Saturday, June 2, 2018 - 6:56 pm PT
We decided that the perfect weather this morning demanded that we go take a run up the fixed lines to check them out, and finally gain the West Buttress. We're sitting through a spell of fantastic weather, warm, calm, and sunny, and the views back over camp were stunning. The fixed lines are often a point of uncertainty, nervousness, and apprehension, right up until we clip in to them and everyone realizes that's it's just the same old climbing that we are all used to. Everyone did a fantastic job and we cruised to the top, took a bit to enjoy the views and breathe some thin air, then headed back down to camp for an afternoon siesta. Tomorrow we'll take one more rest day before we look to make our move to 17K Camp and get our summit push underway.
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Jess Matthews, Taylor Bickford, and team
Hey Rich and all your teammates…great pictures have been coming our way and we are so pleased you all have had such great weather. Can’t wait to see more!!! Love mom and dad
Posted by: Richard lewis on 6/3/2018 at 2:12 pm
Thinking of you all every day and enjoying these updates! Happy Birthday yesterday to Henry - love to him and Caleb from Gran/Mom (and of course to the rest of the group!)
Posted by: Jennifer Huntington on 6/3/2018 at 8:17 am
We wake up to French pressed coffee, warm toast and scrambled eggs. After packing up we throw packs on and head down the trail. Stopping to take pictures or refill water bottles in streams or snack on some nuts and chocolate. Lunch is usually by a river with stunning views around. Then we walk a few more hours chitchatting and enjoying our time on the trail. Evenings are showers, delicious dinners, and bed early most nights. The next day we do it again. Tomorrow will be day 8 for this pattern and we are all starting to find our rythem. Today was a day hike into the French Valley where our high point was above a vivid rainbow and below towering granite peaks. We would stop along the trail to watch dramatic ice falls from the hanging glaciers above. Another spectacular day. Tomorrow we complete the circuit around the Torres del Paine massif which is a huge accomplishments everyone should be proud of.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
After a calm night under the stars the Team woke and began breaking camp. We had approximately nine miles to cover, mostly rolling terrain and the Vacas Valley continues to widen. Today was a little cooler then yesterday but honestly the song remained the same. This camp isn't remarkable except for the old stone building built into a giant erratic boulder, which is the namesake. Everyone is trying to beat the heat, some in their tents and some down by the river.
We got to see Aconcagua for the first time and there is a lot of snow up high. Tomorrow we will arrive at Aconcagua Base Camp, there the climb begins in earnest.
RMI Guide Mike King
Keep up the good works guys. I enjoy looking at the blog everyday and seeing new progress. No worries Dave I’m keeping everyone posted at the gym. Your like a rockstar everyone keeps asking where your at on the mountain.
Posted by: Kevin Durbon on 1/26/2018 at 7:08 am
I also included Jericho but his name didn’t appear on last comment. Have a great day Dawn and team. Love, Dad and mom
Wow! It's was one of the hottest days above 18,000'! We had 4 inches of snow starting yesterday evening that tapered off by 9 pm. The 1,600 vertical feet to high camp took us up a snowy moraine and into a series of switchbacks that terminate below a complex of white rock towers. The camp is named after the fierce winds that plague this part of the mountain...Camp Cholera. We could have used a fraction of that wind today to cool down the Team and maybe prevent the roofs of our mouths from getting sunburned due to the heavy panting brought on by altitude and heat.
The Team got in a small cache and now comes the difficult decision of when to attempt the summit. The weather models are showing increasing winds on Saturday with Sunday winds being high enough that maintaining camp will be difficult. Our current plan is to move up Friday but a move tomorrow is not out of the question in favor of lighter winds and snow and hopefully higher summit success. It's snowing again, we've been able to set out watches by the afternoon snow fall.
Regardless of what happens, the effort today has the guides feeling optimistic for the Team to boot up and meet the challenge. Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Mike King & Team
Virg - talked to Dad, Nora & Joe and we are all cheering you and the team on. I hope things went well today. Joe went snowboarding, Nora printed out W’2s, Dad went to Harbor Freight and I read one of the books you got me for Christmas. Well l’m sure your day was more exciting. Love, Mom❤️
Posted by: Barbara(mom) on 1/11/2018 at 4:02 pm
So glad to hear you’ve made a carry to the high camp! I’m sure you’re anxious to keep moving higher. We can’t wait to hear the tales from the trail. Much love and stay safe!
