All right you deserve to know. We have to be honest to all of you that have been following our trip. We have not been roughing it.
Tables and chairs on the mountain, hot water for washing at each camp. Fifty five local staff with us throughout the Kilimanjaro climb. We could carry any or nothing throughout the day. Fresh foods at each meal. You would have loved it.
Now here we are at the Plantation Lodge with white table cloths and fine china, eating incredible curry chicken and organic garden fresh salad, do not even want to rub in what we had for desert. All this after an awesome day of game viewing in Lake Manyara National Park.
I feel so much better now that you are in the loop. Wish I could say that it's tough surviving here in wild Africa but that would just not be true.
It is a real vacation now after a pretty physical week on the big hill. There are a few sore and tired muscles but over all the team is in great shape. We said a sad good-bye to one member of the group as he started his trip back to the USA, he had to get back for work. We will miss his wonderful sense of humor and great companionship.
Tomorrow we are off to one of the great natural wonders of the world - Ngorongoro Crater. Where there are so many animals in a small space, I better get the camera battery charged up tonight.
All is well,
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Now I’m really jealous. The ultimate zoo - minus the fences! Dennis, I would tell you to take lots of pictures, but I already know that you will. Hope you’re having the time of your life! Love, Kim
Posted by: Kim Mulherin on 7/31/2012 at 6:29 pm
Please don’t let Dion bring home a monkey. Thank you!
This mornings attempt to summit with Clay ended as thoughts of family and a safe return home overwhelmed any ambition to tag a summit that, by this time in the expedition, seemed somewhat less important than the experience of the trip as a whole.
So, on the return back to 17,200' we decided to break camp and get off the upper mountain. By that time clouds were building and the winds started getting stronger. Our descent down the Buttress went smoothly even as snow and clouds increased. I was impressed with how the skill level of these climbers had so dramatically improved in the short time we had been climbing together.
At 14,200' camp we were greeted by RMI Guides Adam and Andres of the RMI West Rib trip, who, along with several other guides and climbers, congratulated the team on slipping in the summit before the big change in weather.
So, now here we are at 11,200' camp where we've picked up our cache from a week ago. The RMI Team lead by Walter Hailes is camped here and helped us out tremendously, allowing us to eat a quick dinner in their place and fill water bottles. We are now trying to get a few hours of sleep before waking up at 2:00 am to make our final descent to Kahiltna basecamp. We're getting on a nighttime schedule and traveling on glaciers frozen by the night's colder temperatures which are safer and less liable to collapse under a climbers weight.
But, we are in a race of sorts to get to the airstrip on the SE fork of the Kahiltna before the next weather system arrives. So, goodnight again as we turn in to catch a couple of hours of shut eye.
RMI Guides Brent, Leon and Maile
Hey everyone, Peter here and just checking in. We are back down at high camp. We had a very windy summit. I'm not sure if our call got out. We tried to communicate from on top. It was very cold, very windy. But we had a great successful climb today with everyone reaching the summit and we even took some time to get some great production. There should be some stills heading your way now. Some images from our climb today. Super cold. Super windy. But we're all very happy to be back down at high camp where there's just a slight breeze. And it's about 8:30 right now, the sun is still very high in the sky. Tomorrow we will break camp and see if we can make it back to base camp. We had an awesome summit day. It was beautiful. It definitely pressed us. And we're all going to sleep tonight pretty darn happy. So, that's it for now and we’ll talk soon.
Peter Whittaker checking in from high camp after summit
Hi this is Seth checking in from Everest Base Camp. Today the group enjoyed a rest day at camp. We are all engaged in eating, drinking, card-playing, Scrabble-playing and general relaxing. It's fun to have everyone in the same place at the same time. The guides spent the morning hashing out the strategy for the remaining two acclimatization rotations proir to our summit bids. The goal is to have everyone within a day of each other when it comes time for the final push. It's no small task getting everyone on the same page as there are the inevitable minor illnesses that keep people hanging back for a day or two here and there. Our group is now set to start the next acclimatization round all within our prefered window. But for right now it's all about the R & R.
