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It was cloudy and cool at Plantation Lodge when we set out at 7 this morning. And it was cloudier and cooler still when we reached the rim of the giant collapsed volcano that we intended to spend the day inside of. We each had jackets or sweaters on as Fabian and Godson brought the Landcruisers down the steep and exposed road into the
Ngorongoro caldera. We began seeing wildlife immediately. Herds (big herds) of wildebeest, zebra and Cape buffalo. We went on the prowl, looking for big cats and rhinos. This would be our only opportunity to see black rhinos... but we came up empty on that score. Those guys were a little too shy to come into range of our binoculars. We did see some cats -big and small- there was a serval cat and there were some lions. We got a look at a lioness staring intently through the grass at some unsuspecting buffalo. And ultimately we saw two full grown male lions lounging on what turned out to be a sunny afternoon. We saw hippos and elephants and secretary birds and bustards. There were hyenas and jackals and vultures. By day’s end, we were barely turning our heads to see gazelles as they’d become too run of the mill and common. We saw plenty of other Toyota Landcruisers -it is high season for tourism after all. We crisscrossed the crater and bounced over darn near every dirt road, still standing with our heads out the tops of the vehicles at 5 PM trying to see every last critter and geological wonder we could. Finally we escaped the caldera and came home to our comfy hotel. We watched the sun set and the moon rise, had a relaxing and reminiscing outdoor happy hour before a fine dinner in the dining room.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Thursday, June 14th - 4:36 pm PT
We aren’t getting restless yet! We had a beautiful but gusty morning at camp that allowed us to improve our storm walls and batten down the hatches. The summit has been displaying quite the cap over it with long tails indicating the strong winds up high on top of the frigid temperatures. The forecast has finally confirmed that beginning tomorrow and through the weekend will bring heavy snow. We are going to catch the tail of a tropical surge coming off the Pacific, some words to describe it have been a cyclone or Pineapple Express. We will keep you updated on the snowfall amounts! Yesterday, we had a greeting party to welcome Mike King’s team at
14 Camp. We are glad to have some additional company as we wait out this storm. Thanks for the blog comments from our family and friends, keep them coming!
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
The
Four Day Summit Climb teams led by
RMI Guides JJ Justman and Pete Van Deventer were unable to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier today due to gusty winds. The teams turned back after reaching the top of Disappointment Cleaver. The teams are descending to Camp Muir and then will continue their to descent to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Friday June 12th 10:10 pm PT
Fortress at 14k on
Mount McKinley!
Today was a clear day but the winds raged as the high pressure slowly comes our way!
The fortress of snow-block walls now fully encloses our tents and cook house with an entry straight from stone hedge! A giant block caps the archway leading into our dojo!
The wind still whips as plumes of blowing snow briefly create little to no visibility in camp. A blue bird day that is hampered by a ground blizzard. If you ask me this is what the experience of
Denali is all about. In the next few days the wind will likely subside and crystal clear skies, warm and breathless air will remain. Fingers crossed we will get our perfect day to climb and stand atop the highest point in North America. Till then we'll hang low in our tents basking in our BO stir fry;).
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
Hello everyone,
Tonight we are heading for the summit of
Antisana! We arrived this morning to our camp and did a bunch more technical training. The site is like something out of the Lord of the Rings, with tall grasses, roaming horses, and thatch-roof structures all lit by the glaciers of
Antisana.
Wish us luck as you head to bed because we will be waking up at that time to go climbing.
We'll let you know how it goes!
RMI Guide Ben Liken and the team
The Kautz Seminar June 23 - 28 led by RMI Guides Mike Walter, Daniel May, Raymond Holt and Felipe Guarderas have enjoyed their week of training, climbing and learning. Conditions on the mountain did not allow them to make a summit attempt but the team was all in for the training they could complete and maybe had a little fun in the process.
Thanks for sharing your time with us in the mountains!
PC: Tim Holt
All of the climbers and guides on the
Expedition Skills Seminar - Paradise reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning.
RMI Guide Nick Scott reported clear skies and a breeze on the summit. The team began their descent shortly after 7:00 AM. We look forward to seeing them in Ashford this afternoon and hearing about their week on the mountain.
Way to climb!
Our team had a great morning relaxing, drinking coffee and socializing with our four new Swiss German friends. Since yesterday we have all shared stories and cervezas speaking English but having a great cultural exchange with folks from another country.
This morning after breakfast we continued that connection by putting ropes on the hacienda climbing routes, getting all our Swiss friends hanging on a rope for the first time!
Now we are all packed up and ready to head to
Cotopaxi. The weather looks promising and route reports have remained good for the upper mountain.
We will call in tomorrow with results of the climb.
Everyone is excited for our upcoming ascent but looking forward to cleaning up and coming home. As much fun as we’re having we do miss our families.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
Hello again everyone:
We left camp a little later today to allow the many porters to hit the trail before us as we had our main difficulty right out of camp. This obstacle is the great
Barranco Wall, which rises about 1,000 feet and looks as intimidating as it sounds. Thankfully there is a nice narrow trail that weaves its way up and through the wall and all the way to the top. Most of it feels more like steep hiking, but there are a few places that require the use of our hands to help us climb up. The team did a good job of moving steady and allowing a few porters through with their loads precariously balanced on their heads.
After reaching the top, we took a nice break and enjoyed the amazing views of the ice-ladened south face and valleys below. The team continued our hike for a few more hours before reaching camp. All in all, it took only about four hours for us to reach our next camp called Karanga, named for the big and beautiful valley which it overlooks.
We spent the remainder of the day relaxing in our tents as a light drizzle arrived shortly after we did.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew
On The Map
All is well here on the trek!
Today we left Pheriche and hiked further up valley to Lobuche. We slowly made our way along the winding path that we share with other trekkers, porters heavily laden with loads bound for
Base Camp, and yaks who aren't as keen to share the trail. We made good time and enjoyed the astounding views before reaching camp for the night.
In the afternoon we took a short walk to a overlook of the Khumbu Glacier where we could just make out Base Camp far in the distance.
Everyone is currently relaxing in our tea house enjoying the warmth of fire. There's been lots of cribbage and plenty of good conversation with our team and other trekkers on the same journey as us.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
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I should read my voice recognition typo’s before I send. That first line was supposed to have read:
YOU ARE ALL SO AMAZING!!!
Posted by: Liuise (again) on 6/15/2018 at 7:29 pm
You are also amazing!!
It seemed that everything was going so smoothly at first but it is these days of enduring this storm that will probably the story that gets told a lot. Too bad you can’t package the cold and bring it back with you to Las Vegas, huh Marc! We’re cheering you on from down here in the Rockies!
Posted by: Louise on 6/15/2018 at 7:26 pm
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