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Monday, August 12th 1:57 PST
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall sent a dispatch:
Hey, this is Seth checking in from high camp on Kili; it's a beautiful night, just after midnight and we are getting set to go for the summit. Everybody's putting their packs on. Hopefully, in 6 - 8 hours will be standing on top of Kilimanjaro. I'll check in then.
On The Map
Greetings from expedition skills seminar, Ecuador!
Day two:
Not all of our mountaineering challenges down here should be considered overly stressful. Granted we aren't exactly roughing it here in hotel Mercure Alemeda, we figured starting the team off gently would ease us into the trip's first acclimating hike.
Quito is flanked on its western edge by the frequently active Pinchincha Rucu volcano who's 15,500 foot summit makes for a perfect first excursion to altitude. Oh ya, back to a gentle start. After another delicious breakfast the team loaded into a sporty looking minivan with a sporty looking driver to match and headed ten minutes up the road to the loading dock of Quito's famous Pinchincha gondola. I don't know much, but I do know riding from 10,000 feet to 13,800 feet is better than walking. Who knew? From the top of the tram, views of Quito 's expansive size and beautiful setting blessed us before our trail was soon overtaken by the rising cloud bank. Despite the apparent fitness of our team, much hard breathing was done welcoming in the lower oxygen levels. Soon we found our rhythm and pushed steadily upward further into the cold clouds until the sign on the summit said we were there. By that time we were all in gloves, hats and warm jackets. We then descended quickly before the rain hit.
The rest of the afternoon will be spent relaxing and exploring the neighborhood around the hotel. We are all psyched to be leaving the city and heading north.
More to come,
RMI Guides Adam Knoff, Casey Grom and Team
What a difference a day makes. Things didn't seem a whole lot better, first thing this morning. Talkeetna was still a little dim and grey with low cloud lurking as we headed out to the airstrip. It took a few hours of waiting for things to come around. Our pilots figured out a clear path in to the Kahiltna, despite a fair amount of lingering clouds hiding the mountains. What we were able to see was stunning and spectacular, as if to make up for all that was hidden. Unbelievably steep and immense mountains began to pop up all around us as we entered the heart of the range. Glaciers, snow and random ice seemed to hang on every possible flank. The K2 pilots did their normal perfect approach and landing with the big ski equipped DeHaviland Otters. We'd taken off from town at 11:30 AM and we were unloading gear on the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna 35 minutes later. At basecamp it was intensely sunny and warm with no wind whatsoever. The cloud cover evaporated and we were treated to grand views of Mount Hunter, Mount Foraker and even Denali on occasion. We built camp and began reviewing glacier travel techniques. There was plenty to get done and we worked throughout the afternoon and evening at divy-ing loads and getting rigged for an early morning move to camp at 7,800 ft. What we could see from the planes backed up what we've been hearing from other climbers... conditions on the lower glacier are excellent.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Mark, great going!
Watching as I prepare to head into 120 degrees of the Mojave Desert. Send some ice!
Jan
Posted by: Jan Wilson on 7/2/2012 at 5:57 am
Sounds amazing. Enjoy. Thinking of you
Posted by: Carolyn on 6/30/2012 at 6:53 am
Another casual morning... We ate some breakfast, checked out of the Mercure (our hotel) around 8 am or so, loaded up the van and Jaime's truck, then hit the road. Heading north on the PanAmerican Highway, we left Quito and passed through the town of Otavalo, famous for it's large open air market. Eventually we turned off the highway and headed up into the countryside on our approach to Cerro Fuya Fuya. After many kilometers of driving on a cobblestone road up into the mountains we reached Laguna Mojanda and the base of Fuya Fuya. The lake is actually a giant caldera filled with water (think Crater Lake in OR) and made for a great backdrop to our second training hike. A couple hours of hiking and scrambling brought us to the summit at well over 14,000'. We enjoyed clear and sweeping views from la cumbre of the two valleys below in addition to the big Laguna. After a quick break on top we beat feet for the cars to try and out pace some menacing clouds. Everyone was feeling great.
After another short trip in the van we arrived at the beautiful Hosteria San Luis. Talk about traveling in style, there are beautiful gardens, stables, classic colonial architecture, a pool, and a pond. The gang is settling in and enjoying the last bit of luxury before heading up to the climber's refugio on Cayambe.
I'll call and check in tomorrow night from the refugio,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Hey, this is Seth calling from the Cotopaxi Express trip. We are up at the Jose Ribas hut at about 15,700 feet. Today we had a nice breakfast at the Chilcabamba Hacienda and after a relaxing time packing our stuff for the mountain we headed up into mix of sleet, clouds and high winds, We're all safely at the hut. We have to two nights here so hopefully the weather will clear up for us in a couple of days and we’ll get to punch it to the top. All's well here. We're having a great time. The hut is full of people from all over the world. Nothing but fun stuff. We’ll check in tomorrow. We hope everything is well back in the USA.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall checks in from the hut on Cotopaxi.
