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It is tough to leave the Baksan Valley, what a gorgeous range of mountains. After another wholesome breakfast we loaded up the van and made the three-hour drive to
Mineralnye Vody. Once there we said good bye to Jonny, our local guide, who shared the adventure on the mountain with us. He will be going back up the mountain very soon and we wish him all the best.
We arrived in St. Petersburg with all our bags and a van ready to take us to the center of town. We are all pretty good at packing and unpacking,so a quick stop at the hotel and we were off to start exploring this city of so many sights. After another very nice meal, we enjoyed wandering around the neighborhood. Since we are so far north, at this time of year we had a beautiful sunset over St. Isaac's Cathedral at around 10 PM. This is a town surrounded by water with many canals running through it. There were many people taking boat rides late into the night. Tomorrow we will explore some of the historical sights topped off with an evening canal boat ride.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
The Four Day Summit Climb July 22 - 25 led by Shawn Sears was forced to turn back today at approximately 13,000' due to poor visibility and high winds. The team will return to Camp Muir to rest and repack before continuing their descent to Camp Muir this afternoon.
The Five Day Summit Climb July 21 - 25 led by Dan Windham reached the summit of Mt. Rainier yesterday evening on a sunset climb. The team departed Camp Muir this morning en route to Paradise.
The weather report from Camp Muir this morning included rain and some thunder and lightening to the South East which was quickly moving out of the area.
Congratulations to today's teams!
Just writing a quick note before we start cooking dinner. The whole crew is in excellent spirits, not to mention in great physical shape, and we plan on making our summit attempt on Pico de Orizaba sometime late tonight or early tomorrow morning. We had a great training hike today to a spot well above 15,000 ft where we cached some of the technical gear we will need higher up on the glacier. The weather is starting to look a little iffy but if the patterns we've been seeing for the last week or so, we'll probably be waking up to clear skies: stars and a nearly full moon!
Well, that's it from your team high in central Mexico. Wish us luck and keep your fingers crossed for good weather!
Billy, Fernando, John, Ryan, Bob, Pam, and Robin.
Hello from about 14,000' on Pico de Orizaba! We are all well amidst a winter wonderland...the low pressure system that chilled us on Ixta is still with us. Currently there is about 6 inches of snow at our camp with poor visibility and intermittent snowfall.
The forecast is for improving weather, so our team is anticipating a fair weather climb, we shall see! For now, we are building our quiver of climbing skills with a great knot lesson. "a not neat knot need not be knotted!"
We give thanks for the great, safe, and determined driving of Victor and Ulysses...driving on 4x4 roads in a snow storm is hard enough, not to mention while shuttling climbers to 14,000'!
Another excellent gourmet meal is enjoyed as we wait for improving weather!
Friday May 14, 2021 - 6:44 pm PT
The team spent a good day packing and prepping everything to be ready to fly into the Alaska Range tomorrow. Coffee and crepes to start the morning, orientation with the National Park Service, then digging into gear and packing for the planes: all went smoothly. All our bags are weighed and sorted, waiting to be loaded in the morning weather willing, and we'll trust the awesome pilots at K2 to tell us if and when it's time to fly.
With a bit of luck, we'll be checking in from tents on the Kahiltna Glacier tomorrow!
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer & Team
Jambo everyone!
Today was our first day of safari and we headed west to visit the beautiful Lake Manyara. The lake is known for its many migratory animals and home to more than 300 different birds. Everyone enjoyed the day cruising around in our safari vehicles with cold beverages in hand while seeing the animals up close.
We managed to see a few wildebeest, zebras, Cape buffalo, lots of baboons, a few impalas, and a few elephants pretty close, but sadly no lions.
Hopefully tomorrow the big cats come out.
All in all it was a really nice introduction to the incredible diversity of wildlife that Africa has and the team is looking forward to seeing more tomorrow.
We wrapped up the evening with a few cocktails and a wonderful meal at our new lodge. Plantation Lodge - See for yourself!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Safari crew
Many miles of dusty roads brought us out of the mountains and back into civilization this afternoon. The small town of
Olgii, population 30,000, which felt like a isolated outpost last week now feels like the big city with amenities such as hot showers and the occasional strip of pavement.
