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Our team just finished an amazing feast and celebration at the Dik Dik Lodge after a very special seven-day adventure. Easy hike out of the 10,000ft
Mweka Camp this morning under clear skies and nice, dry trail conditions. My team didn't need me for any coaching or inspiration, these hardened mountaineers were horses heading to the barn. Had to stop at the park gate about 6,000ft, pick up a whole bunch of summit certificates, then sign out to mark the the team as officially down and clear of the mountain. Game viewing of some of the finest parks in all of Africa starts tomorrow. Sleep is sounding pretty good right now.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Judging by the conversation over our evening campfire at Kikoti Safari Camp, this was a great day. The team recalled a fine night at the Plantation Lodge and a great start to the day there. We then drove a couple of hours to reach
Tarangire National Park. We'd only been in the park boundaries for a few minutes when we got to watch a beautiful lioness clear a waterhole of a hundred zebras and wildebeest. She only had to take a step in their direction to get the herds running frantically and kicking up dust. She did this in a few directions, seemingly just to buy herself some space. We left her in charge and then went exploring, over Tarangire's great savannah expanses, through forests of Boabab trees, across rivers and alongside vast swampland. We saw herd after herd of wildebeest and zebra. There were waterbucks and impalas and elan. There were elephants and giraffes and more lions. There were Cape buffalo and birds of great variety. There were Dik Diks and mongoose. And just when we thought we'd seen everything the park intended to show us for the day, Joseph -our driver and guide- made a typically astounding discovery of a beautiful leopard. None of us could understand how he'd seen her at the distance that he did. She was on a red-dirt termite mound next to the road and she permitted us to get fairly close, which was thrilling. When she moved off the mound, it turned out that she was minding a leopard cub. This final treat of the day made for a sensational finish. The "big five" completed at 5:50 PM. Sunset was at about 6:30 and not at all dull and boring either. We pulled into friendly and tranquil Kikoti Camp then and discovered yet another place we'd all like to spend more time in. Such things are on our minds now, of course, because we are running out of time. Tomorrow evening we'll be jetting back to the world. But first, we'll wake out in this wilderness and see just what we can find in a final morning on Safari.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The Expedition Skill Seminar - Paradise met in Ashford on Sunday to being their week of training. After a full day on the grounds of Rainier BaseCamp getting ready for their trip, they left early the following morning to begin their climb. The weather was beautiful and the team spent their days training on the glacier of Mt. Rainier. Yesterday the team ascend to Camp Muir where they spent the night. With an alpine start they left Camp Muir to make their summit attempt. The team enjoyed the views from the top of Mt. Rainier with clear skies and light winds. Nick and team will return to Camp Muir to re-pack their gear and make their final descent to Paradise. Congratulations to the Paradise Seminar Team!
June 18, 2016 - 12:40 am PT
Hi all, sorry there hasn't been a dispatch since we summited, we've been busy and on the move a lot. The team did a fantastic job climbing the
Upper Rib yesterday and we all made the summit just after 7:00 PM. After some hugs, photos, and congratulations we began our descent down to 17 Camp on the West Buttress. Thirteen hours after we started climbing we were crawling into our tents, exhausted but very satisfied with our accomplishment. This morning we woke up early to get low on the mountain before the 50 mph forecasted winds rolled in this afternoon. I am truly amazed at how strong this team is, even after a big summit day everyone climbed very well as we made our way down the Buttress and fixed lines to 14 Camp. Here we took about an hour to retrieve our cache and re pack before we hit the trail to 11 Camp. I thought for sure folks would be tired at 11 camp, but no. We dug up our cache here rigged for traveling with sleds and kept descending. We are currently at the base of Ski Hilll, 7800', getting a little rest and waiting for the cold of the night before we walk the lower Kahiltna Glacier back to the landing strip. Weather permitting we will be on board an airplane first thing in the morning.
