Mark Tucker checking in from Tarangire National Park. Another fabulous day of game viewing. What can I say? We had a birthday celebration this evening. Cake, balloons, singing, gifting. Very nice evening here at the lodge, a tented camp with a big bonfire... All is well... We'll be back at the Dik Dik tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Mark Tucker checking in from Tarangire National Park.
Can’t wait to have the B’ville Boys back, but how are we gonna keep ‘em down on the farm now that they’ve climbed the summit and seen the wild ones!
Safe travels to all and many, many thanks to Mark Tucker! Tacey
This morning we left for our summit attempt on Cotopaxi at 1:15 am. A starry night and a light breeze greeted us as we ascended the slopes above the climbers' hut. The weather stayed beautiful, and our team climbed strong. At 7:30 all of us stood on the 19,347 foot summit of Cotopaxi-six hours and fifteen minutes after starting. Climbing conditions were great, and summit views were vast; from southeast to northeast we could see all ten of the 5000+ meter volcanoes of Ecuador: Sangay, El Altar, Tungurahua, Chimborazo, Carihuairazu, Iliniza north and south, Cayambe, and Antisana-and Cotopaxi was under our feet!
After a half hour of rest and photos on the summit, we began our descent. The climbing conditions remained excellent and we arrived back at the climbers' hut by 10:00. We spent an hour or so at the hut, resting and rehydrating, before hiking 15 minutes down to our waiting vehicle.
We are now at the Hacienda La Cienega, enjoying hot showers and delicious food.
Congratulations to Robin, Sean, and Sherman on their successful ascent of Cotopaxi!
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
Hello from Usa River, Tanzania,
The daily KLM flight from Amsterdam arrived right on time tonight, and fortunately our entire team made the flight. Not so lucky with all the bags. We have one bag that is still in Amsterdam and will come down on tomorrow's flight, just in time for us before we leave for the mountain. We are now at the hotel and just finished the best meal that has been served in the last 9,000 + miles of travel.
Tomorrow we'll start with a full orientation about our Kilimanjaro climb and safari and then work on getting our gear ready and weighed for the mountain. Everyone is excited to finally be here in Africa and beginning this incredible adventure. More to follow tomorrow.
Best regards,
RMI Guide Jeff Martin
This experience is going to exceed your expectations, I’m sure. :) Dad, the guide won’t let you drive on the safari, so don’t even ask.
PS For the love of Pete, please try and pick up some Swahili while you’re out there. haha. Eric, we should have made you some post cards to study off of.
Posted by: Rachel on 2/11/2014 at 11:14 am
Sarah, friends, guides, helpers,
Have a magnificent adventure!
Safe journey! xoxox’s, mom
Posted by: Marguerite Saslow on 2/11/2014 at 7:18 am
We explored the sixth largest national park in Tanzania today. Tarangire is a year-round, dependable water-source for thousands of elephants. We saw families big and small of pachyderms, but also wildebeest, zebra, giraffe, gazelles and antelope. The birders in the team wee kept quite busy ID-ing "new" flappers. We roamed the savanna for hours with each former climber standing half out the open back of a land-cruiser, looking hard for the next stunning wildlife display. The land we explored is essentially a wide-open baobab forest cut by a number of rivers. Up one of those giant baobabs we spied a cat... upon closer inspection that cat -a large civet- turned out to be dead. This got us looking a bit closer at the other branches of the humongous tree, where finally we discovered a sleeping leopard. We tried to imagine the strength and skill that had gone into this leopard making a kill and then dragging his kill in his teeth while climbing twenty feet vertically up the wall-like trunk of a tree. He'd stashed the kill in a fork well off the ground to keep scavengers from bothering it while he... Or she... Took a well deserved nap.
At the end of the day, we exited the park and made a short drive to Kikoti Camp... A comfortable lodge just east of the park boundary. We watched Maasai tribesmen start a fire without matches and then perform a welcome dance for us. We joined in, eventually, in trying to jump higher.
We'll get a little more chance to see wildlife in the morning on the way back through the park.
