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Posted by: Tyler Reid
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Chile Ski
After an adventurous summit on Lonquimay, the last couple days have been focused on simply ski touring in the beautiful terrain this region offers.
Yesterday we drove through the longest tunnel in South America to the Las Mellizas range, touring from the base of an abandoned ski area called Los Arenales. We had lunch on a mini summit called Mirador de Los Volcans and our ski descent dropped us into our first close encounter with Araucarias (monkey puzzle trees).
With 15 cm of new snow and a bit of a break in the weather, today we skied beautiful long laps from another mini summit adjacent to Volcan Lonquimay - warm, smooth powder, definitely the best snow of the trip.
As I type, Sergio is preparing a traditional Chilean asado (barbeque)...an eating experience I have been thinking about for the last year. I have no doubt it will be our best meal of the trip (and the bar has been set high).
RMI Guide Tyler Reid
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Today we visited the famous Ngorongoro Crater. The crater is roughly 100 square miles and is known for its abundance of animals that call the crater home.
We hit the road early with hopes of catching a few of the big cats before the heat of the day.
There were many sightings today of hyenas, jackles, ostrich, and countless other birds. We managed to see several lions, including 2 feasting on a fresh kill, thankfully it wasn’t too close though. We also saw one Black Rhino at pretty close range, which have become very rare due to poaching.
We wrapped up the day with a visit to a Maasai village not far from the craters rim. The Maasai people are a semi-nomadic tribe that exist almost entirely off of their cattle. The team spent time asking questions and enjoyed being shown around their small and simple village.
We have just finished another wonderful meal here at the plantation lodge
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Posted by: Steve Gately, Ben Ammon, James Bealer
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'
The team slept in this morning after a long day climbing to 16,400' yesterday. With our cache in place we are now just waiting for the right weather window. Unfortunately the forecast is calling for a strong low pressure system to move through the area starting this evening through possibly Tuesday. The system is expected to bring high winds and heavy snowfall. The weather up until now has been spectacular so I suppose we can handle a few days of rest. That's all for now. Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Steve Gately
On The Map
Greetings! Yesterday, the March Mexico Volcanoes team arrived in the heart of Mexico City, after catching flights from various parts of the country. It is always a long day of travel, but we all managed to arrive without excessive delay or loss of bags. That is a big first victory that puts us in position to get out in the mountains as soon as possible.
The team met for a short chat last night before going to dinner. There is a lot of experience represented in the group and with a good weather forecast, we expect to have a fun and successful trip.
After an early departure this morning from Mexico City, the team arrived at La Malintzi around 11am. We did a quick gear sort, then headed uphill. The skies were clear and the air warm as we made our way up towards the summit. After about five hours of hiking, the team reached the summit of Malinche and was rewarded with sweeping views of the surrounding areas. A quick descent led us back to hot showers and a delicious dinner of grilled meats, fresh chips, and guacamole. We're all headed off to bed after a great day, looking forward to tomorrow's adventures.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
Posted by: JM Gorum, Hannah Smith, Avery Parrinello
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Not much to report from Aconcagua Base Camp today. We had a late breakfast, played some cards, and ate some pizza. It was another beautiful day living in our little tent city, with nary a cloud in sight. The occasional 30 mph gust would have us glancing towards our tents, making sure they were solidly anchored. Tomorrow we will leave the comforts of Base Camp behind, and start the climb in earnest. Everyone is excited to get moving. We’ll check in from Camp 1!
RMI Guides JM Gorum, Hannah Smith and Avery Parrinello
On The Map
Posted by: Tyler Reid
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Chile Ski
As promised, the storm hit Araucania last night. After a nice evening sunset on Villarrica, the rain came. We retreated from our camp this morning with heavy wet snowflakes falling from the sky, very happy to not be high up on Lanin. Now we are on our way to Peumayen, a beautiful lodge and termas (hot springs) outside of Pucon. This is our last night in Chile, and one to celebrate - this trip has been top notch. Great crew, great skiing conditions, a lot of great weather... Every year I'm always amazed how fast this trip goes.
Tomorrow we head for the airport and home to the US. Thanks for following along!
RMI Guide Tyler Reid and the Chile Ski Crew
Hi everyone! This is RMI Guide Adam Knoff checking in from Ecuador. We reached the summit of Cayambe this morning on what turned out to be a beautiful day. Last night at dinner we were nervous about the climb; it was pouring rain outside. Would it clear for our climb? Would we even be able to leave the hut?
My alarm went off at 11:00 p.m. and when I went outside to check the weather I saw stars in the sky. Our climbing window was open! It turned out to be a great climb. The rain last night didn’t hamper our efforts. We had a great route with great local guides. The team did an awesome job. On the summit we had views of Antisana and smoky Cotopaxi.