Thanks so much for following along throughout our expedition
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens and the Upper West Rib Team
On The Map
June 7, 2016 - 12:10 am PT
Yep, patience is an inherent component of alpine climbing. Patience for weather, patience for conditions. Little could we do today with about 1 foot of snow in the last 24 hours. We spent the morning digging camp out, and then made the most of the afternoon with a thorough session of rope skills at camp. A break in the weather motivated a tour of the Pika later, which for about 1 1/2 hours, kept us around its eastern perimeter, below the formations of "The Trolls", which we aspire to climb soon. A hearty dinner of pasta and steak (that's how we roll on the
Alpine Seminar) brought us back to warmth, while the laughter was a constant because of the funny music played out of
Chase's phone (Will promises to do the Michael Jackson's moves of Thriller after our first summit).
Expectant to see what the weather will bring us tomorrow,
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos and team
May 22, 2016 - 4:02 pm PT
So things were looking pretty grim for flying out yesterday morning. We woke to more snow and a complete whiteout, keeping us locked in camp. We kept ourselves occupied with some games of trivial pursuit, stories and eating. As the day wore on a bit of sun shone thru the clouds and after dinner we heard the unmistakable drone of a DeHaviland Otter. Things were a blur after that. We broke camp in record time and moved our gear to the airstrip and loaded the planes before the weather moved back in. Once in the air we witnessed the skills that make these glacier pilots some of the best around. The clouds were heavy and thick all around us and once Patrick found a hole with some ground below, a few 360 degree diving turns put us under the cloud deck so he could navigate back to Talkeetna by sight, flying just a few hundred feet above the Alaskan tundra. So here we are back in town among the green trees and mosquitoes. A great time in the
Alaska range with a fantastic group of people!
RMI Guide Leon Davis
What great luck! After arriving at the hut on
Pico de Orizaba, it soon began to rain. Our team remained optimistic and were rewarded to a starry night! While clouds and small storm cells circulated in the distance, our mountain stayed clear and the team did a wonderful job moving through the terrain. The sunrise was exceptional and a little wind didn't do much to slow us down. It was about as perfect of a day as one could hope for and we made the most of it! The climb was relatively smooth (for 18,700 ft above the sea) and we returned to Tlachichuca tired, but happy.
Now the team has gone their separate ways, off to different adventures. Thanks for a great adventure and best of luck in the future!
RMI Guide Jake Beren
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide
Brent Okita and the Five Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide
Ben Liken were unable to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning due to challenging route conditions. The teams called Camp Comfort at 12,700' their high point. The teams will return to Ashford this afternoon.
RMI Guide
Brent Okita and the
Four Day Summit Climb team were walking onto Columbia Crest, the highest point in Washington State, at 7:05 am this morning. The team climbed into a light cloud cap, but otherwise had calm weather. They are now en route back to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's teams!
Hola, and thanks for tuning back in.
Today, our team completed our first carry of the trip from Basecamp to Camp 1 at 16,500 feet. None of this would have been possible, however, without an amazing breakfast provided by Grajales and a discussion regarding the crispiness scale of bacon. We traveled amongst waves of glacial ice, towers of penitentes, plains of tiny alpine lakes, and hills of what must be the real rocky horror picture show. It was nothing we couldn't handle with some light encouragement from one another. Alas, we reached Camp 1, cached our gear, and descended back to Basecamp.
A note to Tory, Brian's wife, don't worry, he wore his nose guard today, and he looks fabulous. As the day wore on, we continued discovering new things about one another. Some of us speak American real good, or as some might say, more better than others. Nathan has become Basecamp's shower time police, Ethan likes to whisper sweet nothings, Erica has a farkle mouth, and Brian is already discussing future wine tours while Eric is still nursing a wine hangover from Mendoza, allegedly.
All in all, today was a huge success. Dom and I are very excited for this team.
Tomorrow, we get to rest once more before moving uphill to Camp 1 and beyond. The climb has officially begun, and as the funniest person in this group, I would say this team is UP for the challenge. Yeet, yeet!
RMI Guide Ben Luedtke & Team
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Another awesome safari day and I’m thrilled you got to complete the Big 5 goal. Thank you for sharing your day with us.
Posted by: Jen (Jason's sister) on 9/2/2016 at 12:07 am
Never a dull moment with you, Dave! I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about your adventures on your climb and safari. Glad you got to add the last of the Big 5 to your list before the end of the trip!
Posted by: Susie Lambert on 9/1/2016 at 1:03 pm
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