Hard to believe that we'll begin our final day together.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
We just enjoyed a much needed rest day at the Hacienda, Chilcabamba, a beautiful rural farmhouse/bed and breakfast situated just outside of Cotopaxi National Park. The serene location is perfect for relaxation and recuperation, in preparation for our summit attempt on Cotopaxi. We have enjoyed good views of Cotopaxi and our climbing route from Chilcabamba all day today.
Tomorrow, we'll pack up and head to the climbers' hut on Cotopaxi, at roughly 16,000'. An early alpine start on Thursday will see us ascending the steep, glaciated slopes of Cotopaxi, hopefully en route to a successful summit. We'll keep you abreast of our progress. Stay tuned!
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Your fan club here in SoCal is sending you lots of push energy for the next summit. Good luck on the ascent and lots of love from here. Kit, Art and Lynn
Posted by: Kit Spaulding on 6/28/2013 at 8:53 am
what an amazing trip! love the pics.
Posted by: Theresa Sparks on 6/27/2013 at 11:07 am
As forecasted, today was a better day. It was sunny and calm… and we didn’t go climbing. The guide team felt that the recent snowfall needed at least one good sunny day to settle and reduce the avalanche hazard. As it turned out, all other teams on the mountain came to a similar conclusion—no teams moved today.
We ended up making pretty good use of the day, though. We roped up and took a field trip to the Edge of the World! Since we are camped in the middle of a large glacial basin, it’s easy to forget just how high we’ve already climbed. A short walk to the edge is a quick reminder. It was thrilling today to climb a rock at the edge and look down a few thousand feet to the Kahiltna Glacier—where we camped a while back.
Back at camp, Calvin gave a well-received instructional session on avalanche beacons, and Sam put all his culinary skill into boiling water for our freeze-dried dinner.
The Four Day Climb teams led by Andy Bond and JT Schmitt heading up to Camp Muir for their climb tomorrow, September 23rd, decided to turn around in the face of bad weather. The team made it to just before the Muir Snowfield where they took a cold and wet break and discussed the realities of their situation. The weather above them was the same but with freezing temperatures and higher winds, making an ascent to Camp Muir too dangerous to continue. The team celebrated their high point and returned to Paradise where they were shuttled back to dry clothes and hot beverages.
We can't complain about the two days of bad weather that prevented us from flying on when it is this beautiful at base camp. The weather here is stellar and watching the sun track across the greater Alaska range has the team in awe. Distant Avalanches off Mt. Hunter and Foraker provide awesome viewing in between skills training. Today we traveled up the SE fork of the Kahiltna for an attempt on Horiskey's Hump (Radio Tower) but poor slope conditions turned us back. Not as much snow sticking to the slopes here this year and firm conditions on steep terrain forced us to make a conservative decision. The team is very thankful for the chance and they learned a great deal about themselves.
Tomorrow we train and prepare for an attempt on Kahiltna Dome!
RMI Guide Leon Davis and Team
We woke to beautiful, clear skies today and enjoyed the early morning warmth after a slightly chilly night. First up for the day was an all important breakfast with pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns, cereal and last but not least COFFEE. A special thanks to Jeff Martin for preparing a wonderful travel kit with plenty of it.
We hit the trail a little before 9am and slowly made our way passing dozens of tea houses, trekkers, and porters. We crossed several suspension bridges decorated with prayer flags that sit high above the valley floor with amazing views in all directions. After a few hours hiking we arrived at the big hill that leads up to the famous Namche Bazaar, which is the center of the Khumbu Valley. The team did a great job and before too long we all arrived in Namche just in time for a late lunch and before the snowflakes started to fall from the sky. We spent the remainder of the evening exploring this small town and napping as we continue to adjust to the new time zone and altitude.
Everyone is in good spirits and looking forward to our rest day tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Can’t wait to have the B’ville Boys back, but how are we gonna keep ‘em down on the farm now that they’ve climbed the summit and seen the wild ones!
Safe travels to all and many, many thanks to Mark Tucker! Tacey
Posted by: Tacey Carroll on 8/17/2012 at 8:13 am
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