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Posted by: Christina Dale, JT Schmitt
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Hola!
The team convened this evening at the lovely Hotel Geneve in the Zona Rosa region of Mexico City. To everyone's relief the earthquake damage proved to be minimal in this area of the city, and hopefully that continues to be the trend for the entirety of the trip. The team met each other for the first time in the lobby of the hotel, whilst seated in high backed lounge chairs, surrounded by paintings and towering bookshelves which made for a rather regal setting to begin our Mexican adventure.
After meeting the team and going over a brief synopsis of the days to come, we took a short walk through the Zona Rosa to a lively establishment that served authentic Mexican food, tasty margaritas, as well as a full mariachi band. Although we were not able to sing along to the tunes with the rest of the patrons, I am sure we enjoyed the food just as much as the locals sharing the restaurant with us.
Tomorrow we depart Mexico City and head for the former training site of the Mexican Olympic team, La Malinche, and begin our acclimatization with a trip up the extinct volcanoe.
Buenas noches,
RMI Guides Christina Dale, JT Schmitt and the rest of the RMI Mexican Volcanoes team!
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Alpamayo team to Base Camp.
This morning we woke to a light wind and scattered clouds making for chilly start to the day. Lucky we had a hot breakfast and many cups of hot coffee and as we hit the trail we were quite happy with the cooler hiking weather. The team did great and as we climbed the switchbacks out of the Santa Cruz Valley we got our first glimpse of Alpamayo. By midday we had arrived to our Base Camp, unloaded the donkeys, and set up camp. This afternoon Elias and his team descended to BC after their successful summit yesterday, so we all hung out and told stories. We are all very happy to be settled into our new home for the next few days. Tomorrow we will carry a load of gear up to Moraine Camp in the morning and then rest and relax in the afternoon.
That's all for now.
Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens and the A Team
Posted by: Casey Grom, Christina Dale
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 16,950'
Hello Everyone
All is well here in the Khumbu.
It's incredibly beautiful, peaceful, and the mountains are grandiose. We've been very comfortable hiking each day in the sunny weather, then bundling up in our warm sleeping bags each night as the temperature drops.
Our normal schedule goes generally like this,
We wake up around 7am start getting packed up, then the team meets for breakfast at 8am, with eggs, toast, potatoes, and plenty of fresh coffee we bought along.
We hit the trail as close to 9am as we can, then hike anywhere between 3 and 7 hrs to our next stop. We break at least once an hour to hydrate and eat snacks, and on the longer days we stop at one of the many tea houses and have lunch.
Once we've arrived at our new village for the night we check in to our rooms and take a small nap/break. We then often meet around 5pm for a little tea, popcorn, and card playing.
Dinner is often at 6:30-7 and the menu is pretty much the same at every tea house with plenty of soups, simple pasta, potatoes, and typical Nepalese Dal Bat.
After dinner we relax and have a brief review of the day ahead and then it's off to bed.
The group moved up to Gorak Shep today under the towering peaks of Nuptse, Pumori, and Everest. Today started cold and clear with stunning views all around. We were all reluctant to leave the warmth of our cozy down sleeping bags but the smell of French press coffee enticed us out. For breakfast was a mix of cinnamon rolls, eggs, Tibetan bread, and rossti (potato pancakes). After our duffels are loaded on the Zoopkios we head off at a slow pace (given the 16,000 foot elevation). Along the trail every language can be overhead and porters are seen carrying 100 pounds across their foreheads. We stop for pictures and to share sweet snacks about ever hour and continue towards the Khumbu Glacier. Tomorrow we'll be in Everest Base Camp with hopes of peering into the popcorn field of the notorious ice fall.
That's all for now
RMI Guides Casey Grom & Christina Dale
On The Map
Riley and Eryn, congratulations on making the trek to base camp. We are following your progress with the lovely commentary from your guides (a few misspellings are in order at 16,000 feet) and we love the pictures. We were so disappointed our fear of weird phone numbers caused us not to answer your call tonight our time. We love you and we are glad you are safe. Stay that way—safe—and we hope your trek continues to be as great back down. Love from us.
Posted by: Hal and Ann on 3/27/2017 at 9:08 pm
Posted by: Steve Gately, Hannah McGowan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 18,000'
The storm settled out late last night and we woke to clear cold skies this morning. The forecast was calling for improving weather and decreasing winds down to 15mph throughout the day. I was a bit skeptical of this forecast as I was seeing signs of approaching weather to the West over Chile. We opted to have a slow morning to allow the weather time to deteriorate if it was going to. After getting an updated forecast speaking yet again of calm weather we opted to start packing and head up to high camp. Of course a few minutes into taking down our tents a large lenticular cloud, often indicative of high winds, formed over the mountains rocky summit. By the time we were finished packing, clouds were rolling over camp and a gentle snow had begun to fall. Not more then 10 minutes out of camp the weather turned into a genuine blizzard! We turned around, made the 5-minute walk back and started to reestablish camp. Tomorrow is our last opportunity to go for the summit before high winds plague the area again. With the forecast still showing clear skies and light winds we'll opt to try for the summit from Camp II tomorrow morning assuming the forecast is correct. This makes an already big day that much bigger but the team is up to the challenge. Pray to the Weather Gods for us!