Hello, this is Eric Frank. Just giving you a call from Mount Shuksan. Wanted to let everyone who is following along that we are safe and sound back in camp. We had a good day of climbing up on the glacier and the summit pyramid. Unfortunately we were not able to reach the summit. The rain from yesterday kind of lingered late into the evening. There was a big, wet cloud that hung over the glacier that didn't let us get out of camp until mid morning today. But we did climb up the glacier, got to the base of the pyramid, and got to go through a little bit of that terrain, and experience what that climbing is like. We then made the safe call to come back down before things got too late in the day, and we had to come down in the dark. We enjoyed ourselves. We're all happy and doing quite well. Hope everyone out there is doing well, take care.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
We are back safely at the Barrels after 100% of our climbers reached the Mt. Elbrus summit! Three of us even summited both peaks. Perfect weather!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
RMI Guide Billy Nugent calls in from the Mt. Elbrus summit.
Our last day of the climb started out with perfectly clear skies at Mweka Camp. The team got together for breakfast, mentioning sore muscles from the day before, but with everybody smiling and excited for the finale. After breakfast, our staff sang the "Kilimanjaro Song" while we clapped and recorded everything. A few short speeches were made and tips distributed, before we all headed down the trail. This walk was all in forest -an extreme contrast to our time up in the ice and rock alpine zone just a few hours back. As we dropped 4000 ft, we looked for monkeys and birds and marveled at giant camphor trees. At our finish line, the Mweka Gate, the Dik Dik Hotel had put on a splendid picnic banquet. With full bellies and tired feet we boarded the bus/truck for the ride through Moshi and back to the hotel on the outskirts of Arusha. It was then a relaxing afternoon of getting clean and trying out the hammocks of the Dik Dik. We enjoyed a memorable victory dinner together, recalling with laughter how we'd been utter strangers just a week before. In the morning, the main body of the group will go off on a game-viewing safari. We wish Keith safe travels on his way home and we are counting on spying Peter and Charlotte across some muddy hippo wallow in these next few days.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Congratulations! Can not wait to hear all about. Safe travels
Posted by: Elese Sifly on 9/9/2015 at 4:08 pm
Congratulations to All the members of this great team, including these brave local men. Thank you for sharing these beautiful moments, as always. And now, it is time for a well deserved SA FA RI ! Enjoy
Hello from the Garabashi Hut at 12,000 feet!
Elbrus Team 2 is officially on the mountain and we are doing great. After getting settled in we went for a nice hike up to 13,200 feet. Elbrus was out in all its glory and we enjoyed the incredible alp'esque views.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
The Four Day Summit Climb Teams led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Andy Bond reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. Casey reported clear skies with very light winds and a fantastic climbing route. The team has started their descent and are en-route to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's team!
The Four Day Summit Climb Teams for June 25 - 28, 2017 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning just after 7 am. RMI Guides Kel Rossiter and Robby Young reported winds higher than expected but clear skies and an excellent route. The teams spent almost an hour enjoying the views from the summit crater. They will return to Camp Muir for a short break and then continue to Paradise.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!
What a feat!!!
So amazed at your fortitude and strength.
Congrats to Larry and Zack on your valiant efforts. So very proud of you.
Can’t wait to hear about your experience.
Safe journey home.
Lots of love, Shelley, Saul and the gang
Posted by: Shelley on 6/29/2017 at 5:08 am
Congratulations Emma Le Du! well done!
Posted by: Margarita Medina on 6/28/2017 at 8:08 pm
Hey Rich and all your teammates…great pictures have been coming our way and we are so pleased you all have had such great weather. Can’t wait to see more!!! Love mom and dad
Posted by: Richard lewis on 6/3/2018 at 2:12 pm
Thinking of you all every day and enjoying these updates! Happy Birthday yesterday to Henry - love to him and Caleb from Gran/Mom (and of course to the rest of the group!)
Posted by: Jennifer Huntington on 6/3/2018 at 8:17 am
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