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Tuesday, September 10, 2024 - 10:58 pm PT
Hello Everyone
The team awoke early today and left behind the comforts of our beautiful lodge and have headed to the mountain towards the start of the climb. We hit the road shortly before 8am we drove along the rural country side for a little less than 2 hours to reach the park entrance. Most of the area surrounding Kilimanjaro has been cultivated and primarily used for coffee production and for a variety of other agriculture needs, but there are still some areas that have been untouched and resemble more of a savannah that Tanzania is known for.
The base of Kilimanjaro is forested and resembles a jungle or cloud forest. Traditionally it supports a large part of the banana production for this area.
Once at the gate we had all of our gear weighed and divided into 20kg loads for our porters to carry before hitting the trail. Once everything was in order we started our climb slowly and made our way up the winding trail. It wasn’t too busy which made for some pleasant hiking. It took a little over 5 hrs to reach our camp for the night which sits just shy of 10’000ft.
The team just finished an amazing hot meal and are looking forward to a good night of sleep at our new home for the night.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew
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Kilimanjaro Climb & Safari, September 9, 2024
The Mount Baker Easton Team stood on the summit this morning with all climbers!
It was a perfect climb with a slight breeze and some clouds to keep us cool on the way down. We’re back at Sandy Camp watching a beautiful sunset and will walk back out to the trailhead tomorrow morning.
RMI Guide Jess Wedel and Team
Wednesday, June 19, 2019 - 2:47 PM PT
We had a slight breeze all night and while the flapping fabric was not enough to keep us up the first night at
17,200’, it had several people not sleeping well. The guides got up at 6:30 am to check the wind and weather. Snow was billowing up into the atmosphere and swirling down the slopes that we would need to climb. We pumped the brakes a bit to see what the heat from the rising sun would do to the winds. After a few more hours the snow was still spinning and we decided it was too late to begin a 12-hour summit bid. The early afternoon has us resting in warm tents and taking some laps around camp to force us to breath more. Just sitting in the tent won’t help us get ready tomorrow. Our plan is to get started shortly after the sun hits camp and be on top early afternoon. Everyone is feeling better then when we first got here yesterday and anxious to finish this wonderful expedition.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
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
On the good side, it wasn’t windy last night. The tents were quiet and we got good rest. On the bad side -from a flying perspective- nothing else changed. It was still snowing and the clouds were still sitting right down on top of us this morning... and throughout the day. Nobody went flying. So the folks in
Punta Arenas who were hoping to get in stayed put. The people at the South Pole wanting to get back to Union didn’t. The gang out at Vinson ready to go home sat at Base Camp. The peeps at Union wanting to head to Vinson had to wait. Those that wanted to go to the Pole did not. And the five of us intent on escaping Antarctica never had a chance today. So we took it easy, went for walks and lectures and books. Ate meals and took naps and read forecasts of more poor weather.
Basically, we hung in there.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
May 31, 2018 - 7:26 pm PT
Another beautiful day on
Denali, which we started by singing happy birthday to Chip and we finished by making a no bake birthday cheesecake (we can only do so much at 11,200ft). Along with the birthday festivities, we are really enjoying this stretch of nice days as we move higher on the mountain. Today as we carried a big load of supplies to our cache spot at 13,500ft, we all felt the previous four days of hard work. Everyone climbed in good style but it was clear that it is time for a rest day, tomorrow we sleep in, hang out at camp and catch up on our reading and movies.
Best wishes from Denali,
RMI Guide Walter Hailes
On The Map
Saturday, May 26, 2018 - 4:39 PM PT
Our first night sleeping at 14,200' on Denali was chilly but restful. After a leisurely wake up and breakfast, we booted up and headed down to retrieve our cache at ~13,600', just this side of Windy Corner. Now, back in camp, we are relaxing and resting, hydrating and eating.
Our plan is to rest and acclimate this afternoon and also tomorrow. We will spend some time tomorrow fortifying camp by building walls and also practicing fixed rope travel for climbing on the headwall above camp.
