We left Cusco early this morning, taking a bumpy and winding road into the heart of the Andes. We were all a little queasy from the bus ride but when we opened the door to views of Tukarway (19,499ft) and Salkantay (20,574ft) all was okay. There are no words for the feeling of being surrounded by jagged peaks with glaciers, snow and ice. The views were beyond beautiful.
After a second breakfast, we started our trek. Winding through the valley with mountains reigning above us at every turn. After a few hours we stopped for lunch. We promise not to tell you all because we want you to think we’re hardcore but we did indeed have a 3-course meal seated at a table right in the middle of the trail. Fresh avocado and vegetables, warm soup, followed by mashed potatoes and beef medallions. Okay, okay, okay. I’ll move on, but it was divine.
After lunch we had a steeper climb for a couple hours to our camp at 15,500 feet!! Right at the toe of the Salkantay Glacier. Our tents opening up to the mountain before us, we saw ice falls and avalanches cascading down the slopes. We are all exhausted after little sleep last night and our first big day on the trail.We’re tucked in now with hot water bottles and sleeping bags fully zipped - it’s likely our chilliest night of the whole trek.
Tomorrow we’ll head over Salkantay Pass at nearly 16,000 feet and then descend around the mountain to our next camp.
RMI Guides Jess Wedel and Mike Bennett led their Four Day Climb June 27-30 to the summit of Mt. Rainier. The teams reported winds on the crater rim 15-20 mph and an overall nice day. The teams reached the summit around 6 am and are on their descent to Camp Muir. Once back at Camp the teams will pack up their gear and continue the remaining 4,500' down to Paradise. Their program will conclude this afternoon at Rainier BaseCamp.
Wow what a great trip! The guides are some of the coolest people on the planet! They were funny, extremely knowledgeable, and humble. every aspect of the trip was fun, but challenging in some way. Be physically and mentally ready. It’s a full few days with no real sleep to get to the top. Loved every minute. Thanks Jess, Dillon, Mitch!
Everyone, please remember to tip your guides.
Posted by: Karl Rummel on 7/1/2024 at 8:08 am
It was a great day and thank you Jess and Mitch for leading our team to the summit. Was a great feeling to summit after trying and failing due to weather back in 2008 for me. However, just FYI, we all thought the winds were more like 30 mph based on how cold it was at the peak. ;-)
Tuesday, September 17, 2019 - 8:51 PM PT
Jambo Everyone
The team got off to a moderately early start this morning leaving behind our beautiful lodge and have headed to Kilimanjaro.
We left around 8 am and drove along the rural country side and small villages for two hours to reach the park entrance. Most of the area surrounding Kilimanjaro has been cultivated and primarily used for banana and coffee production as well as a variety of other agriculture needs, but there are still some areas that have been untouched and resemble more of a savannah that Tanzania is known for. The base of Kilimanjaro is more forested and looks more jungle like and is called a cloud forest.
Once we arrived at the gate we had all of our gear weighed and divided into loads for our 37 porters and other staff to carry before hitting the trail. Once everything was in order we started our climb slowly making our way up the winding trail that ascends continuously through the think forest. The canopy is quite dense thankfully, which provided some cover from the rain that arrive around midday.
The team hiked for a little over 6 hours and managed to not get too wet before we reached our camp for the night that sits around 10’000ft.
After settling into camp and get situated the team was served a nice warm meal for dinner consisting of soup, rice, potatoes and steak.
Everyone is doing well and looking forward to a good nights rest.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and Kili crew
Hope you are starting down that mountain and “thou shall go for it,” Amy and Molly. It’s the am of Thursday, here in EST, and I have the summit on my calendar for tomorrow. Sending so much good vibes to all your crew and leader. You got this! Dig deep, and look up - I can not wait to hear what the views look like, at sunrise.
Ps. Thank you, Kevin for all your blog.
Tuesday, July 3, 2018 - 7:43 PM PT
Greetings!
