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Posted by: Hannah Smith, Lucas Haaland, Luke Wilhelm
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
Wednesday, May 29, 2019 - 9:26 PM PT
Howdy howdy. Its us again but this time from new location. We decided to pack up camp, load the sleds, and go for a walk. The clouds came and went, giving us gorgeous views of the surrounding peaks and than closing in us making it look like the inside of a pingpong ball. Regardless of where the clouds were though, the furnace was turned to high and sweat ran down our faces. The saying goes freeze or fry in the mountains and we felt the fry. Once we arrived to our new home, we put on our working gloves and got down to business. It's a lot of work putting in a new camp. You gotta make flat platforms for the tents, dig a bathroom, and dig a kitchen. But at the end of the day it feels good to work hard and do some shoveling. Tomorrow will be less work and more play hopefully. Looks like the weather will hold for one more day before the next weather system moves in. So we will take advantage of any sunshine we can get and go explore.
Time to catch some Zzz,
RMI Guide Hannah Smith and team
We were treated to a perfect night and morning at Barranco Camp. The lights of Moshi twinkled far below, the hanging glaciers and ice fields of Kibo glowed in moonlight above us. We slept in 'til a leisurely breakfast at eight. We walked out of camp just before 9:00 as cumulus clouds began to form up. Within just a few minutes we were out of the gardens and streams of the valley and coming to grips with the great Barranco Wall. With great help from our guides -James, Freddy, Patric, Venance and Philibert, we negotiated the ledges and cliffs. We pulled ourselves up to new ledges and found nooks and crannies for the feet. We squeezed through gaps in the lava and avoided loose and rolling rocks. The wall eased into steep hiking in places, but there were always a few more scrambly bits mixed in. We topped out near 14,000 ft in a little less than two hours. By then the clouds were hiding Kibo and almost everything but our immediate surroundings. We walked down into the next shallow valley and across a few more divides to get to the steeply cut Karanga Valley. Some careful and dusty steps were required to get us down one side and up the other to our new camp on the far rim. Karanga Camp sits at 13,160 ft which isn't too much of a gain over our last camp, so we'll hope for a night relatively free of altitude-associated discomforts. The clouds stuck with us through the afternoon and evening, but of course that didn't prevent us from lounging about and enjoying a couple more excellent meals from Tosha, our climbing chef extraordinaire.
The views will keep until tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Another great day here on Killimanjaro. We had about 12 hours in the tents last night. The team used them well, for a strong group of climbers met the challenge to our new camp at 13,000 ft Baranco camp. We did have to climb up to a high point at 14,700', an altitude record for a lot of the group, to get here. No rain today which was very nice and everybody is resting and enjoying peanuts and popcorn in the dining tent.
The groups performance is all I could hope for. If we keep this up, with a little luck, we will soon be standing on the roof of Africa.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
We're resting at Camp 4 today, with beautiful weather. The forecast is for pretty high winds the next few days, so we'll likely be here through the beginning of the week. Hopefully the winds abate (or the forecast doesn't verify!), and we can move up high soon.
We enjoyed a late breakfast with lots of bacon and coffee this morning, and now we're lounging around, reading and whatnot. Our spirits are high, and we're hopeful that we can move up high soon.
Thanks for the posts on the blog, it's always good to hear from friends back home.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Just wishing you a good night’s rest and letting you know your family is thinking of you and sending all our love!!! I love you….Megan
Posted by: Megan on 5/15/2011 at 10:04 pm
SEND IT, RAPPSTAR!!! Btw bacon and coffee at 14,000 feet? Sounds like pretty much the best Sunday ever! Get after it, take pics, and stay safe my friend!
Posted by: Claire on 5/15/2011 at 9:16 pm
The final team is at Camp Three for the night. Just got off the radio with them and all is well. With great weather, all members... getten er dun!
While the vast majority of the teams here have now finished with their acclimatization runs, RMI is wrapping it up in the next couple of days with great conditions and no crowds on the ropes. Our group has been working to support all waves in a very calculated way. This type of approach has proven itself time and again. In this extreme environment there is not much room for error. Here at Basecamp (17,500 ft) life is no picnic in itself, let alone these guys at 23,000 ft camped on an ice ledge with a couple of thousand feet of steep ice pulling at them from below. It's comforting to know our guys are some of the best in the business.
