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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
On The Map
The Team got a casual start to the morning with some breakfast and last minute packing and adjustments before the Mule drivers arrived to load our food and equipment for the next 2.5 weeks on
Aconcagua. The morning sun already felt hot was we waited for our shuttle to the national park. We got started around 11am with a stiff breeze that turned into a very windy day. While wind makes some parts of being outside difficult, it lowered the temperatures and wicked our sweat, this cooling effect made for a nice hike to camp.
The Team is getting out of the sun, some in tents and some have found some shade among the massive boulders that surround camp. We will enjoy the afternoon and then throw down on the best steak and assorted grilled meats the world has ever known. The asado at Las Lenas is legendary, it’s rich and bountiful smoke is infused into your clothing, bringing back memories of the communal dinner and meatmares often associated with this wonderful start to an expedition. We are happy, healthy and looking forward to what tomorrow will bring. Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Mike King
Guess who's back, back again...we are. We finished the
walk out to Penitentes this morning, and are now eating hamburgers, french fries, and salads, believe it or not. After lunch, we're going to load up our bags, and fall asleep on the van ride to Mendoza. Once we get to Mendoza, we're going to eat even more. The summit is great and all, but this is the best part of the trip. Time to gain back all that weight we lost.
RMI Guide JM Gorum
As expected, today was an easy day of mountain climbing. We met in the hotel dining room for our introductory strategy session... outlining what steps need to be taken in preparing to fly four and a half hours in a Russian jet and to disembark and go climbing in the remote interior of a frozen continent. Next up were equipment checks to be sure each climber had the necessary gear for the journey. The afternoon was then spent either walking the windy sidewalks tracking down odds and ends in the shops of
Punta Arenas, or in simply resting and recuperating from the long flights and time changes we endured. Patagonian weather is living up to its crazy reputation as we had a typical spring mix of rain showers, brilliant sunshine and then ferocious gusts of wind all in any given ten minute period. We braved the elements, going for an early (7PM) dinner in another fine and friendly downtown restaurant and came out to twilight and blissfully reduced winds at 9PM.
Tomorrow we’ll submit our gear for packing on the plane and we’ll enjoy what should be our last day in South America before Vinson.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The
Four Day Summit Climb lead by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Christina Dale reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 6:30am today! The team has started their descent and are en-route to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's team!
Snow and sleet greeted us on our arrival to our high camp on the mountain, Barafu Camp, but that didn't dampen our excitement for getting here. Because we had such a short day today, our camp staff wasn't quite ready for us as they usually are. But through their tireless efforts we were able to get under shelter in no time.
The sleeping tents were ready shortly thereafter, and we had just enough time to move our packs in when lunch was announced.
So, here we are at 15,200', on the eve of our climb. The team is excited, but a little nervous too. Pretty understandable emotions to be going through, and ones that most climbers go through before a big climb.
We've had our summit talk, a briefing on what to bring and wear, and what to expect. We're all now preparing our kit for the summit in the time we have before dinner, We'll try to hit the sack by 6:00pm so we can get some rest before our departure just after midnight, As I write this the skies have cleared again and the ground has dried. Things are looking good for our big day. With any luck we'll be sending a quick satellite phone brief from the summit.
Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Brent Okita
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
The
Four Day Summit Climb led by Dave Hahn reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. Dave reported clear sunny skies above 7000' with winds of about 15 mph from the North. The team has started their descent and are en route to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's team!
May 19, 2016 - 8:25 a.m. PDT
We are awaiting breakfast before heading to the airport to see if we can fly out today. The drizzle falling this morning hasn't gotten anyone's spirits down. We're all excited to get going!
Update - 10:14 a.m. PDT
The sun has been peeking out shyly this morning, which is a marked improvement from our earlier rain. The 'rampers' have just finished loading our gear into the two Otters that will fly the team onto the southeast fork of the
Kahiltna Glacier from where we'll start our climb.
Boots are at the ready for when we get the word that the weather's good enough to fly. For now we're in the good hands of
K2 Aviation to make the right decision to fly. They're the experts, and share the same attitude towards safety that we do: it's our top priority.
As I write sitting in the hangar, I'm watching a couple more sun breaks and hearing a plane warm up, droning out the classical music NPR is belting out on the radio. Both good signs, but not good enough yet to slip on the expedition climbing boots I'll have on for the next two - three weeks.
With luck you'll soon be getting a short, curt dispatch from me announcing a move. If not, our next dispatch may be coming from from the dinner table between sips of an Ice Axe Ale. Such is the waiting game here in Talkeetna.
RMI Guide Brent Okita and Team
On The Map
Back to Talkeetna! We started the day at 14,000 with an early wake up. The weather was looking like it wanted to get worse, so we hurriedly packed up camp and began our decent to the air strip. After picking up our cached gear at the 11,000’ Camp and making great time on the lower Kahiltna, we arrived at the air strip only to be greeted by four teams of climbers waiting to fly off. The weather had been ‘iffy’ all day and none of the air services had landed yet.
Soon after we arrived we got word that Jay Hudson was going to fly in and see if the visibility was good enough to land. An hour later we could hear his planes coming to get us. It felt like special treatment being the last to arrive that day and the first to leave but that’s why we fly with Jay!
Forty five minutes later we landed back in Talkeetna. After a brief unpacking job we all disbanded to our respective hotels for the first showers in twenty days. Then we all met for a celebration dinner on the deck at the West Rib Pub. Tomorrow we’ll be going our separate ways back to our families and loved ones.
Great trip guys!
On The Map
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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.
Posted by: Ginny Bryan on 9/19/2019 at 6:38 am
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