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Posted by: Tyler Jones, JM Gorum, Ross Morgan, David Price
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,000'
The Kautz Seminar June 23 - 28 made their summit attempt today, they climbed the crux of the route and reached 14,000' between Point Success and the true summit before weather turned them around. RMI Guide Tyler Jones reported a thick cloud cap with snow and cold temperatures. The team will descend to camp and continue their training on the mountain for the next few days.
Posted by: Peter Whittaker, Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
The Kilimanjaro Family Climb arrived in Tanzania and spent the day making final preparations and packing their gear for their departure on to the mountain tomorrow morning. Check out their video dispatch below.
RMI Guides Peter Whittaker & Seth Waterfall
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Today the team visited the famous 2 million year old Ngorongoro Crater. A steep walled caldera that is home to The Big 5. We only saw 4 today and are hoping to see the last (leopard) tomorrow. It's quite surreal riding around in our Toyota Land Cruisers looking at all these beautiful animals in their natural habitat.
On the way back to our lodge we stopped off at a working Maasai village to take a look at their semi-nomadic lifestyle.
Everyone is having a great time!
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Posted by: Jake Beren, Leon Davis, Zeb Blais
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 9,000'
Buenos tardes from Pampa de Llenas,
Our first camp on the way to Basecamp. After a somewhat leisurely morning at the hotel, we registered with the Federales and hit the trail. The walk was pleasant, warm but manageable with just enough of a breeze to keep the team from bursting into a fuego.
Now at camp we have reviewed tent building, a super important step for the rest of the trip, and are tending to a little relaxed maintenance. Resting in the tent we can hear only the wind and occasional braying of mules, the sounds of "civilization" soon to be no more than a memory. No more wheeled contraptions for us, just our feet and the hooves of our new friends.
Our adventure has truly begun.
RMI Guide Jake Beren & Team
hey bro,,,gud going,,TC
Posted by: jp n reenu on 12/22/2012 at 8:06 pm
Wishing you all an amazing and safe adventure. Dawn, we are checking in regularly and watching you in awe. Be safe and have fun!
Posted by: Ann Swank on 12/21/2012 at 7:10 pm
Mark Tucker here at Everest Base Camp. Wahoo! We have a star and moon lit night staring up at the Khumbu Icefall... It is as beautiful as it gets. We had an extra day we spent there at Gorak Shep. We tackled Kala Patar under some pretty good conditions. Took an extra day so we can really enjoy Base Camp here. We walked into a fantastic set-up as usual. Our [RMI] Operations Manager, Jeff Martin, is amazing. Can't say thanks enough for what he does to put this trip together and the way he slaves here at this altitude, it's just incredible and we just owe a special thank you to Jeff. We are real comfortable and a fantastic meal. Our local cook, Kumar, whipped it out. Showers tomorrow and we'll hopefully go for a nice walk on the end of the glacier, see some Himalayan peaks, and show the team around. Kim and John are doing fantastic... It's been quite a haul to get here... Looking forward for the next phase to continue just the same. We are going to do some good training tomorrow, get all geared up. Work through a few of the bits and pieces that will get us ready for the climb of Island Peak. All's well here and this is no an April Fool's joke so I'm not pulling a fast one on you. We'll be talking to you tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Mark Tucker from Everest Base Camp
On The Map
So happy to see you made it to Base Camp. I just know you have smiles that shine for miles. Keep up the good pace and stay safe…Love you both
Posted by: Kerry Munroe on 4/2/2012 at 3:12 pm
Hey… take some pictures of the moon! Good to hear made it to base camp. Next week will get all caught at school.
Hi to Kim and John!
Posted by: Pamela on 4/1/2012 at 11:41 pm
12:01 a.m. (Nepalese Time) - Team leaving the South Col
UP UP AND AWAY !
These guys are my supermen. It's now down to a handful of hours. With all that has happened over the course of this expedition, success shows itself in many ways.
Summit or not these guys rock.
In a couple of days, when Dave, Linden, Kaji, Dawa, Yubarj and Tsering are back down here at Base Camp feeling good and all equipment removed from the mountain, that will be a huge success.
As they leave the South Col they start on kind of rolling terrain with some good-sized crevasses. In the past the fixed line didn't normally start till you got the first steep part, the Triangular face. So some kind of markings like the sticks with flags were great but if it was hard ice everywhere you had a difficult time placing them. GPS is sure an improvement but electronics can have some problems in the cold and one more thing to mess with. The last few years the teams have made it a point to put a rope line to follow in this area for low-to-no visibility occasions.
As they start up it's a constant mix of adjusting straps, pace, oxygen masks, gloves, ice axes and more.