Some of the other teams are going way down valley where things like trees grow. Man, do I miss the color green. Unless someone is a bit sick we will probably stay at Basecamp and rest here before the summit push. There are many different approaches about what to do at this pivotal point in the expedition, it's tough to second guess what is the right decision for each individual. Many an hour has been spent on this debate. In the end you make the call and hope for the best.
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Dominic Cifelli, Matias Francis
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 6,200'
Our team woke up just after 7am to dense fog and intermittent rain. This group is positive and experienced in the back country, so it was no problem. The skies still have not cleared up, but we were able to cover the topics of technical gear, walking and advanced scrambling all while staying relatively dry. Not wanting to get the team too wet, we took shelter in our tents after breakfast, waiting for a break in the weather. We are now back in camp, relaxing outside as the sun is just starting to poke through. It is warm and any wet items have dried out by now. The team is looking forward to climbing tomorrow and we will check in, hopefully from the top!
RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier
Poor visibility, high winds and heavy precipitation forced the Five Day Summit Climb led by Lindsay Mann to stay at Camp Muir last night and they were unable to make a summit attempt. Camp Muir received about 6 – 8 inches of new snow. Lindsay and team will be packing up and starting their descent back to Paradise shortly. We expect the team to arrive back at Basecamp in the early afternoon.
June 2, 2014 - 8:41 pm
Today we made our first and heaviest move of the entire trip. We mounted our packs with big sleds dragging behind! Traveling down the Southeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier, we departed base camp in cool conditions early this morning. We then met a brisk wind as we rounded the corner on to the main fork of the glacier. As we ascended the wind continued to increase, biting with cold that gave a taste of the temperatures we'll encounter higher on Denali, the Great One. Our crew did very well for our first real day of travel making great time to our camp at 7,800'.
We built camp in short order and napped a few hours of the afternoon away hiding from the breeze and the intense sun rays! The dinner of soup, mac and cheese with bacon and a variety of cookies was welcomed by all, and the team continued bonding over stories from our varied and interesting backgrounds.
Tomorrow, with the weather playing out in our favor, we will carry food, fuel and other supplies up hill and establish a cache near 10,000'. All is well here as we let the evening rest settle in. Stay tuned for more updates...
RMI Guides Tyler, Garrett, Bryan and the team
On The Map
Dave, did the guides find that six pack you stashed in your pack?
Posted by: Matt on 6/3/2014 at 6:17 pm
Great job, Jen! I hope the weather continues to be good for you guys.
Posted by: Nicole on 6/3/2014 at 5:49 pm
Namaste! (traditional Nepalese greeting)
Today the team left Namche Bazarre and headed further up the Khumbu Valley headed for Everest Base Camp. Shortly after leaving we were greeted with our first view of Everest itself, far off in the distance but clearly standing above all else. We slowly made our way along the trail stopping for pictures and breaks and eventually made our way up to the Tengboche Monastery. We arrived shortly before the monks prayer session and were delighted to sit in and listen to the monks chant, which was quite spiritual for all. We then casually made our way down to our new tea house for the evening where we are currently warming ourselves by the wood burning stove.
All is well!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
We are following your trip and you continue to be in our prayers. Have an amazing, remarkable time. Lauri
Posted by: Lauri DeWhitt on 3/23/2014 at 8:22 pm
Blue skies and calm winds greeted our Four Day Summit Climb Teams led by Jason Thompson and Pete Van Deventer. The teams enjoyed the views from the Summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning and are now en-route back to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to Today's Teams!
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Dave,
Thank you for providing these daily updates. i get up every morning in Cincinnati and read about the events of the day before….then I read your update to anyone else who will listen. Great fun to enjoy a vicarious adventure with detail and pictures and commentary from an expert.
Seeing new and exotic places is a lifelong passion but I could never do what you and your climbers are doing…..a thousand loud cheers…
My Best,
Judy Van Ginkel (Jennifer’s mother)
Posted by: judy van ginkel on 9/9/2017 at 9:17 am
Way to go Curt, Carol and Syd!! Getting close, looks amazing!
Posted by: Judy Gadlage on 9/9/2017 at 8:05 am
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