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A number of the team reported their “best night yet” at
Barranco Camp. Perhaps that was because we’d put in a good hard day, but it could also have been the calming ambient noise of waterfalls and streams flowing near the tents. We were drinking coffee at 7:30, still before the sun found its way into the steep sided valley. After another great breakfast, we were headed off to climb the Great Wall at 9 AM. Luckily, we don’t have too many other teams on our schedule and so “traffic” was light as we tackled the steep rock ledges of the lower wall. Frank led the team today, while Freddy, Philibet, Naiman and James kept careful watch on the team, pointing out the odd missed hand or foothold in the rough lava scramble. It was quite pleasant to rest atop the wall in calm sunshine with the steep bulk of Kibo shining overhead. Another, easier section of walking took us to the steep cut of the Karanga Valley. All that remained then was to drop down one steep side of the gorge and to march up the opposite side. The team mastered the “rest step” on this ascent and kicked in some “pressure breathing” for good measure. We rolled in to camp at 13,100 ft at about 1:30 and were sitting down to lunch not too long afterward. Clouds formed up to hide the upper mountain and to shield us from the strong sunshine for the afternoon. We’ll see if they break up for sunset and to allow our traditional stargazing after dinner.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
The
Four Day Summit Climb August 8 - 11 left Camp Muir around 2:30 AM hoping the winds would decrease. However, strong winds continued and the teams had to turn around and head back to Camp Muir. The teams are descending early from Camp Muir this morning and we expect them at Paradise around 9:30 AM.
It started to seem like we’d get fog and rain for the rest of the trip just to pay for the sweet summit weather we’d been granted. But when we woke today at
Mweka Camp, we were under blue skies and high above the white clouds. After breakfast, we enjoyed a gathering of the entire staff for the traditional tipping ceremony. We expressed our great thanks and the guys serenaded us with a few more memorable sing-alongs in the bright sunshine. Then we shouldered packs and hit the muddy trail downward at about 8:30 AM. It was just a few more hours of careful walking in slippery conditions to get down through the rain forest. We stopped at one point to see a couple of colobus monkeys high in the tree canopy, but mostly we paid attention to the treacherous track and to where we were putting our feet. At the Mweka Gate we were down in the clouds again and had a brief rain shower just after signing out of the park. A short walk in the deep dirt of a road construction project took us to our lunch venue and the bus parking lot. We enjoyed a fine picnic and a round of Kilimanjaro and Serengeti beers along with Savanna ciders. Two hours on the bus through the Tanzanian countryside got us back “home” to the Arumeru River Lodge. Showers and a few shaves made the team presentable by evening. We finished with a delightful victory dinner out on the veranda and discussed just how much the climb and our interactions with each other and with the staff have come to mean for us. We are excited to begin the safari tomorrow but we will miss our climbing buddy Tim who will begin flying toward the States and home.
Best regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The
Four Day Summit Climb June 29- 2 July turned around at 13,200' today due to high winds and poor weather conditions. RMI Guide Steve Gately and the team will return to Camp Muir to repack and then will continue to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp later today.
The
Five Day Summit Climb Team led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Bryan Mazaika reached 11,000' on their summit attempt of Mt. Rainier this morning before poor weather and visibility forced the team to turn at Ingraham Flats. Brent reported cold and windy temperatures with some blowing snow. The team is back at Camp Muir and will start their descent at 9 am. They will be back at Rainier Basecamp in the early afternoon.
Congratulations to today's Team!
After an early breakfast and some last minute packing we loaded up our shuttle and said good bye to Huaraz. We headed north out of town for over an hour before leaving the paved road for the washboard dirt road taking us east to the village of Casha Pampa. Here we unloaded our van and helped load the mules that will carry our mountain of gear into base camp for us. Now in the mid-morning sun we started our hike into the Santa Cruz Valley, the first hour and a half was dusty and hot but soon the dirt and rock gave way to beautiful rolling meadows. Beautiful streams trickled down from the surrounding hills and soon we began to see the tops of stunning snow-capped mountains emerging from above the valley walls. By late afternoon we reached our camp at
Llama Coral where we set up tents, had a delicious dinner, and settled in for the night.
