We had higher hopes for today. But no, we didn't go anywhere. It was stormy with a forecast for more, so we sat at Basecamp. The mountain was partially visible from time to time, but mostly it was socked in with a thick layer of cloud covering all but the bottom of the western face. As the afternoon wore on there was even a little wind right here in Basecamp (which is rare) but mostly it was just calm cool and cloudy. The team rode it out in the tents; reading, writing, talking, eating and sleeping. By evening the sun had broken free of the clouds that were piled up against the mountain and things got downright pleasant for a while. Fingers crossed for more pleasantries tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
There was a wind blowing in the night at high camp. It was just a few miles per hour, but it was steady and we'd been exceedingly lucky in not having any wind for four days up high, so it was a worry. But a needless worry, since by morning it was gone. We ate, we packed and by ten in the morning we were walking downhill with great big packs. Everybody was thinking about getting those big packs down the steep fixed ropes... the last real obstacle to our safety, but we caught those ropes and slopes in perfect condition. They were still in shadow and the tracks of teams that had descended several days earlier were still in perfect condition and useful as stairs. We made it to our old digs at low camp in just a few hours, packed and repacked there and then plodded down the Branscomb Glacier toward Basecamp. Cresting the final hill, we saw two Twin Otter airplanes sitting patiently and waiting to take us away. This was a pleasant surprise as we hadn't really discussed an exit strategy yet with ALE, our logistics company. At Basecamp by four in the afternoon, we shuffled duffels and boarded the planes. Some of us were treated to a magnificent scenic flight as the pilot performed a mountain reconnaissance for future climbs on our way back to Union Glacier. The Twin spiraled around one Matterhorn after another and dove through tight v-shaped passes. A smooth landing at Union got us in just in time for dinner. A wonderful dinner, whilst sitting in chairs, with backs. True luxury. We caught up with fellow climbers from the mountain (who we hadn't seen for days) and with the wonderful staff at ALE. Life is considerably warmer and easier at Union Glacier, and the team is excited about being a step closer to home, but we're all still buzzing over the mountain that we lived on for the last nine days. And climbed.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
HW: Great to know you are be step closer to home. Hope you will be ale to fly to Punta Arenas soon. We had a lot of fun at the birthday party. Love, -Fan
Posted by: Fan on 12/16/2012 at 6:22 pm
Sterling, The plane ride sounded like it might have been another highlight of this trip. We hope to see you New Years Day. Have a great trip home.
Posted by: Dave & Shirley on 12/16/2012 at 10:43 am
Hi Everyone,
The team did a great job again on the short hike up to our high camp. It's been a long journey but everyone is in good spirits and we are all excited about tonight's climb.Our plan is to wake at midnight, have a quick breakfast and then be walking by 1am. If all goes according to plan then we hope to be on the summit just after sunrise.We will spend the next few hours resting, preparing our gear and hopefully getting a little sleep too.
The climb will break down into one hour stretches with 10-15 min. breaks between each hour. Our pace will be slow but steady with lots of breathing as we ascend to "The Roof of Africa" 19'340ft above sea level. We'll do our best and will try to call from the summit.
Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and Crew
Time to climb!
We left the Dik Dik hotel early today and headed to Kilimanjaro. We passed many tea, coffee, and banana plantations before we arrived at the southern gate called the Machame gate. Which is also the name of the route we will be climbing. Our team checked in with the local agency that manages the climbs, while our local guides hired porters and split up the 60+ loads that will follow us up the mountain.
We hiked through soaring rainforest and giant heather in route to our camp for the night. It took us just over four hours to reach camp, where we were delighted to find camp already waiting on us.
The staff provided yet another amazing meal for the team and we were even fortunate enough to glimpse a view of the "Roof of Africa" right after dinner.
Everyone is in great spirits and are looking forward to some well earned sleep.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Our climb yesterday earned us a well deserved rest day. After sleeping in we were awoken to some delicious extra cheesy breakfast burritos. This was followed by a musical production of “These Boots Were Made For Climbing” by the soon to be famous Denali 10 (look for us on TikTok). Stay tuned for our upcoming show “Dancing on Denali”, which will include some tasteful nude scenes as well. The rest of our day was spent relaxing as we look forward to beginning our summit push either tomorrow or Friday.
Storm day at 14k. Snow and cloud all over camp and thankfully just an odd gust of wind every now and then. But all day long we could hear the wind ripping across the ridges up high, sounding like Niagara Falls. We ate long slow meals, took long naps, moved some snow blocks around and read some books.
Today we enjoyed an acclimitization hike on La Malinche. The trail was busy with other hikers and we made our first dog friends of the trip. Along the trail and through the trees we weaved our way up, spotting hummingbirds and rocky peaks surrounding us.
We did not have the opportunity to summit due to weather and time but we still made it to 13,000 feet!
After a well earned, delicious meal at our resort, we settle in at 10,000 feet to rest for our Izta adventure tomorrow.
The Mount Rainier Four Day and Five Day Summit Climbs, led by Seth Waterfall and Casey Grom, reached the summit this morning with clear skies, warm temperaturess and winds ranging from 5-20 mph. Both teams began their descent from the crater rim at 7:15 a.m.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
RMI Guides Seth Waterfall and Casey Grom
Hey everyone, Billy calling checking in again. Had a really rough day coming down the mountain yesterday, but everyone made it down in one piece. We got back to High Camp with nice weather and then the weather just kinda gradually turned for the worst through the evening. And by about 5 In the morning, we were fighting about 80 mile an hour gust of winds just battling to keep our camp in one piece. And at first light, around 6:30, we pretty much had to get out of the tents and we're just battling hurricane force winds and to get everybody's stuff together and we got everything out of Camp Cholera. Moved on down to our Camp 2 and reput up tents and cooked breakfast and filled water bottles and recuperated from the hellish evening. And after that everybody walked on down to Basecamp last night and we enjoyed an awesome steak dinner, courtesy of the great Basecamp staff at Grajales. We are all geared up, everything's been loaded on mules and we're now headed for Pampa de Lenas and tonight will be our last night on the trail and tomorrow we are headed to Mendoza. We'll check in one more time tomorrow, after we've made it safely to the road. Ciao, ciao.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
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nice pic.
Posted by: michelle on 12/19/2012 at 9:30 pm
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