Greetings from Kathmandu!
We have officially finished our trip. We flew out of the Himalaya this morning, right on time as the skies above Lukla allowed airplanes to do their thing. Everyone is resting in the hotel now, getting ready for our trips back home.
A trip where everyone one finishes together at the start point, with tired muscles but a backpack full of memories, is a successful trip. Now we'll tell the individual stories back home. Thanks for following our progress through this beautiful valley at the foothills of the roof of the earth!
Pheri bhetaula! (Until next time, in Nepali)
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos
Good evening from Gokyo. We crossed the apex of our journey, the Renjo La Pass and we made it to the highest village on the way to Cho Oyu, the 6th tallest mountain of the world. We definitely had to put a big fight, since the trail not only climbs to 17,700ft, but it does so on a challenging path, both up and down. Nonetheless, the views from the vantage point, are, in words of the team, "worth the trip". Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse, Makalu, Gyachung Kang... were only some of the peaks that rewarded our tough climb.
We're now headed to bed with full stomachs, eager to see the views from this side of the Khumbu for the remainder of the trip.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
It's an evening for celebration! Our Expedition Skills Seminar - Peru team made it back down safely from Copa Base Camp to the bustling city of Huaraz after a successful climb of Nevada Copa yesterday. Tonight, we're winding down our program after an incredible two weeks here in the Cordillera Blanca. We've done a whole lot of moving through the mountains during that time, learned a ton about what it takes to climb in this great range, and successfully stood on top of three incredible summits.
This afternoon, we bid farewell to Coronel and Pablo, our incredible cook staff, who took excellent care of us over the last two weeks. Tonight, our dinner plates included a wild and wide range of local eats, including the classic Cuy (Guinea Pig), a Peruvian delicacy. With some local cervezas in accompaniment, we shared some stories, enjoyed each other's company for one more dinner, and reflected on our time here in this wonderful country. Tomorrow, it's back to sea level, where most of us will say goodbye to friends, new and old, and start the journey home to our families.
Thanks for following along for the last two weeks! Until next time!
RMI Guides Robby Young and Steve Gately, and your Expeditions Skills Seminar - Peru team
RMI Guides Mike Haugen and Solveig Waterfall and their Four Day Summit Climb Team reached the top of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The team reported clear and beautiful weather with light winds of about 10 mph. The team has started their descent and will be back at RMI Basecamp this Afternoon.
Congratulations to Today's Team!
Congratulations, Bernt. Cant wait to hear about it when you get back to ME.
Posted by: Julie on 6/9/2014 at 12:39 pm
What an accomplishment- Matt Orr and Peter Wooding….and the entire team. Can’t wait to have you back to hear stories and see pictures. Could not have asked for a more beatiful day for your adventure. Love, Jen
Hey Mark Tucker checking in from Pheriche down here in the lowlands of 14,000'. Well the team got up and had a nice breakfast in beautiful, beautiful weather. We said good-bye to the crew at Base Camp. It was really fun sharing the expedition experience with these guys. We had a really good time and were well taken care of. We were sad to leave Jeff Martin, our Operations Manager, all alone up there, but he's going to be fine. We had a big day today though. Went through Gorak Shep and Lobuche so it was quite a trek for the team. They all did well and the mountain at the last bit threw at us a pretty good snow squall. And for this group of Floridians, the preparation and our great training over the last couple of weeks here, we survived. It was not that bad but it was a fun experience and boy we're going to share these stories. Whatever they say, I'll agree with them. Those numbers change when they get back home but I will verify it. So we're all doing well. The other RMI team, the climbing team, is here as well. It's been great to rub shoulders with them and these guys are getting to know them as well. So we are all hanging tough. More downhill and up tomorrow, where we'll end up in Namche Bazaar. Thank you for following.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Our day began with more unsettled weather, but seeing that we had a short day in store for us, we got an early start on retrieving our cache from 9,600' and were back up to camp by 12:30. And that's when the weather finally broke in earnest, greeting us with windless, sunny conditions. Finally!
We took great advantage of an afternoon with little to do and relaxed for a few hours. Later, we did get a short training session in where Leon and Maile refreshed our cramponing and ice axe arrest skills. This in preparation for our big carry up to 13,500', where the slopes steepen appreciably and the use of crampons and ice axes are essential. Everybody is ready for the challenging day and excited to start climbing.
We were also psyched upon hearing that Mike Walters and his group had finally made it to 17,200' camp. Well, I too better get some rest for tomorrow's climb.
Goodnight from 11,200'.
RMI Guide Brent Okita
The clouds cleared last night, and we had a beautiful view of a moonlit Cotopaxi and a starry sky (with views of both the North Star and the Southern Cross) as we went to bed. After a restful night and a great breakfast at the hacienda Chilcabamba, we headed off into Cotopaxi National Park. An hour hike from the end off the road led us to the Cotopaxi climbers' hut--a spacious, clean, and comfortable hut at 16,000'.
This afternoon we are resting, drinking hot tea, and getting used to the thin air at this altitude.
Tomorrow we will hike to the glacier to review essential climbing skills before our summit attempt, which will begin with an alpine start tomorrow night.
Today we awoke to partly cloudy skies and descent views of Kilimanjaro looming above. Amazing to see how much new snow is on the mountain since it’s been a pretty wet winter here.
Our morning routine has been waking around 6:30 and getting everything in our tents packed up before heading into our very spacious dining tent for quite the feast.
We hit the trail once again around 8am and hiked for an hour before taking our usual 15-minute break, then back on the trail for another hour. All total today we hiked for just over seven hours before reaching camp which is set up and ready for us. Eventually the clouds rolled in and obscured the mountain for the final few hours.
Along the way we passed around the famous and beautiful Lava Tower, reaching just over 15,000ft, setting new altitude records for some of the team. Everyone enjoyed the day and there was plenty of good conversations amongst the crew.
Thank you. These reports are terrific! After reading many books on Kili, I am following your daily reports with some back knowledge and getting excited for our August 1st trek! The Cascade and Olympic Mtns. give us plenty of opportunity to snowshoe and scramble in knarly conditions. Bring it!
The stoves are whistling and the Mexican Volcanoes team is enjoying a well deserved rest in our new home for the night: the Altzomoni Hut. Today was partially a rest day and partially logistics day to get ourselves in position for the next climb.
We woke this morning up slightly sore, but proud of yesterday's accomplishment. After a few hours on the bus, we made a pit stop in the small city of AmecaMeca to grab lunch and some last minute groceries. From there we drove a winding mountain road back into the clouds.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
We had a nice dinner, cool temps in the rooms for sleeping, a pleasant night for all. A leisurely breakfast led into a nice hike with grand views as you can imagine. The team pushed up well over 14,000 feet to get the heart and lungs moving. We then returned to our tea house for lunch, and then off to the altitude lecture at the near by clinic. Great insight from doctors offering good info. The team pooled a nice donation for the cause and even came away with a few more souvenirs. It all ended with a little down time relaxing. As they say a pictures says a thousand words!
We are all doing well and plan to move up to Loboche tomorrow, if all seems right.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker & Team
Robby, Steve and everyone in Peru and US who helped to make this adventure such an incredible success THANK YOU on behalf of Hilda’s family
Posted by: Martina Kalusova on 7/15/2017 at 8:46 am
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