Today we set our sights even higher than the day before. The team’s goal; Laguna Churup at 14,600’. We took a quick bus ride this morning after a Hotel Andino coffee fiesta, and before we knew it, we were staring at the crystal clear blue and green waters of Churup, gazing up the steep moraines at the first glaciers of the trip. The scene at Laguna Churup is surreal, and we spent a good amount of time soaking it in, and letting our bodies register the new altitude record for our trip. A quick descent led to an afternoon of packing, resting, eating, and Huaraz City-living. We capped off our acclimatization days with yet another exquisite dinner here at Hotel Andino! We even had the chance to catch up with Elías de Andres Martos and team upon their return from Alpamayo. Tomorrow, the climbing begins as we make our approach into the Ishinca Valley, and build our Base Camp at 14,500’. The comforts of city-life will soon be in the rear view, but the joys of the alpine will soon follow. Until then, thanks for following.
RMI Guides Robby, Alan, William, and team Lomo Saltado
The Five Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Chris Ebeling reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Brent reported clear skies and light winds of about 20 mph. The team will descent back to camp Muir for their final night on the mountain.
Congratulations to today's team!
What an amazing accomplishment. Congratulations to the entire team. Way to go Gwen and Elizabeth!
Love from the Mathewson/Niehaus Family
Posted by: Lori Mathewson Niehaus on 6/12/2018 at 10:59 am
Congrats to Brent and his team - You led a trip last year when Andy Renner attempted Rainer and he and your colleagues will try again tomorrow (6/13) and I hope that you (literally!) paved the way for his group to make it all the way. Best wishes
Posted by: Stephanie Renner on 6/12/2018 at 10:03 am
Hey! Dave Hahn & Team calling from the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro! We are at Uhuru 19,340'. We got up here at 6:49 in the morning, nine of our ten climbers. Everybody is doing really well, everybody is happy and healthy. It is an absolutely beautiful morning. It is way clear above us, and it's way clear down below to about 4,000' and then there's a sea of clouds below us. It is a really great day up here. We're going to do a dispatch when we are back to our camps to let you know we are all safe. Bye now!
Sunday, September 10th 10:57am PST
Greetings from Mweka Camp, down at 10,000 ft, down in the forest, down from the summit of Kilimanjaro.
We got walking out of high camp at just after midnight on a perfect night for climbing. It was clear, calm, moonlit and sparkling with stars. As expected, things got progressively colder as we got farther up the hill and into the night/morning. We kept adding clothing and tried our best to keep moving. Eventually, a good chunk of the team had "everything" on and the sun was still hours away. We might have stressed over the cold, but the altitude was kicking in with new stresses with every step higher. The entire team surpassed previous personal altitude records today, so it was very much a voyage of discovery. We hit Stella Point on the crater rim just before 6 AM and caught a magnificent sunrise when we were part way to Uhuru -the true summit. We tagged the top at 6:45, spent a glorious 30 minutes up there... surprised to be in perfectly comfortable temps already. The descent to Barafu took three hours, and we commenced our further descent to Mweka at 12:15, reaching this delightfully low camp at 3:45. All are safe.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team
RMI Guide Dave Hahn calling in from summit of Kilimanjaro.
Curt, Syd and Carol, Congratulations! What an accomplishment! Cannot wait to hear the stories! Travel down safe, and revel in your amazing journey…
Posted by: Judy Gadlage on 9/11/2017 at 6:05 am
Congratulations to the entire team! What an awesome accomplishment! Curt, I shared your journey with your classmates from RBHS at last night’s reunion. We’re all incredibly proud of you!
Posted by: Marilyn Blunier Ott on 9/10/2017 at 10:04 pm
Buenas tardes from Artesonraju Base Camp! We enjoyed a good rest day today. We fiddled with our gear, re-fitted crampons and practiced climbing anchor transitions. Good conversations were had at the dining tent too, all while enjoying the tea selection that our cook Emilio has brought, which we sweeten with the super natural honey from the bees of his next door neighbor. Rain has made a short appearance in the afternoon, but we look forward to start hiking up Paria North soon, our acclimatization peak, under sunny skies.