For dinner we were treated to a traditional Khazak feast with a performance on the dombor, a two stringed instrument similar to a guitar. Despite a lack of physical activity today, everyone seems a bit tired and we are all headed to bed early to get ready for our flight back to Ulaanbataar tomorrow morning.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
Hello again.
We woke to another beautiful sunny day here in the
Khumbu. We started early to beat the traffic and the team made good time, yet taking time to enjoy this peaceful and majestic place.
There were still dozens of loads headed for basecamp as always, because much of the needed supplies arrive via plane or from a few days away by mules.
We also ran into several more friends on the trail headed for Everest and it was nice to say hello and wish them the best.
With a little luck we hope to be back in Kathmandu tomorrow morning!
Keep your fingers crossed for us.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall and the Five-Day
Mount Rainier Summit Climb, along with Tyler Reid and the Four-Day Summit Climb reached the summit this morning. They enjoyed light winds and clear skies. The teams spent some time celebrating and enjoying the views before starting their descent at 8:10 a.m.
Today marks
Solveig's 100th summit of Mount Rainier! Congratulations!
Tonight I'm in Camp 3. This camp is hands down the most ridiculous camp I've ever made. It's perched atop a small serac maybe 20' by 20' with huge drops on three sides. A 150 feet overhanging ice cliff is what I'm tucked under... to protect from avalanches. Yikes!
The past three days I've spent making my way up Annapurna. The first day (the 19th) I left Base Camp with two Sherpa guides to re-open the route after a week of snow. But on the way to Camp 1 and after arriving in Camp 1, I was observing avalanche activity that was just too frequent for my comfort to continue pushing on to Camp 2 (as was our original plan). Shortly after making the call to stop for the day at Camp 1, a massive avalanche broke high on Annapurna. Rumbling toward us, I thought, for a moment, it was gonna hit us but luckily it just dusted Camp 1 with a cloud of snow and a large gust of wind.
The 20th I made my way to Camp 2 and found my tent, that I had set up on April 4th when I first established the camp, buried under 7ft of snow. Three and a half hours later I had my tent unburied and patched up. Today, the 21st, I tackled the most technical and dangerous section of Annapurna. Namely, a 3,200-foot climb through steep alpine ice with large seracs always above you. Just think of ice blocks the size of tractor trailers just waiting their turn to rumble down the mountain side. About mid-way through the climb I broke one of the straps on my Millet 8000m boots. Taking refuge beneath a massive serac I quickly jimmy-rigged a fix and kept climbing. The key in these regions is to move as fast as is safe and possible for you.
This evening at Camp 3 I'm sharing this small ice pedestal with another team. We barely fit. Just as dark set in a large stove fire erupted in a tent adjacent to mine. Luckily I had my down suit and inner boots on and could rush out to help reduce the fire. Myself and a few other climbers rushed to kick gas canisters and oxygen bottles out of the fire; throwing snow on it, and principally focusing on preventing the other tents from catching fire. Unbelievably no one was injured! The tent and many of the occupant's belongings were lost to the fire, but everyone is safe now.
It's quite windy here tonight. Not sustained, but you can hear the gusts approaching from the distance. Not sure what my game plan is for tomorrow, either head to Camp 4 and make a summit attempt tomorrow evening; in which case I'd be racing a forecasted storm to the summit, or head back to Base Camp and wait for a more stable window.
RMI Guide Alex Barber
After months of preparation, you guys are ready. Go get it!!
Praying for you all daily!
Posted by: Christy Cunningham on 5/15/2021 at 7:24 pm
Good luck everyone. Marc, have a wonderful, rewarding and successful climb. Looking forward to seeing you do your 49th with Denali, and then finally Mauna Kea, number 50 !! Then we can celebrate in Hawaii.
Love you, Sonny boy
Posted by: David Gollob on 5/15/2021 at 1:43 pm
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