Hi this is Seth. The team is all in Puebla relaxing after a long day yesterday. We encountered a major storm at high camp on Ixta that prevented us from climbing to the summit. I was up most of the night checking in with the climbers and making sure that the tents were properly anchored and not getting covered in snow. It snowed most of the night and by the time we began our descent there were over three foot drifts in places. The blizzard increased in intensity as we left camp and the descent was a difficult one. Everyone remained in good spirits however and we managed to descend back to the Altzimoni hut by two o'clock PM. Once we were there we discovered, to our dismay, that the road was snowed in and our vehicles would not be able to pick us up. Our resourceful local staff was able to hike out and find a National Park employee with a four wheel drive truck that agreed to help us. His truck could only get to within a half mile of the hut so we shuttled loads in the blowing snow, loaded the truck with our gear, and hiked six miles out the road to the Paseo de Cortez. At the pass our vans were there waiting for us and we hopped in and drove to Puebla where we are staying at the beautiful Hotel Colonial. What a difference a day makes! The city seems a million miles away from where we were yesterday.
Hello. This is Billy checking in from Mexico. Our group arrived on Saturday in Mexico City with all their luggage, always a good start to a trip. There was a large festival being held in the Zocalo near our hotel. On Sunday we visited the pyramids at Teotihuacan along with the the President of Mexico. As you can imagine that created a lot of excitement and a lot of military activity. After visiting the pyramids we drove to La Malinche where we spent the night in cabanas at 10,000' to begin our acclimatization.
Today we are taking an acclimatization hike on La Malinche (14,640') and are about 40 minutes from the summit. It is a beautiful day with warm temperatures. After our hike we will return to the cabanas for another night at 10,000' before making our way to Orizaba tomorrow.
We will check in again soon.
We are experiencing a bit of wet weather, a cloud mist almost rain here at Karanga camp 13,000' on Kilimanjaro. We did not let the weather spoil the climb today for it held off until we arrived at camp. The infamous Barranco Wall would not have been as much fun this morning had it been wet but with perfect conditions and a strong team we cruised up the wall in about 30 minutes first thing this morning. After a couple more stretches on the trail, we arrived to a great lunch as usual with camp all set upon arrival. What a nice way to rough it! The team is resting now in our tents until the next meal. All is well here on Kilimanjaro.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guides Tyler Jones and Kel Rossiter stood on top of Mt. Rainier this morning! The teams enjoyed calm and warm conditions while on the summit and are making their way back to Camp Muir. We will see them back in Ashford later today.
Congratulations!
Good morning friends and family!
Well we are still in Talkeetna after a long day yesterday of rain. The skies this morning, while not raining, remain a canvas of clouds. Today we will continue ground training with mechanical advantage systems, remaining close to the planes if we get a break.
Weather looks good on Thursday and honestly, we are having a great time here!
RMI Guide Leon Davis & Team
Jambo from Mweka Camp,
We had a great summit day and the entire team reached the summit at 7:50 AM. It started about 11:45 PM last night when the alarm went off, and soon after we were dressed and packed for the climb. After a quick breakfast we threw on our backpacks and started up the trail. The team did a great job of climbing the 4,000'+ to the top, and the weather cooperated with us the whole way, with a little wind to start, but was almost calm while we were on the summit. It took us 7 hours total to reach the top, and after spending about 45 minutes on top, we began our descent down to our last camp on the mountain, Mweka Camp.
Everybody did very well today. Now we are settled into our tents and looking forward to a good night's rest. We'll get an early start tomorrow and finish the last section of our trek, descending to Mweka Gate.
Best regards,
RMI Guide Jeff Martin
RMI Guide Jeff Martin calling in from the Roof of Africa.
Congratulations Chief!!! We are all so proud of you!!! Love and miss you!!! Jill, Rachel, Caleb, Kiki, Emily, Shane, Eli, Silas, David, Catie, Shena, Jeff, Anthony and Chloe
Today we carried to 16,600 on Aconcagua. We enjoyed a cool morning with snow and a light breeze. The entire team cruised through our breaks to arrive at Camp 1 with a small piece of blue sky. The scree which is typically dry and loose was covered in snow, making the climbing more enjoyable. The team returned to Base Camp just in time for weather to roll in and snack before siesta. Rest day tomorrow!
RMI Guide Mike King
Michael…We are enjoying your blog posts. Checking in with Abby today. Love, Mom
Posted by: Diana King on 1/19/2014 at 6:28 am
Bissell, for some reason, my messages do not seem to be getting through. The kids and I miss you terribly, as does Atticus of course. The pictures are wonderful and I try to imagine what it must be like to be surrounded by such beauty. So proud of you. Love you.
Buenas noches and Merry Christmas Eve from our second camp before Basecamp. Our time down here in the Southern Hemisphere was a hot one again today, but we did get to camp before the heat of the day set in and enjoyed a siesta while it passed. As one of the few inhabitants of this camp we did introduce ourselves to our neighbors. Our friends the herreros, led by Fernando, and the ranger crew, run by Diego, who made introductions to a most rare Mitchell's Plover. This is a rare bird living in the meadow adjacent to our camp. A cute fellow with a small curved beak and white halo, yellow breast and pleasant disposition, I was pleased to make his acquaintance.
Tomorrow we will push for Basecamp, leaving the Vacas Valley for the Relinchos Valley and tasting our first elevation gain of the trip. Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Merry Christmas from NC. I’m glad all is going well with the team. Love the pic of the rising moon and sunset. Saying hello and sending christmas hugs to my friend John F. and hello to Paul.
Posted by: RJordan on 12/25/2013 at 7:14 pm
Wishing you all a very merry Christmas from sea level.
This is RMI Team 6, standing on the summit of Denali at 6:10 p.m.. A little bit of a cloud, not much wind. Everybody is super happy and super healthy, we are looking forward to a good descent. Thank you everybody for your support.
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
RMI Guide Mike Haugen calls from the summit of Denali, Alaska.
Good morning, this is RMI Guide Eric Frank checking in from the summit of Alpamayo. It's just before noon here in Peru. We had a pretty amazing climb today. Woke up to gorgeous weather, clear skies. Everyone made it to the top. We are just about to start rappelling down. We will leave a message and let you know we got down safely. Thanks for following along. Bye.
Update: July 10, 2014 2:21 PM PT
The team is back at high camp safe and sound. They are packing up to head down to base camp and are looking forward to an amazing meal prepared by their base camp cook.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
RMI Guide Eric Frank calls in from the Alpamayo summit!
Congratulations Chief!!! We are all so proud of you!!! Love and miss you!!! Jill, Rachel, Caleb, Kiki, Emily, Shane, Eli, Silas, David, Catie, Shena, Jeff, Anthony and Chloe
Posted by: Jill Crumley on 2/2/2014 at 1:18 pm
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