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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
Another beautiful and successful day. We woke this morning to sunny skies and a cool, fresh breeze blowing. We put away breakfast and coffee, and then packed camp. The first stretch up ski hill is a steady, consistent grind, and in many ways we were happy for the breeze. Several other teams were moving around us as well, so we were trading leads with a handful of them. One of the great parts of climbing
McKinley is meeting other climbers from all over the world. The camaraderie of the mountains is pretty special.
Once we reached our camp, we spent several hours setting up tents and building some burly snow walls. We aren't sure if the winds will ramp up as forecast, but we'll be ready if they do. We are going to play tomorrow by ear, but for now everyone is settled into tents with full bellies.
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Robby Young, Josh Maggard
Hello everyone.
We had a wonderful day again here in Nepal. We started with our usual breakfast and coffee at 8:00 and hit the trail around 9:00. Since it's been rather cold here this spring, we haven't wanted to start hiking too early. The team was very fortunate to spot a rare Musk Deer and even saw a few mountain Tarr, which is a type of Himalayan mountain goat.
We made our way to Pangboche where we visited the highest ranking Lama in the Khumbu and received a blessing for safe passage. We continued along the trail passing by the iconic Ama Dablam and slowly came into
Pheriche.
The team is doing great and enjoying the amazing scenery every step of the way.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
The weather cooperated yesterday and let us get to the top of La Malinche, 14,636’. The thunder rolled in as we got to the cabins.
Today we are in transit to Ixta. A few stops to get provisions and register with park at Paso de Cortez puts us between Popo and Ixta. We’ll have a nice hike to our camp to continue acclimating. Once in camp we’ll get our gear sorted for our move to high camp tomorrow and our summit attempt on Wednesday. The team is doing great, lots of laughs and camaraderie. We have clear skies as we drive and got our first views of Ixta and Popo. We’ll check in tomorrow from our high camp.
Thanks,
RMI Guide Mike King
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
I am back from four incredible days in the North Cascades. I was fortunate enough to a day of training at Mount Erie, then three days on a successful ascent of the
Fisher Chimneys on Mt. Shuksan with one guest. Here are some photos of the experience.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
The
Five-Day Muir Summit Climbs, led by Brent Okita and Zeb Blais, turned at the top of Disappointment Cleaver this morning due to weather. Cloud deck is currently at 8,700'. Both teams left Camp Muir just after 9:00 a.m. PT. Brent sent some photos as they descended this morning (shown below).
2,200' higher in the Andes is a noticeable change in temperature! While our mornings at Base Camp were chilly before the sun reached us, it was downright cold this morning at Camp 1 as we prepared to leave. The cold nip was softened a bit by the views: there wasn't a cloud in the sky and we watched the entire range around us soak in the morning light as we packed our bags. Once again we hit the trail as the sun reached us, following a long traverse out of Camp 1 towards a shallow basin at the head of the slope. After a few minutes we settled back into the rhythm of climbing and the time ticked by as we ascended. After several hours of climbing, traversing rock slopes, crossing small snowfields, and weaving around large boulders, we crested the gentle saddle on the Northwest Ridge of
Aconcagua and arrived at Camp 2.
Known as Nido de Condores, or Nest of the Condors, Camp 2 sits along a ridge line of distinct rock towers and the views are impressive: to the north stands Mercedario, another 6000m Andean peak, to the east lies Chile, and to our south: our climbing route up
Aconcagua. We sat up there in the good weather for a few minutes after unpacking our gear just to enjoy the panorama and get used to the ever higher altitudes. Once satisfied, and with our packs nearly empty, we descended back to our tents at Camp 1. Yesterday's snow squalls are a thing off the past and we've enjoyed sunshine all afternoon.
Tomorrow we will pack our gear and move up to Camp 2.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
The Four Day Summit Climb June 30 - 3 July reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. The weather on the mountain was very windy and cold. The team, led by RMI Guide Billy Nugent, began their descent from the crater rim at 7:30 a.m. PT. en route to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to Billy and today's Summit Climb team!
We woke this morning to splitter weather and light winds in base camp, and knew that it was time to move. After breakfast we packed up all our luggage, lashed down the sleds, shouldered our pack and headed down Heartbreak Hill. This section of the climb is called Heartbreak Hill because of the fact that teams have to climb back uphill on the way out, but the slight downhill pitch makes for a good initial stretch of the legs for teams on the way up.
Our first few hours got us out and onto the main Kahiltna Glacier, surrounded by the majestic peaks of the central Alaska Range. Foraker, Crosson, Francis, Kahiltna Dome and Denali all towered over our group, giving us a sense of smallness in this vast icy wilderness. The early morning sun made the high east faces of Foraker and Crosson shine as if lit from within, and the views made our climbing truly unforgettable.
We pulled into our camp at 7800' just as the sun came out from behind Denali, and set up camp in some welcome sunshine. Within an hour we had our tents up and folks moved in to escape the intense UV that bounces around the glacier during the day. We've been resting in anticipation of an early carry tomorrow. Everyone climbed strong to camp, and group morale couldn't be any higher. We'll check back in with an update as we continue climbing.
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
On The Map
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Looks amazing - good luck to the whole team (from Marko’s coolest sister)!
Posted by: Tatiana on 5/19/2014 at 6:01 am
Glad to hear everything is going well. Good luck to the team. Robert take care.
Love, Lisa, Joe, and Gabe
Posted by: Lisa Hohn on 5/17/2014 at 11:47 am
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