That's it for now!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos and team
June 1, 2017
Well we were given another blue bird day today with amazing views abounding in every direction. As many of you may know, clear skies usually correspond with cold temperatures, and that was true as ever this morning. At 8 am Christina ventured a peek at her thermometer inside the tent, and her findings confirmed our suspicions, the mercury read a measly -10 F.
After we huddled around some hot beverages, and waited for the sun to start working its magic, the day truly began. With temperatures rising steadily, a few of our climbers who were feeling particularly well acclimated headed down hill to pick up some of our food and fuel at 13,500 ft while the rest of the crew honed in on their fixed rope skills.
We did a bit of lounging whilst preparing and practicing for our carry to high camp tomorrow and enjoyed drying out and soaking up some rays! It was appreciated by all to have some nice sunny weather to balance out all the snowy weather we endured earlier in the trip. That is all from 14 Camp!
RMI Guides JT, Brent and Christina
Today we are checking in from our camp, Llulluchapampa at 12,303 ft. We had a warm day walking out the Kusichaka river valley through more small villages and got to spend some time in at an Incan site. The series of terraces and walls are believed to have been a trading post for agricultural goods arriving from the jungle and high mountains to be dispersed throughout the Incan empire.
After another delicious lunch we joined the traditional Inca trail at Wayllabamba where our mule drivers departed and our porters arrived to shoulder our camp. The 16 porters are from the same village in the Andes and work as a crew. During the high season they work four to five 4 day trips, carrying 55 lbs each day. The Team is grateful and amazed with how they bound up the trail above 10,000 ft with relative ease.
So far we have not seen another group of hikers the entire trek, that will changed tomorrow evening as we approach the final 2 camps before Machu Picchu. We will get an early start so we can enjoy a quite day. Everyone is feeling great and taking in the amazing vistas of the Andes.
Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Mike King
June 12, 2016 - 10:50 p.m. PDT
The Denali - Upper West Rib Team did a great job today. Blue sky and light wind graced us this morning, and despite a slower than desired departure out of camp everyone climbed really well. As soon as we stepped out of camp we sank up to our knees. This was the first day we got off the beaten path and made our own trail up to the Upper West Rib. Unfortunately with all the new snow fall in the last couple weeks breaking trail was difficult and energy expensive. Despite this added challenge the team did a great job and we worked our way up to the West Rib at 16,400'. We cached a couple days of food and fuel here and began our descent as the clouds started to roll over the ridge. We're all tired after a high output day but happy with our accomplishments. The weather forecast is calling for a storm approaching tomorrow and lasting a couple days so we will rest and prep for our summit rotation.
Thanks for all the support out there!
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens and the Upper West Rib Team
Dubay, you missed a great summit in Baltimore last week for an even better summit. Good fishing (of course Garrick’s boat caught all the fish), good food, good company. Be safe and enjoy. See you soon.
Posted by: Bill Pinkham on 6/14/2016 at 4:42 am
Amazing photos. Lots of thoughts for you all from down here in WA! Happy climbing!
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Wow what a great trip! The guides are some of the coolest people on the planet! They were funny, extremely knowledgeable, and humble. every aspect of the trip was fun, but challenging in some way. Be physically and mentally ready. It’s a full few days with no real sleep to get to the top. Loved every minute. Thanks Jess, Dillon, Mitch!
Everyone, please remember to tip your guides.
Posted by: Karl Rummel on 7/1/2024 at 8:08 am
It was a great day and thank you Jess and Mitch for leading our team to the summit. Was a great feeling to summit after trying and failing due to weather back in 2008 for me. However, just FYI, we all thought the winds were more like 30 mph based on how cold it was at the peak. ;-)
Posted by: Eric Dirst on 7/1/2024 at 8:05 am
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