RMI Guide Steve Gately
Boyd and Team, I am sending good karma your way and praying for a safe summit tomorrow!
Posted by: George on 12/27/2016 at 4:53 am
Good luck on the summit attempt tomorrow! We are cheering you on Bob!
Joe and Karen
Posted by: Joe Reinkemeyer on 12/26/2016 at 8:20 pm
The Mt. Rainier Summit Climbs, led by Casey Grom and Nick Hunt, watched the sunrise from Ingraham Flats this morning before heading back to Camp Muir. The guides assessed unfavorable avalanche conditions, which kept them from the upper mountain. Both teams are back at Rainier Basecamp, safe and sound.
Today the gang got a good old-fashioned butt-kicking at the hands of Nevado Cayambe. We woke in the middle of the night to strong winds but clear skies and decided to rig up and take a shot at climbing. The walls of the refugio were rattling in the wind and I remember thinking to myself that we were gonna probably have a pretty tough go out there. Shockingly, as we left the hut and climbed around the rock buttress above we found ourselves moving through the terrain in much more manageable conditions. The wind backed off and we were looking up at a starry night and the city lights below. We made our way up a couple of steeper rock steps and onto the dry glacier in short time and continued up the hill. Chase and I both remember thinking to ourselves, "we just might pull this off..." But alas, the wind was to return as we climbed higher but this time with some serious moisture. The wet came in pulses and we were able to deal with it until we reached a bench in the glacier at just over 17,000' where we all came into the break and looked each other over. The truth was undeniable, we were all soaked and the conditions were worsening. Sadly, we knew we had to turn around before the summit and weave our way back through a very crevassed and broken glacier. Despite not making the summit we still got to climb through some incredible terrain and glacial formations and everybody agreed that we were getting a full value experience. Some hours later, when we finally stumbled back to the hut, the storm has significantly increased its ferocity and was plastering us with sheets of sideways rain and strong gusts. We napped for a little bit and loaded our soaking gear into 4x4's and headed back to Babylon. Tonight we're drying out and enjoying a real bed at Hacienda Guachalá. Built in the late 1500's, it's the oldest hacienda in Ecuador with tons of crazy history from famous visitors (including Edward Whymper, the first to climb many of these peaks in the 1700's) to pre Inca constructions, and even a crypt beneath the chapel. Tomorrow we're headed for Antisana, praying for good weather, now, I'm headed for dinner!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Hey, this is Dave Hahn checking in from Kilimanjaro. We summited this morning. We had a beautiful morning. We left High Camp at about 12:30, and we were at Stella Point on the crater rim at 7 a.m. Perfect conditions up there no wind and clear, very nice. We were on Uhuru Peak, the highest point in all of Africa by 8 in the morning. And we all made it down safely to our high camp, Barrafu, and now we're going to continue on down, and we'll send you a dispatch from the Mweka Camp. All is well.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn checks in after successful climb to the summit of Kilimanjaro.
On The Map
For Dori,
Congratulations! ou worked so hard to do this and now you get to celebrate!
Can’t wait to hear all the stories.
Hopefully you get to relax a bit!
Lots of love,
Rebecca
Posted by: Rebecca Crichton on 9/8/2015 at 11:06 am
Congrats to everyone! NELL!!! Soooooo proud of you and wooHOOOO!!!
Posted by: Lolly on 9/8/2015 at 10:43 am
RMI Guide Brent Okita and all of his climbing team were descending from the Mt. Rainier's crater rim at 6:33 am PST. Brent reported good conditions with some high clouds and winds 15-20 mph. The team will return to Camp Muir, repack and then continue their descent to Paradise.
We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to the entire Summit Climb team!
Thanks to our guides Brent, Nick, and Blake for all your hard work and kindness. I had a great time, and I know the rest of the team did as well. Your attention to detail, professionalism, and focus on safety really shine through. I look forward to seeing you back on the mountain sometime soon
Posted by: eric benz on 6/30/2015 at 7:57 am
Thank you Brent, for wonderful memories, stories to share and a safe return.
Posted by: Kelly Gaddiss on 6/29/2015 at 1:30 pm
Today we had a slow morning around camp which was very nice for everyone. At noon we roped up and walked a few hundred feet downhill to pick up the rest of our gear and food. It feels great to have all of our stuff here at camp. We’re well positioned for the rest of our climb. We have 11 days of food and fuel left. All we will need once we establish a cache at 17,000’is a good weather window.
On The Map
After a fun filled day touring around Quito yesterday, today was our first acclimatization hike. Our target Rucu Pichincha, a 15,696' extinct volcano. With sun breaks and patchy clouds the hike was a success, getting back to the hotel by 3 in the afternoon.
There was plenty of time for more exploring and shopping around Quito before the team had a good dinner at a local brewery.
RMI Guide Chad Gaffigan
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Good luck I’m praying for good weather for you! Be safe.
Team leader- team gramma neenee
Posted by: Ellen Smith Eaton on 10/9/2017 at 7:26 am
Yeah team! Good luck with weather, enjoy the challenge and have fun! Xtina and JT top notch! Special regards to Craig FLKHGN.
Posted by: Elias on 10/8/2017 at 6:06 pm
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