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Today wasn't a big day, but it was a scenic one. Sunrise down in the cool Barranco Valley was welcome, for sure. We got a leisurely 9AM start at walking, which allowed a couple hundred porters to get onto the narrow ledges of the Barranco Wall before us, just as we'd hoped. Plenty still needed to pass us as we reached for rock handholds and stemmed from precarious stances, but that all worked out fine. We marveled that the tricky moves we were making could be made easily by men carrying loads balanced on their heads. It took us about an hour and a half to get fully up the wall and all agreed it had been the funnest part of the climb, so far. We had weather nearly identical to yesterday's for the first half of things...blue skies above and sea of clouds below. This allowed for uninterrupted views of Kibo's Southern glaciers and ice fields above us as we traversed eastward. Finally we had the abrupt gorge of the Karanga Valley to drop into and climb steeply out of in order to reach camp. We pulled in a little after 1 PM, in time for a hot and wholesome spaghetti lunch and some quality rest as things clouded up for the afternoon. It seems like time has flown by as we are now talking about being at high camp tomorrow and off on a summit bid quite soon afterward. One step at a time though... First we'll make the most of this final night at the civilized altitude of 13,100 ft.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Posted by: JJ Justman, Steve Gately, Chase Nelson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 15,500'
December 24th, 11:30 am PT
The team is enjoying Christmas Eve this year at 15,500ft on the tallest mountain outside of the Himalaya, not to shabby, eh? Temperatures are still warm and the winds mild. Today we rest and prepare for the real work of moving up to Aconcagu's Camp 2 tomorrow. Keep our climbers in mind tomorrow, Christmas Day, as we'll be hauling 50-pound packs to 18,000ft. I know the team wishes they could be home with.... Well why don't I just let them tell you themselves....
Wishing all of my Hawaii peeps a blessed holiday season! I'm in good spirits and feeling well physically (and more important, mentally) to summit soon. Let's celebrate when I return! Love, Del.
All's well! Wishing a Merry Christmas to Taegan, family and fellow climbing buddies hanging at lower elevations for the holiday! Love you all--Matt
Having a great time. All is well! Enjoying the views, steaks and a great team. Merry Christmas to all! Love Nigel
Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas! Wish I could join you but Christmas at 18,000 is not too bad. Claud - I hope you're behaving yourself! Love,
Marek
I AM ON AN ADVENTURE!!!
Mammut
Pogoda przepiekna, super samopoczucie, towarzystwo wysmienite!!! Wesolych Swiay i Szczesliwego Nowego Roku - Pawel
Missing you very much this Christmas Bea! Wish I was there with you and the girls and Grant. Keep those good thoughts coming my way. Love ya, Jemes.
My dear Alex, you motivate and encourage me every step of the way, as always in front of me leading the way. Thank you for being the most amazing part of my life. Merry Christmas my love. I'm yours always. Ruben
Posted by: Brent Okita
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
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
Posted by: Eric Frank, Andy Bond
Categories:
After a long travel day and an early morning arrival, we took a leisurely morning before heading out on a tour of the city of La Paz. In the last several years Bolivia has invested nearly $800 million into a cable car system, allowing people to move around the city, high above the buildings. It gave us amazing views of the surrounding mountains, some of which we will be climbing later in the trip, as well as adjust to 13,500’ altitude. A highlight was walking through the witches market, where people would burn offerings in the hopes that the smoke would reach the gods in the sky, and there wishes would come true. The night ended with a great dinner and some packing as we head to Lake Titicaca tomorrow for some more acclimatization and sightseeing before we head into the mountains.
RMI Guide Eric Frank, Andy Bond & Team
Your team is with the best guides anyone could ask for.. wish you guys great weather and successful climbing…heading to Denali in a week.. Julie and I were just reminiscing about last year in Bolivia..
Posted by: stephen zabinski on 5/19/2019 at 8:09 am
Posted by: Hannah Smith
Categories:
Today we could see the light at the end of the tunnel. By the end of the day we would be back in civilization, back using the wifi. All that stood between us was seven hours of walking and a two hour jeep ride. All went well on our walk out, besides a sprained ankle. But with a good tape job by our doctor Jorge and some ibuprofen we made it. Promptness isn't much of a thing around here, so after waiting for just over two hours our jeeps arrived and we made the bumpy ride back to our holiday inn in Talkot. Tomorrow we will take a bus back to Dahngadi where we fly back to Kathmandu. We are quite excited for our showers tonight and a bed.
What a journey,
RMI Guide Hannah Smith
Posted by: Mike Walter, Robby Young, Alan Davis
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 17,200'
Wednesday, June 7, 2018 - 10:59 am PT
Nothing is easy about Denali. After two hard days of climbing and finally reaching the summit yesterday, we are currently hunkered down in our tents, avoiding the wind and spindrift that the mountain is throwing at us this morning. It is currently too cold and windy to safely pack up and climb down the exposed West Buttress. So we're on standby, chilling out in our tents waiting for the wind to abate. Hopefully we'll be able to bump camp down to lower altitude and warmer temps soon.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Tuesday, June 6, 2018 - 10:50 pm PT
Despite a less than ideal weather forecast, we awoke to clear skies and no winds. We fired up the stoves and woke our team. Muscles were weary after climbing for seven hours yesterday, but we couldn't pass up this opportunity.