The real heroes of our expedition were busy working today. The Sherpa team carried the last of the supplies and most of our oxygen bottles to Camp Two and now we're all set to use that camp on our next rotation. I'm personally looking forward to heading up the mountain the day after tomorrow. I haven't yet been to Camp Two this year and I am looking forward to spending several nights there this coming week. Last year Dave Hahn and I found several old oxygen bottles from the 70's. I will use some of my down time there to explore the Western Cwm and see what artifacts I can turn up.
That's all for now. Wish us luck on our upcoming efforts on the mountain.
Hello my name is Richard, I am very interested in climbing the largest summit in Argentina
Aconcagua .
I have hiked Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa two yrs Ava , then Highest mt in Ecuador.
I would like to see how many days it would have to take metro climb to top .
Also price for me including food, lodge ,etc
Please contact me as soon as possible so I can make my plans.
Thank you very much for your time.
Richard klein
100% of our team reached the summit of Ixtaccihuatl this morning!
Everyone’s training and perseverance paid off. Not everyday do the mountains provide us with the right conditions but today the mountain granted us safe passage to the summit and back.
Not only were we able to climb, our early start was rewarded with a beautiful sunrise and clear views of a magnificent Popocatépetl erupting just across from us.
After a long day of climbing we travel to Puebla for showers, a comfortable bed, and of course, mole.
It's been windy and snowy today at the 11,200' Denali Camp, although we caught glimpses of blue sky above us occasionally this morning. We're all cozied up in our tents after a big breakfast. We're content to rest and relax, enjoying some reading and some napping. We're at a great altitude for acclimatization, so we're (hopefully) getting stronger for our next mission, which will be to move up to Genet Basin at 14,200'. That will happen on the next good weather day, perhaps tomorrow but more likely Saturday or Sunday. We'll keep you apprised of our status. But for now we're happy, hydrated, and comfortable in our current camp.
It was another beautiful day here in the Khumbu Valley, and finally we had our first views of Mt. Everest. Just above Namche you can see Everest far off in the distance, but still about 20-30 miles away. We hiked for about 5 hours today and made a quick stop at the Tengboche Monastery where we sat in on another prayer session. Everyone is doing well
Keeping it short tonight as there's not much wifi or cell service. Everything is running off of a generator that's about to a shut off. Apparently a big snow storm this winter knocked out the hydroelectric power source.
We'll send more tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
The Four Day Summit Climb Teams Led by RMI Guides Tyler Jones and Geoff Schellens reached Ingraham Flats on Mt. Rainier today, but due to poor visibility and bad weather they were forced to turn abort their summit attempt. The team returned to Camp Muir and have started their descent back to Paradise and will arrive at Ashford BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's team.
The mountain might as well surrender right now. It has no chance against this intrepid group of climbers. Ok, kind of kidding. But we are summit bound early tomorrow morning.
We topped off our preparation for our summit climb of Mt. Elbrus with a bit of training early this morning. Focus was on the use of the mountain climbers best friend, the ice axe, used primarily while ascending steep snow covered slopes. The team practiced with care and enthusiasm ,confidence in this arena will help immensely when confronted with some challenging terrain. And yes, that is what the near future holds for us.
Honestly we go at this climb like all climbs, humble and hopeful. If this beautiful hunk of Mother Earth allows us to stand on the summit, we will be grateful and thrilled. Nature is the boss and we will give it the utmost respect.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Now I’m really jealous. The ultimate zoo - minus the fences! Dennis, I would tell you to take lots of pictures, but I already know that you will. Hope you’re having the time of your life! Love, Kim
Posted by: Kim Mulherin on 7/31/2012 at 6:29 pm
Please don’t let Dion bring home a monkey. Thank you!
Posted by: Missy Guest on 7/31/2012 at 4:04 pm
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