Hey, everyone. This is JJ Justman calling from Kilimanjaro with Team Orlando. Sorry for the summit call way up high; it was havoc. There were a ton of people and for some reason they all wanted to hoot and holler and have a big party while I was trying to send my dispatch. We had a great summit day today; the team did just a fantastic job. Actually, I've had all the great climbs here on Kilimanjaro but this team just did an incredible job getting up and down in style. We're back at Barafu Camp, the high camp here at 15,000'. We're actually packing up and we're heading down to what we call Mweka Camp at 10,000' and that's going to be our last night in the mountains, in the forests here of Kilimanjaro and then we're heading out tomorrow back to the hotel. Everyone says hello to friends and family. Again, everyone reach the summit today. There's no doubt it's a great way to do this climb. And we're now looking at our next objective of just kind of resting, relaxing, having a little bit of a fiesta, and then heading onto safari. So we'll stay in touch with all of you. Stay tuned tomorrow, I'll send a bunch of summit photos and we'll talk to you again from Tanzania. Take care everyone.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Way to go Erwin !!!! We are cheering or you from Charleston! You are the coolest mom at Ashley Hall by a landslide! The images are beautiful. I can’t wait to see more and hear all about it! Enjoy every minute! Best, Susannah and Matt
Posted by: Susannah and Matt Hubbell on 9/11/2015 at 3:02 pm
To Thom, Kara and friends from team Orlando
So proud of all of you. We were with you every step of the way!
Congratulations on reaching the summit.
Enjoy a well deserved rest when you get back to the hotel.
Love you! Thom’s mom
We are at Karanga Valley. That's one camp below high camp. We had another great weather day and the crew is strong. I'm going to hand off the rest of the dispatch to some of the folks on the trip.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Barranco Camp was one of the most gorgeous places on earth. Today's climb was fantastic. We prefer our rocks scrambled, so we took the opportunity to have fun on the Barranco Wall (tell your friends). Looking forward to moving on to high camp tomorrow and then making the summit push starting tomorrow at midnight. #chillimanjaro
June 11, 2015 10:02pm
With unsettled weather upon us we slept in this morning had a nice brunch and spent the afternoon reviewing some technical skills. We discussed some of the techniques we will use and practiced removing and stowing various types of gear as we climb. The team is anxious to get climbing but there is nothing we can do until the weather improves. For now we are enjoying long meals, funny stories, and some good naps. That's all for now. Thanks for following along and keep your fingers crossed for some good weather up here on Denali.
RMI Guides Eric Frank, Geoff Schellens & Team
Hi Kim & Co.!!! I am no Al Roker but surely things must be getting better in your neck of the woods!!! Fingers crossed that the snow is done for the time being!!! Btw Sophia is auditioning for the role of Flounder on Monday (Ariel’s sidekick)...
Hugs &kisses;
Ron the Potato, Jerome, Adam Richman, Mark Klein & me
Posted by: Lora on 6/12/2015 at 7:30 pm
Hi Kim, I hope there is a dramatic improvement in the weather so that you & the team can move upward! Hopefully, tomorrow (Saturday) will be the “big’ day where the snow will stop,the sun will shine & the winds will be calm!!! I am sending positive weather vibes your way! Travel safe & stay well! Love, Dad
Well I am happy to report that our Mexico Volcanoes team all arrived safely as of last night. We met in the lovely lobby of our Hotel Geneve and had a nice chat about what to expect in the next few days. Followed by a classic dinner of local tacos.
We’re headed this morning to La Malinche to begin acclimating to the elevation.
Tomorrow we go for our first summit, La Malinche at 14,500’!
Monday, June 3, 2019 - 5:49 PM PT
When we poked our heads out of the tent this morning, we hoped to see sunny, calm skies beckoning us to climb this mountain. It was definitely sunny, but winds up high were blowing snow into the stratosphere. As much as we hoped to climb today, it was an easy decision to stay put here at 17 Camp. We slept in, reinforced our camp with some big snow walls, told some jokes, and talked about the beach. Fortunately it hasn’t been too windy here in camp. We’ve been able to get out and stretch our legs from time to time, inspect other camps for architectural inspiration, and chat with the neighbors. We can see the tundra from up here, the only green in sight, 15,000 feet below us. We’ll do an early dinner again, and get organized in hopes of climbing tomorrow. At this point it all just depends on what the winds do.
RMI Guide JM Gorum
Hello from the Chimborazo Lodge located literally at the base of the mountain. From our windows we watch herds of llamas grazing in the pastures, condors buzz the hillsides and the mountain, straight up valley, show us she is certainly not done being angry at something. Which sets the stage for this upcoming tale.
It is no secret that lessons surround us. Whether learned from business, school, love or mountain climbing. If we are aware and observant enough we should be able to find value and see reason through the events of everyday life. Today was one of those days we all learned something.
Our time at high camp began with teaching our seminar crew the correct way to level tent platforms, secure the guy lines and properly tie down your house so the big bad wolf doesn’t come and blow it all away. Once settled in, we were treated to a great meal by our cooks and hit the rack about 6:30 pm. At that point the full moon was rising over the mountain and the wind was calming just a bit. By our wake up time at 11:45 the wind was calm but the clouds had unleashed some freezing rain which coated everything in a smooth sheen of verglass.
By the time we departed camp the wind had picked up a bit and the mountain was sporting a nice cloud cap, beautiful in the full moon light.
