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Jambo everyone

We spent today touring Tarangire National Park which is home to many elephants which we saw up close again. There were plenty of other animals too, including a female cheetah and her cub. We’re headed out early tomorrow in hopes of catching a leopard to round out The Big Five.

We ended our day at a remote and off grid camp within the National Park and surrounded by wildlife. The camp has screened in rooms that allow the night sounds of Africa in.

RMI Guide Casey and the Safari crew

Tuesday, June 10, 2014 - 4:10 PT The first real weather day for us this trip. The overnight temps dropped to -7F not including the wind chill. Our early morning plans to move a few items for caching up to our high camp were foiled by the high winds -- 35mph winds at 17,200' and negative temps! Not to mention the squalls of crystalline snow flakes flying in all directions. The sun peered out from the flanks of the west rib shedding enough solar rays to warm the tents. With the brim of a ball cap we scraped the tent walls free of the frost of our night's breathing. Lighting the stoves in our kitchen tent soon brought the smells of coffee, bacon, and cream cheese with bagels. This motivated our spirits to make our camp a fortress. We spent two hours building large block walls and remodeling the bathroom -- which, I might add, could be the best one currently on the mountain featuring a snow free enclosed taj ma-stall! Not to mention the fact that RMI Guide Bryan Hendrick took on a project to expand and improve an igloo just outside camp...soon we'll have a monstrous underground lair for additional resting and wind protection. Sick! We are now taking a rest, drying out and warming up after a great session. The wall building serves as great acclimatization through light exercise, team building, and making camp even better for this time we're spending in this harsh Arctic environment. We will keep our hopes high for lighter winds, less snow, and a bit of warmth. RMI Guides Tyler Jones, Garrett Stevens, Bryan Hendrick, and the crew!

The Four Day Summit Climbs for August 19 - 22, 2013 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. RMI Guides Jake Beren and Geoff Schellens led the teams. Jake reported light winds from the Northwest with winds from the East earlier in the climb. Temperatures were estimated in the low 20s. The teams began their descent from the crater rim just after 7:30 am. They will return to Camp Muir for a short break and then continue to Paradise later this afternoon. We look forward to greeting the teams at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon. Congratulations to today's summit climb teams!

Welcome to another installment of the Ecuador Volcanoes 2013 blog. After an early rise and a quick breakfast the team checked out of the hotel, loaded up the wagons, and headed north out of Quito for another acclimatization hike. A good bit of driving brought us through the town of Otovalo where we turned off the highway and headed up into the mountains on a cobblestone road. We were climbing towards the crater of Cerro Fuya Fuya; a large, extinct volcano whose crater is filled with an impressive and beautiful lake. We were able to drive into the crater and alongside the like. Starting from the shore, our hike took us up to the summit of the highest point of the surrounding crater. The team moved well and was in great spirits - we all thoroughly enjoyed the spectacular surroundings and wish it didn't have to end so soon. Alas, we found ourselves piling back into the van headed for a local hacienda to spend the night. The rooms and grounds here at Hacienda San Luis are a bit more rustic than the Hotel Mercure in Quito but are still quite charming. I will say the setting and the views out here in the countryside beat Quito by a landslide. The crew is currently hanging out before dinner and hoping for some hot water so we can take a last shower before heading into the big mountains tomorrow afternoon. Until tomorrow, RMI Guide Billy Nugent

On The Map

Brrrr. At least that was the theme of the first half of the day. Fortunately we had warm tents to rest in and after an acclimatization hike this afternoon, we are able to enjoy a little sun outdoors. Clouds have moved steadily over the Aconcagua summit today and it is our team's sincerest hope that they blow out and we are able to move higher tomorrow. Wish us luck, we are ready but prepared to be patient if conditions dictate. RMI Guide Jake Beren

On The Map

Audio 1: Hello everyone at the RMI bloggers following Team One on Aconcagua. We are happy to report that we are up at Camp One. We actually had to make our camp a little higher. It was a little busy lower down at Camp One, but we have the upper camp at 16,500' all to ourselves. As a matter of fact this camp is so nice, we have a sit down toilet. So, the entire team is doing real well. It's a little bit of work to get up here, but everyone's feeling great. The agenda right now is to make sure that tents are buttoned down for heavy winds. However, right now we have very light winds... We're going to get a hot breakfast... (satellite connection lost) Audio 2: Hey, this is J.J. again with Team One on Aconcagua. Just to let everyone out there know. We have a lot of gear so we kind of thinned our communications down. We just have a SAT phone up here so we are going to be giving our blog via voice with Google voice and it'll be transcribed. So it may cut out, we'll try to do our best to give you some entertaining updates but everyone is just doing fantastic up here at 16,500'. We'll talk with you guys tomorrow. Everyone says hello to family and friends, and please follow along. We'll touch base tomorrow. Ciao from Argentina Camp One. RMI Guide JJ Justman

On The Map

Hello from the Alaska Range, We departed Talkeetna this afternoon and the flight onto the glacier was spectacular, no one was disappointed. We quickly set up our camp on the SE fork of the Kahiltna Glacier and are beginning to adjust to glacier living. The weather is splendid. We are looking forward to beginning our training tomorrow and will let you know how it goes. RMI Guide Jason Thompson

On The Map

The biggest day of the trip was enormous.  We were up at 11 last night and walking uphill from our 15,200 ft camp just after midnight.  Conditions were perfect.  It was cold but dead calm.  And we had most of the moon shining, so headlights were helpful but not essential.  We targeted an ascent lasting about seven hours but as it turned out we were a little faster than that -unintentionally.  We stopped for rest a few times, naturally, but the cold and the traffic on the route (all teams were basically on the same schedule) meant our breaks needed to be darn quick.  The team was up to the task.  Our guides threaded us through the “crowds” and helped us in a million ways, singing to entertain us as we trudged up endless, steep paths through the rock and scree.  It was still dark when we hit the crater rim at Stella Point but a cold wind with a wisp of cloud made us skip the normal rest break there.  We just marched along the rim -the roof of Africa- as the light and colors came up in a magical display.  The entire team hit Uhuru -the summit- at 6:50 AM.  19,341 ft never felt so good.  We loved it… and we loved that the sun was starting to warm things up.  Our descent to high camp was completed at 10 AM and we tried to wrap our heads around the idea that we still had to climb all the way down to 10,000 ft to finish the day.  Tosha and Michael, our world class chefs made it all possible by serving us pizza for brunch and fortifying us for the four hour journey.  Clouds had come in to Barafu Camp and at noon, we were eager to get walking as it had gotten quite cold.  We ducked out of those clouds in the first hour and by the time we reached Mweka Camp it was sunshine and blue sky again.  We’re breathing thick air again and relaxing… and still a little amazed that we reached the highest point in Africa this morning. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

The May 9–12 Four Day Climb enjoyed a beautiful morning on the mountain, with clear skies, calm winds, and cold temperatures. RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli led the team to 13,000 feet before route conditions prompted a turnaround. The climbers will return to Camp Muir for a brief rest before continuing down to Paradise this afternoon.

PC: Dominic Cifelli

We got picked up in Puerto Natales and enjoyed seeing rehas, guanacos & a fox during our scenic drive to the park. Our hike to Seron was 8.5 miles. The trail winds through beech trees with dry rolling grasslands along the Paine River. We had nice weather, wind to keep us cool & cloud cover for the UV. At camp, the team is enjoying some down time, charcuterie & dinner to conclude the day. All is good down in Patagonia. Camp Lago Dickson tomorrow.

Thanks,

RMI Guide Mike King