Jambo Everyone
Once again we woke to beautifully clear skies with even better views of Kilimanjaro since moving up on the mountain. Our morning ritual has been waking around 6:30 and getting everything in our tents packed up before heading into our very spacious dining tent for our breakfast feast. Normally there is fresh fruit, fried eggs, porridge, bacon, and plenty of hot coffee awaiting us, obviously we’re being well taken care of by our gracious staff.
Today our route took us up and around the well known and beautiful Lava Tower reaching just over 15,000', setting a new altitude record for some.
We also passed by many of the giant groundsels and towering Senecio trees that made us feel as if we were in some crazy Dr. Suess story book.
All in all it was a really nice day with clouds gathering in the afternoon to help keep the temperature comfortable for hiking. We are now comfortably set up at Barranco Camp beneath the Great Barranco Wall.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Sunday, June 3, 2018 - 7:26 PM PT
Our acclimatization at 14,000ft continues, and we took today to rest, get ready for our summit push, and took a stroll out to the Edge of the World, where Genet Basin that 14,000ft Camp sits on falls away almost 7,000 feet to the Northeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. It's the perfect photo opportunity, and our team took advantage. Our focus shifts up now, and if the weather looks good in the morning, we'll make our move to 17,000' Camp and keep moving towards the summit!
RMI Guides Pete, Jess, Taylor, and team
The Four Day Summit Climb May 30 - 2 June, 2018 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. RMI Guide Steve Gately reported consistent 20 mph winds and cloudy conditions.
The team will return to Camp Muir and then continue down to Paradise.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!
Awesome! Wonderful! Best news I’ve had in a long time. Enjoy the descent and the memories of a life time experience together. Thank you for the blog information. It made my day for sure.
June 6, 2017
The cocoon of warmth and comfort provided by our sleeping bags is tough to leave sometimes, especially when the mercury is hovering well below zero outside. But starting at 6:30am that is my job: to look outside and check the climbing conditions for summit worthy weather.
The winds around camp had settled a little, but blowing snow was obvious above us around Denali Pass. Although better than yesterday, I was still rather leery of bringing the team into conditions like that. With improvement by 7:30 we had hots on for breakfast and the team prepared all they could by being all dressed and ready to go, but hanging out in their tents and staying warm.
At decision time there was still blowing snow off the higher ridges and the Pass, and I made another tough decision not to go for the summit, As soon as it warmed up a bit we continued with the home improvements started yesterday and are now proud owners of a roofed and enclosed bathroom. Ok, basically it's just a place for us to pee and poop, but we'll now have some privacy and a little protection from the gusts of wind and snow we've had to deal with the past few days. Up here, it's the little things that help make this tough life at 17,200' just a little nicer.
It was good for all of us to move and work a bit, and many blocks of snow were cut in the construction of our masterpiece. I believe we impressed our neighbors to no end, with many people coming over to garner building tips for making on of their own, or just taking pictures and marveling at the energy we put in to our humble commode.
As these days pass by even the most patient of us are getting antsy for the summit, but there's one thing we don't have control of is the weather. So, we just make the most of what we have. Life on this beautiful mountain in the company of some pretty cool people. Things could be a lot worse.
Bye for now.
RMI Guides Brent, Christina and JT
I admire your perseverance with the waiting game, undoubtably the hardest part of the climb. Camp construction and naps are a great way to pass the time. I’ve been checking the weather periodically and trying to guess as to when you all might head for the summit. Fingers crossed for warmer weather when that finally does happen! Sending great thoughts for a safe summit bid!!
Love,
K
Posted by: Kristen Kelliher on 6/8/2017 at 6:11 am
Monday, February 20, 2017 - 5:32 pm PT
The Team continues to enjoy the food and rolling countryside here in Mexico. We are spending the night at the Altzomoni Hut, at 13,200' that overlooks Popo, the neighboring volcano. While today was mostly a travel day between La Malinche and Ixtaccihuatl, we did manage to hike for 2 hours through the lower slopes surrounded by dry bunch grass and a cool breeze.
We spent the afternoon sorting gear and getting ready for our move up to high camp in the morning. Everyone is acclimating well and eager to start our first climb of the trip. The mountain is dry this time of year and we have some high winds forecasted. We will keep our fingers crossed for clear skies and calm winds.
