RMI Guide Billy Nugent radioed at 7:23 am as his Four Day Summit Climb team and the Five Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning, and were starting their descent from the crater rim. Billy reported it was very windy with winds from the NW.
Congratulations to today's team!
RMI Guide Robby Young called at 7:01 am as he and his Mount Rainier Four Day Summit Climb team were starting their descent from the crater rim. Robby reported clear skies and a light, cool breeze from the NW.
RMI Guide Tyler Jones and his Mount Rainier Five Day Summit Climb made a sunset climb last night and reached the summit at 8:45 pm with 100% of their team. He commented that it was the most beautiful sunset he has ever seen. Tyler's team is safely back at Camp Muir and will begin their descent later this morning.
It was an incredible day here in the Khumbu Valley. We woke up to blue skies and sunshine beaming in our windows. It was such a welcome surprise after a few days of rain. We quickly ate breakfast so we could get outside for some views of the great ones. We had a “choose your own adventure” day — some of the team climbed to Everest View Hotel while some of us walked to the Sherpa Culture Museum. No matter how we spent our active rest day - we all got to see MOUNT EVEREST! And boy, was she showing off. It was more beautiful than could ever be captured in pictures and a moment none of us will soon forget. Being surrounded at every turn with towering mountains makes you feel small in the very best way.
We all met back up for lunch just as the clouds rolled in. We spent the afternoon wandering the endless shops of Namche, picking up little treasures and learning more about the Sherpa culture. It’s been a bit colder than normal so we opted to get down puffy pants. We are happy to have these as we go higher and an added benefit is the highlighter yellow, blue and red makes it nearly impossible to lose each other. Another day comes to an end here in Nepal and we are all refreshed and ready to keep climbing towards our goal.
Sending lots of love and hugs to our family and friends back home.
This trek has been absolutely stunning so far! Feels like I could use some RaRa soup, some epic views of Everest, and a bright orange—or maybe even fluorescent yellow?—jacket right about now ....
Posted by: Some guy from Puyallup on 3/22/2024 at 10:38 am
Friday, August 11, 2017 - 6:59 pm PT
Hello, this is Eric Frank calling in from the South side of Mt. Shuksan. I just wanted to let everyone know we're doing well. We had a good day of climbing through the old grow forest and we have settled into our little bivy camp here for the night. So far the team is just getting camp set up and relaxing. We are going to make some dinner, watch the sun go down and enjoy ourselves a little bit. Thanks for following along. We will check in again tomorrow.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
RMI Guide Eric Frank checks in from their first camp on the Mt. Shuksan Seminar
We woke to clear skies and beautiful weather today. We had breakfast in the hotel and then loaded up all our climbing gear and drove to the base of the ski resort where we rode not one, but two gondolas, a single chair lift and then a short snowcat ride to reach our new home on Mt. Elbrus for the next few days. It's rather comfortable up here, as our outfitter has taken a few shipping containers and converted them into simple bunk rooms some for sleeping and some set up as dinning rooms.
Once we got settled into our new home we headed uphill on another acclimatizing hike and reached just over 14,000' before returning to camp where our wonderful cook Dasha had a nice hot lunch waiting for us.
We spent the remaining of the afternoon doing a little training for our climb. The weather forecast has been a little up and down, so are just staying prepared. Everyone is doing great and enjoying the views of the Caucasus mountain range which are pretty amazing since we are camped out at just over 12,000'.
Dasha has once again had filled our bellies full of delicious Russian food and so the team is off to bed now.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
We miss you but love following your latest adventure! Love and Prayers Jill, Rachel, David, Caleb, Kiki, Cora, Emily, Shane, Eli, Silas, Samuel, Shena, Jeff, Anthony and Chloe
Posted by: Jill Crumley on 7/27/2017 at 3:41 am
Awesome pictures! Looks like a great time. Have fun as you both get closer to the summit.
Love
Dad
Posted by: Wayne Kelly Sr. on 7/26/2017 at 1:02 pm
Our assault of the Barranco Wall was relentless and the team finally conquered its mighty face with no loss of limb or life. The same can't be said for the poor, hapless porter who lost his load a third of the way up, which meant beating a hasty retreat down to the valley floor to retrieve it. Luckily, said porter was below us and not above, which might have been a whole other story.
The climbing up that part of our climb today was fun and exciting, but we were all humbled as we watched the porters scaling the same terrain with forty pound loads balanced on their heads or shoulders, and arriving to camp two plus hours before us.
The rest of the route undulated into and out of valleys, always under the shadow of the steep flanks of the upper mountain. We ended up only a little higher than our previous camp, so everyone's feeling strong and we're all becoming well acclimatized.
