Yesterday we had a wonderful albeit long day climbing to the summit of Kilimanjaro.
The team woke at 11pm to thankfully clear skies after a very cloudy evening that had us wondering what lay ahead.
We had a quick midnight breakfast of porridge, tea and coffee before hitting the trail at midnight.
The weather turned out to be pretty nice with just a little bit of wind, but it was a little chillier than previous climbs. The climb took about 6 1/2 hours to reach the top, and thankfully the sun had risen shortly before reaching the top to help warm us and boost morale after climbing through the chilly night. Once there, we hugged each other, enjoyed the view and took plenty of pictures while we waited in line to get our photos of the sign that adorns the summit.
It was a true test of endurance for most of the crew, and I'm really proud of everyone. We descended back to high camp, had a quick lunch, repacked and continued further down the mountain to our final camp on the mountain, where we had dinner and then headed to bed for some well deserved sleep.
Today we woke at 6:30 feeling good, had breakfast, then enjoyed a goodbye song and dance from our gracious crew of porters, cooks, and local guides numbering 48. We finished the little celebration by handing out their well deserved tips and then hit the trail one last time.
It took a little over three hours to reach the park gate where the team had lunch then hopped aboard our awaiting bus for the ride back to the lodge.
Finally we are all safe and sound, and a little cleaner after an amazing seven-day journey up and down Kilimanjaro.
The team is currently relaxing and looking forward to Safari which starts tomorrow!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and a happy Kilimanjaro crew
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
Monday, May 28th - 12:20 am PST
Perfect is not common in the mountains, but we had it today. The skies were clear and calm for the flight into the Alaska range. The snow was firm which makes the climbing easier and we had warm sunshine with a cool breeze to keep us all just right, not too hot-not too cold. Everyone moved well with their heavy pack and full sleds into our first camp around 7800 ft and enjoyed our first mountain dinner before sliding into our sleeping bags. All in all a great first day on Denali.
RMI Guide Walter Hailes
Hi friends and family this is Walter Hailes from the summit of Orizaba. We had a really, really tough time this morning, but we have beautiful weather. We're standing on top, enjoying the sunshine, getting pictures, having a great day. We will call or send you an email as soon as you get back down to camp. We will talk to you soon and see everyone we love very soon. From the summit of Orizaba - will talk to you later. Bye.
RMI Guide Walter Hailes
RMI Guide Walter Hailes calls from the summit of Pico de Orizaba.
Buenas noches from our camp at Quebrada Paria. We started our approach trek today towards Artesonraju Base Camp. The long drive from the hotel was rewarded by incredible views of Huascaran and Huandoy, the towering Andean giants that oversaw our incursion into the range. After meeting our arrieros (donkey drivers) we continued with the first leg of our journey. A nice vegetable soup followed by rice and chicken on a potato cream made by our cook Emilio, all with ingredients from his own home farm, was the dinner that put us to bed. That's it for the first day of our expedition out in the field!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos and team.
June 7, 2017
"Ok, I know we've been climbing for three hours straight, but let's get a quick bite to eat and drink and get out of here and back to camp."
"Brent, there's like over thirty people behind us on the route." JT exclaims, trying to be heard over the winds that have just picked up.
This was the scene at Denali Pass a few hours ago, high point of our midday sojourn to kick in the route, reset the anchors to the current route and mostly get some exercise so we do not waste away up here.
After passing a windless evening last night I was optimistic of our chances to summit this morning. But, as our typically poor luck would have it, around 7:00am the first ripples of wind tickled the tent walls. By 9:00 we had 40 mph gusts pushing the tent walls into our faces. Yes, we were all ready to go if the weather improved since it wasn't horrible outside besides those pesky gusts.
Finally, 11:45 rolled around and we decided to go for a little walk.
By 12:30 we were climbing to Denali Pass. This is typically later than we'd like to start for the summit, but we didn't have the summit in mind anyways. What took me by surprise was how our little walk inspired the entire camp at 17,200' to gear up and climb.
Our team really climbed well today, especially impressing me on how well everyone descended.
The weather forecast is not really inspiring, but we'll hang in here for a couple more days anyways to see if we can catch a break. The team is still smiling, and we had a great experience today. All it takes is one nice day to finish this thing off.
Good night,
RMI Guides Brent, Christina and JT
We had a few things to accomplish today so we set out early to shop the local markets. We found masks, bowls, knives, salad forks, necklaces, paintings, carvings made of soapstone, bone, ebony and rosewood. We also shopped for Tanzanite, the beautiful blue stone found only in this country. We visited a Masai village and took a grand tour of their community. Then made a stop for treats and drinks to enjoy while we traveled along. We entered Tarangire National Park and encountered a large herd of wildebeests. We took a break and enjoyed a picnic lunch in the bush followed by a pleasant afternoon of driving the roads of this amazing park looking for more animals.
Tonight is our last night in Africa and we get to spend it at the beautiful Kikoti Tented Camp. I can hear some animals snorting just off my porch. There is a bright moon illuminating the night, I think I'll go check it out.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
June 17, 2016 - 8:48 pm PT
We are climbing! We had a rather early departure from Basecamp this morning, leaving at 3 a.m. while the glacier was still nice and firm. The crew made quick work of the task at hand arriving into our new camp at the base of Ski Hill on the Kahiltna Glacier in 4 hours and 20 minutes. Rock Stars! We spent most of the day "sport eating" in preparation for the high calorie demand that this mountain will require. We had some clouds move in mid day, but the weather turned out to be great. We plan on another early morning rally up to 9,800 camp. We tried to count how many shells smothered in Velveeta we ate tonight to prep for tomorrow. Unfortunately we're not as top notch as Joe Horiskey. Love to the fans! And the Fams!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
Sunday, May 31st 11:16 p.m. PDT
The team got a late start this morning after a middle of the night arrival at 7,800 ft camp. Breakfast took the majority of the morning, but eventually we loaded up a portion of our food and gear to make the three-hour trip up the glacier to cache our load. Everyone did well despite the heavy packs, and we are looking forward to the them lighter and lighter as we eat more food.
This evening we were able to congratulate both Mike Walter and Pete Van Deventer's teams who are on their way down from the summit.
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens
Jambo from the Dik Dik Hotel. The team for this Kilimanjaro trek is all here, packed and ready to go. We've got folks from all over the US and even a couple of Canadians.
Everyone seems to have made the long trip from North America without any problem. Although we did have a couple of missing bags, those did arrive so no real worries there.
The food and tents are packed, the crew is ready and the weather forecast is looking good. It is pretty much all systems go. I'll check in again from the mountain.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
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You guys are awesome!! Looks like a great time, I love the updates and photos!! Thank you
Posted by: Judy Koppinger on 1/30/2019 at 6:57 am
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