The terrain right out of camp was challenging but by the time our climbing team reached an elevation of 18,500 feet, a few had turned around due to fatigue and the unruly steepness of the route. The weather had also begun to deteriorate with gusts reaching upper 30s and a heavy coat of rime ice building on our Gore-Tex shells. By 19,300 feet only two climbers remained headed up. But that upward progress didn’t last much longer. By 19,800 feet the cloud was now fully upon us and the wind and rime became too much to safely continue toward the summit. So at 6:15 our final summit climbers turned around.
The climb down can be as arduous as the climb going up because of tired legs, heavier muscle strain and outright exhaustion. As they have this entire trip, our team performed like seasoned veterans, all arriving back at camp by 8 am. Usually getting back to camp provides a deep sense of relief and comfort, knowing the hard part is over. This morning that was not the case as the winds increased moderately on the upper mountain, they increased dramatically at camp. I almost wanted to start climbing back up the mountain just to avoid the scene. The tents were being held down by rocks and people just to be kept from blowing away, the dining tent was literally beginning to tear itself apart and the noise of flapping nylon could likely be heard ten miles away. But through incredible teamwork we were were able to keep our houses from blowing away and got things packed in relatively good order considering the mountain’s jet engine was on overdrive.
On the descent, some of us had to literally crawl on all fours to keep from blowing over. It was one of the windiest days I’ve ever seen. Thirty minutes after leaving camp we were sheltered enough to take a sigh of relief and walk normally to the bus waiting in the parking lot.
After a brief time to reflect and sit down, we loaded up and headed to Chimborazo Lodge where we are about to take dinner and give a final toast to a mountain that has taught us much more than just climbing skills.
So even though we didn’t reach the summit, we by no means consider this a failure. On the contrary, like our journey as a whole, we consider this a great success! It has been a wonderful two weeks!
Team Ecuador signing off.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
Hello from Penitentes! Today we ate a nice breakfast at the hotel, and got an early morning start obtaining our climbing permits. It’s possible that one member of the team had to run around town and secure some important pieces of gear, but that’s par for the course. We ended up leaving Mendoza a little later than we had hoped due to some permit delays, but the team did an awesome job hustling once we got to Penitentes. We re-organized all of our gear so that the mules could better haul it, packed a lot of food and kitchen gear, and headed to dinner. Everyone is excited to start walking tomorrow. Once we hit the trail, things get much simpler. Whatever we have is what we have, and we just need to get from point A to point B. The team has done a great job leaping the logistical hurdles that mark the beginning of any long trip. Tomorrow we’ll check in from Pampa de Leñas.
RMI Guides JM, Hannah, and Avery
Today was our first day of safari and we headed west to visit the beautiful Lake Manyara. The lake is a brief stopping ground for many migratory animals, beautiful and exotic birds and even tree climbing lions.
We manage to see a few wildebeest, zebras, Cape buffalo, baboons, impalas a few distance hippos, and elephants so close you could almost touch them. We also even managed to see two of those tree climbing lions. It was a pretty nice introduction to the incredible wildlife that Africa has and the team is looking forward to seeing more tomorrow.
Everyone enjoyed the day cruising around in our safari vehicles with cold beverages in hand while seeing the animals.
We wrapped up the evening relaxing at the beautiful Plantation Lodge.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Safari crew
You deserve all the cold beverages you desire :-))) Awesome pictures, great to see you all relaxing and enjoying such a wonderful safari :-)...“Summit, safari, shangri la”....Emily and Alysia…YES.
xoxo
Posted by: Shelby Schneider on 9/11/2018 at 4:30 pm
We had a beautiful walk into camp today. Temps were cool, the bugs left us alone, and we made smooth work with heavy packs. We were greeted by a blanket of wildflowers and the sound of waterfalls as we made our way above the tree line into camp at the edge of the Coleman Glacier. Everyone is feeling good and settling in to camp life here at 5,900’. We’ll take advantage of a full night of sleep before beginning our training tomorrow on the slopes around camp in preparation for our summit climb.
RMI Guides Jess Matthews, Jessie Poquerusse, Dustin Wittmier and Team.
Here we are at the Altzimoni hut, checking in after another good day in Mexico. We rose this morning and hit the road from La Malintzi to the town of Amecameca where we picked up some last minute fresh food items for our climb on Ixta. The bus then took us up to the Paso de Cortez, and continued up to the hut here at 13,000 feet.
Upon arriving we grabbed our day packs and went up tomorrow’s trail, towards Ixta high camp, for another acclimatization hike. It’s been a bit cloudy here at the moment but otherwise it’s as beautiful as ever up here in the mountains. The whole team seems to be handling the altitude thus far exceedingly well and I think we’re looking really strong for our trip up to high camp tomorrow.
We fueled up with a nice dinner of carne asada, rice, and fresh tortillas so now it’s time to get some sleep for a day of heavy packs and uphill travel!
RMI Guide Chase Nelson
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Way to go Erwin !!!! We are cheering or you from Charleston! You are the coolest mom at Ashley Hall by a landslide! The images are beautiful. I can’t wait to see more and hear all about it! Enjoy every minute! Best, Susannah and Matt
Posted by: Susannah and Matt Hubbell on 9/11/2015 at 3:02 pm
To Thom, Kara and friends from team Orlando
So proud of all of you. We were with you every step of the way!
Congratulations on reaching the summit.
Enjoy a well deserved rest when you get back to the hotel.
Love you! Thom’s mom
Posted by: Judy Heinchon on 8/13/2015 at 11:50 am
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