Sue and I spent one of my favorite nights I've ever had in Mexico, camping on the slopes of Orizaba last night. We slept on a floor of pine needles surrounded by blue bunch grasses. Yesterday we hiked from the town of Tlachichuca to a camp at 12,000 feet on the forested side of the mountain. We had a fire and watched cows till the sun set leaving us chilled and ready for bed. This morning we lounged around our precious camp with enough time for two cups of coffee. Then set off for Piedra Grande, the typical starting point for climbers on Orizaba. We are grateful for the extra days of acclimatizing and time to enjoy this countryside. Tonight we bed down at 14,000 feet hoping for some good rest.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
Hi everybody. Casey Grom checking in from the Kilimanjaro expedition. Just wanted to let you know that everything's going great today. We finally woke to a clear sky and we're able to hike almost all day in full sunshine, which was a real treat considering all the clouds and rains and sprinkles that we've had this whole week. Everybody's in great spirits right now. We left our Karanga Camp, which is about 13,000 feet, and slowly made our way up hill up on to a ridge line where our high camp is. It's called Barafu, and it sits about 15,000 feet. Everybody did fantastic today. They are doing well up here at the new altitude. We just had another amazing meal provided by our cook, Tosha. He's been taking great care of us. We just had our little summit talk when we went over the game plan for tonight. What time we're leaving and what to wear, what to bring, all that good stuff. If the weather continues like it is, the game plan is to get up around 11:30, have something to eat, and then start walking about 12:30 tonight. It should take us somewhere between about six and eight hours to reach the summit. If all goes according to plan, I've got a SAT phone that I've been checking in on and I'm going to do my best to let all the team members give a call home. If you're following the blog sometime around 7 a.m. Tanzanian time, that's anywhere from about eight to eleven hour difference ahead of the U.S., we're going to give you a call. If you see a strange number on your phone, realize it may be us calling to say hello from the summit of Kilimanjaro. Anyway, that's all for now. Wish us luck. We're going to head to bed and try to get a couple hours of sleep before we we take off. Thanks.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
RMI Guide Casey Grom calls in from Kilimanjaro's High Camp.
Jay and Mary…hope you guys are having a climb of a lifetime! Have fun and be safe!
Posted by: Swayts on 1/14/2018 at 5:08 pm
This might be a little late but at the summit, reach for the stars and shake Grandpa’s hand. He would be so proud of you just as all of us are. Again be safe there’s lots of love back home.
Love mom.
Posted by: Caralee (Alex’s mom) on 1/14/2018 at 10:50 am
It was nice to wake up at Vinson Basecamp. We started the stoves at 8:30 AM when it was nice and sunny, but still a little chilly with cold air flowing gently down the glacier. The consensus was for moving lock-stock-and-barrel up to Low Camp but we had a fair bit of organizing and packing to do first. We took a break from it all for a time and went to sit with ALE’s basecamp manager, Darren, while he briefed us on current route conditions, communication schedules, etc. At 2:20 we were ready to roll and went slowly out of basecamp, roped together, carrying heavy packs and dragging heavy sleds. It was a beautiful day, but we were a little surprised when a layer of cloud formed up. That ended up being a good thing though as without it we’d have baked in the sunshine. The terrain wasn’t so complicated or difficult for the most part but the couple of hills we had to chug up got everybody’s attention. Crevasses were lurking, but we had good route conditions and no dicey bridges to cross. We pulled into 9,200 ft at 8:20 PM as expected, and set to work getting situated at Low Camp. The cloud cover was kind enough right then to go away, giving us nice warm sunshine and big views of Shinn and Epperly, the next spectacular peaks to Vinson’s north. And with full visibility we could crank our necks to see Vinson’s giant western rock escarpment towering about a vertical mile above us. We ate a late supper and headed to bed, still in strong sunshine... we should get it until about 3 AM here.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Dave, Thanks for each descriptive blog and for the summit route map. We are following along on Google Earth. We were surprised to see out to the right of base camp on Google Earth…ski tracks. Hoping you have a beautiful day tomorrow! Say hi to Steve from the Butterfield Bunch.
