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Hello from Shira Camp,
It rained a little last night, but when we woke up this morning, the sun was trying to shine through the cloud cover. While the sun never completely came out, we had a dry day with perfect temperatures. The weather even cooperated so that we could have a nice lunch stop along the way to our camp. We got out of camp early today in hopes of getting a little head start and be in front of the other climbers and porters. But we weren't the only group trying this strategy, and we ended up having a fair amount of trail traffic getting up the first climb out of camp. It's a narrow trail, so we just took our time and enjoyed the views around us. On the section after lunch, we got to see quite a few flowers starting to bloom, thanks to the recent rains. Usually this is a pretty dry portion of the trail as we traverse west towards the
Shira Plateau, but today there were numerous little streams which were all flowing with water. The mountain above us is still covered in the dusting of snow from a few days ago. It is really beautiful and is giving us lots of great pictures.Today was a short day of hiking and we made it to camp with plenty of time to enjoy the Shira Plateau. Of course we had popcorn and other snacks waiting for us when we arrived. And we spent a big chunk of the afternoon snacking, drinking tea, and sharing some stories. A perfect reward for the 2500' we climbed today.
Tomorrow, we are going to set a bunch of new altitude records when we go to 14,900', at the base of Lava Tower. Stay tuned for our next dispatch from Barranco Camp.
Best regards,
RMI Guide
Jeff Martin and Team
On The Map
Jambo from the Dik Dik,
We are still one bag down, but otherwise this group is ready to leave early tomorrow morning. We did spend the day going through all the details about our climb and what we might expect along the way as ascend the mountain over the next seven days. Next we focused on gear and equipment, discussing the difference between nice to have and need to have, as well as what to pack in our mountain duffel and what is carried in our day packs. This group did an excellent job in bringing all the right gear so we did not have to spend too much time doing the equipment checks and weighing our mountain duffels.
It was raining most of the day, so rather than go out for an afternoon hike, we stayed indoors, with time well spent recovering from the eleven hour time zone difference, and sending out those last few emails before leaving behind the last of the wi-fi connectivity that we will have for the next week.
We sat down for our four-course dinner, and had a special treat tonight. Two of our climbers are celebrating birthdays. The staff prepared a wonderful cake for this occasion and rolled it in on a cart after dinner with all the candles lit up and everybody singing. Our two climbers were definitely surprised.
We have set our alarms for an early wake up, and hope to be driving towards
Kilimanjaro National Park by 7:30 am. Tomorrow, we'll check in from our first camp on the mountain, Machame Camp.
Best regards,
RMI Guide Jeff Martin
Hey!! We got flown off Denali this afternoon. It was our 21st day on the mountain and it began with low cloud and unflyable conditions. We cooked up a casual breakfast on the glacier and waited patiently, checking in hourly with K2 Aviation via sat-phone. By mid-afternoon, the sun was trying to peak through and our visibility had improved a great deal. K2 was having some difficulty with thick cloud blocking the approaches on their side of the mountain, but they kept on trying to find holes. At three PM their perseverance paid off, in came the airplanes and out we went. The gang is getting together one last time in just a few minutes. Time for a triumphant feast at the West Rib and a few toasts to a good mountain, good luck and good friends.
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.
Saturday, June 26, 2021 - 10:40 pm PT
The bad weather hadn't finished, but we made our break for 11K Camp just the same. What is Denali without some wandering in whiteouts?
It took about four hours and that put us into 11K at 3PM. So nice to see our friends in Mike Walter's group. We dug in right next door to them. Still light snow falling and a lot of cloud, but we are delighted to have different scenery when we can see it. Tomorrow we'll go back down to retrieve loads.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Hello!
Another day here in the
Ishinca Valley, and another summit for your ESS-Peru Team! Around 9:00am this morning, we stood on top of Urus Este, around 17,800’, after a beautiful evening of challenging climbing where the team gave it a huge effort! It’s a lean snow year here in the Cordillera Blanca and the route was bit rockier than normal, but the team managed that challenging terrain exceptionally well. The weather was so nice on top that we were able to spend almost 45 minutes enjoying the views of the surrounding peaks and turquoise blue lakes that the Cordillera is famous for. We returned back to camp midday to a wonderful lunch, as usual, and took the afternoon to rest, recuperate, and enjoy our last day here in the Ishinca Valley after a week of calling it home. Dinner is almost served this evening, and we’re looking forward to catching a night back in the comforts of our hotel in Huaraz tomorrow evening. Shortly, we’ll find ourselves headed back to the hills for a closing climb to end our program with a bang! We’ll touch base from town tomorrow, and we’ll send some pics!
RMI Guide
Robby, William, Alfie, and Team Summit!
Hi this Seth. I'm up at Camp Muir with this week's
Expedition Skills Seminar. We had a really fun walk up the Muir Snowfield today. We had expected rain and it started out like that but after a couple of hours we broke into some sun! The clouds were in and out for the rest of the day so we stayed pretty dry. We are all settled in at camp now getting ready for our first night on the mountain.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Checking in from
Casa de Piedra, aka trekking camp 2 here in the Vacas Valley. Our crew had another great day moving well and enjoying near perfect weather. While the terrain was very similar to yesterday's hike the temperatures were considerably lower and there was a pleasant breeze all day that lessened the onslaught of the sun. Right before the Refugio we caught our first glimpses of the mountain without a cloud in the sky. The mountain looks a bit more dusty and dry than normal. The Polish Glacier also appears more broken up than normal. Still, we took a break to shoot some photos and let the size and grandeur soak in a little. After arriving in camp around 2:30 pm, we spent the afternoon lounging and some adventurous folks even went for a swim in the river. The river is running a fair bit deeper than normal so our team is going to ford it tomorrow on mules instead of on foot which will be a new experience for all of us.
All for now, will check in again tomorrow from basecamp...
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Our Four Day Summit Climbs led by Brent Okita and JJ Justman were standing on Columbia Crest at 7:05am PST this morning. According to Guide Brent Okita “It’s a beautiful and clear morning up here with a chilly breeze from the north." The teams will be spending some time on the summit before they make their descent back to Camp Muir.
Our Expedition Skills Seminar - Paradise led by Adam Knoff also checked in this morning their training is going very well. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today for his 100th time!
Congratulations to our Four Day Summit Climb teams and a special congratulations to Seth Waterfall!
The Four Day Summit Climb August 5 - 8 led by Seth Waterfall reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today! The teams enjoyed a beautiful climb this morning with clear skies, warm temperatures and not a breath of wind. They began their descent from the crater rim shortly before 7 a.m. PT en route to Camp Muir. The team will continue their descent to Paradise later this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb!
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Holly and Chris,
Just wondering if some of the stories included the torture you endured under my watch… kidding. Enjoy the continued beauty of your climb, I am jealous!
Adam W
Posted by: Adam on 2/12/2014 at 10:03 pm
Hey Chris….we have an open shift this week - wanna fill it??? NO, I didn’t think so!! Oh well, guess you’re stuck there having to enjoy the beauty, the challenge, and the awesome wife you have by your side!! Can’t wait to hear all the stories and see the pics!!
Candy
Posted by: Candy on 2/12/2014 at 1:40 pm
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