Today the gang got up at 6:30 refreshed after a much needed nights sleep, we had breakfast, then hit the trail one last time. It took just around three hours to reach the park gate where the team had lunch and said our final goodbyes to our amazing crew that took such great care of us on the mountain.
We finished the little celebration by handing out their well deserved tips and then hopped aboard our awaiting bus for the ride back to the lodge.
Finally we are all safe and sound, cleaner, and smelling fresh after an exciting 7 day journey up and down Kilimanjaro.
We've been tentbound all day today in a storm, so not much to report. We delivered delicious breakfast burritos to our climbers in their sleeping bags, and we're all safe and comfortable in our tents. That's all the news to report from the Kahiltna Glacier!
Hello Scott! LS Sunrise is all behind you on what sounds to be a very intense journey.
All good things to you and your party and we are pulling for you all. Hoping the summit is all you dreamed of and worked so hard to achieve.
The team is officially on the mountain! We’re living our best lives, as they say, up here at 12,600 feet. We took advantage of a series of gondolas to get us here, but we did have to haul our duffels the last 100 feet to our doorsteps. Working smarter, not harder.
We took a short break after moving in, and then went for an exploratory jaunt above camp. After we walked as far as we felt like walking, we turned around. We did spend some time practicing our footwork and balance on steeper snow. Some team members took to boot skiing like they were born for it. Others...not. Ultimately we all found our style, and descended with class and grace back to the huts in time for lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, mingling with other climbers, people watching, and story telling.
Now the sun has set, and there’s no reason to be outside anymore, so we’re going to bed. We’ll check in tomorrow.
RMI Guide JM Gorum
RMI Guide Mike Walter and team climbed both Sahale and Sharkfin Tower yesterday. The team reported great climbing and 100% to the top for the two peaks! Today, the team climbed Forbidden Peak by its iconic and classic West Ridge and were standing on the summit at 10:20 this morning.
Way to go team!
Hey, this is Dave Hahn with the RMI Everest Climb calling in from Deboche. We set out this morning about 8:30 from Namche. A beautiful morning, blue sky, sunshine and everybody feeling good. It took us about 5 hours or so to go across the hillside down to the river and back across the hill at Pangboche, the big hill, and down the other side to Deboche. At our lodge tonight but figured we'd just checking with you. Great views of Mt. Everest and Ama Dablam today. Looking up there is a bunch of new snow on Everest and Lhotse. It clouded up a little bit this afternoon, but not a big deal. We are enjoying having the trails to our selves, I think we are a few days ahead of many of the climbers. [connection lost]
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn calls from Deboche with an update on the progress of the Everest team.
Hi Hans and all together,
it´s phantastic to follow you on your trek higher and higher…stay in a good mood with sunny weather and keep you warm…
Lot of love to you, Hans - Ute
Posted by: Ute Novak on 3/30/2015 at 2:04 pm
Uncle Larry,
be careful and congratulations on getting to climb the highest mountain in the world. maybe after this you want to hop to train with me. Lol be safe up there. I agree with mom your beard hopefull keep u worm.
Update January 5th at 3:30 pm PT
This is the day that all the hard work, both at home and on the mountain, are for and it is always the hardest day of the trip. Thankfully, we made it to the summit and back to camp safely and in great style. With an early dinner in our bellies we will all sleep well tonight.
Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers for our safety.
RMI Guide Walter Hailes[Call from the summit audio transcription]
Hello, this is Walter from the summit of Aconcagua with our team. It's a beautiful day up here, blue skies, a little breezy- probably about 20 (mph) on the top. We did go through some pretty heavy wind down below, maybe constant 40 to 50 in some of the little saddles, but we made it! We're happy and it's sunshiny. Everybody's tired, so we're looking forward to the downhill. We'll call or send a dispatch out when we get there so you know that we arrived safely. Over and out from Aconcagua.
RMI Guide Walter Hailes calls from the Aconcagua summit
We unanimously agreed that the temperatures were a bit warmer than the night prior and we all slept much more warmly, although we did find out in the morning that the temps were hovering around -18F when we crawled out of the tents around 9am this morning. Despite the cold bite to the air, the skies had cleared overnight and we set about breaking down camp and preparing to move to Camp 1 (known as "Low Camp" on Vinson). We hit the trail midday and climbed back up the Branscomb Glacier, navigating the first crevasse field again with ease, crossing the long basin above, and reaching our cached gear by late afternoon. The landscape, under clear skies this time, were completely different and we were able to soak in the surroundings: the bulging seracs and icecliffs of the Branscomb to our left and the towering rock and ice faces of Vinson's main Massif directly in front of us.