Glad to know that all of you are doing well, I will pray for good weather so you all can have a good summit day, we are thinking of you. Get home save, we miss you
Posted by: Amanda haines on 7/7/2011 at 12:49 pm
Posted by:
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
After an excellent rest day in Puebla where we explored the cobblestone streets, museums and pyramids we packed up and hit the road. In Tlachichuca we finalized our mountain equipment and enjoyed a great lunch at the climbers' compound run by our friend Dr. Reyes. Loading the truck and piling in saved us a long approach to the mountain. Once at the hut we had a big dinner and hit the sack. Tonight we will try our luck on Pico de Orizaba.
100% on top!
We did it! We stood on Mt. Elbrus, the highest point of Europe.
I have to admit we were pretty lucky with the weather, as it was near perfect. The team did a fantastic job of taking care of themselves and climbed strong. We reached the summit at 7:30 AM in clear skies with a wonderful view of the entire Caucus mountain range with very little wind, which is rare here.
But it didn't end there, after descending back to the saddle between the 2 summits that Elbrus has, a few of us decided to climb both summits while the rest of the team descended safely back to camp. It only added an additional 1.5hrs, so not too bad, especially since we had such amazing weather.
After everyone returned to camp, we had a quick lunch and then packed up to head down valley to our hotel at the base of the mountain.
Everyone is in high spirits and feeling great after some much needed hot showers.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and comrades
Posted by: JJ Justman, Katrina Bloemsma
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 13,800'
We have arrived! Ahhh, it feels so good to be back at Base Camp! Let me tell ya, this team has faced some enormous adversity. Now don't get me wrong, I don't want to scare friends and family because this Wisconsin boy has faced worse weather watching the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field in December. The weather on this expedition has flip flopped from beautiful to not so beautiful. And wouldn't you know it, the weather followed us down to base camp. However, it doesn't matter now. We've enjoyed pizzas, fresh fruit and coca colas. And we all deserve it! Everyone says hello and we are looking forward to our trek out.
This is our last dispatch for this season's Aconcagua expeditions. Thank you so much for following along and thanks for all the comments!
RMI Guides JJ Justman, Katrina Bloemsma and Team
Jeff…What’s up brother? You should explain that while in Green Bay the best way to stay warm is to have a couple of drinks! Kids say hi. Hope all is well.
BillBoy
Posted by: Bill on 3/23/2014 at 2:09 pm
CONGRATS TO ALL!!!
JEFF VERY PROUD OF YOU AND ALL YOUR GROUP!!!!!
Posted by: LARI&B0B; on 2/26/2014 at 8:01 am
Posted by: Mike Walter, Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Mike Walter & crew rolled into 11,200' Camp tonight at dinner time looking surprisingly good for just having summited and descending from 17,200' today. They're planning on getting an alpine start tonight in order to descend the lower Kahiltna Glacier while it's frozen.
They'll be drinking beers and eating steak soon.
Our hats are off to the entire team. Congratulations all!
RMI Guide Brent Okita
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Leon Davis, Mike King
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 13,800'
It's been a lazy day here at Plaza Argentina, which was exactly what the doctor ordered after the group's big effort yesterday. We woke late, cooked up a big batch of crêpes stuffed with bacon, fried apples, and dulce de leche for brunch. A few hours later, after books, more jokes, and a card game, we fried up some croque monsieur (sense the French food theme today?), and then went for a nice hour-long stroll up towards Ibañez, a sub peak outside of Basecamp. As hard as it can be to motivate for a hike after a day like yesterday, it really does aid and speed recovery. Our gear that will stay at Basecamp is sorted, and we are very ready for our move to Camp 1 tomorrow! Just one more delicious Argentine meal first...
Hasta luego,
RMI Guides Pete, Leon, Mike, and the team
This is so incredible to hear of your climb! I know this blog helps out the families knowing y’all are safe! I look forward to your next entry! Take more pictures of the hikers!!
Posted by: Debra Shaughnessy on 1/27/2013 at 5:59 am
Thanks for the update and the call :) miss you…. Keep safe. XOXO
Posted by: Carol Crye Popp on 1/27/2013 at 5:44 am
Casey and Adam, you very successfully guided our entire expedition team to the summit of Cotopaxi on 16 Dec 2011. Your team will easily discover what great RMI guides they have. Happy New Year from Bill, Scott, and the four Mikes
Posted by: Bill HIll on 1/4/2013 at 8:03 am
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