The Five Day Summit Climb led by Mark Falender along with the Four Day Summit Climb led by Chad Peele were forced to turn around at the top of Disappointment Cleaver (approx. 12,300') due to high winds and poor visibility. The teams returned safely to Camp Muir and will begin their descent to Paradise around 9 a.m. PT.
Jambo.
Mr. Tucker here at the Mweka Camp. You call breath easier as well as us here at the 10,000’ level. All is going well. We had a big day and looking forward to some great deep sleep in the thick air tonight. We’ll have a quick hike to the gate and then back to the hotel and we’ll drop you a note from there.
Thanks.
Good Show!! Now that you guys are back in thick air, how does it feel to reach your goal? MAy everyone have a great time comming home with your adventure ready to share ... even more than this blog I mean ... thanks for the time to post. See you soon Steve!
Paul
It's another beautiful day here in Russia, which was perfect for our move to our base camp. We started with two gondola rides and finished with a single chair lift to reach our home for the next few days (sounds tough I know). Our base is a series of giant barrels that sit at 12,000' about half way up the mountain. There are 12 barrels in total and they are shared by climbers from all over the world.
After our move and a quick lunch we headed uphill on Elbrus to further help our acclimatization. We climbed uphill for about 2 hours and reached just over 14,000'.
The team has return to camp and are currently awaiting dinner. Everyone is doing great and looking forward to a good night's sleep.
The day began under grey and overcast skies, as opposed to the pattern we've all come to accept of sunny mornings and cloudy afternoons. Nothing much has come of those grey skies, so far, and in fact, Kaji Sherpa made a carry to the South Col at close to 8000 meters and reported calm and easy weather conditions. We expect Sherpas from several of our neighboring teams to fix rope from the Col to the summit in the next few days if the weather stays calm, which would be a huge benefit to all teams, naturally. We have just started to focus intently on our daily weather forecasts since we'll now be poking our noses up to heights where it all matters. Other than Kaji, the rest of the climbing team took it easy in basecamp, playing cards and horseshoes and packing for the coming rotation up the mountain. We've all been amazed, fortified... and simply stuffed by Kumar's culinary wizardry in the basecamp kitchen.
NEWS FLASH
Sherpa fix ropes to the South Col! A group from different teams reached Camp Four today. With weather blowing in the group got up and down safely starting at Camp Two.
All climbers from our team are at either Camp One or Camp Two, the report is, everyone is well. This will be a longer upper mountain rotation than the last. Fingers crossed that not too much snow falls tonight so tomorrow both teams can push higher up the mountain and return back to the same camp for another night to further their acclimatization process.
Our Sherpa team is at Camp Two planning to carry loads to Camp Three in the morning.
Nice progress!
Today was a challenging day. We rigged up with half the food and gear to go cache around Windy Corner. We made our way up Motorcycle and Squirrel, and through the Polo Fields but not all the way to Windy Corner. Going to see what tomorrow brings.
RMI Guides Brent Okita and Chase Nelson lead their Five Day Climb Teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Brent reported a clear and beautiful morning with winds around 20 mph on the crater. The teams were beginning their descent from the crater rim around 7:30 AM PT. Once back at Camp Muir, they will pack up their gear where they have spent the last two nights and complete their descent to Paradise.
Congratulations to today's climbing teams!
Congratulations to those Flatlanders from Mn. on summiting. Mission accomplished ! Thankful that
that the teams had good weather. And thanks to the guides Brent & Chase for what they do. Climb on.
Jambo,
We left the Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge today and traveled to Tarangire National Park. We stopped for a lunch in the bush and were treated to a delicious outdoor meal. Our excitement for the afternoon was a dust devil, a very small tornado looking weather feature, that could have spoiled our great meal. Tarangire has one of the highest concentrations of elephant and it did not disappoint today. We saw a few new species that we hadn't seen at the crater and got great views of two large male lions. The weather has been partly cloudy with a light wind which as made for a perfect safari set up keeping us and the animals cool from the hot African sun.
We are now at the Kikoti Camp located just outside Tarangire National Park. We will be spending our last evening in Tanzania enjoying a great dinner followed by a bonfire in the courtyard of the hotel listening to the sounds of the African night.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Jambo from the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge,
After enjoying a hot shower, our celebration dinner and a good night's sleep we departed the Dik Dik Hotel for our first day of game viewing in Tanzania's National Parks.
We left at 9 a.m. and made a quick stop at a local grocery store for drinks and snacks. We stopped in a town called Mesquito River where we purchased some local bananas before entered Lake Manyara National Park and spending four hours following the herds of elephant and giraffe. The cloud cover made for a nice temperature for us and the animals and we were excited to see warthog, dik dik ,superb starling, hippo, baboon, blue monkey, bush buck, impala, cape buffalo, zebra and wildebeast.
We continued our caravan to the Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge located on the crater rim. We arrived in time to see the sunset across the plains of Africa and are enjoying the views from our big picture windows looking down into the crater.
We have a full day of game viewing in the Ngorongoro Crater on tap for tomorrow. We have planned for an early morning start with hopes of seeing the sunrise over Tanzania as we descend onto the crater floor. We are keeping our eyes out for the elusive rhino.
Everyone is doing well and enjoying our continued adventure. It should be a great sunrise!
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Early this morning, the Four Day Climb teams, led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Dominic Cifelli, successfully reached the summit of Mt. Rainier!
They were treated to a stunning sunrise and clear skies as they stood at 14,410 feet, taking time to celebrate their achievement and soak in the incredible views. After savoring their moment at the top, the teams began their descent to Camp Muir around 7:00 a.m. and are now continuing down to Paradise.
We look forward to welcoming them back in Ashford later this afternoon and celebrating a safe and successful climb!
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Good Show!! Now that you guys are back in thick air, how does it feel to reach your goal? MAy everyone have a great time comming home with your adventure ready to share ... even more than this blog I mean ... thanks for the time to post. See you soon Steve!
Paul
Posted by: Paul Basta on 2/21/2011 at 11:38 am
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