RMI Guide Mike King
And we made it!
Nevado Ishinca greeted us this morning with more ice and steep terrain than any of the three guides remember. Intricate navigation on its summit pyramid required a good deal of attention to crevasses, moats and leaning seracs, but motivation and performance had us on top at 11am. We passed the only other team on the mountain before summiting, and the descent proved to be another adventure to ourselves; we decided to descend via a different route, completing a full circumnavigation of the mountain... not a piece of cake when the subject is an 18,100' prominence. We're headed to bed as we speak, and a well deserved rest day awaits tomorrow.
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos and Team
-Spanish climbing word of the day; Rimaya (bergschrund)
We woke this morning to our first bit of precipitation. When I stuck my head out of the tent around 5 am, we were essentially in a cloud with some light flurries coming down but now the clouds have parted a bit and we're enjoying views towards Mercedario again. It's calm and more or less pleasant but we are waiting for a system to hit this afternoon with wind and precipitation. We are on a scheduled rest day and will hopefully see what this storm brings before we try and figure out our next move. When a window presents itself we'll make a move for high camp at Plaza Cólera and hopefully take a crack at the summit the following day. But for now... We're about to be stuck in a holding pattern. On a brighter note, we are celebrating a teammate's birthday today complete with a cake and balloons courtesy of Katrina. Hoping everyone at home wishes John a happy one!
Signing off for now,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Dear Dad
We are glad that there are only 9 more days until you get home. We are missing on you. LOVE: Addy Leith Babe
I love you Dad so much. We can’t stop thinking of you because you are our best dad and babe ever. Love, Leith
Posted by: Addelyn on 1/25/2016 at 8:14 pm
Hey Babe!!
Hope all your crazy coats are keeping you warm while you wait out the storm!! We are praying hard you stay safe but have a chance at the summit- hearing the kids prayers would bring a smile to your face for sure!! Can’t wait to see the pics and hear all about your adventures- I like Charlyn an def looking forward to seeing that beard and crusty the clown hair you most likely have by now!!
The kids did awesome in their games yesterday and Mason even played on Bails team since they were short players!!
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
A tough day today and our group truly shone. We woke up early and had a quick breakfast of oatmeal and cold cereal then threw on some heavy packs and headed to Camp 1. Our goal today was to bring up food and fuel to Camp 1 then descend back to basecamp for the last night in luxury. Our carry today took us up to 16,400 feet in quite strong winds that made the climb very challenging. Everyone performed well and we walked into Camp 1 as a strong cohesive team walking together. As soon as we left our cache of gear we flew down the mountain as light as if we were on the moon. Timing was perfect because behind us rolled in some light precip and clouds. Back at basecamp we all celebrated our well-timed carry with snacks and tea. Tomorrow our plan is to move up to Camp 1 and be in great position to learn lots from Aconcagua. The team says hi to everyone back home and keep the words of support coming. We've been reading them aloud in the evenings!
RMI Guides Christina von Mertens and JJ Justman
Your good timing on that carry is something to be thankful for! Here in the Cascade Mountains, at 4500 feet we have 2 full feet of fresh snow. So beautiful. Dogs diving and surfacing like dolphins to get through the powder. Back to you, intrepid team that you are, we wish you a smooth “moving house” day up to Camp 1. Onward!!
May 21, 2015 - 10:26 pm PT
Hello from 14k on Denali!
We took a planned rest day today, which was a good thing because the weather was a bit inhospitable this morning in camp. Winds were swirling and blowing snow around, with very little visibility. We took advantage of the situation and had a three hour brunch in the comfort and relative luxury of our cook tent. The weather improved a bit in the afternoon, and we did some work around camp fortifying our snow walls. By this evening, the skies were nearly clear and the wind was light at camp. Strong winds were still obvious up higher on the route. The weather forecast for the next few days is still calling for high winds? So our plan is to sit tight and wait for a better weather window in which to climb higher. In the mean time, we're resting, acclimating, and telling lies in the cook tent. We'll keep you posted as we continue to watch the weather.
Cheers,
RMI Guide Mike Walter and team
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Helping you breathe from our home elevation of 500’. Good luck on your final ascent. Love the log.
Posted by: Margot/Dick on 9/21/2018 at 11:18 am
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