Jambo!
Just tracked down the last missing bag so the whole team and gear are here.
We are packed and ready to go to Kilimanjaro tomorrow.
Everyone minus one 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 finalizing the preparation. Tomorrow we will get up at 6am and depart for the mountain around 8am. We have a five-hour climb to get to camp so a busy day ahead. With not a lot of clouds tonight, we watched the lunar eclipse. The weather looks good for now.
All is well with the team.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Yesterday's visit to Ngorongoro Crater, considered by many to be the eighth wonder of the world, was a memorable experience. The crater is almost exactly 100 square miles and we did fine work of covering a big chunk of it. Today we left our lodge and traveled to Tarangire National Park. A bit of shopping on the way and a stop at a Masaai Village turned out to be a lot of fun. The local village opened their huts up for a visit from the team. These kind and gentle people shared their history and way of life. The rest of the drive took us through the park having to weave around hundreds and hundreds of elephants, zebras, gazelles, cats, and giraffes to name a few. A mild day with some cloud cover made for a pleasant game drive. We are in a luxury tented camp that pretty much knocks your socks off. Life is not to tough out here in the bush and the team is having a blast.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
The team has arrived in Moscow! Everyone has their bags, though some had to work a little harder than others for that luxury.
Today, we started with a tour of the Kremlin. We saw some really big cannons, and some very old cathedrals. Some of those cathedrals contain remains of people who died in the 14th century. That's before Christopher Columbus even sailed the ocean blue, which was in 1492, of course. There is a lot of history here.
The team toured the Red Square, ate some ice cream, and ate some lunch. After our tour, folks split ways for a bit. Some taking naps, some exploring on their own, and some opting to track down their luggage. Success on all fronts.
We just got back from dinner, everyone is packed up and ready to head out early tomorrow for our departure to Mineralnye Vody. You'll hear from us soon.
RMI Guide JM Gorum
Well, we woke early once again with optimism that we would be moving up to our high camp today. As we bundled up and crawled out of the tent, we were greeted by big, nasty lenticular clouds (UFO-looking, disk-like clouds that are indicative of high winds aloft) over the big three peaks in the Alaska Range: Hunter, Foraker, and our objective, Denali.
We continued with our plan and fired up the stoves and made breakfast. Then we returned to our tents to stay warm as we kept an eye on the winds above. In the end, they didn't dissipate and we weren't able to move camp today.
Although we are anxious to move up and have a shot at the summit, the flip side of taking another day at 14k is that we continue to acclimate and get stronger for our eventual summit push. Hopefully we will have that opportunity soon. We'll keep you up to date with our progress.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Hi Mike, David, Thom and Todd, Just have a good rest. Such a thing wouldn’t happen twice. You guys definitely know how to enjoy the time:) I will keep tracking the progress. Good luck! Lei
Posted by: Lei W on 5/19/2017 at 5:47 am
Robby…..Congrats….you’re an uncle again!!!!! Isaac Robert born Thurs 5/18. See you soon.
Our seminar started out on Sunday with some rainy weather, but that sure didn't get in the way of a great day of technical training at our facilities in Ashford. We got all prepared to make our way to Camp Muir the following day.
On Monday we had to wait for the road to be plowed up to Paradise, but once we donned snowshoes at the trailhead it was all systems 'go'. Breaking trail through the new snow slowed our ascent some, but a windless day made the seven-hour hike bearable. The clouds even parted for the last half hour offering us a gorgeous view of the summit.
Folks were all pretty happy when we finally got horizontal, and were still in that position when I woke them up eleven hours later.
This morning we've been gifted a beautiful, sunny day with no wind. A rare thing at 10,000' on Mt. Rainier in April. Everyone is psyched and doing well, ready for an exciting day of training.
This afternoon we plan on climbing to Ingraham Flats to explore the mountain some and get our feet wet on the lower flanks on our climbing route.
All for now from Camp Muir.
RMI Guide Brent Okita
June 21, 2016 - 9:27 pm PT
Rest days are the best days!
Our team made the most of this one with an extended pancake breakfast, followed by several hours of heated "uno" playing. By mid afternoon though, the team was all business as we sorted group gear and provisions in preparation for our carry to 14 Camp tomorrow. It actually takes a good amount of thought splitting up expedition loads; we want to be sure we won't be carrying tons of weight on our move day, but also need to leave enough provisions at 11 Camp should we get caught in a storm cycle after the carry. But as of now, the packs are packed and we are excited to head up the mountain tomorrow! The solstice sun is shining brightly on us as we nestle in for the night. We'll catch you on the flip side!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
June 9, 2016 - 1:56 am PT
We awoke this morning inside a ping pong ball. Watching the weather for a few hours revealed a slightly improving trend, certainly no deterioration. We decided that it was manageable and set forth. The clouds we traveled through and among were friendly and trail breaking was quite doable for this squad. We kept flowing up until we strolled into 14 Camp. We dumped a hefty load of supplies to ease our eventual move to the upper mountain. We are sitting pretty back at 11,000' Camp, fed and ready for bed. Nice work team!
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Dear B-Law, if you’re reading this note you already know. The house has been boarded up. The doors. The windows. Everything. We’re at the Comfort Inn. Room 112. I love you. Austin
Have fun Team. Brad, send me a postcard from the top.
Posted by: Austin on 6/9/2016 at 6:40 pm
Hi Mattie-
We miss you so much and love hearing about your team’s progress through Jake’s updates. The boys, the PC’s, Adryan, Taira and I are all praying for favorable weather for you in the days ahead. Stay warm, rested, hydrated and focused! Love from us all!
The RMI Aconcagua Team led by RMI Guides Billy Nugent and Katrina Bloemsma were unable to make a summit attempt and are en route to Mendoza. The team left Base Camp today and is camped at Pampa de Las Lenas where they will spend the night. They will finish their trek to the trail head tomorrow and return to Mendoza.
Hi everyone,
This is Mike and Caleb from Mendoza. The entire team is in Mendoza safely with all bags accounted for. We enjoyed a nice dinner of Argentinian style grilled meat and pastas.
Tomorrow once our permits are secured we will head to Los Penitentes so we can sort our gear for the trek to Aconcagua Base Camp. Expeditions are comprised of a series of small goals that hopefully culminate in standing on the summit. Having everyone arrive healthy and with all their gear in tow, was the first goal. We are looking forward to starting the approach to Aconcagua in a few days. Thanks for checking in and stay tuned for more updates.
RMI Guide Mike King
Hey, good afternoon. This is Eric Frank and Jeremy Davis calling from the top of Forbidden Peak! We had a great climb this morning. We took off just before 6:00 a.m. and hit the top right around noon. A good climb and seems like we are the only ones up here today. We will be heading down soon.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
RMI Guide Eric Frank calls from the Forbidden Peak summit
Thinking of you all as you get started on this amazing climb!
Posted by: Rhonda Bolton on 8/8/2017 at 7:48 am
Happy Birthday Barbara!! We love you and hope you and Ben have a wonderful trip!
Posted by: Christy Ramineni on 8/8/2017 at 7:15 am
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