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May 10, 2014 10:37 pm PT
The good weather persists in the
Alaska Range! We were fortunate to spend a big chunk of time today training under clear skies and bright rays. By the end of the afternoon, everyone was dialed on crevasse rescue and amped to move camp up the glacier tomorrow. Aside from our attempt in Radio Tower most of our time so far has been focused on training and lectures on mountain related topics. Now it is time to put our training into action and see if the mountains let us get a summit.
RMI Guides Leon Davis & Eric Frank
We bit off another chunk. The day started at 6:30 AM at Machame Camp, which was cool and shady before the sun came over the mountain. We had breakfast and threw our packs on just before 8 AM. The trail today was a little steeper and a little more relentlessly uphill compared to yesterday. But we made fine progress up through a forest of giant heather. Eventually we could look out to see that we were above a sea of clouds, and we could look over to Meru, a neighboring 15,000 ft volcano on the western horizon.
We began to identify Senecios and Lobelias -two of the distinctive plants endemic to Kilimanjaro. We worked hard today, but nowhere near as hard as the many porters who passed by with loads balanced on their heads, somehow staying at ease on the difficult rock steps. Eventually we took a left turn, traversing between old layers of lava to turn the corner onto the Shira Plateau. We reached Shira Camp at about 12,600 ft at 12:30 PM. This marks our westernmost point for the climb, and the next days will have us moving east on our wandering route to the summit.
The team enjoyed a restful afternoon and evening in our comfortable new camp.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team
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Monday, May 27, 2019 - 6:08 PM PT
As expected, the weather did not cooperate for a carry today. So instead of moving uphill we spent the morning making and eating pancakes. We ate breakfast until it was lunch time, ate lunch, and then enjoyed a few hours of sun and clear skies. We shoveled some snow of course, got a little training in, discussed the state of the universe, and I believe that Kirk has been meditating on the meaning of life for much of the day. He is scheduled to give a lecture detailing his enlightenment at dinner. David ate bacon today for the first time in 10 years. He seemed to enjoy it. There is talk of a pull-up contest if the weather doesn’t improve tomorrow, we will see. Dustin is the top seeded contender, but I have no doubt there are some dark horses in our ranks. As we move towards dinner, the snow has returned. Our plan is to get an early-ish start tomorrow and carry to 13,500, but we will see what the weather gives us. Hopefully we wake to clear skies and calm winds tomorrow.
RMI Guide JM Gorum
On The Map
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
The
Expeditions Skills Seminar - Emmons July 20 - 25 led by
RMI Guide Bryan Mazaika ascended to Camp Schurman yesterday and after setting up camp did a bit of training and preparation for their summit attempt. The team reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning around 7 AM. They will return to Camp Schurman for their final night on the mountain.
Congratulations to the Emmons Seminar Climbers!
Sunday, May 27th - 11:00 pm PST
What a day of rope work we had under the most amazing back drop of Mount Hunter. We went through different knots and how to build a variety of equalized snow anchors. Then we put it to practice and had everyone take turns going into a deep crevasse and the team would build a pulley system to bring them out. This was an Alaska style crevasse which means it appears bottomless and cold. We had so much fun exploring the glacier up close and personal. The team's rope skills are great but we hope to avoid using the rescue skills as we head out tomorrow to move camp up the
Kahiltna Glacier. After such a big day of playing on and in the glaciers, we all treated ourselves to two hot chocolates after a delicious dinner of tortellini with sun-dried tomatoes.
Goodnight from the glacier!
RMI Guide Christina Dale
Hello from southern Russia!
Things are good here in Russia. We left Moscow this morning and have traveled via plane and bus to the beautiful Caucasus Mountains. Our flight took us to southern Russia not too far from the Black Sea.
This part of the country is predominately rural and is responsible for much of the agriculture that the larger cities depend on. We were meet by our trustworthy guide Yuri, whom I've climbed with many times. Then hopped in our van for the three-hour drive up the Baksan Valley to the base
Elbrus.
The small town we are in is called Cheget, and it doubles as a ski town in winter and converts to climbing in the summer. We didn't do a ton of exploring this afternoon due to the adjustment of the time that we are all still feeling.
However, tomorrow we will do our first acclimatizing hike and do a little exploring.
All is well here and the team is excited to stretch our legs a bit!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
June 17, 2016 - 11:36 pm PT
What a big few days it's been! Forgive the radio silence, but our team has been busy getting some real climbing done. Since our glorious finale to our ascent, we descended back to
17 Camp and had a well deserved rest. We awoke early this morning with a motivating forecast to move and packed up our alpine home and began our descent. As we scooped up caches at 16,600, 14,200 and 11,000 our decision to beat feet downhill seemed well made. Winds and snow took over the upper camps and we made it to 7,800 camp where the air is thick and the temps are pleasant (by our new standards). We carved out a quick camp and are planning on an early morning to try and catch a flight tomorrow. Wish us one more day of decent weather and we'll be back to tell all the details of one hell of an adventure!
RMI Guide Jake Beren
On The Map
Saturday, May 14th - 2:57pm PST
Hey Guys,
This is RMI Guide
Billy Haas checking in for the May 3rd,
Mike Walter, Denali,
West Buttress expedition. We are currently comfortably camped at 14,200 ft after making the move up today from our previous camp at 11,000 ft. We experienced hot, but ideal conditions on the mountain today for our move. Calm winds and blue skies made for a pleasant climb around Windy Corner, allowing us ample time to establish our new camp here in Genet Basin. Tomorrow we hope to reclaim our cache of food and supplies at 13,500 ft, and look forward to positioning ourselves for our eventual move to High Camp.
The team is in great spirits and excited to be in a new camp, and we are all looking forward to the light back carry day tomorrow.
Cheers,
Billy
Hello from the
Dik Dik Hotel. We are all off the mountain and enjoying a fun evening recounting our adventure.
We awoke early this morning and were treated to a pancake breakfast with fresh fruit and coffee. After that we had a really fun closing ceremony with the Dik Dik staff.
There was a small matter of a three-hour hike to the park gate but it was enjoyable and there was no rain!
We were all pretty happy to get a hot shower after a week of camping and now everyone is looking forward to sleeping on a bed!
Tomorrow we start our safari at
Lake Manyara and we will be staying at the Plantation Lodge. I'll check in again from there.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
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“ “When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.” -Tecumseh”- Kirk Ludwig
Posted by: Jillian Ludwig on 5/28/2019 at 3:36 pm
Sending all you guys clear weather thoughts and big hugs! Hope you’re all doing well! And as far as a pull up contest goes… my money is on JT. Also… give JT a big smooch on the cheek for me, JM! Happy climbing to all!
Posted by: Maddy Emmer on 5/27/2019 at 9:54 pm
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