good eating. We went to Ancestral restaurant for dinner, which is one of the top up and coming restaurants in Latin America. Most of us selected our own steaks and we enjoyed an amazing dinner.
The next morning, we loaded our van and headed to Illimani. After several hours of driving on windy dirt roads we arrived in Another winding dirt road led us to basecamp where we slept next to a peaceful creek under a starry night.
RMI Guides Andy Bond, Henry Coppolillo & Team
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Bolivia Expedition, August 3, 2024
Posted by: Dominic Cifelli, Jack Delaney, Jess Wedel
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 18,000'
I thought that some of our followers at home might enjoy an insider’s view of daily camp life. So, here it is:
The evening began with a six p.m. dinner of pasta lightly tossed in olive oil with sautéed bell peppers and onions and topped with grated Parmesan cheese. You could smell the delicious aroma circling the camp. After crawling into our tents, some of us watched videos, others read books, while Pops wrote poetry. Although we were tired and the weather was good for sleeping, we are each faced with a nightly dilemma - waking up with an urge to use a bathroom (which doesn’t exist above base camp).
The thoughts running through your head include: do I really need to get out of the warm comfort of my sleeping bag? Can’t I just go back to sleep and go later? It’s too cold outside! Will I disturb my tent mate? It takes too much energy. Where’s my toilet paper? Is my pee bottle already full?
These thoughts are on an endless repeat in your head until you finally give in and stumble out of the tent to take care of business.
With a sense of relief, you crawl back into your tent and kick yourself for wasting a half hour of sleep and not just getting up at the first urge. But the night continues with lots of twisting and turning as we try to find that perfect position until our arm or leg falls asleep - necessitating another turn. We still manage to get enough rest to climb upwards and onward.
Speaking of business - choosing a place to poop.
At camp, we do have a designated poop tent; however, there are many things to consider. We are each issued a big plastic bag which we can use in the poop tent by putting it into a big plastic bucket or finding a private spot and squatting. The upside to the tent is having a seat and the privacy of a tent. The downside is trying to separate pee from poop.
The other option is walking away from camp and squatting over the bag. The downsides are missing the bag, your private spot isn’t so private, and the huffing and puffing that occurs during the search. The upsides are the beauty of nature, no smelly hot tent, and easier to separate the pee from the poo. That’s probably TMI but this is part of camp life.
This morning we were gently awoken by Dom’s door to door tent service with hot drinks. It was the coldest night so far and none of us were particularly interested in leaving the warm sanctuary of our sleeping bags. Making the tent service much appreciated.
As the sun rose, our tents began to warm and we mustered the courage to emerge and begin our day of relaxing, recovering, and acclimatizing. The day started with another amazing breakfast of hash browns scrambled with bacon, peppers, and onions. Cooking this type of breakfast is no easy feat with limited pans, scarce utensils, and camp stoves that burn like jet engines.
We ate seated on rocks arranged in a circle while wearing gloves, hats, parkas, and puffy pants, as the morning remained cold. One moment, we are putting on layers and the next, we are taking them off. It’s a constant rotation of clothing. Conversations around the circle included what it’s like to be a cowboy, crazy outhouse stories, and how delicious rocky mountain oysters can be when fried over a campfire.
During the day, we take short walks around camp, eat more food so we don’t have to carry it, nap during the heat of the day, listen to music, read books, enjoy a variety of conversations, and play cutthroat card games. This recharges our batteries as we prepare for a carry to our last camp at 19,600’ tomorrow.
Mary Beth Kempner, aka “the editor”
PS Don’t worry Floyd, I’ve only temporarily taken over your job as editor. You are the editor of my life!
PSS Angela - thanks for your encouragement.
PSSS Shout out to Hudson for taking on the role of editor tonight
Good job MBK! Our best to all of you for the summit push. Karen, Micki and Bart
Posted by: Karen Loeffler on 2/1/2023 at 3:48 pm
Thrilling you are that far. Go for it! love and light to the top! What a breathtaking experience this must be, and unforgettable. I know your tired and worn, we know climbing is more than just the summit. Your incredible courage and accomplishment will be felt for a lifetime. You GOT THIS! Love you Teri
Posted by: Teri Derr on 2/1/2023 at 7:29 am
Posted by: JM Gorum, Grayson Swingle, Henry Coppolillo
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
Elevation: 7,300'
Monday, May 24, 2021 - 11:13 pm PT
We made it in to base camp last night. We landed at our new home in the Alaska range around 7pm and got to work building camp. It took us about two hours to get settled in, and then we had a late dinner consisting of Talkeetna’s finest Mountain High Pizza Pie. It’s hardly ever a bad call to fly on to the glacier with four large pizzas.
This morning we had a leisurely start, waiting until the sun hit our tents around 8am. We drank some coffee and ate some toasty bagels, and then we got to work. Today was a skills focused day. We worked on footwork, rope travel, knots, and anchors. We didn’t venture too far out of camp, but we did do a little tour of the new neighborhood. Along the way we scoped out some crevasses that should work nicely for practicing rescue in the next few days.
We’re turning in now, tomorrow we’re going to get up a little earlier and put our newly practiced skills to use on a smaller climb close to camp. We’ll let you know how it goes.
Best of luck everyone! Thinking of you and looking forward to hearing from you from the top!
Posted by: Missy on 2/18/2011 at 6:02 pm
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