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The clouds were right down on top of us again as we started the day at the Arumeru River Lodge. We were ready to go soon after breakfast and so we set sail at 8:15 in the bus with a collection of duffel bags strapped to the roof.
The hustle and bustle out on the highway was continually interesting to us as a window into Tanzanian life. We studied the crops in the fields, the shops at roadside, the signs and vehicles and the people. This partially compensated for our inability to see
Kilimanjaro in the distance. After nearly two hours we reached the busy Machame Gate to the National Park at 6000 feet. After an hour in a chaotic mix of climbers, porters, buses, trucks, monkeys and backpacks, we set out walking with our local guides. John, Eric, Philip and Philbret led us up a path in the thick rainforest. By this point we were in the clouds and things were just barely drizzly enough to justify wearing rain jackets. The trail was a little greasy, but nobody slipped or tripped as we steadily gained elevation. We marveled at the giant camphor trees, decorated with vines and hanging moss. In six hours, we saw a few birds, but no other animals as we transitioned to a different type of forest in the “heather and mooreland zone”. At 10,000 feet we came into camp and were happy to see that our incredible staff had tents in place and all ready for us to move into. We retired to the dining tent for delicious food, some adventure stories and a little bragging about past trips... and of course some scheming as to a plan for the present trip. We look forward to a well-earned rest tonight.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
May 19, 2017
The rain fell as we debarked from the plane after touching down at Anchorage International Airport. With three hours before meeting the team Christina, JT and I reviewed paperwork and plans for the trip.
Then, one by one folks started showing up, with everyone gathered well before our 4:30 departure. A good sign of things you come.
We had plenty of time to get to know each other while awaiting our shuttle to
Talkeetna and I was struck by the ease of conversation between everyone right from the start.
Having climbed with most everyone already it was fun to catch up with folks. By dinner time the mood was even looser as we enjoyed a nice meal at the West Rib.
Most of the team showed restraint in passing up calls to have 'one' at the world famous Fairview Inn, but for those of us who showed weakness and entered those decadent halls, a proper tradition was upheld. The music wasn't half bad either.
It's now time for some rest as tomorrow promises to be quite busy as we prepare for our flight on to the mountain on Sunday. I'm really looking forward to getting that one step closer to the climb we've all been waiting for for so long.
Goodnight from Talkeetna, elevation 300'.
RMI Guide Brent Okita
Hey, it's Billy checking in from
High Camp, Plaza Colera. The whole crew is back down safely, and we are super psyched that we all had the chance to stand on top of Aconcagua today. We're a little beat up, but ultimately no worse for the wear. We'll check in again. We have a long walk down to Base Camp tomorrow, and then the journey continues until we hit the road in Mendoza in several days from now. So a lot of activity coming up, but we'll try to keep you guys posted on our whereabouts.
That's all for now.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Today was a day of rest and preparation for our team here at
Aconcagua Base Camp. We spent the morning reorganizing and sorting out communal food and equipment for the upper mountain, and the afternoon finding a way to make it all fit into our packs. Along the way, team members found time to take a brief stroll around the base camp vicinity to acclimate and enjoy the perspective, and a few lucky climbers snuck in a nap or two. Everyone is excited to carry a load up to Camp One tomorrow, and officially launch our assault on the mountain!
Bye for now,
RMI Guides Mark Tucker, Pepper Dee and Team
The safari gets better and better. Today we were up early -before sunrise- for our visit to the
Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area. It was cloudy and cool as we entered the gates and began the drive up to the crater rim. That rim was cloudier and colder still at 9000 ft above sea level. We stopped in to a Masai village where we got to watch (and join in) as the residents performed traditional songs and dances, made fire and showed us into their simple homes (made of sticks, dung and ash). The Masai are just one of Tanzania's many distinct tribes, but they are prominent because they've held on to so many of their own customs and have largely stayed away from modern conveniences. We were impressed that the herdsmen protect themselves, their families and cattle herds with nothing more than spears. We were even more impressed a half hour after leaving the village when we got to see ten big lions down in the crater. Six females and four males, walking wherever they pleased... apparently without any worries or fears. The zebras and wildebeests wandering around them reacted sharply and obviously upon discovering so many kings and queens of the crater in one place. They seemed to be guarding a kill in the shrubs, driving off the odd hyena who came sniffing around. We were amazed at the vastness of the caldera floor and at the size of the herds of zebra, wildebeest, antelope and Cape buffalo that wandered about. Before long, we'd seen four of the "big five" (lion, elephant, rhino, Cape buffalo) and were looking hard for leopards to complete the set. No luck there today, but that didn't phase anyone. We were enchanted with the setting for our picnic lunch, on the edge of a lake full of hippos, with a big bull elephant casually walking through without paying any attention to all of the Land Cruisers and tourists in the designated lunch spot.
