The team is resting today at Plaza Argentina which is helping them acclimate for our climb. Most reported that they slept the best thus far, 30ish miles of walking will do that I guess.
Goals for the day included eating a fresh breakfast, sorting gear, doing some laundry, taking a hike and eating pizza, not to bad at 13,600'.
Their hike went out into a valley where Cerro Ibanez looms. The rocks and soil are an amazing crimson color and one gets the feeling like they could easily be on Mars.
Tomorrow we will carry gear and food to Camp 1 and make our first cache. Until then we are trying to stay out of the wind and sun.
RMI Guide Mike King
Mike and JM, have fun! My Denali Tribe, wish I were there with you.. kick butt. Did Kevin bring a gnome with a sombrero?
Posted by: Rhonda McCormick on 1/4/2017 at 10:37 am
Greetings from Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia to Kevin Walsh and the rest of the climbing team!!
Kevin, please let me know if the glacial ice caves are still at base camp?
Next section of your journey is tiring, but a great close up of the penitentes !
Good afternoon from Camp 1 again. We changed our plan just a touch, and instead of moving this morning, we did a carry to the Col. We are back to rest for the afternoon, as we continue to trigger our acclimatization process, and having lighten our loads will pay back with hopefully an earlier arrival to high camp tomorrow. We got eyes on the wall as we approached the Col this morning, and everyone got really excited, at the same time as they felt good for the ice climbing training over the last couple winters; the French Direct to Alpamayo is no joke!
Stay tuned for tomorrow's progress,
RMI Guide Elías and Team.
June 18, 2016 - 8:58 pm PT
Remember how yesterday we told ya'll that despite the high clouds and other warning signs of low pressure that the weather was holding? Well, it sure isn't anymore. We delayed our departure from Camp 1 by a few hours and caught a lull that lasted long enough for us to travel to 9,600 Camp comfortably. We established camp and chilled the afternoon away as the winds and snow built. We are well fed, warm, and snuggled in for the night, hoping that the weather allows us to travel to 11,000 Camp in the morning. Only time will tell, but for now the psyche is high.
Love to everybody,
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
The May 15 - 20 Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir teams finished up their training at Camp Muir this morning. With a successful summit climb on Wednesday the teams spent yesterday working on crevasse rescue training. Today they packed up and left Camp Muir shortly before 11 am headed for Paradise.
We look forward to seeing them later today.
Congratulations to the Seminar Teams!
RMI Guide Robby Young called at 7:01 am as he and his Mount Rainier Four Day Summit Climb team were starting their descent from the crater rim. Robby reported clear skies and a light, cool breeze from the NW.
RMI Guide Tyler Jones and his Mount Rainier Five Day Summit Climb made a sunset climb last night and reached the summit at 8:45 pm with 100% of their team. He commented that it was the most beautiful sunset he has ever seen. Tyler's team is safely back at Camp Muir and will begin their descent later this morning.
We wake up around 6:30 to start packing up before moving into our dinning tent for a feast of porridge, fried eggs, toast, avocado and even some fresh fruit, and the most important thing, hot coffee!
Starting with clear skies and a view of the mountain looming in the distance. We hit the trail making our way up the rocky trail that climbs up a blunted ridge and eventually out of the trees and allowed for some truly spectacular views of the valley below. The team hiked for a little more than four hours before reaching out next camp that sits on the Shira plateau, at around 12,500 feet.
Everyone is doing very well and enjoying being on the mountain.
RMI Guide Ben Luedtke and Team checked in today at 6:49 am PST letting us know that the entire team was standing on the summit of Orizaba. When they get settled this evening they will have a great summit day story to tell!
The Team has really lucked out where the weather is concerned. We don’t have the lightest winds in the forecast but we are hoping they stay manageable. We enjoyed another warm night with a spectacular moon following whatever lunar phenomena happened a few nights ago. We are at 18,000’ and enjoying some more tent time. There comes a point where having slightly longer days would be nice, reading 300 pages of a book in two days is quite easy with how much tent time we get. Now that we are at Camp 2, the wait for a summit window becomes more realistic. The schedule is to carry food and fuel to high camp tomorrow and rest the following day. This will get us three nights at this elevation. Ultimately, the forecasted winds might force our hand to move up a day earlier or burn a weather day in hopes of lighter wind. Until then, we have a crowded camp but with a spectacular view. Thanks for following along.
Hello everyone,
Today we headed to Tarangire National Park known for its abundant elephants, and it didn’t disappoint. Not sure how many we saw, probably several hundred at the least. It wouldn’t seem like we could get tired of seeing elephants, but there were so many that eventually we had to keep driving so we could see other animals.
There were lots of giraffes, impalas, monkeys, ostriches, and many others.
One of the highlights was seeing a male Cheetah up close, only about 20 feet away. He was just relaxing under a big tree overlooking a small pond and hardly seemed to notice us.
We are spending our last night here in Africa at Tarangire Balloon Camp, which has beautiful tented rooms with screen windows to allow the sounds of the African bush in.
Everyone is doing great and hoping to see a few more big cats on our way out tomorrow. Then it will be back to our main lodge near Arusha for a brief stop before catching our evening flights home.
Thanks for following.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
This is Christina with the RMI Volcano Mexico team, and we are currently eating tacos, chicken tacos, in a hut at 14,000 feet on the side of Pico de Orizaba. The weather is in and the peak above us has a new blanket of snow that reaches all the way down to our camp for the night. After our extreme weather on Ixta, we're hoping for calmer winds and clear skies. We'd even settle for clouds at this point. The two-hour jeep ride up here to our high camp today was the perfect illustration of our group this week. We found ourselves laughing at David's stories and turning to Rob for his pop culture references. Craig was there with his ever joyful spirit and always had M&M's to offer around. Lorenzo made sure everyone was comfortable and happy. Steve constantly amazes us with his strength inconsistency. Then there's Patty who rocks at everything she does and always enjoys a good laugh. Somehow this group was able to make a bumpy dirt road fun. JT and I feel so lucky to have spent this week with these wonderful people and climbing in the high mountains of Mexico. Orizaba tomorrow. Hope for good weather. Thank you.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
RMI Guide Christina Dale calls in from Pico de Orizaba High camp.
-(P3).jpg)
.jpg)
Mike and JM, have fun! My Denali Tribe, wish I were there with you.. kick butt. Did Kevin bring a gnome with a sombrero?
Posted by: Rhonda McCormick on 1/4/2017 at 10:37 am
Greetings from Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia to Kevin Walsh and the rest of the climbing team!!
Kevin, please let me know if the glacial ice caves are still at base camp?
Next section of your journey is tiring, but a great close up of the penitentes !
Best of luck, and safe travels to everyone !
Posted by: Ken Barrett on 1/4/2017 at 6:12 am
View All Comments