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Our team has made it one step closer to Aconcagua by moving further up the Vacas valley to Casa de Piedra, our second camp. The awesome views continued but we did encounter our first dose of wind. By the fourth stretch we were pressing into a 25-30 mph headwind! Just before camp we got a view of our objective, it was covered in clouds from 18,000' up but still impressive. Tonight we will have another grill out, before we head to base camp tomorrow. The team is doing excellent!
RMI Guide Ben Liken
On The Map
Posted by: Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Hello from Azau. The team is down to five as two left yesterday evening. The remaining teammates are having our last dinner together as I type this message.
Today the guys went for a horseback ride in the morning and then we all went to a 'catch your own' trout lunch. There may or may not have been beer drinking involved as well.
It has been a total blast of a trip and today was hilarious. We are all catching flights tomorrow and beginning our journeys back home.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Posted by: Jake Beren, Christina Dale, Andrew Kiefer
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
The group has made it to charming Talkeetna for burgers, beers, and packing. We spent the day yesterday dialing in our 100 liter packs and duffels with sleds. The food for 22 days is packed and our spirits are high. Now that we are all ready the weather needs to cooperate. We were scheduled to fly this morning but are in a waiting pattern at the moment, well, I guess it's back to the coffee shop.
All is well!
RMI Guide Jake Beren & Team
Have a great climb!
Posted by: Yvonne posa on 6/10/2015 at 3:02 am
Jake and team…have a great trip…
Posted by: Fletch on 6/5/2015 at 7:14 am
Posted by: Solveig Waterfall, Chase Nelson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Hi Everyone!
Chase and I have been in Mexico City since last night and spent this afternoon grocery shopping and sorting equipment in preparation for the start of our program. Climbers arrived throughout the afternoon and evening, and by 9:00 PM we were a complete team around the dinner table at the Holiday Inn here in the Zona Rosa.
We spent the evening discussing logistics, gear, and getting ourselves prepared to hit the trail, starting with our first acclimatization hike tomorrow. We are all excited to leave the sounds of the city behind and get into the mountains! Our first objective will be an afternoon stroll on the flanks of La Malinche.
Thanks for following along and we'll check in again tomorrow evening!
RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall
It is not often that a group has a camp to themselves on Aconcagua, that is where we find our team today. After enjoying a sunny and near windless morning the team is organizing personal gear, reading and relaxing. The little headaches and discomfort from our carry to Camp 2 yesterday have dissipated and everyone is adjusting to life at 16,200ft.
The weather has been great with lots of sun, warm temperatures and light wind. We would like to climb higher during this high pressure system, and the team is taking every opportunity to acclimatize appropriately.
As I am typing this dispatch, all I hear is laughter and conversation coming from our tents and that is a welcome sign after two hard days of climbing and caching equipment. We move to Camp 2 tomorrow to begin a holding pattern for our move to high camp and summit day.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
Posted by: Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Greetings from the Dik Dik hotel. We're off the mountain safe and sound. This morning we woke up at 10,000' but now we are back down to a more reasonable altitude.
We meet up for breakfast at 7 AM and everyone had a great appetite for the french toast that the cooks made. Immediately after breakfast the whole support staff gathered around and we handed out the well deserved tips for the crew. Our climb truly would not have been possible without the great food and hard work of the support team. We are all very grateful for all of their efforts.
After that we dropped 4,000' down to the trailhead where our vehicle was waiting with lunch and cold drinks. This team has a voracious appetite and lunch was gone ASAP.
Now we are all gathering up and getting ready for dinner. We move on our stomachs!
Tomorrow we start the safari portion of the trip and that is always a good time.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Congratulations Patty and team SW!!! Eat early and often! Enjoy every single second and share your pictures so everyone back home can live vicariously through you!!! Hugs and love!
Posted by: Regina on 2/3/2015 at 8:02 am
Patty and Team,
Congratulations on your summit! Awesome picture and enjoy that safari! You are amazing, beautiful, and so strong!
I agree with Sally on the good meals. Eat hearty!
Posted by: Arlene on 2/2/2015 at 7:12 pm
December 2, 2014 - 6:08 pm
Today the team said goodbye to the hustle and bustle of Quito and headed south early in the morning. Once outside the city we made our way through the rural countryside and headed for our next acclimatizing hike on the Illiniza's. They are the remnants of an old volcano that erupted long ago and left two nearly twin peaks. Our goal was not to climb them, but reach the saddle that separates the two beautiful mountains. The team made good time up to the saddle where we took a short break in the climbers hut and had some well deserved hot tea. After our short break we made our way back down the mountain to our waiting bus and quickly headed to the wonderful Chilcabamba hacienda. The team made good use of the hot showers and enjoyed sporting around in the ponchos provided by the hacienda. We wrapped up the evening with a wonderful meal, plenty of good stories, and one amazing view of Cotopaxi.
