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Plane, trains and Automobiles!
We traveled nearly all day and have finally arrived in one of the most beautiful cities of Europe,
St. Petersburg.
Things went relatively smooth despite 2 van rides and 2 flights. We got checked into the hotel here and then ran out for a quick dinner followed by a short but scenic stroll to the top of St. Issac's Cathedral for a nice view of the city.
While enjoying the view, there happened to be a small fireworks display that was a welcome surprise.
Everyone is doing well and looking forward to seeing this city tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall and the
Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz turned this morning at 12,400ft. After several days of training they made their summit attempt this morning. Unfortunately, climbing conditions were difficult due to deep snow and the team decided to turn around after a strong effort. The team is descending the Kautz Ice Chute and will check in this evening. They will continue some training before descending from the mountain tomorrow.
Hello from our cozy basecamp on Antisana! Our second day here is almost finished and preparations are underway for our next big summit attempt of the trip.
We were able to sleep in a little this morning and we had a nice full breakfast with coffee, bread, cereal, and quesadillas. With full stomachs and a full night's rest, everybody was feeling strong and ready for our second training day of the trip.
The lower glaciers of
Antisana are literally an alpine playground--with open crevasses, firm ice, steep slopes, and towering seracs--and we made good use of it throughout the morning. We set up a challenging, yet fun, alpine skills course and spent the better part of the day practicing a variety of intermediate mountaineering skills: steep fixed line travel, vertical rappels, and a number of challenging ice climbs. The team is composed of members of a variety of backgrounds and skill levels, but all were able to learn something new today and we had a good time doing it!
We were back at our basecamp by 1pm this afternoon, just in time to beat the afternoon rain storms that have been visiting us these last few days. But despite the marginal afternoon weather, we remain optimistic for our chances of summiting tomorrow! The pattern seems to be afternoon showers that clear in the evening, giving us a good window tonight for our summit push.
With one major peak and a couple of days of technical skills training, this team is more than prepared to tackle a second summit. We plan on an early dinner tonight, giving us plenty of time to pack our bags and get some shuteye in preparation for another midnight start. Wish us luck in our attempt and we'll check back in with you tomorrow afternoon with a full report!
Until then,
RMI Guides Nick Hunt and Adam Knoff, and the rest of the ESS-Ecuador team
June 28, 2016 - 9:51 pm PT
Hey everybody,
After four continuous days of
strenuous climbing we finally stopped for a rest day. The team is doing splendid, but on a large mountain like this we need to let our bodies recover and acclimatize.
The crew slept in until the smell of hashbrowns, eggs, and bacon crept into their tents around 9:30 am. Most folks said they "slept like a rock". After some casual conversation and coffee drinking we set off to read, watch tv shows, or listen to NPR for the afternoon until we met for even more food at dinner. It's a tough life here at 11k but somebody's got to do it.
Tomorrow we will try to move camp up to 14,200' providing the weather stays in our favor. Stay tuned!
RMI Guide Ben Liken
On The Map
Hello from the
Dik Dik Hotel. The team is all assembled for dinner and we are packed and ready to go to
Kilimanjaro tomorrow.
Everyone arrived late last night and after a few hours of sleep we met up for our first meeting and then a session on packing our gear for the next week on the mountain.
We spent the afternoon napping and finalizing the preparations. Tomorrow we will get up at 6 AM and depart at 7:00. We have a five-hour hike to get to camp so it's nice to get an early start.
The weather reports from the mountain have been good for the past three days so we are hoping for that to continue.
I'll check in again in about 24 hours.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Well..., I know...I know...you've heard enough from me! So for today's blog from Russia, I'd like to hand it over to one of my favorite...(sorry guys!) team members from Team 2!... RMI Guide JJ Justman
Greetings from
St. Petersburg! Our team left the mountains of Cheget this morning after one last feast of porridge and eggs, and drove up to the airport in Mineralnye Vody early this morning. The changing scenery was quite breathtaking, especially some of the great rock formations just outside of Cheget. After arriving to our new destination in due time, we were greeted by the welcome sight of a Starbucks cafe, where several of us enthusiastically loaded up on caffeine. The streets and architecture we passed on the way to the hotel gave us a great preview of what to expect tomorrow, where we will be touring this 'Venice of the North,' including the Hermitage, the canals, and the Church of the Savior on Spillled Blood.
Until then, the team will be enjoying some well-deserved downtime, and possibly attempting to see Finland from our hotel. Cheers!
