June 28, 2017
We waited until the sun came around today to get out of the tents. That made breakfast a little more like brunch, but everybody was happy to wait for Avery's legendary blueberry pancakes. Weather high on Denali was unsettled, making us a little concerned for our friends at 17,000 who'd hoped to summit today, By midday things stabilized a little and we had a relaxing afternoon in mostly sunny and calm conditions. Hannah McGowan led a well attended high altitude yoga session for the restless. The rest of us rested and read. We're hoping for climbing weather tomorrow.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Day one on a Mt. Shuksan Fisher Chimneys trip is a big day, maybe the biggest day of the climb. Most guided parties take eight hours to reach high camp perched at the edge of the Price Glacier above the Chimneys. So when the team drove to the trail head in a heavy wet cloud we needed to make a decision about hiking in those conditions. We stood in the parking lot in our gore-tex, gathering large beads of water that collected from simply standing in the cloud. We drove back down the mountain hoping the forecast for better afternoon weather would prove true. It did not and we decided to try again in the morning.
The following day, as clouds started to pass over the area, we began the approach in a drier cloud and took every bit of the eight hours to climb the Chimneys to high camp. The plan was to set up camp, rest for a few hours and continue towards the summit unburdened by heavy packs. At 4:30 p.m. we began the journey upward, traversing the Price, climbing the steep Hell's Highway and cresting onto the upper Sulphide Glacier. A cloud followed us up the Sulphide, hiding the summit pyramid but we were able to climb on instruments towards its base. At 7:00 p.m. the clouds parted long enough to show us the pyramid and in what condition it lay. A steep snow traverse gained the lower rock band where it usually is a low angle scramble and we spotted a few teams descending in the early evening light. So far, we had been moving for 12 hours and now we were looking at summiting around dark and descending complicated terrain under headlamp. We made the conservative call to turn around and made our high point the base of the pyramid, just 600 vertical feet shy of the very top. Disappointing sure, but the team put in an extraordinary effort to climb all day and we were satisfied with the decision to leave the summit for another day.
RMI Guide Leon Davis
Despite our being very much ready to break camp and head higher, the upper mountain wasn't ready for us. When the sun finally hit at 11 AM, it was coming through streamers of wind blown snow driven from the ridge crest that -coincidentally- was to be our goal for the day. We ate breakfast and eyeballed the clouds and winds, neither of which got better as we watched. The forecast had called for light winds and light cloud cover. We had to admit, that in every other location visible to us, that prediction seemed accurate... Except the one place we wanted to go. We watched as gust after gust drove snow straight down the length of the fixed ropes. In other parts of the world, we might have attempted to fight such a wind, but in this ultra cold environment, it wouldn't have been a fair fight. By mid-afternoon there was no letup and so a rest day was declared. Five teams camped around us did exactly the same thing. Two small teams already at high camp hunkered down and reported steady 25 knot winds with higher gusts. For being a bad-weather day, it was sunny and calm where we sat, slept, read, played cards, ate and drank. Tomorrow.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On the morning of Saturday, the 27th, I had been pined down at Camp 3 by high winds for two days. Camp 3 in is in a wind-exposed location, and for the previous 48 hours I’d had to go out and dig out every two to three hours from the wind-drifted snow that built up around my tent. In the morning the wind had finally died down, and I had decided to push on to Camp 4 and started packing up to make the move up to Camp 4 -- but then I got an updated forecast that predicted heavy snow later Saturday and through Sunday morning. With the delay at Camp 3, I was running low on provisions, so if I couldn't make the peak push by Sunday morning I would be forced to turn back. The forecast for the rest of the week, though, looked very promising... and I made the reluctant decision to retreat to base camp, with the plan to start back up again re-provisioned on Sunday morning.
So here I am Saturday evening, back at Manaslu Base Camp. The forecast is now for the winds to stay relatively calm and for clear skies for the rest of the week So my plan is start back up the mountain in the morning and make my summit push on Wednesday. I'm beginning to wonder how many times I'll have to climb this mountain before it allows me it's summit.
RMI Guide Alex Barber
Hello this is the Alpamayo climbing team calling from base camp. It's been an awesome two days from the trails to get here. We have settled into a really nice camp at the base of the mountain. We have already had lunch and enjoying some rest. The team is doing really well. Everybody's moving pretty nicely along these elevations. Right now we are at 4,400 meters. We are going to relax for the remainder of the day, most likely do a carry tomorrow to Moraine Camp before taking a rest day the following day and continue to move up on the mountain. That's it for now and we will keep you posted. Bye.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos calls in from basecamp.
