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June 10, 2014 - 10:33 pm PT
Can you guess where we are? Yes,
7,800' camp on Mt. McKinley. The snows continue to blow up glacier and keep us from advancing higher on the mountain. The team is doing a fantastic job staying dug out and keeping spirits high. We have plenty of food and fuel, we just need to the weather to allow us to go a little higher. It will and all we need is a little patience. Wish us luck.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
On The Map
Taking advantage of a short weather window, a little over 80 people went for the summit today. News is still coming down from high on the mountain and things are sounding uneventful, which is a good thing!
For us RMI climbers, we had several meetings today with Guides, climbers and Sherpas and decided that our time has come as well. We are planning to let a short window of weather pass and will start our final push up the mountain within the next several days weather permitting.
The team is rested and excited at having known dates for our summit push and everyone is making their final preparations. Meanwhile, we will continue to listen, watch the weather and fine tune our dates as they get closer. Stay tuned for our upcoming summit launch!
This is Seth checking in from Advanced Base Camp (Camp Two/ABC).
Today and tomorrow the teams will start their third and final rotation for acclimatization. If all goes well with the weather, tomorrow all teams will be at ABC getting ready for a climb up to Camp Three with hopes of spending one night there. We have been receiving several inches of snow over the past three days and conditions on the upper mountain have improved, infact today marks the first summit of 2010 from the South Side of Mount Everest! Nine people on top from three different teams.
This is the RMI team checking from Plaza Argentina.
Today we had a beautiful day, weather was nicer than yesterday (no wind) and everybody arrived at basecamp in great style. At our new home here at Plaza Argentina, we settled in, setting camp and saying goodbye to our mules who have carried the bulk of our gear to basecamp. After a long day that we started very early, waking up at 5:45, we had a succulent stew and went to bed early to recover from our long day. Tomorrow we will rest and work on the food and gear that we will be carrying to Camp 1 the next day.
Now at 21:30 the night's calm, something that didn't happened yesterday. According to descending climbers we passed along the trail, high winds hit basecamp, damaging tents and reminding us that here in the Andes we have to be prepared and do a good job setting camp. We will be reporting more news from Plaza Argentina.
Monday, July 29, 2024
This morning breakfast lasted until lunchtime almost. Yes, we were talking about the climb to come, but with this amiable group discussions eventually turned into conversations and time flew by.
The sun finally broke through the cloud deck, and we actually felt great wearing shorts out. This worked well for our equipment check, and I was pleasantly surprised that folks had what they needed to climb this mountain.
Following a late lunch, we met up with a couple Tanzanian friends, one of whom offered to drive some of the group into town for a little sightseeing.
All our mtn duffels have been packed and weighed, our packs loaded and we're ready to start climbing!
To the Machame Gate!!!
RMI Guide Brent Okita
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Kilimanjaro Climb & Safari, July 27, 2024
Greetings from Puebla! The team is enjoying a well deserved rest day in the beautiful city of Puebla. It’s been a rainy day here but we are making the most of it. Each of us have set out on our own to explore the incredible churches built in the 1500’s and the lively markets found around our hotel.
Tomorrow we will head to our final objective of the trip,
Pico de Orizaba (18,491')! The weather is looking quite wintery up there today through tomorrow but we may get a window to summit on Saturday if all goes well.
That’s all for now, we are heading to feast on some authentic Mexican cuisine!
RMI Guide Grayson Swingle
Heather and Brian saw the Lunar Eclipse last night, just before midnight. A few of us ventured out between 2 AM and four, but it was a done deal. Nothing to see except a big moon and stars and planets and a mountainside full of glaciers and snowfields glowing in the dark. The light show continued when we met for coffee at 6:30 with the last of the moon in the West and the first bit of sun in the East turning Kibo’s cloudcap orange.
We got walking at 8 AM in excellent cool and clear conditions. The terrain was easier on this day, and the path was plenty wide as we gradually gained altitude. We kept track of the changing vegetation as we climbed, going from sage-like brush mixed with juniper in the heather and moorland zone to the sparse and spare grasses and mosses of the alpine desert zone. Philip led the team past their previous high points to set a bunch of new altitude records at the 15,200 ft lava tower. There, after a leisurely lunch right up close under Kibo’s steep cliffs and ice fields, we began our descent-ultimately into the extraordinary gardens of the
Barranco Valley. Clouds overtook us for a time, but as we pressed onward and downward we earned clearing skies again and striking views of the giant mountain, the giant senecios, and the giant lobelias. Our staff treated the team to a rousing rendition of the beloved Jambo song as we came into our 13,000 ft camp. After seven hours on the trail it was time for some comfortable afternoon lounging in the tents. Chef Bruno cooked up yet another amazing mountain dinner and we ate like kings. We all stood still for a few minutes coming out of the dining tent to ooh and ahhh in the dark. The planets and stars were joined tonight by the lights from the town of Moshi, twinkling down below.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Ready to launch!
We're all set to tackle our first objective tomorrow,
Ishinca. We spent the day today training on the glacier, in the 16,300 ft vicinity. Everybody had a blast, performed well, and is excited to begin what soon will be (with permission of the mountain gods) the opening summit. Hoping to check tomorrow from "la cumbre", that's it for now.
RMI Guide Elías and team
July 11, 2014 - 11:04 pm PT
There wasn't much reason to get up early for climbing this morning at 14,200 ft. It snowed throughout the night and continued through the morning, piling up to about 8 or 10 inches. Luckily there wasn't much wind with it though, so we slept well. Our radio conversations with the folks hanging at 17K revealed that they hadn't gotten snow, but had gotten plenty of wind. The consensus seemed to be that if the weather eased, folks would be bailing out of high camp and quitting the climb. We made the best of calm conditions at our camp to get out for some exercise. The gang built snow walls and dug tunnels and watched wind and cloud buffet the upper mountain. Things did ease in the afternoon and our friends on high began descending. Ben Liken counted 43 climbers eventually making their way down the fixed lines. That number represented five different guided teams from three different companies. They'll head for the airstrip tomorrow, leaving us alone at 14,200 and virtually alone on the mountain. One guided team of three (two guides, one climber) remains at 17,200 hoping for better luck, it would be great if we could get up there to keep them company.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Hello everyone! Well, we are still at high camp on
Alpamayo. The weather during the evening last night was a variable mix of snow and wind with periods of calm in-between. Sometime shortly after 2am, we decided to take advantage of one of the calm times and see how the route would treat us. After several hours of difficult, waist deep, trail breaking the team managed to access the main couloir on the southwest face. Unfortunately it was a six-inch deep torrent of falling spindrift and finding ice to stick our tools into was impossible. We retreated and made it back to camp shortly after 6am.
We have decided to wait one more day and hope to see an improvement in the weather. Keep your fingers crossed that tomorrow morning we will find good climbing conditions.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
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Hey Scott Thinking about you and wish you the best. Ben
Posted by: Ben on 6/15/2014 at 12:12 am
Hey J-Rod are you going to summit that? Whin misses you…well at least I think thats what her hissing at me means, haha. I’m eating all of Rice Crispies at your house FYI. They are delicious. Catch you on the flip side brother.
Posted by: Gunter on 6/12/2014 at 6:30 am
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