The weather stayed good all day and the route was in great shape. It was a hard day of climbing but we got to stand on the top of North America! We were ten hours round trip (high camp-summit-high camp). And now that we've eaten dinner and crawled in our tents, the temperature has plummeted, winds have increased, and snow is falling. Timing couldn't have been better.
We will start our descent tomorrow...
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
So proud of all of you! Please keep yourselves warm. Miss you guys, and can’t wait till you’re in Talkeetna. Shower Beer is everything. You’ll see.
Posted by: David Head on 6/7/2018 at 8:44 pm
Wow!!! How incredible!! Alex and Tom we are all super excited for your summit!! Must be incredible to see from the top!! Enjoy every moment and we miss you. Nicole
Posted by: nicole celona-jacobs on 6/7/2018 at 1:40 pm
Amazing to think that just 24 hours ago we were striking our high camp on Alpamayo at 17,500' in the snow, ice, cold and wind and now we are hiking in T-shirts and shorts past cactus and gorgeous rivers. Back in Base Camp this morning we had a very civilized breakfast of bacon and eggs with lots of strong coffee, loading donkeys and shortly after 9 AM we hit the trail. Chased by clouds and propelled by music the 6 hour hike back to Casha Pompa went by quickly and by mid afternoon we were sitting in a courtyard sweaty, dirty, but happy with a beer in hand. Then a three hour van ride brought us back to Huaraz. After cleaning ourselves up we met for drinks and dinner at the Andino and realized that we are all still on mountain time. Most people are starting dinner around the time we are ready for bed.
Because we didn't use our weather day we have bought ourselves an extra day here in Huaraz, we will most likely sleep in, slowly re enter the "real world" and wander around town tomorrow. We are all happy to be back.
Thanks for following along
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens and the Alpamayo Team
Posted by: Nick Hunt, Steve Gately
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Well, our luck had to run out eventually. We've had a good run so far this trip, but Chimborazo proved to be our match. Our teams turned this morning just under 19,000' due to a variety of compounding issues, but the climb still provided us with over six hours of engaging terrain, from challenging rock steps to steep and firm snow slopes. Although we would have all loved to have reached the top, everyone agrees we made the right decision to turn around early and are all glad to be back down safely, celebrating the successful conclusion of our seminar down south.
From a guide's perspective, not summiting this morning provided us all with one last valuable lesson: mountaineering isn't always about standing on top. So much of climbing is learning to recognize when a summit just isn't in the cards and being able to make the conservative call. Chimborazo will be here for a while. We didn't make it this time, but I like to think of that as an open invitation to return again some day down the road.
Tomorrow morning we will return to Quito, say our final goodbyes, and fly home to our families. It has been an incredible two weeks, and I've enjoyed getting to know this wonderful group of people. Pretty soon, you'll be able to hear all the stories that never made it to the blog directly from your loved ones.
It's been a great adventure!
Signing off one last time,
RMI Guide Nick Hunt
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Torres del Paine
Greetings from Chileno Hut. Uneventful 10-mile day we had... just astonishing views left and right as we contoured the Paine Horns into the Ascencio Valley, which will eventually take us to the base of the Towers. Our goal is to see the sunrise, so we're heading to bed early.
We'll check-in from Puerto Natales tomorrow!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Wow!!!! The pictures are amazing! What a fabulous trip! Cannot wait to hear all about it!!! Lots of love! Have a safe journey home!
Erle
Posted by: Erle Broughton on 2/3/2017 at 9:41 am
The photos in these posts are fantastic! How are you getting these amazing shots? Are you using some sort of filter that makes them look like artwork?
Aspiring photographer here
Thanks
Tiina
Posted by: Tiina Moore on 2/2/2017 at 7:02 am
Posted by: Billy Nugent, Hannah Smith
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 13,800'
We've made it back to Plaza Argentina safe and sound after a successful summit bid and a subsequent long descent from Plaza Cólera. Per the norm our team worked together and made great time descending despite large loads and tired legs. Anita, Juan, and Leandro from the Grajales basecamp staff greeted us with homemade pizzas for an afternoon snack and another fabulous celebratory steak and potato dinner. Juan and Leandro both got their first summits of Aconcagua the same day we did and rallied down the hill ahead of us to provide hospitality. Between those great meals we readied our loads for the mules and got settled back in to basecamp. Tomorrow's walk is gonna be a long one but at the end of the tunnel should be another asado dinner at Pampa de Leñas. Typically the valley is too tight for satellite phone reception here so don't be alarmed if you don't hear from us tomorrow evening. We will check in again when we hit the trailhead and transfer back to Mendoza. Not much else to report...
Tired, but with a full belly,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
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Wow! It looks like u guys r almost at the highest point! Keep going friends!!! We love and miss u!
Warriorrrrrrrs
Posted by: Solmaz & Calli on 8/26/2016 at 9:08 pm
The wall climb sounds like a blast! Everyday is a great adventure. Continue to enjoy each moment.
Posted by: Jen (Jason's sister) on 8/26/2016 at 2:14 pm
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