After reaching our cached gear we transferred the loads from yesterday into the sleds we were dragging behind us and set off toward Low Camp. We made a long arcing turn from east to north facing around a second crevasse field and then set off across the upper stretches of the Branscomb, walking along the base of Vinson's towering walls stretching 3,000-4,000' above us. The glacier was an undulating plateau that felt like a false flat - the perspective lent itself to thinking we were traveling along flat ground but in reality we climbed another 800' over several miles. The constant backward tug of our sleds was a good reminder of why we were working so hard hauling our heavy loads.
By early evening, with the sun still high in the sky, we reached Low Camp and set about establishing camp. Whatever chills we felt from the occasional breeze was quickly chased away by the hard work of shoveling out a tent platform and a place to cook in the thick wind packed snow. We needed saws to hack through the dense snow and had to wield our avalanche shovels with care for fear of bending or snapping the blades. Despite the firm snow, within a few hours we were settled comfortably into camp and enjoying a warm meal. It's now half past midnight and the sun is still high above the horizon, traveling from west to east now. We are crawling into the tent eager for a good night's rest after the long climb with all of our gear but very happy to be up here and staring up at the more exciting climbing above us.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory and team
Hello from Plantation Lodge,
Today we did not have to break camp or walk anywhere. Instead, we switched out our climbing clothes for cameras and binoculars and started our four-day safari in northern Tanzania. The first stop was Lake Manyara National Park. Created in 1960, and the second designated national park in the country, it is most well known for tree climbing lions. Fortunately, we were not disappointed by the elusive lions. Not too long into our game drive, we spotted four lions who had just finished a big meal and took to the trees to get a little relief from the sun and heat. We were about 15 feet away from one of them, with an unobstructed view of this impressive creature. Just down the road, we came across a big family of elephants that were anything but camera shy. Throughout the day we saw at least 25 different species of animals, which is a real treat for such a small park.
Now we are at the Plantation Lodge, a small luxury lodge, that is located on the highlands above Lake Manyara. It is absolutely beautiful here!
Tomorrow we head to Ngorongoro Crater to see what many call the eighth wonder of the world. We are all excited to see what the day has in store for us.
Best regards,
RMI Guide Jeff Martin
We had a mixed bag of weather this trip: some sunshine, some rain, some thunder, some lightning. A strong low pressure system moving in from the south has been causing heavy rain and flash flooding in Oregon and Washington, but we were able to squeak in an enjoyable climb today. We climbed from our bivy sight at 5,700' on Mt. Shuksan, climbed up through the Fisher Chimneys, on to the White Salmon Glacier, up Winnie's Slide, onto the Upper Curtis Glacier, up Hell's Highway, and onto the Sulphide Glacier before weather forced our hand and we headed back down to camp. We had a full day of climbing, and almost got to the top. Now we're back in our tents, safe, dry, and content, listening to the rain. The squirrelly weather did provide us with this beautiful sunset last night though!
RMI Guide Mike Walter
The Elbrus team is doing great in the beautiful city of St. Petersburg. We had an incredibly exhausting day of travel yesterday filled with car problems, delayed planes, baggage issues, but managed to make it to our new hotel safe, albeit a little tired. We finished the night off with one of the most impressive and delicious spreads of Indian food I have ever seen. A special thanks to Parth and his family for that. Thanks!
The day has been spent enjoying this beautiful city on foot and by boat. Most of the team split up to do a little exploring of their own. Some went to the famous Hermitage museum while others just enjoyed the elaborate architecture this city has to offer on foot. We will wrap up the day with an evening boat tour of the city and then head off to dinner.
Thanks for following.
Hello Scott! LS Sunrise is all behind you on what sounds to be a very intense journey.
All good things to you and your party and we are pulling for you all. Hoping the summit is all you dreamed of and worked so hard to achieve.
Posted by: Bob Paradise on 5/16/2023 at 6:11 pm
Plz post breakfast burrito recipe!
Posted by: Brian W. on 5/16/2023 at 10:47 am
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