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Hello from
Kilimanjaro:
Today the team did a fantastic job climbing the intimidating looking Barranco Wall. It was the technical hurdle of this expedition and everyone did great and I believe thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. Of course the porters made it look easy as they climbed the wall with their loads carefully balanced on their heads.
Once above the wall we took a well-deserved break to enjoy the views of the valleys below, but unfortunately the upper mountain was obscured by clouds. Nonetheless, the team climbed slow and steady as we made our way up and down a few ridges before finally arriving in camp for the remainder of the day.
Everyone is still enjoying the climb and are looking forward to heading to our high camp tomorrow where we will start our summit bid from.
That's all for now.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kilimanjaro crew
On The Map
We were awake early, we put on climbing clothes and climbing boots, we clomped on out of the hotel lobby at 6 in the morning and got on the bus to the airport. We passed through immigration and through security. We sat down in the waiting area and received word that wind speeds at
Union Glacier were a bit too high for safe landings. Forty-five knots does sound a little sporty for putting the wheels of a giant four engine jet down on a blue ice surface. The flight was scrubbed for the day. Without much conversation, the fifty passengers in big boots walked back through security and onto the bus. A half hour later we were checking into our rooms once again.
The weather in Punta Arenas today was spectacular. Each of the team took advantage by going for extended walks and explorations in all directions. It is rare to have cloudless days in this part of Patagonia. It seemed a treat to be able to clearly see the glaciers and peaks of Tierra del Fuego well across and down Magellan's Straights. Sarmiento, the storied and sought after ice mountain far to our south was out for all to see.
As is our tradition, we gathered for yet another great dinner in yet another fine restaurant with a friendly staff. As we were finishing up, the call came, alerting us to the plan to try it all again tomorrow morning. False starts and the need for fresh plans are not uncommon when it comes to launching for Antarctica. We'll be ready if it happens and understanding if it doesn't.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Greetings!
Our whole team has officially arrived in
Russia without a hitch... even all of our bags made it! Most of the the crew was pretty travel weary so we grabbed a quick dinner here in Moscow and headed back to the hotel to crash early. Jet lag is always a bit of a hurdle at the beginning of these trips but we'll hit our stride soon enough. Excited for a city your tomorrow of Red Square and the Kremlin!
Talk tomorrow,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
June 16, 2016 - 1:21 A.M. PDT
The wind finally came this morning and the upper mountain looked rugged from our home at 14K. Our team was ready to rock early in the morning, but
Denali had other plans. Plumes of snow streamed from the Buttress and the move was to brew another cup of coffee and out chill the weather. Eventually it tapered and we were able to launch upward towards our high camp. The weather turned beautiful, almost too hot, but pleasant to build camp in once we arrived. It was a big day, but we made it and are in position to give it a shot tomorrow. Wish us luck, we're gonna need it!
RMI Guide Jake Beren
On The Map
February 3, 2016
Welcome to a series of dispatches from our most recent expedition seminar in
Ecuador! This morning we officially met for the first time as a team and enjoyed a nice breakfast at our hotel before heading out on a cultural tour of Quito, Ecuador's capital city. We started off our sightseeing with a visit to the geographic equator and an interesting sort of a natural history museum at the same site. We saw all sorts of cool stuff like enormous anaconda skins, crazy spiders, a spiny Amazonian fish that will swim up your urethra, and even a real human shrunken head from the jungles of eastern Ecuador. Crazy stuff. We spent the afternoon visiting the old town of Quito which is a Unesco World Heritage site with many buildings dating back to the 1500's. Lots of cool churches were visited and we learned about Ecuador's tumultuous political history as we saw the sights with our local cultural guide Angel. We've got a great group of guys and we are all excited to get out tomorrow and feel a little altitude. Although, it could be said we're starting out acclimation process right here in Quito, hanging out at just over 9,000'.
Talk tomorrow...
February 4, 2016
We woke today to broken clouds and another lovely morning here in Quito. Jaime, our local man with a plan (he's our coordinator for nearly everything we'll do) decided to join us on our climb of
Rucu Pichincha just for fun. After a quick taxi ride over to the Teleférico and a scenic ride up the gondola we began our approach towards Pichincha's rocky summit through gentler, but beautiful green mountains. Our team moved well for the most part despite feeling the acute burn of our first serious dose of altitude. The summit block involved a bit of easy scrambling but before long the team found themselves on the summit, albeit in a sea of clouds. Still, we were able to catch a few glimpses of the active part of Pichincha's caldera, la Pichincha Guagua and down to the buildings of Quito filling the valley far below. We celebrated our last night in Quito with a great pizza dinner and are all looking forward to getting outta town tomorrow on our way eventually to
Cayambe in the north.
Later!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Hi this is Seth checking in from the lobby bar at the Dik Dik hotel. Everyone is already in party mode.
We awoke to mostly cloudy skies this morning but no rain. After a french toast breakfast we enjoyed a song from our awesome crew and then hit the trail. The group shows out a little on the decent as everyone was anxious to get down but some caution was still required on the slick rocks and roots.
We had a quick lunch at the
park gate and then loaded up in the truck. After driving back to the hotel everyone has cleaned up nicely and is getting ready for our celebration dinner.
I'll send some summit pics from yesterday as well.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Back at Base Camp! And What a day we had! Our ascent to the summit of Copa was everything but ordinary; intricate navigation to avoid a blocking bergschund, trail breaking at 20,000ft, steep slopes in the dark... and a corniced summit ridge, among other factors, provided a great graduation climb in this, our second
Peru Seminar. We managed to descend to the safety of Base Camp in a long push, picking high camp on the way. Everyone is pretty tired, but feeling well and accomplished. We are turning to our tents now, and will check in again tomorrow from Huaraz.
Best regards,
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos and team.
RMI Guide Hannah Smith checked in from the
summit of Aconcagua. She reported that the team did a great job climbing to 22,841' feet. The weather is great and everyone is doing well.
We expect to hear from the team again later today when they are back at camp.
Congratulations to the team!
On The Map
We are at
WinayWayna 8,700' for the night. Today the Team enjoyed some spectacular views of the high glaciated Andes juxtaposed against the semi-tropical orchids and song birds.
Our campsite is located near an incredible Incan ruin that has a series of 10 fountains and more terracing. The Team has been in awe of the manpower and resources needed to build let alone maintain this network of trails and sites that stretch from Ecuador to Northern Argentina.
Tomorrow morning we will get an early start in hopes of catching the sunrise as we walk into Machu Picchu.
RMI Guide Mike King
May 21, 2017
We had another chilly day at
14 Camp as the the sun never poked out from the overcast sky. We spent a several of hours reinforcing the snow walls surround our tents in anticipation of a significant upcoming storm. We're planning to hunker down, weather the storm, and hope to have decent weather for a summit push on the flip side. Time will tell...
As we were reinforcing our camp, we were joined by the RMI Denali team led by Pete Van Deventer as they moved into 14 Camp. They're busy building camp and adjusting to the thin air up here as I write this.
We'll keep you in the loop with how the weather treats us.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
...Happy anniversary Kelly!
On The Map
Good luck Catherine. The summit awaits you! All is well in Maine.
Posted by: Linda Morrison on 1/14/2017 at 6:37 am
Good luck, Elaine. Belfry and Bartholomew send their best wishes for your night-time summit bid as well
Posted by: Steve on 1/13/2017 at 10:50 pm
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