Now we are back down and waiting for our bus to take us Guachala, the oldest hacienda in Ecuador. Our bus is delayed by rain, the same rain that made us nervous at dinner last night is now delaying our pick-up. Delays are part of the game so we take them in stride but I must say that this delay is definitely increasing our appetite for a juicy hamburger…hopefully soon we will be able to satiate our appetites.
Until next time,
RMI Guides Adam Knoff, Nick Hunt, and team
On The Map
Mountaineering experience enhances with good quality equipment. To get more insight about Mountaineering expedition and mountaineering please visit our website http://www.mountaineering.asia
Posted by: Tripti on 1/12/2016 at 1:44 am
Congrats on reaching the summit! The photo looks gorgeous. Great job everyone! Glad to see Justin Halls’ bad jokes aren’t weighing you guys down. ;)
Enjoy your adventures!
Posted by: Aimee Gilchrist on 1/11/2016 at 10:16 am
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Steve Gately, JM Gorum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'
June 30, 2015 5:46pm PST
Today's wake-up call was a quiet and windless fall of about six inches of light powder snow. It was our planned rest day, after five busy days getting on and up the approaches to Denali, so there wasn't any early morning angst as to whether the snow would keep us from our goals for the day. Today, those goals included a breakfast of bagels and smoked salmon in the POSH tent and a session of digging out camp as the snow continued to fall. We eventually climbed back in the tents for naps and reading. A few teams came down the mountain today, resting near our camp as they prepared to march on toward the airstrip in the snowstorm. We'll hope to move uphill tomorrow and we'll be ready for that, but of course we'll pay attention to the weather and see what it allows.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn and Team
doing a great job HAHN team, pulling for all of you. glad you reached 14,000. I want to say Hello to my grandson Jm
Posted by: Floyd Tirey on 7/7/2015 at 10:51 am
Finally I am learning to use this computer. We are praying every inch of the way for you and your team mates and guide. Remember the story, Foot Prints in the Sand. Well, It’s Foot Prints in the Snow, for each one of you. We are sending our hugs and lots of love to you, our son, GLR.
Posted by: Dad & Mom Ross on 7/2/2015 at 2:47 pm
Posted by: Leon Davis, Mike King, Katrina Bloemsma
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
May 22, 2014 - 9:32 pm PT
Another pleasant day today, albeit cold and cloudy. This morning we went for a walk out of base camp toward the east ridge of Francis. We passed the large granite face of Francis, and through old icefall debris, up into a small cirque. Great views of Hunter and Base Camp from this small snowy cove. Once back at camp we rigged sleds and packed gear for our departure tomorrow up to Camp 1. The team is excited to venture out and experience another part of the Alaska range.
Until tomorrow...
RMI Guide Leon Davis & Team
Posted by: Mike Walter, Solveig Waterfall, Steve Gately
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,000'
May 18, 2014 10:50 pm PT
Shortly after finishing dinner last night some light clouds sauntered into camp and began lightly snowing on us. Soon thereafter the winds kicked up and we had a moderately noisy nights rest with the wind sending our forecasted 6" of snow into outer space. This morning we awoke to clear cold skies and virtually no wind. Foraker stood to the Southwest with a few stacked lenticular clouds and the normal sprawl of Alaskan tundra was replaced by a sea of clouds. Today was another scheduled rest day for our team and we spent it reviewing fixed line and running belay techniques which we'll utilize on the upper mountain. We also took a short stroll across the glacier to check out a feature known as "The Edge of the World". This is the point at which the glacial plateau at which 14 camp resides on abruptly drops 6,000-7,000 ft to the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. The team enjoyed the exposure and enormous views of Denali's "West Rib" and Mount Hunter. We also enjoyed our first sense of scale as we had a clear view down to our first camp at 7,800 ft and could finally get a sense of how far we've come. The weather stayed great for us today despite a forecasted low pressure system said to be moving through. Tomorrow we plan to tackle the fixed lines and move a cache of gear to just over 16,000 ft which puts us in great shape to wait for a weather window and ultimately our summit bid. All in all the team is doing fantastic, moral is high and folks are excited!
Best regards from Denali
RMI Guide Steve Gately
On The Map
Steve and Team,
Great news on the weather front. The views must be spectacular!
Hope all proceeds as planned from here.
Hike well and be safe.
Dad
Posted by: Bill Gately on 5/20/2014 at 3:12 am
Congratulations Clayton and Team!!! Seems it’s been quite a journey - looking forward to hearing all about it! So happy for you guys that you found the right conditions and window to summit Aconcagua - amazing!!!! Enjoy the final days of the journey!!!
Posted by: Whitney on 1/14/2019 at 3:43 pm
Happy climbing! We can’t wait to hear how it goes from base camp to camp 1. Stay safe, everyone! Hello to Andrew and Nik!
Posted by: Lynn L. Martin on 1/5/2019 at 6:01 am
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