Everyone is doing great and enjoying the Ecuadorean hospitality.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Dave Hahn reporting from Today was our planned rest day. All is well and all are feeling good. We enjoyed a calm night with a huge moon that kept Jake Norton out snapping pictures until quite late. There were a few minor headaches reported and some of the normal insomnia that comes with a first night at real altitude, but for the most part our team was bright-eyed and ready for action today. That action consisted of a relaxed breakfast and then a few sessions of organizing gear and supplies for going higher. The event of the morning was Seth Waterfall's arrival with the last of our cargo. Production people dove into cases full of new gadgets and guides sorted a few more bags of upper-mountain gear and all were happy to see Seth who'd come in at an accelerated pace to catch up with us.
Basecamp is a fairly elaborate village of tents with a few semi-permanent structures thrown in for park and medical personnel. There are about five outfitters here with independent "kitchens" and communications set-ups along with dining tents and latrines for their customers and staff. We set up the RMI tents within a stone's throw of our own outfitter -Grajales Expeditions, and they've been taking great care of us. Peter, Ed and Chad worked today to help our climbers choose what to carry higher while Melissa made contact with the park rangers and finalized the permitting process.
We became aware of an intense and sad story which had played out high on Aconcagua during the days of our trek in. A team of five had apparently been caught out in the open near the summit and had needed to endure several days of extremly bad weather before a rescue party could reach them. From what we are hearing, the rescue effort was massive, with perhaps fifty people trying to get to the stranded team from both sides of the mountain. Ultimately, there were three survivors and tragically, two deaths. Our entire team was saddened and sobered by this news, but our guide team was particularly saddened to learn that we'd lost a friend and colleague in the accident. Federico Campanini guided his own programs internationally, but on Mount Rainier he'd become one of RMI's hardest working and most dependable guides over the past three summers. We have each spent the past days and nights thinking of his skill, strength and competence as a guide... but also of his unfailing good humor and friendly nature. He will be missed. Our best wishes go to his family.
Our plan for tomorrow is to carry loads to 16,000 ft and to then return for a final night at basecamp before moving up. We'll hope the weather improves some as today finished with a fair bit of cloud and and some light snow on Basecamp. All for now, we'll let you know how things go tomorrow... new heights and new sights.
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Jambo everyone back home
We had much better day day on Kili today, thankfully waking to mostly clear skies. Seemed like everyone slept pretty well after a bit of exercise and 9hrs of tent time too.
We started the day waking at 6:30 to begin packing up before moving into our dining tent for a nice breakfast with porridge, fried eggs, toast, avocado and even some fresh fruit, and most importantly plenty of hot coffee.
We hit the trail shortly after 8 am and slowly made our way up the rocky trail that leads out of camp in the warmth of the sun. The trail climbs up a old volcanic ridge and eventually out of the trees and allowed for some nice views of the valley below. The team hiked for about four hours before reaching our next camp that sits on an old lava flow called the Shira Plateau. This plateau which formed a few million years ago sits just above tree-line, it was a bit cloudy when we arrived, so we had to wait till almost dinner to see some of the view and of course Kilimanjaro looming above us. Once settled at camp we were treated to a nice warm lunch and then hopped into our tents to relax.
The evening was full of great stories and another amazing dinner prepared by our more than gracious staff.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
On The Map
Awesome! So good to hear that you’re safe and had fun on your hike. Thanks for updating us. Felt like I was also with you on your adventure. Do you have blogs where are there are tips before climbing the mountain? Just like what I read in this post https://goshenisafaris.com/climbing-mt-kilimanjaro/ Would be really nice to read about it. Anyways, keep safe on your adventures!
Posted by: Krisan Sablaon on 4/26/2019 at 8:46 am
Following you all the way up…....safe footing God bless
Posted by: Barbara Sluboski on 1/23/2019 at 3:11 pm
Posted by: Kel Rossiter, Ben Markhart
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 6,800'
Hello, this is day 2 of the Mount Baker Climb & Ski program. Today was an excellent training day. We woke up with a sunrise, had some breakfast, and got out on the glacier for some firm snow ski, uphill travel techniques: ski cramponing, boot cramponing, roped travel, and a variety of other skills. Then we ripped skins and had a delightful 1,300-foot descent back to camp. In the afternoon we covered avalanche rescue techniques and crevasse rescue techniques as well. We rolled into dinner, cooked up some great food, put the finishing touches on our packs and getting set for a successful summit bid on Baker tomorrow or tomorrow morning. Bye. Bye.
RMI Guide Kel Rossiter
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RMI Guide Kel Rossiter checks in from Mt. Baker.
Dr Folsom. The surgery team is keeping track of your progress. Stay safe and have a great trip!
Posted by: Ed Sutton on 2/2/2017 at 8:45 pm
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