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The Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir September 16 - 21 met in Ashford on a very rainy Sunday for their Technical Training day. With a gear check completed and their backpacks full they left Paradise on Monday with clear skies and sunshine. The team has been at Camp Muir practicing mountaineering skills and enjoying this great weather. Today they got an early alpine start and made their summit attempt.
RMI Guide Brent Okita reported a beautiful morning with no wind as they reached the crater rim of Mt. Rainier around 8:30 AM PT. The team will enjoy some time soaking in the views from the summit before starting their descent to Camp Muir. On mountain training will continue for the group until Friday when they will descend to Paradise and return to Rainier BaseCamp.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
We woke to crystal clear skies today at Machame Camp and so the team got their first views of Kibo, Kilimanjaro’s central peak. We could see the hanging glaciers and ice fields sparkling in the morning light. Way down below us, there were clouds, but they were minding their own business and didn’t seem capable of rising up to swallow us. After a fine breakfast, we hit the trail at 8 AM with Philibet leading the charge. It was a slow charge as the trail steepened and got a whole lot more rocky just out of camp. But we made good progress anyway, gaining altitude through a forest of giant heather. Directly behind us and out on the western horizon was the giant pyramid of Mt Meru, Tanzania’s third highest peak rising out of a sea of low cloud. We gained a ridge crest and traveled along it toward Kibo for a ways before banging a left turn and traversing a series of old lava ledges. Finally, at about 12,700 ft we turned a corner and walked onto the broad Shira Plateau. We finished up by dropping downhill briefly before coming into our new camp at 12,500 ft. We’d seen our first Senecios and Lobelias, some of the distinctive endemic plants of
Kilimanjaro. We’d gotten the walking finished in about five hours which gave us plenty of time for a relaxing afternoon in Shira Camp. The team reviewed their Swahili vocabulary at 4:30 tea time and watched a fine sunset a few hours later out over the old volcanic towers of Shira. We filed into the big dining tent by headlight at 7:00 and were once again greatly impressed with the meal that Tosha had produced in his simple kitchen tent. It was another fabulous evening for stars and planets... and sleep as well.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
We had another great day on the lower
Kahiltna. Our goal was to carry a load of food and fuel to around 10,200', just shy of 11K Camp. We had a sneaking hope that we might move well enough and everyone would feel good enough to carry the load all the way to 11,000', eliminating the need for a back carry. After 3 good stretches of walking, we were just below the usual cache site with plenty of time to spare and everyone in good spirits, so we decided to push on. It was a great effort by the whole group, and now most of our food is waiting for us at our next camp. Tomorrow we'll pack up camp at the bottom of Ski Hill and make the move to 11, where the cycle will continue.
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
On The Map
Today was a lot like yesterday. We were up at the crack of 10:30, and despite fine conditions where we were it was windy where we wanted to go. Again, we ate breakfast and watched for some sign of calming. We talked via radio to the three teams holding on at H
igh Camp who confirmed that they were holding on. We bided our time, buffed out our snow camp and chatted with the guides and climbers of the only other group at Low Camp. We read, drank water, watched TV, napped, cut snow blocks and watched the sun collide with the stationary lenticular cloud in the western sky. Just like yesterday, it made for a chilly afternoon and evening. But a pretty one. Each time we came out of the cook tent or one of the sleeping tents, there was the temptation to just stare, slack-jawed, at Vinson’s immense rock wall, or Shinn’s delicate summit, or Epperly’s rarely traveled vertical gullies.
We’ll get our chance to go upstairs soon enough and we’ll be ready to make the most of it.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
We woke this morning to a snowy camp, after having a wintery mix start around dinner last night. Salkantay was out all day as we hiked through the snow covered trail to Incachiriaska Pass 16,300'. The Team did well despite the altitude and muddy terrain.
We descended down a wide grassy valley and paused often to take in the scenery and soak in the sun after a cold and cloudy day yesterday.
