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Saturday, May 21, 2023 - 10:30 pm PT
Good evening readers,
Today we woke to a wet rain falling on our tents. The plan was for an early start but we postponed our departure by a few hours watching the clouds. After yummy breakfast burritos we began breaking down camp and hit the trail. The team made their way back up Ski Hill on our way to our new home at 11,000' Camp. After walking for a few hours of descent weather we hit a hot pocket that made everyone go into a heat panic. But we persevered and made it to some cooler temps. At our last break the snow flakes got bigger and a chill hit the team but this was short lived and we were back to being hot as we rolled into camp. It was a tough long day with heavy packs but it sure feels good to be here. We made camp, ate dinner and it's off to bed to let the bodies recover. Tomorrow we will back carry down to our cache to be reunited with all our gear and then rest for the majority of the day. Snow falls as we get snuggled in. Frequent taps on tent walls make the snow slide down. We will see how much snow falls through the night.
Good night all,
RMI Guides Hannah, Devin, Erika, and Team
It was sleep-in day at Barranco Camp. We didn’t start slurping coffee until 7:30 this morning and breakfast at 8:00 was a leisurely affair. There were several good reasons for going slow and dragging feet. Barranco Camp is a beautiful place and absolutely worth spending a little more quality time in. But strategy-wise, we wanted to give neighboring teams and their associated porters the chance to get out ahead of us and to clear the tricky ledges and scrambly bits of the Great Barranco Wall before we committed to it. Secondarily, we knew we didn’t have a long way to go to reach Karanga Camp. So it was 9:40 before we put on our packs and followed Gama to the start of the wall. The strategy worked... while we didn’t exactly have the track to ourselves, there weren’t any big bottlenecks or traffic jams and we were able to figure out the tricky rock moves without much pressure or stress. In truth, the great majority of the “wall” is just walking or careful walking. And we did all of that well. We gained about 900 feet in elevation and popped out on top of the wall to easy terrain and gorgeous views of Kibo and the rest of the world. As usual, the rest of the world -with a few exceptions- was under the sea of white cloud lapping at the slopes of the mountain a thousand feet below.
We had tea and snacks at that 13,900 ft high point and then carried on traversing to the east. After another hour we’d reached the steep walled Karanga Valley. Our camp sat on the opposite rim, so we dropped down a dusty trail to the valley floor and marched up the opposing flank to our home for the night. Karanga Camp is at virtually the same altitude we slept at last night -13,000 ft, so we hope to solidify our acclimatization before moving higher tomorrow. We made it here in four hours,allowing plenty of time for rest, for kite flying, and for more of Tosha’s great cooking.
Best Regards
Dave Hahn
Good evening from Huaraz!
We have officially started our 2019 multi-peak
climbing adventure. Everyone arrived in Peru on time, and we proceeded yesterday to do the long drive between the country's capital and the Huaraz, the epicenter of climbing activity in this Andean country. The drive brought us over Conochocha Pass, nearing 4,200 meters of elevation and with astonishing views of the immediate massif of Pastoruri mountains, as the gateway to the Cordillera Blanca.
Without much hesitation, we continued on today with an acclimatization hike to Lake Churup, at 14,400ft above town. Beautiful turquoise waters below a steep peak of the same name, provided the best rewards for the first day of activity on our trip. The day followed with a team's lunch in town, and getting pre packed for tomorrows drive and approach to Base Camp. Everyone is excited, in great spirits and the weather looks good for the next few days. Cebollapampa Base Camp, between Chopicalqui and Yanapacha (our next objectives over the next few days) await!
Stay tuned for our updates from the mountain.
RMI Guides Elias de Andres Martos & JT Schmitt
The Everest Base Camp team finally has arrived after some very long and tiring flights. Everyone is doing well after a well deserved night of rest here at the peaceful and appropriately named Yak & Yeti Hotel.
We started our day with a nice big buffet breakfast, then had a team meeting to discuss all the gear and review the details of the adventure that we are about to head out on.
After our meeting we headed out on a brief tour of Kathmandu were we visited the beautiful Monkey Temple, and the famous Boudhanath Stupa.
