Mt. Baker did not fail to impress our small team this week! We set out from Glacier, WA to make an attempt on Mt. Baker's mighty North Ridge. Our approach put us at camp at the toe of the Coleman Glacier where we reviewed relevant climbing techniques and relaxed ourselves to sleep.
We awoke under the full moon and set out at dusk to begin the climb. A few hours of casual glacier travel found us at the base of the route. The forbidding clouds to the west stood down and we began our ascent. We gained the ridge and with some steep snow climbing and we were in business! Soon it was time to get into the meat of the route, the ice pitches. Under the snice (snow+ice) there was quality ice, so it didn't take too much excavation to find good placements for our tools. As we topped out the ice pitches the clouds returned and soon we were relying on instruments to find the top. After a bit of thought-provoking route finding we navigated the jumbled glacier that guards the cumbre (summit) and celebrated efficiently before descending the Coleman route back to camp.
It was a great day with good company - all you can ask for in the mountains! Standing on top doesn't hurt either.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
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
The May 10th Denali Expedition led by RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Robby Young and Jess Matthews flew onto the lower Kahiltna Glacier this morning right on schedule.
Pete and the team will check in throughout their expedition with updates on the team's progress.
Stay tuned!
Hi everyone. This is JJ Justman and Christina with our team on Aconcagua. Hopefully the wind isn't too strong and it's blocking out my voice. Today the team left base camp, Plaza Argentina, and trekked down to Las Lenas, our trekking camp here. We're about one day out on our way to Mendoza. We had a good eight-hour walk, a very long day, cold day, windy day. It's pretty much been windy for over two weeks, so we're very excited to hopefully be out of the wind at some point. Tonight we had a great dinner, an asado dinner, with the cowboys that help us bring our gear in and out of base camp. We are spending the night. It's a beautiful evening, regardless of the wind. Everyone is doing great. Just wanted to report in. We'll check in tomorrow when we get out to Mendoza. Thank you for following along.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Hey, Billy here checking in again from our Expedition Seminar out on the Sulphide. All is going well. Our team is enjoying a significant improvement in the weather. We spent the morning doing some anchor systems, and we learned how to move around, how to manage rope on rocky terrain- both blocky rock and more fifth-class rock. That was pretty exciting and then we sort of changed gears for the afternoon. We headed out to a crevasse where the team honed their skills on crevasse rescue, so we had a great day. We're hoping to take a crack at the summit tomorrow, but we're not super sure if we're going to do it tomorrow or wait another day. There's a lot of new snow up on up on the summit pyramid and the next couple of days are supposed to be quite warm, so we might let some of that snow melt off. We'll give you a call tomorrow and let you know what we ended up doing. Check in and let you know where we're at. Alright. All for now. Talk later.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
RMI Guide Billy Nugent checks in from the Shuksan Seminar.
Hello again everyone!
It started as a beautiful day here on Kilimanjaro but once again the clouds enveloped us as we left Karanga Camp and made our way uphill to our high camp, Barafu Camp. This camp sits on a ridge line around 15,000 ft which eventually leads to the summit of Kilimanjaro. It's a relatively large camp spread up and down the ridge and we are sharing it with all the other climbers using this route; I'd guess that there are ~100 other climbers here with us.
Everyone is doing very well and we are excited to start our climb early in the morning. The team will have a early dinner and if all goes according to plan we hope to have breakfast and be hitting the trail shortly after midnight. We'll have a nice slow pace that should take us around 8 hours to reach the summit. So keep your phones handy as I said, one lucky climber will get to call home from the "Roof of Africa." That will be around midnight for those of you on the east coast.
Fingers crossed!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Hi Giulia - so you´ve reached the top of Africa - well done - hope you get a wonderful view up there & a good celebration & rest before the descent. Great to get your PC- Look forward to seeing a Photo of you all up there. Take care - love Tessa
Today was the first day of our safari following a well-deserved night of sleep. Our drive to Lake Manyara offered up the sights of Arusha and the Masai land the lie between the Park and our hotel. Life and commerce is just so different from what we have at home. So much more personal and social. So much happens on the street.
Our safari guides, Jafari and Comfort, are huge reservoirs of information and ready to speak on just about anything. But of course, they shine when they speak of the flora and fauna we're seeing.
Jafari indicated up front that the rains and flooding of winter and spring have led some animals to leave Lake Manyara National Park, and have forced the closure of some roads elsewhere, but that didn't keep us from being entertained by baboons and elephants, up close and personal. (Have you ever heard an elephant pass gas? A first for me!). Monkeys, cool birds, more elephants and an excellent lunch followed. And now we're at our hotel, the Plantation Lodge. Check it out. It's wonderful! So nice to be able to relax in perfect weather at this amazing lodge.
Truth be told, I'm writing this from a comfy chair poolside where Jeff, Alan and Kevin just stopped by after their run.
Next up: an early start for the Ngorongoro Crater, which is truly a wonder of the world for the wildlife that calls the crater home. We're psyched!
Today we woke at 6:30 feeling good, had breakfast, then enjoyed a goodbye song and dance from our gracious crew of porters, cooks, and local guides numbering 52. We finished the little celebration by handing out their well deserved tips and then hit the trail one last time.
It took a little over three hours to reach the park gate where the team had lunch then hopped aboard our awaiting bus for the ride back to the lodge.
Finally we are all safe and sound, and a little cleaner after an amazing seven-day journey up and down Kilimanjaro.
The team is currently relaxing and looking forward to Safari which starts tomorrow!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and a happy Kilimanjaro crew
Good evening from "infinite skies land"!
It is quite amazing to enjoy the deepness of the night we're having right now. The clouds have moved away and moon lit ridges reign above us, giving us a sense of smallness amongst these Andean fluted snow walls. All of it wouldn't be as overwhelmingly haunting, if it wasn't because of the task we have in store for us. But having carried to our first camp today, and witnessed those very walls get smaller with our progress uphill, makes us feel that the power of the mountains is on our side. And so, we had a great day reaching the 5,000m mark and dropping half of the equipment we'll use to venture even higher, and eventually, to climb to the top.
It's now been four days of activity, and we're ready to go to bed and welcome a well earned rest day at dawn. Although, it is worth mentioning that, we sure could keep going as there is no challenge that can't be fueled by our cook Emilio's food; tonight, meat and carrot soup, followed by breaded chicken breast filled with cheese and ham, accompanied by french fries... Yes, we're here right now climbing Alpamayo!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Hello everyone:
After a bit of four-wheeling and stellar driving we made our way to Tarangire National Park, which is known for its abundant elephants, in fact, it has more per square mile than any place on earth. However, with all of the rain Tanzania has been receiving lately, there weren't nearly as many gathered around the river that flows through Tarangire, but we still saw a few. Some as close as a few feet away.
There were plenty of other animals as usual, and we got really close to a few big and young giraffes, which was amazing. We ended our day at a remote and off-grid camp called Tarangire Balloon Camp. It's a tented camp that lies inside the park with medium-size, screened-in rooms that allow the night sounds of Africa in.
Tomorrow we’ll have an early departure to increase our chances of seeing cheetahs and leopards, as they have still eluded us.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Safari crew!
Congratulation Jake + team..Thx again support on Rainier ‘12
..Walter / IN
Posted by: Walter Glover on 7/26/2016 at 5:13 am
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