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Our climb finished with an easy and pleasant trip from 10,000 ft to the 6,000 ft trailhead this morning. We all counted ourselves lucky to have blue skies over our breakfast table... One more lucky day, it seemed. After breakfast, the entire staff gathered and sang the
Kilimanjaro Jambo song -with feeling and gusto. The team members then shook hands with each and every man, expressing gratitude for a bunch of jobs well-done. We knew that our "luck" and success on the climb... and our enjoyment of it, came in large part from the efforts of these dedicated professionals. We set out down the heavily forested trail at about 8:30 AM and had made it to the Mweka Gate -the finish, in under three hours.
After signing out of the National Park, we crowded into our great expedition truck/bus and started down through the banana and coffee plantations. We cruised through the outskirts of Moshi and then hit the road west toward Arusha. Mid-drive, the staff had arranged a picnic for us at a roadside eatery. We relaxed and sipped a few cool beverages with our lunch and then clambered back into the big green adventure vehicle. Our homecoming at the Dik Dik Hotel was the occasion for a few more great songs and dances and then we headed off to our rooms for a relaxed afternoon of showers, gear sorting, napping and catching up with communications.
The evening was time for a fine victory dinner. We ate, we celebrated, we talked about the upcoming safari. We'll set out first thing tomorrow for a few more Tanzanian national parks. Our only trouble is that we are getting very spoiled... our expectations are sky high.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Good afternoon from Camp 1 again. We changed our plan just a touch, and instead of moving this morning, we did a carry to the Col. We are back to rest for the afternoon, as we continue to trigger our acclimatization process, and having lighten our loads will pay back with hopefully an earlier arrival to high camp tomorrow. We got eyes on the wall as we approached the Col this morning, and everyone got really excited, at the same time as they felt good for the ice climbing training over the last couple winters; the French Direct to
Alpamayo is no joke!
Stay tuned for tomorrow's progress,
RMI Guide
Elías and Team.
June 14, 2016 - 8:12 pm PT
With high winds still a concern we spent another day at
14 Camp on the rest and relaxation program. It was another beautiful day and the team is fully set to jet. If the favorable forecast verifies for tomorrow we will begin our shot for the top by way of the 17,000 camp. Wish us clear skies and calm winds!
RMI Guide Jake Beren
On The Map
June 8, 2016 - 10:30 pm PT
The team did an excellent job today. The weather was mealy; periods of light snow, partly cloudy, some wind here and there. Everyone handled all these conditions, and a big climbing day, in stride. We made our way from 11 Camp up Motorcycle Hill, up Squirrel Hill, across the Polo Fields, around Windy Corner and on to 14 Camp. At 14,000' we caught our first glimpse of the
Upper West Rib for a few seconds when the clouds parted. Then we headed back to our home at 11 Camp. Everyone is feeling great and excited to move up a little more.
Thanks for following along, cross your fingers for good moving weather for us.
RMI Expeditions
Upper West Rib Team
On The Map
May 19, 2016 - 10:28 pm PT
We hung out around camp again today, as the current weather nor the forecast for Denali are conducive to going higher right now. We spent a large part of the day building snow walls around our
camp at 14,000' to protect against wind.
Our plan for tomorrow is similar to today, as we ride out this storm and hope for better weather in a few days.
We'll check in again tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
May 13, 2016 - 1:34 am PT
We've launched! After spending yesterday packing and repacking bags, double and triple checking lists, and culling and sorting gear, we were ready to roll. We woke this morning to blue skies and warm sunshine, so we made a beeline to the hanger. They were ready for us with the first two planes of the day. Soon we were airborne, churning our was towards
Denali. Once we landed it was back to packing again, and then with tidied loads, we started up glacier. It's a long walk, with ridiculous loads, but everyone did great! We built a cozy camp at 7,600' and now we are tucked in for the night. Tomorrow we plan to carry a load of fuel and food to 11,000' camp, then return to 7600'. Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
¡Hola de
Pampa de Leñas! After a last night in a real bed we got outta Penitentes and hit the trail. Needless to say the team is psyched to finally be on the move after the months of anticipation and the seemingly endless packing and repacking. We enjoyed clear skies and a decent breeze that despite kicking up a bit of dust was actually pleasant in keeping the temps manageable. Everyone moved extremely well and is currently lounging around camp waiting for the herrieros to finish up grilling up some giant slabs of beef for us. Steak and wine, and a crew of happy campers. Not bad for our first day on the hill.
All for now!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Monday, June 3, 2024
Hello readers,
Today was jammed pack with packing and sorting. The team went through their gear making sure they have all the crucial items to safely climb the mountain. Along with those crucial items is 22lbs of snack food. Everyone has a good mixture of salty, sweet, crunchy, chewy items to make them happy on the mountain. Once we knew we had all the right gear, we sorted it into our packs and duffles to be weighed for the plane. We ended our day with some souvenir shopping and a team dinner. The team is excited to get on the glacier and begin their expedition they have been training for. Fingers crossed the weather holds!
Goodnight,
RMI Guide Hannah Smith and Team
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Denali Expedition June 2, 2024
RMI Guide JT Schmitt led his
Five Day Mount Rainier team to the summit this morning. After spending two nights at Camp Muir, they began their morning with an alpine start working their way to the highest point in Washington. They are descending back to Camp Muir and then will continue off the mountain this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's summit climbers!
All the preparation is finished. We’re healthy and comfy (relatively) at high camp. It wasn’t even such a tough job to get here. We woke to perfect weather at
Karanga Camp. The sun hit while we were sipping coffee and gazing down on the now-familiar sea of clouds far below. Kibo was cloud-free and out in all its glory above us. Without a puff of wind, it was easy to put the final touches on our packs after breakfast and to get ready for walking at 9 AM. Our fifty man support staff didn’t want us to walk away all grim and work focused though... they quickly assembled and began clapping and singing -and inevitably dancing and laughing, until we joined in and got our morning stretch session done the fun way. We then set out behind Philibet’s capable leadership. It was easy ground compared to the walls we’ve climbed in recent days. Just a steady and slow altitude gain through progressively less desert vegetation. We had the whole move done in three hours and pulled into 15,000 ft Barafu (Swahili for “ice”) Camp at noon. The team alternated between resting and eating, drinking and packing for the afternoon. The normal lassitude and our fair share of intermittent headaches afflicted us as we whiled away the afternoon, but all in all we’re feeling strong and excited... ready for an “alpine start” and a big day of going to new heights and seeing new sights. Tosha is going to serve up a 5:30 dinner and after it, we’ll try not to stare overly long at the sunset and amazing colors... we’ll zip ourselves into the tents for some crucial rest before the alarms go off at 11:30 PM and the climb to the top of Africa begins.
Stay Tuned.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
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Best of luck Peter, Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Posted by: John Jnr & Marie on 6/15/2016 at 3:01 pm
The view of Denali today was just beautiful, especially since you all are on her. Praying for calm winds and safe ascent to 17K camp.
Posted by: Isty on 6/14/2016 at 9:50 pm
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