Today, we acclimatized at base camp. We woke up and indulged in a delicious breakfast of yogurt, fruit, pancakes, and cheese bread.
Afterwards, our amazing guides Jack and Jess took over our Grajales dome to organize our group gear into piles for each of us to carry to Camp One tomorrow. Comprised of bottles of white gas, ingredients for our mountain meals, and miscellaneous other items, us climbers packed our backpacks with our group gear and as much of our personal gear as we could muster.
In the early afternoon, all seven of us met with the base camp doctor. She assured us we were acclimatizing beautifully and ready to push on up in altitude! Many of us watched downloaded movies while lounging and napping in our tents throughout the afternoon before pre-dinner bananagrams.
Dinner was delightful, as always. Our Grajales staff Carla brought us soup, lentil and beef stew, and a s’mores-like parfait for dessert.
Packed, fed, and rested, the team is headed to bed, prepared to take on another spectacular mountain day tomorrow!
All is well here in Peru. The team is doing great and have been enjoying the trek thus far. It was nice leisurely day with easy walking and cool temperatures as the clouds overhead kept the sun off. We had a few sprinkles as we made our way out of the Salkantay Valley and have now joined the Inca Trail proper.
We visited a massive old Incan ruin that was believed to be a check point along the way and have descended into lower altitude and the lush forest.
Hot showers, well almost, more warm than hot - but enjoyed nonetheless by almost everyone. And the incredible food continues to be produced from our gracious crew.
Our last full day of our safari did not disappoint. After a morning of souvenir hunting we arrived at Tarangire National Park ready for more action, and got it within minutes of going through the gate.
Warthogs, elephants and a bunch of other critters came our way in the first hour. A lot of close up encounters with giraffes and elephants stole the show, with the finale happening in the final minutes as we drove adjacent a huge and incredibly green swamp area and had a herd of elephants cross in front of us and proceed to cover themselves in mud and even dunk themselves in the water like kids at a pond. An amazing site!
Our 'camp' in the middle of the Park is pretty cool too. Like all these camps in the bush, our living quarters are screened in canvas tents enclosing some high end furnishings. Kind of swank and kind of fun.
One last morning of safari awaits us as sadly our trip comes to a close.
Until tomorrow.
Jambo!
RMI Guide Brent Okita
PC: Shout out to Jeff Tracy, on his 3rd Kilimanjaro climb, for the beautiful photos!
Our team loved sleeping in the "tent cabins" of Balloon Camp. Deep within Tarangire National Park and with no fences separating us from the wildlife we’d been observing, we were careful to observe rule one... don’t go out in the dark without an armed escort. It was still a little dark when we got the day going this morning. We enjoyed breakfast and then we split up... which might have been traumatic except those going in the "early car" were either heading home or to the beach and those of us in the "late car" were going out for a morning Safari... there were no losers. Those of us on Safari were immediately on high alert in the cool morning air, looking hard for leopards and lions. We searched along the margin of a vast and beautiful marsh and went good long stretches without seeing other people or cars. This certainly added to the thrill of discovery when we came upon two mature and majestic lions and one gorgeous lioness lounging about and waiting for the plentiful wildebeest/zebra/impala/elephant/giraffe/ostrich/water buck/buffalo/tourist to get careless and come within range. That didn’t happen while we watched, but then we didn’t watch for very long on this final day... there was still too much good stuff to see. About mid morning, we came upon a big pride (the count got tricky in the tall grass after 8 -including cubs and a full-grown male) going hunting. They stampeded zebra and wildebeest -which was exciting to see, and made their kill out of our viewing range, which was actually ok since by that point we were heading for the park gate and Arusha and scheduled flights home. There was still time in late afternoon back at the Arumeru River Lodge for a pre-flight shower, a re-pack and a good early dinner together. But then we had to say our goodbyes and break up what was left of a great team. Oddly, the most repeated declaration today was “this was more fun than I thought it was going to be”. We’re declaring victory for the RMI Expeditions early August Kilimanjaro Climb and Safari.
I’m sticking around for the late August one as well. Thanks very much for following along to this point.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Our entire Mt. Baker reached the summit via the Easton Glacier at 8:15 this morning! The weather has been great and the route is in good condition. Everyone is doing well. We are back at camp and will be packing up to head to the trailhead shortly.
RMI Guide Hannah Smith
Following the blog daily. Stay safe and see you soon! Love, Judy
Posted by: Judy Johnson on 12/15/2014 at 10:36 am
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