The team is doing very well and we are happy to be on the trail.
Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens and the A Team
Hola,
Today, after a lot of travel and food the team finally got out into the mountains. We set off for a gondola ride on the outskirts of town that takes us all the way up to well over 13,000 feet. We were pleased to find fair skies and moderate temps with sweeping views of the city at the top.
From there it took us 2.5 hours to reach the summit at 15,700 feet with the whole team! This is a great team and everyone did excellent. After some time on top breathing thin air, we descended back to
Quito grabbing some tasty carne empanadas on the way.
After an afternoon nap we all got some pizzas and ice cream to soothe the soul before bed. Tomorrow we will venture further outside Quito for another highland hike.
Stay tuned,
RMI Guide Ben Liken
After a couple rainy nights, we weren't sure what hand the weather gods would deal us this morning for our
Ishinca summit push. When the alarm rang, we zipped open the tent door. We were elated to see blackness punctuated only with gleaming stars - not a cloud in the sky!
Our team got ready after an incredible breakfast of pancakes with banana compote and started walking under a blanket of stars. As we approached the glacier, sunlight illuminated Ranrapalca, the biggest peak to our south.
We transitioned to crampons and tackled the Penitenteied glacier. After an hour of weaving through the rough surface, the snow smoothed out and got steeper on the summit pyramid. The climbing was great and our team navigated the steep final pitch and large crevasse to gain the summit.
The entire team made it in good style! The weather held out all the way back to camp too! Everyone is looking forward to a well deserved rest day tomorrow.
RMI Guides Zeb Blais, Chase Nelson and team
Hello all!
We had a wonderful day today. After waking to sunny skies overhead, we crawled out of our tents at a leisurely hour and enjoyed a nice breakfast in base camp. A few cows made it into the fenced in area of base camp overnight, and were apparently enjoying their breakfast as much as we enjoyed ours. After packing up and shoring up camp against our new bovine friends, we started working our way uphill towards Camp One.
The walk was quite pleasant, as we had a nice breeze, good company, and pleasant vistas all around. Mt. Elbrus was visible to us all day, and as we got closer, we were able to get a good view of the route, and climbers descending it. It looks to be in great shape, and everyone is excited. After about three hours we found a good spot to
cache our gear, and divided it up into duffel bags. We descended with nearly empty packs, taking a detour to Mushroom Rocks. An interesting group of rock formations that look like, well, mushrooms. Very weird.
Upon arrival back at camp, snacking and napping commenced and continued until dinner time. We ate a fine meal of spaghetti and watched distant thunderstorms roll by. Tomorrow we will move to Camp One. Everyone is feeling good, and excited to get going uphill. You'll hear from us again tomorrow.
RMI Guides JM Gorum and Pete Van Deventer
On The Map
June 27, 2016 - 7:58 pm PT
We had another early morning departure to avoid the mid-day solar radiation that can wear a climber out much faster than the cold temperatures can. Our team did a fantastic job climbing up the steep fixed lines to the ridge and then up to our camp at 17,000'. We got into camp around 1:15 in the afternoon and proceeded to build a camp that would protect us from most any weather that
Denali could throw at us. We are getting organized for a summit bid tomorrow if Denali allows. We are currently sitting in the clouds with a small amount of snow falling, but the forecast seems good for tomorrow. We will wake up and get the "nowcast" by looking up towards the summit and seeing what the mountain has to say about us climbing it.
Goodnight and wish us luck!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
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Sorry Emily and Phil .. I meant to say Phil.. silly Joey…
Posted by: JoAnn and Chris Bolton on 8/12/2018 at 3:42 pm
Great job team! Once again beautiful views! So happy for yu all and what you have accomplished!! Of course.. hugs to Emily and Ryan!! Climb on!!
Posted by: JoAnn and Chris Bolton on 8/12/2018 at 3:40 pm
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