The clouds cleared completely by mid-afternoon and things finally warmed up. That made the ride back up to the crater rim all the more memorable as we could then see the entire amazing valley.
We enjoyed an easy evening ride back to the Plantation Lodge. Cocktails out on the veranda were accompanied by lots of show and tell of the excellent pics taken today. Then it was time for a fine buffet dinner and some birthday cake in honor of both Tom and Tim.
The team is excited to move on to Tarrangire National Park tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide
Dave Hahn & Team
May 19, 2016 - 2:44 p.m. PDT
One plane is flying up in ten minutes, and with luck, the rest of the team will follow shortly thereafter. Here we go!
The pilot gives us a 30% chance of actually getting to the mountain. I think otherwise. More like a 30% of having to return to
Talkeetna, but good to have a sober expectation of our chances.
RMI Guide
Brent Okita
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer & Tyler Reid radioed from the crater rim of Mt. Rainier at 7:04 am. Their
Four Day Summit Climb Teams were going to start their descent shortly after. Tyler reported nice weather with winds from the SW and a cloud deck at approximately 8,000'. The teams will return to Camp Muir and then continue their descent to Paradise.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climbers!
Today was our first day of safari and we headed to
Lake Manyara National Park. It took a little over 2 hours to get there as we drove through Arusha and then the vast rural savannah of Tanzania. It's situated at the base of the eastern Great Rift Escarpment, and is home the the famous tree climbing lions, over 450 different birds, huge troops of baboons, hippos, and most of the other African animals.
It's been rather dry this year and unfortunately we didn't see the famous lions, but we did see plenty of other wildlife up close.
After spending a couple of hours of safari we made our way to the wonderful Plantation Lodge where we've been enjoying being spoiled and just finished another fantastic meal.
Everyone is doing great and are excited to see what tomorrow brings as we head to Ngorongoro Crater.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Jambo Everyone
Things are going well and the team is doing great here on
Kilimanjaro.
Today the team had a leisurely start as we wanted the sun to warm us up before our only semi-technical part of the climb. The trail out of camp starts off relatively mellow and then quickly ramps up as we ascend the great Barranco wall. It's truthfully not as intimidating as it looks, but when does a thousand foot cliff ever look easy. Thankfully the route winds its way up the cliff through ramps and small rock steps and eventually on to easier terrain. Everyone did a great job of taking it easy and I actually think they all enjoyed the challenge we had. It was a very busy day and there was fair bit of traffic on the route as all the porters and climbers slowly made our way to the next camp here above the Karanga Valley.
Today was a relatively short day for us as this will be our last camp before we move up to our high camp tomorrow.
As usual we've had a trivia challenge that one lucky winner will receive a satellite phone call from the summit. It won't happen until we reach the summit, but that's not too far away. I'll let everyone know when that might happen on tomorrow's dispatch. So stay tuned!
We are spending the remainder of the day relaxing and enjoying the royal treatment by our gracious staff here on Kili.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Tuesday, May 14, 2024 - 8:42 pm PT
We had great weather today and got a cache established up around Windy Corner at about 13,700'. We are all back at camp now. Keeping it brief. Still lots of work to do tonight before we can get horizontal. We'll check in again tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
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Great news. Looking forward to the details. Stay safe!
Posted by: ROGER COFFEY on 1/30/2017 at 11:55 am
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