Lindsay
"Hard weather says the old man. Wrap me in the weathers of the earth, I will be hard and hard. My face will turn rain like the stones." Cormac McCarthy
In our efforts of acclimatization our team enjoyed frosty wet winds, an in-depth tour of the grand interiors of a cloud. Our climbers bedazzled in rime; hooded migrants iced for a birthday. Happy birthday Nate! The summit of Volcan Malinche reached and no grand views but the middle floors of our gaseous estate. Soggy and satisfied we descended through scree, sand, and mud. Lungs and legs the better for it. Welcomed by the quadrupedal locals back to our interim homes at La Malintzi, we find the sub cloud world refreshing and rewarding. Another feast at 10,000 feet. Another cozy night in beds and cabins. Onward now to Iztaccíhuatl. Vamos viajeros.
RMI Guide Will Ambler
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It was a beautiful day here on
Elbrus.
We had a normal start to our day with breakfast in the hotel and then loaded up all our climbing gear and drove to the base of the ski lift where we rode not one, but two gondolas and a short snow cat ride to reach our new home for the next few days and happens to sit at just over 12,000ft. It's rather comfortable up here, as our outfitter has taken a few shipping containers and converted them into simple bunk rooms.
Once we got settled into our new home we headed uphill on another acclimatizing hike and reached about 13,500' before returning to camp where our wonderful cook Dasha had a nice hot lunch waiting for us.
We spent the remaining of the afternoon relaxing, walking around and just enjoying the views of the Caucasus Mountain Range. We also had a cribbage lesson to prepare for the upcoming tournament.
Thanks all for now.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
June 24, 2017 10:07 pm PST
We continue to enjoy better weather than we have a right to expect. The forecasts keep calling for snow, and I'm sure it was snowing somewhere -we got about .5 inches overnight at 11,000 ft, but when we peered outside this morning it just looked like good climbing weather. We were out of there by 8 and up our now familiar hills, Motorcycle and Squirrel, we had no trouble getting to Windy Corner by noon and then we passed our cache (yesterday's high point) and made for 14,200 ft. We pulled in at 2:30 for a respectable 6.5-hour journey. There was a fine place for tents right alongside our pals on
Mike Haugen's RMI trip. The afternoon was spent as a lot of ours seem to be, building camp and melting snow for water. Except now we are doing it in the legendary Genet Basin with the West Buttress and
Denali's gigantic South Peak looming over us. We built a fine dining area (a giant pit in the snow with snow benches and snow tables and our dining tent capping it) and then tested it out with a team dinner. Tomorrow should be a relatively easy day, just dropping down the short distance to our cache and bringing it all home to 14.2.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Day 2 on Safari had us visiting the world famous
Ngorongoro Crater, and considered by some to be the 8th wonder of the world. The crater is what remains of a once massive volcano that erupted and collapsed on itself, leaving behind a giant caldera that's almost exactly 100 square miles. In the 2 million years since then, hundreds of animals have taken up residence and have created one of the best Safari options in Africa.
We hit the road early with hopes of catching a few more animals before the heat sent them in search for shade. Shortly after descending down into the crater we came upon 2 female lions with 6 cubs, it was almost comical as the little ones kept popping out of the bush to follow their moms.
We continued driving around trying not to stop at all the zebra, wildebeest, and Cape buffalo that were nearly in the way.
There were many sightings today of hyenas, jackels, ostrich, and countless other birds.
One of the highlights was seeing not 1, but 3 Black Rhinos which have become very rare.
We wrapped up the day with a visit to a Maasai village not far from the craters rim. The Maasai people are a nomadic tribe that exist almost entirely off of their cattle. The team spent time asking questions and enjoyed being shown around their small and simple village.
We have just finished another wonderful meal here at the plantation lodge and are looking forward to what tomorrow may bring as we head to Tarangire National Park.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Safari crew
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I experienced Everything on Rainier which I never have before on any mountain
Team spirit was So high
Leadership was Stellar and kind and Patient and helpful, absolutely, but especially talented and tenacious…
The Route was So Terminally Beautiful it was like a volcanic eruption of Emotion, your heart racing, thoughts swimming in stimulation… a virtual BASE JUMP into Euphoria
The guides resource reservoir was vast and the way they adapted to the challenges our team encountered along the way, Masterful… instinctively executing adaptation not uncertainty to emerging obstacles in varied forms while maintaining cohesion to Team, to route, to Goal and to True Success
This alone would have been Epic to be a part of… what Elevates this trip for Myself and my teammates beyond Epic is the Catalyst into Transformation we launched with the intensive training fused together by the “real Mountain” Kautz Expedition Challenge which demands Focus on practice of lessons which opens the window into the stratosphere of what is possible for EACH ONE of us to develop into as Mountaineers of the highest caliber!
This Team… held by This Mountain during This Moment has been evolved into an Eternal Artwork as our recollections and our stories will testify…
We have Successfully Summited our Destiny and now we enjoy the opportunity our ascension has created to continue beyond…
Ken Tessier, a Believer
Posted by: Ken Tessier on 6/14/2017 at 9:54 pm
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