After arriving to camp and 'washing up' another incredible lunch was served: schnitzel with warm German potato salad, followed by apple pancakes and banana fritters. Wow!!!
While in our dining tent the clouds finally unleashed a little rain. We've been so fortunate with the weather so far, that this little precipitation has not dampened anyone's spirits. And now, after thirty minutes of wetness, it has abated.
We're all comfortably sheltered in either our personal tents or the mess tent playing cards, so not really affected by the vagaries of the weather. Quite nice.
Until tomorrow, we'll try to suffer on. Wish us luck.
RMI Guide Brent Okita
Our five hour trek to the Shira Plateau and our beautiful camp here began steeply out of Machame Camp and was quite relentless for a good three or so hours. Along the way we learned some walking and breathing techniques that will be key to our success on this expedition.
While I was busy coaching the team on these skills, one of our local guides, Peter, did a fantastic job with the pace and allowed us to move easily while still getting to camp at a reasonable hour. In this case, that would be at 1:30, just in time to sit down for the incredible lunch spread prepared by our chef Tosha. How does fried chicken, French fries and a refreshing salad, followed by watermelon sound, especially at 12,570'.
Climbing Kilimanjaro is nothing if not over the top luxury, and I'll take every last bit of it. Our staff on the mountain, the guide, porters, cooks, waiters etc. allow the team to concentrate on the important matter of acclimatizing and just taking care of ourselves. We'll need that help to be able to climb this 19,000' behemoth in a week.
Following lunch we've all gone into major relax mode, letting the altitude seep into our bodies and the calories just consumed reenergize us in preparation for a big day getting to Barranco Camp. And of course, we need to be rested for 'tea time' in a few minutes.
Yeah, life is tough here in Tanzania, but the team is reaping the benefits of our support crew and everyone is doing really well.
All for now from the Shira Plateau.
RMI Guide Brent Okita
Today was a special day where our group was fortunate enough to get off the main trail and see an all women's Buddist monastery in the small village of Thamo. Seven young girls who are new to the monastery greeted us with laughter and sweet tea. On our tour of the beautiful building the girls showed off to us by reading Buddist prayers and performing their pujas. We were all laughing and playing by the end of our visit. The joy and happiness of the Sherpa people is shown in how welcoming they are to everyone. We all felt lucky to see this unique place and meet some of the women there. After group photos and funny face photos they said goodbye by gifting us each a Kata scarf which is a silk scarf that is given as a token of thanks and blessings. Then we walked the two hours back to Namche where we are packing up to move up valley tomorrow.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
Hello Christina and the rest of the team. Thanks for posting these great pictures, it is nice to follow along. What a beautiful place and people. Enjoy your trip, hope you have great weather.
Hola mis amigos!
El equipo esta todo marcado...oh sorry wrong language. Hey all! The team is all checked in to the Hotel Colonial Puebla. Today started with an early wake up at 2:30am in hopes to go to the summit of Ixta, but was thwarted by relentless clouds, snow, and wind. After numerous checks out the vestibule for a break in the weather, we settled in for a casual morning of hot drinks and breakfast, followed by a break down of camp. Our hike out was among the clouds but still very beautiful and enjoyable. With a reshuffle of gear and farewells to our local guide Carlos, our two porters Daniel and Jose, and our favorite driver Rogelio, we loaded the bus. One bathroom break, a movie, and many bumps later, we arrived in Puebla. Tonight we will meet for another delicious dinner and tomorrow we will spend our day exploring Puebla and relaxing.
Hasta luego,
RMI Guides Mark Tucker, Hannah Smith, and Team
We just received word that the one missing bag is getting picked up at the nearby airport and heading our way. The team is now complete! I encouraged the team to sleep in as best they could this morning, It sure helps with the jet lag we are all experiencing. Everyone followed orders and a leisurely morning it was. The afternoon was for preparation. The team assembled with a combination of enthusiasm and nerves. We spent a couple hours of meeting to channel both in the right direction, and to gain a solid understanding of what is to come. It's also a chance to get to know everyone. We have a great collection of people for this journey to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. We spent the remainder of of our day sorting all of our gear getting ourselves ready to start our trek. We share the same staging area as our local support team, needless to say, it was a very busy place to be. It is an interesting process to see the making of a grand expedition from the start.
Breakfast call will be around 6:30 tomorrow followed by a few last minute details before we start our climb!
RMI Guide Mark Tucker & Team.
You guys are amazing! So happy you got to summit! Love you!
Posted by: Melissa on 8/17/2015 at 4:54 pm
Congratulations to my two favorite men!
Love Katrina
Posted by: Katrina on 8/17/2015 at 4:38 pm
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