It's quite the culture shock visiting this busy city packed with nearly 4 million people. The streets are packed with people, motorcycles, and cars that honk endlessly.
I'm sure everyone is looking forward to peace and quietness of the Khumbu where we head tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Another day of brilliant blue skies greeted us this morning while we sipped coffee and ate a lazy breakfast. The objective for the day was to take a meandering walk along the terraced ridges and slopes of
Isla del Sol, gaining some additional acclimatization and taking in the cultural landscape of a society that has changed very little in the last few hundred years.
The island doesn't have any roads, so the only traffic we had to contend with were braying donkeys, farmers moving from field to field and the occasional European tourist.
For lunch we were treated to a traditional Andean feast, Apthapi. To make Apthapi, the locals dig a hole and line it with square rocks. They then light a fire and heat the rocks and surrounding ground. After removing the embers and ash, layers of potatoes, beans and meat are placed in the hole and covered with dirt. They cook for several hours and eventually produce an extremely tasty combination.
Weary from four plus hours of walking, we returned to our Eco Lodge and spent the afternoon relaxing and taking in the view of distance mountains.
The sunset this evening, like most here, was spectacular. Shimmering rays bounced up off the surface of the lake multiplying the colors, and making for a dramatic closing to the day.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
We had a nice relaxed departure from Karanga camp this morning. After just a few short hours on the trail we found our selves at our high camp on
Mt. Kilimanjaro, Barafu Camp. We are moving well today and the same steady tight team pulled into camp. We already emptied our packs and adjusted the load to ready for our summit attempt tonight.
We have our food packed for the summit and enjoyed a hot lunch at camp. We are relaxing this afternoon and taking a rest before an early dinner. After dinner we will try to get a few hours of sleep before our midnight wake up call and game on! The weather continues to stay nice, just a few low clouds now and again but no complaints here. The local support staff has yet to miss a beat and we really appreciate the help. Go team Go. Will try and call you from the top.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
On The Map
May 8, 2014 10:20 p.m. PST
The team took advantage of bluebird weather today by training on various mountaineering techniques near
Kahiltna Base. We did this in anticipation of an attempt on the Radio Control Tower tomorrow. Now that the group has all of the necessary skills under their belt, we can safely travel up the glacier and, hopefully, climb to our first summit!
RMI Guide Leon Davis
It's here! The final RMI
Aconcagua expedition of 2014! The team of climbers and Guide extraordinaire Katrina and myself are set to go. We had a great time in Mendoza and Penitentes and we are revving to go. We have a day of sunshine ahead of us to get to our first trek camp at Pampa de Las Leñas. Follow along to see how much fun we have on Aconcagua.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
On The Map
Today we visited the famous
Ngorongoro Crater, believed by many to be the 8th wonder of the world. It is a two million year old collapsed caldera that is home to more than 25,000 large mammals, and has a dense population of lions.
We spent nearly the entire day driving around looking at all the animals and waiting at times for either the wildebeest, or zebras to get out of our way. We saw about a dozen lions, a far off black rhino, thousands of pink flamingos and many others. I'm pretty sure everyone had a great day.
We finished off the day with a quick visit to a working Maasai Village to see how this semi-nomadic group of people still live the way they have for thousands of years.
Hopefully tomorrow we'll catch a glimpse of a cheetah and leopard to round out the safari.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Jambo! We are at
Kilimanjaro's high camp, 15,200 feet! We've been in and out of clouds all day but no precipitation.
The team did great coming up from
Karanga Camp. We practiced taking nice and efficient breaks today in prep for our summit bid tonight. We came up with plenty of time to relax and get things organized for the night-time departure.
I'll call in when we're headed for the top.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
On The Map
Wow impressive to read and how encountered. Hard to believe hot pockets up in the snowy mountain. Keep up the good work.
Go Bethany Go!! Love Mom and Dad
Posted by: Jan L. Gray on 5/21/2023 at 7:29 pm
Rest up well tomorrow, Anna. Veggies will be waiting for you when you get back!
Go team, Tatas!! Keeping all of you in our prayers.
Love you, Anna!
Mom & Dad
Posted by: Kathy on 5/21/2023 at 7:14 pm
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