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Hello readers,
It was a cold morning. The coldest thus far. We packed our bags for our carry and then warmed up with some oatmeal and coffee. Putting in crampons is difficult when your fingers hurt and takes longer when you pause to warm them up before the next crampon. With time and cold fingers, we all suited up for our walk uphill.
It's a steep hill out of camp. Not much of a warmup, but we cruised up it and got to the fixed line. The fixed lines are quite steep and have blue ice underneath the snow. It's engaging climbing as we ascend the slope. It warmed up fast on our climb and we were back to base layers and sweat in no time. We cached our gear at the top of the fixed lines at 16,200'. It's great views from there of everything below us. It's a Crazy feeling sitting on the side of a big mountains with snowy mountains and peaks all around. Just gorgeous. After an hour or so sitting at 16200' we made Our way back to camp. It was a productive day, and we are ready for our sleeping bags and rest day tomorrow.
The rest will be productive for our bodies to gear up for our final push to high camp and the summit.
Goodnight, all,
RMI Guide Hannah Smith and Team
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Denali Expedition June 2, 2024
This morning, we woke up early, had our last teahouse breakfast and headed for the helicopter pad.
It was a busy day at the airport since the weather was clear. We saw planes and helicopters land, take off and finally, it was our turn.
After a 45-minute flight, we landed safely in Kathmandu.
We got together for one last team dinner tonight. Reflecting on our nearly 3 weeks in Nepal and enjoying a delicious meal at Le Sherpa.
Some of us fly home in the early hours of the day tomorrow and the rest soon after.
What a trip! Thank you for following along and we can’t wait to see our friends and family to share more about this incredible adventure when we get home.
RMI Guides Jess Wedel, Sam Marjerison and Team.
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Everest Base Camp Trek & Lobuche, March 16, 2024
Another big day on Safari. We began peacefully enough at Plantation Lodge under cloudy skies. First up after hitting the main road at 8:45, was a little stop for tourism and souvenir shopping. Then we dropped back down into the Great Rift Valley and checked out a Maasai village. The men and women showed us a few dance moves and we compared high jumping ability. They demonstrated how they start fire the old fashioned way and then they brought our team into their small dwellings to explain life in a traditional village. Our team picked up a few more keepsakes after a little bargaining and then we headed for
Tarangire National Park. Something changed when we drove past the first giant Baobab trees. As if by magic, there was wildlife everywhere. We came to a waterhole and watched elephants, a giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, impala, great crowned cranes, and mongooses start slurping it up -all at the same time. Roaming the savannas and river valleys, we came across a big male lion sleeping off a big night -by the looks of things. Rambling along on a bouncy dirt road, Melanie scored the sighting of the day, pointing out a big male leopard on a tree branch perhaps 40 yards away. We watched the big fella rest a bit more and then scamper down the tree trunk and melt into the grass. We saw at least a hundred (if not two hundred) elephants of all shapes and size. Most were in family groups shading under trees, some were actively eating trees, one trunkful at a time. We saw a tower of giraffes, we saw a gazillion gazelles. There were lilac breasted rollers and white backed vultures. We didn’t roll into Balloon Camp until 6 PM, but the friendly staff was there waiting to take the team to their "tent cabins". They then escorted us (we are still deep within the park, there is no fence separating us from the wildlife) to the swimming pool and barbecue deck to watch the sun set. There was a roaring campfire and an excellent dinner under the stars for our last night together.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
We’re down at
Mweka Camp, in the trees at close to 10,000 ft. A long way from this morning’s summit. And an even greater leap from where we started the day at Barafu Camp.