While you hope you hit the clothing options right, it may be necessary to pull over and make the quick change so as to not sweat bullets or need to move to quick to stay warm. And what about the other teams? Are they in front, going at a pace that does not work for you? Can you unclip from the rope and make a pass safely? Is your oxygen mask clogging up and not allowing freedom of ambient air movement? Is the wind now picking up and I need to put on some form of eye protection to keep from getting the dreaded frozen cornea? Now that I have put on the eye protection is it all fogged up? Better to see the terrain and risk the freezing? How are my toes, what is going on with my hands? Head to toe self survey, constantly observing my every move. What are my thoughts, am I keeping focused? How is my partner? Where is my partner? Are my Sherpa OK? Do they have my next bottle of oxygen? My oxygen!
Do I still have enough to get me to the Balcony (27,500 ft), the next location that I will expect to hear radio communication from the team? And first semi-flat place for a short break and a oxygen bottle change.
That should take between three and four hours from now. So hang in there, I promise as soon as I hear, you will too.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
On The Map
After two days spent on the mountain the Five Day Climb reached to summit of Mt. Rainier early today. RMI Guide Jess Matthews called in as the team was on the descent. The team has had great weather while on the mountain, and everyone has climbed strong. They will return to Paradise this afternoon.
Congratulations team!
Posted by: Jeff Martin, Pete Van Deventer
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Northside
Hello from Kislovodsk,
As planned, we had an early start this morning, leaving our hotel at 5:45 to drive to the domestic airport. With all our bags checked we boarded the plane and flew south to Mineralyne Vody, the main airport in the Caucasus region. Then it was an hour drive to the resort town of Kislovodsk. Best known for its spas, many Russians come here to take a break from the big city life in Moscow. But we did not come here for the spas. We are here because it is the last town before we drive into the mountains. We spent the afternoon going through all of our gear, making sure we had everything needed for the climb and this team is ready.
Tomorrow we will finally see Elbrus for the first time as we approach Basecamp. We are all excited to be ending our travels and beginning the climb.
All the best,
RMI Guide Jeff Martin
Have a wonderful climb everyone! I hope you enjoy your 40th Birthday on this climb, John!
Posted by: Becky on 8/5/2014 at 7:56 am
Jess and team, have a great climb. Love you wiffie!! we are all doing well here.
Posted by: Hector on 8/5/2014 at 3:27 am
Mark Tucker here calling from Island Peak Basecamp. Had a wonderful stay at the resort in Chukung. Great evening, kind fellowship with other climbers from around the world. The hike up here took about 3 hours, and did very well and greeted by a staff that we've had in place. They've been here for few days, great dining and kitchen area, wonderful food, tents already set up. What a lap of luxury we walked right into. We did a couple hikes today to keep the blood flowing. The team is doing very well. Planning tomorrow to finalize details, get some gear sorted, and then we're gonna ship up to High Camp and get ourselves ready for the summit push tomorrow in the late evening. So the deal is on, we're doing great, and we'll talk to you later.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
RMI Guide Mark Tucker calls in from Island Peak Basecamp.
On The Map
Good luck guys….
Posted by: Ravi on 4/4/2013 at 2:40 pm
Glad to hear all is going well. Be safe.
Posted by: Rachael C. Lujan on 4/4/2013 at 9:44 am
We deserved a leisurely start to our rest/acclimatization day in Pheriche. So we dragged feet and drank coffee until 9 AM before heading outside. The morning weather could best be described as "splitter". As in, it was perfectly blue sky and ultra clear air. We were looking for light activity at altitude to enhance our acclimatization. Right out the back door of the lodge there happens to be a hill that is perfect for such activity. Up we went with a plan to be back by lunch. Immediately we had a view of Cho Oyu, the sixth highest mountain in the world. That compensated us for the loss of Everest, which we can no longer see. Before long we were seeing the craggy summit of Makalu, fifth highest, and we'd regained a view of Lhotse (#4). We bumped into a number of other teams that we've come to know on our little trek circuit, each out for the views and the exercise. Those views only got more incredible as we worked our way up the giant stairmaster to about 16,500 ft above sea level... 2,500 feet above our lodge. We were being circled by eagles and cooled by breezes so we couldn't stay too long to enjoy the view... Lunch and an easy afternoon were calling. The team trooped to the nearby Himalayan Rescue Association (HRA) clinic to receive a great lecture by one of the docs on altitude and common trekker illnesses but spent the rest of the day napping, gaming and chatting.
Tomorrow we hope to push on to Lobuche.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
such beautiful mountains!
Posted by: michelle on 4/2/2013 at 5:20 pm
What an amazing journey Samantha! Best of luck! Zoe and I will be checking the blog daily! Mac & Zoe Pappas
Posted by: Mac Pappas on 10/8/2013 at 2:50 pm
What an experience for you Sam! Bring back lots of pictures ... I can’t wait to see them!
Love, Mrs. Tyndall
Posted by: Mrs. Tyndall on 10/8/2013 at 10:37 am
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