The next step for us is to establish a cache for our high camp. If all goes well, we'll get that done on Monday.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
We've put the bad weather behind us -and it really wasn't all that bad. Morning at
Barranco Camp was just perfect: cool dry air with no clouds above or below. There was still the ever present layer of smog/smoke down a few thousand feet below us, obscuring details, but otherwise not bothering anyone. We took off for the Great Barranco Wall a little before 9 AM and were soon coming to grips with its rocky ledges. The wall can make folks nervous since it appears to be plenty steep from below, but our team dealt admirably with any jitters and got to work moving uphill. We covered almost a thousand vertical feet in a little less than two hours and came out on a flat "summit" with amazing views of Kibo looming another vertical mile above. The glaciers sparkled in the morning light, looking impossibly steep between great rock faces. We traversed a few more valleys to reach Karanga Camp just after 1 PM. It was then an easy afternoon of resting and eating and staring at spectacular scenery. We're spending the night at 13,160 ft. There is no moon, but there are a million stars to silhouette the great bulk of Kibo.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
It is that time of year. Here in Ashford, my hometown, it seems like the rain never ends. While that means snow—a lot of snow on Mount Rainier—and I really should be heading on up and take advantage of some amazing
backcountry skiing, there are three things I am absolutely passionate about: one is high altitude mountaineering; two is road cycling; and three goes hand in hand with the first two: suffering! If I cannot ride my
bike outside, I ride indoors on my trainer. Today, I want to share with you my epic, indoor, high intensity interval-training workout that pushes my
anaerobic and aerobic capacity to the max.
To start, many people see my
BMC road bike and ask me, “What does BMC stand for?” The Bicycle Manufacturing Company or BMC as it is known is a Swiss company that builds what I believe are the best bikes in the world. However, I refer to my BMC as my Big Mountain Climbing Machine! So here is my “go-to” indoor cycling workout.
Before you get started:
• Make sure you have one, or more realistically, two water bottles.
• Have a towel at hand. You are gonna sweat!
• A television will help. I’ll explain later.
• Obviously your own Big Mountain Climbing Machine, a.k.a. a bicycle and an indoor trainer
This interval session takes about 40 minutes total and is extremely simple, yet so powerful. To help motivate me, I cycle in front of the television on which I play a recorded stage of The Tour de France. That way I can pretend I am beating Philippe Gilbert (one of the pro peloton’s strongest cyclists). Yes, I beat him every time!
The Workout:
Pain Scale: Use a subjective pain scale. 1 is Super Easy; 10 is “oh my gosh, I can’t take this!”
6:00 warm up (Pain Scale: 6): Pedal at an easy and fast cadence
15 Intervals as follows:
1 minute all out interval (Pain Scale: 9 to 10): Place your bike’s gearing so that you are pushing hard and fast!
1 minute rest (Pain Scale: 3): Spin easily and recover.
Do 15 intervals: One minute all out hard and fast followed by one minute of recovery and repeat it 15 times totaling 30 minutes.
4:00 Cool Down (Pain Scale: 3): With all 15 intervals complete, spin easily to move lactic acid out of your tired legs. If you are like me, your last or 15th interval will include that sprint where you beat Philippe Gilbert at the finish line of the Champs Elysees in Paris!
Remember: beat him every time!
Fast, hard intervals like these serve to increase your
anaerobic threshold. There are times in the mountains, say the fixed line section on Denali above 14,000 feet, where it gets steep and the climbing becomes very demanding at times. Interval workouts like these give me an extra gear to push with before I redline and become anaerobic, which at altitude is unsustainable.
Mentally, I need to dig deep and push it to the top where I know the terrain mellows out again and I can relax, and the challenge of pushing through 15 sets of intervals helps me develop that frame of mind as well. Climbing isn’t always easy and at times you have to suffer a little bit before it gets easier. This interval training session not only allows you to push physically harder, but also develops the
mental ability to push harder.
Incorporate this workout into your training plan, and you will begin pushing through those physical and mental barriers where you stop saying, “I think I can” to “I KNOW I CAN!” Now go out…or in this case in, and jump on your Big Mountain Climbing Machine and break through those barriers!
_____
JJ Justman is a senior guide at RMI Expeditions. He guides expeditions to some of the highest mountains around the World. JJ just arrived in Mendoza to lead an
Aconcagua climb (the first of the season), and will head north in May to
Denali's West Buttress. Based in Ashford, WA, JJ is a passionate road cyclist and can be seen on his "Big Mountain Climbing Machine" pushing the pace to Paradise and back down.
Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!
We had a very nice morning at La Malinche. We were well fed and watered for the couple hour commute to
Ixtaccihuatl, also known as "The Sleeping Woman" volcano. A stop on the way at the Italian coffeehouse.. in Mexico, then onto the rural town of Amecameca located at the base of the mountain. We picked up some fresh food and now just above 12,000 feet at the Altzomoni Hut. Lots of going over gear and more training till the wind and rain came in strong. A big dinner with my California-style guacamole that received a thumbs up from the local staff. Team still needs to catch up on some missed sleep so off to bed for us.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
On The Map
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Gareth you have got this!! We’re all cheering you on here in PSL. Can’t wait to catch up when you are back!
Take Care :)
Posted by: Port Sunlight Team on 6/21/2019 at 3:53 am
Go team go, we are rooting for you Allan and for today’s summit!!!
Posted by: Bryan C-G on 6/20/2019 at 12:56 pm
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