The Team is resting in
Pampachuana camp located at 12,800' among a high rural farming community. Through the valley is an Incan canal that was constructed to straighten out the glacial stream that provides water to the farmers. Tomorrow we join the 'Inca Trail' and our horses will leave us as porters join the team for the remainder of the trip.
RMI Guide Mike King
Karanga Camp was kind to us. After a calm, full moon night there, we had an easy and pleasant morning above the clouds. Those that got up in the night even glimpsed the lights of Moshi and other cities shining up from far below. We left just before 9 AM and made our way up broad and open terrain with the great cliffs and glaciers of Kibo towering overhead. With little or no vegetation in this alpine zone it was possible to see hundreds of porters, climbers, guides and assorted staff stretching out forever ahead of and behind us.
We made good time on the relatively easy path and pulled into our 15,200 ft high camp at noon with everybody feeling strong and cheerful.
Barafu Camp is on a rock ridge with grand views of the climb to come and of just about everything else in the universe. Clouds built up in the afternoon, which we welcomed for giving a little relief from the strong high altitude sunshine. We ate, and ate, and ate as Tosha Minja, our remarkable chef served up a feast to remember. We'll rest a bit now, eat an early supper and turn in early as well. We've got big work to do in the night, a climb to the
Roof of Africa... Luckily, we've got 11 strong and eager climbers and seven capable and enthusiastic guides to help get the job done.
Best regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
May 11, 2017 - 11:07 pm PT
The weather was perfect and we took advantage of it by carrying heavy backpacks loaded with supplies to our cache at 13,700', on the far side of
Windy Corner. Climbing conditions were great and everyone did well. After burying our cache, we returned back to our camp at 11,200'. Hopefully tomorrow's weather will cooperate and we can bump camp up to 14,200'. We'll keep you posted.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
May 6, 2017 11:34am PST
We had perfect weather yesterday that made for smooth flights from Talkeetna to the
Kahiltna Glacier in two of K2 Aviation's ski planes. After a couple of hours sorting gear and digging our Base Camp cache, we donned our backpacks and started pulling sleds en route to our first camp. Beautiful weather continued the entire day and we're now at 7800' at the base of "Ski Hill". After a solid night's rest, we have the stoves back up and rolling for breakfast. Our plan today is to carry a cache supplies (mostly food and fuel) up another couple thousand feet and then return back to this same camp tonight. We'll keep you posted on our progress.
RMI Mike Walter & Team
This is Mike, we had a long descent from the
Ixta summit and high camp. Everyone is well and getting cleaned up in Puebla. Tomorrow is a day off to rest, eat tacos and hangout at the beautiful square in historic Puebla. Your loved ones have Internet and cell coverage, hit them up for details on the trip thus far. Friday we are off to Piedra Grande to prep for our
Orizaba attempt!
RMI Guide Mike King
Howdy folks,
We have just kicked off our next
Ecuador Volcanoes program here in Quito. With most of our team arriving late last night, we spent day one casually around town. After a large buffet breakfast we went on a four-hour city tour where we visited the equator along with some key landmarks throughout the old city of Quito. Even though this wasn't quite as relaxing as laying by a pool all day, it is important that we keep some blood flowing for acclimatization. Just by being in this city we are starting this process because it sits at 9000'.
Once we returned to our hotel and did a gear check the team was ready for a little fun, so we checked out one of Quito's new micro breweries. The pale ale was on par and the chili cheese fries were among the best I ever had.
Finally we will go to dinner tonight so we can pack on a few more calories before we start burning them tomorrow on our first acclimatization hike up Rucu Pichincha. A small 15,700-foot hill right outside town.
Stay tuned to follow the rest of our journey through the Andean high country!
RMI Guide Ben Liken
So excited for you all and this amazing adventure. Continued prayers for a safe journey. Love and blessings.
Posted by: Holly Gilliam on 8/11/2018 at 12:59 pm
Wishing you the best, Lory Beth.
Posted by: Leonard Brendel on 8/11/2018 at 8:37 am
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