We actually started the day yesterday -at 11:30 PM. As usual, we didn’t all get great sleep ahead of the summit bid. Those of us lying awake in our pitch black tent interiors got to listen to persistent rain showers rattling on our shelters. When the alarms went off and we got outside, we found ourselves in a wet cloud... but very near the top of it since we could see stars overhead. We ate our midnight “breakfast” and got walking behind Naiman at 12:35 AM. The clouds washed in and out at our level a few more times in that first hour of climbing, but ultimately we got above it all and had a fabulous night for stars. The moon came up as a perfectly oriented smile on the horizon. We had no ability to capture the image, so it was just something to enjoy thoroughly in the moment as we trudged in line up the rough rock path. As expected, life got colder as we climbed higher. We took short rest breaks and put on every stitch of clothing we had. The sun finally came up once we were hitting 18,000 ft and life got easier (and more beautiful) as we reached the crater rim at Stella Pt by 7:05 AM. The walk along the crater to Uhuru was amazing. Rain in the area had cleared the ever-present haze and so we could see a good chunk of Tanzania that normally stays hidden from above. We hit Uhuru at 8 AM and our timing was excellent. We had the top to ourselves -another rarity- which we took full advantage of. Twenty five minutes later we were headed downhill. The descent was smooth and we made fine progress (with ample help from our amazing staff). We got back to High Camp at 11 AM. Tosha cooked us up a great “brunch” which fortified us for packing and bailing out of high camp by 12:40. The descent to Mweka was mostly in murky cloud, and it must be admitted that we all just wanted it to be done, the trail is rocky and requires a ton of concentration (tough to come by 15 hours into a summit day). We rolled in just after 4 PM and the fine camp waiting for us made every inch of the descent worth it. This will be our last night on the mountain... it seems likely that nobody will have trouble sleeping.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
We didn’t get much sleep last night due to 40 mph winds ripping through camp. If 40 mph doesn’t sound that bad, try this: next time you’re riding in a car, stick your head out the window when you hit 40. Now imagine your whole body is hanging out the window. Now imagine it’s 15 degrees. Now imagine that instead of a car made of aluminum, glass, and steel, you’re inside of a tent made of nylon. It’s not great, but we endured the night no worse for the wear.
After our blustery overnight, we started the morning slowly, keeping an eye on the ridge above camp. The wind seemed to be dying down, and eventually it reached a level that we thought was appropriate for moving uphill. We broke down our home at
Camp One, and headed uphill around noon. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day, but not without a consistent breeze. After about three and a half hours we pulled into our new neighborhood, set up camp, and began the time honored expedition tradition of straight chillin’. Mac and cheese for dinner, some sunset photos, and then off to bed for this crew. Tomorrow we’ll take another rest day, and then we will see what kind of weather the mountain gives us.
RMI Guides JM Gorum, Hannah Smith, Avery Parrinello
On The Map
We just wrapped up our 5 day
North Cascades Custom Climb in Boston Basin. Dan, Augie, and I took advantage of the excellent weather to get some serious climbing done on Sharkfin Tower, Sahale Mountain, and the West Ridge of Forbidden Peak. Special thanks to Dan and Augie for coming out to the Pacific Northwest to push their comfort zone with real alpine adventures and wild terrain. Let's do it again next year!
RMI Guide
Mike Walter
June 25, 2014 - 10:42pm PT
Here I sit in
my tent
Wondering where the day went
A rest day at eleven camp for the team
With people in and out of their dreams
Mike Haugen and troupe passed through
Delivering a pee bottle to Adam -- woohoo!
For breakfast we had chocolate and pb pancakes (booya!) While we watched the snow flakes. For now the wind is pretty strong, and hopefully we won't have to shovel all night long.
RMI Guides Adam Knoff, Lindsay Mann and Andy Hildebrand
Hello all
Most everyone slept well last night and we started the day with our wonderful support staff bring us hot tea and warm washing water to our tent this morning. We had nice breakfast of fresh fruit, fried eggs and of course plenty of fresh coffee.
We hit the trail today on
Mt. Kilimanjaro around 8am and climbed up a moderately narrow ridge that lead all the way up to the Shira Plateau where we traversed into camp. It was mostly cloudy today which didn't allow for many views but did make for some really nice hiking temperatures. The team made good progress today on the rocky trail pausing only for some porters to pass and of course taking a break every hour for water and snacks.
We are currently resting in camp enjoying the warmth of the sun and taking in our first views of Kilimanjaro.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
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.
Casey, Rob, Scott and I spent our first night at Camp One. Despite the wind rattling the tent most of the night the team slept well.
The winds calmed as we hiked to Camp Two. En route we met fellow RMI Guide Melissa Arnot and her climbing partner Dave Morton. We shared a cup of tea with them before continuing to Camp Two. We had a nice lunch in the Camp Two kitchen before returning to Camp One. We spent the afternoon reading and resting.
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Very excited about your progress! You are nailing it! Be safe, have fun and take lots of pics! You are a bunch of bad asses!!!!!!♥️♥️
Posted by: Carol Bradley on 6/16/2024 at 8:26 pm
That is So Awesome Hannah!!! All the BEST to you and your team!!!!!
Farmer Dave
Posted by: Dave Kestel on 6/16/2024 at 3:11 am
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