Posted by: Vickie Butterfield on 12/4/2017 at 9:41 pm
Help me understand why they do cross directly from first blue marker to path to red marker. I don’t have a map or able to tell what obstruction is in your way. So from uneducated view it looks like you took a longer route. Please this is not a critic of effort just would like to know.
At 6:40 am the Mt. Rainier summit climb team started their descent from the crater rim. Lead Guide Robby Young reported a smoky haze below the summit but clear skies at the top. The team is currently working their way back to Camp Muir.
Way to go dad !!! (Ryan Swift) You encourage us to do great things. So glad that you and the team made it to the top. Looks like a great view. Congratulations to all.
From William,Nathaniel, Adrina and Heather
Good morning from Moscow! The whole team trickled in over the course of yesterday, showing up a bit bleary eyed and time-confused by last night. We didn’t stray far from the hotel to find dinner, catch up a bit with old friends who are part of the team, and meet new ones. Everyone made a pretty quick exit once our plates were cleaned to crawl into bed and start the process of re- calibrating our clocks. This morning, everyone is already looking refreshed and renewed, ready for our tour of the sites of Moscow: St. Basil’s Cathedral, Red Square, Lenin’s Tomb, and the Kremlin are all ahead of us. We’ll enjoy the day of sights before we turn our attention to the mountain and the real reason that we’ve come! We’ve got a great team, and everyone is excited to get to climbing so stay tuned as our expedition gets underway!
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
The team is currently resting in the sweat lodges that are their tents. This camp is known for its windy conditions and without steep ridges and peaks to block the sun, escaping the wind means roasting like a Kenny Roger's chicken.
As we continue the trek to Base Camp the size of this valley only grows as the Vacas River gets closer to it's source.
After seeing Aconcagua for the first time today, everyone is looking forward to the cold temperatures at Base Camp. Tomorrow we finish the trek, here's to calm winds and strong backs for the team.
RMI Guide Mike King
have good weather and great climb, thanks mike for the up dates
Posted by: mark and helen walsh on 1/2/2017 at 11:01 am
Love reading the updates! Just want my brother to know I’m thinking of him and enjoying the climb vicariously!! Best of fun to the team…enjoy each day!!! XXOA
The team is all back at Camp II safe and sound. Today was a very demanding day. I was up at 2am this morning checking the weather and temperature every 30 minutes looking for clear skies and moderate temperatures. I woke the team up at 4:30am. An hour later we were off on our way. Attempting a summit from Camp II is an extremely ambitious endeavor and the pace needed to be kept in order to be successful would daunt even the fittest of athletes. We gave it our best try and despite valiant efforts our pace fell short of what was needed to climb safely. On top of that the recent wind and snow events created steep, firm slopes of wind deposited snow. Imagine a 6,000ft+ snow slide at 45 degrees. We encountered these slopes at roughly 21,500ft and decided the risk was not worth the reward! All in all a tough day, mentally and physically. But that's exactly why we take on adventures like these, to test ourselves mentally and physically. To me, any expedition that returns with climbers safe and sound is a success for me. You get used to days like this the longer your mountaineering career. It's important to remember that the substance of experience lies in the in betweens, not the ends. A lesson that us climbers have to learn quickly! We'll spend one more night here at Camp II then descend to basecamp tomorrow to get organized for our trek out of the Vacas Valley. We'll post a couple more blogs during our descent. As always thanks for following! What a wild ride it's been!
RMI Guide Steve Gately
I love the comment that the heights of this experience are in the ‘in betweens’. That makes such sense! What a feat - just so incredible. So very proud of your effort and it is not over yet! We all await your return and the stories thereof. Safe travels home!
Posted by: Patty and Brian McConaty on 12/28/2016 at 9:26 am
WOW!!!!! 21,500 feet…..what a terrific accomplishment! We can’t wait to hear all about it! Safe travels back!
The wind finally quit this morning, about 20 minutes before the sun hit to start a much better day. It still wasn't a climbing day for us though. There were still winds blowing snow off the ridge we needed to crest. They were dying down, but not quickly enough for my tastes. We dug out and dried out down at Vinson's Low Camp... Licking our wounds, so to speak, after the epic storm. The team up at high camp seemed to have survived the blow and similarly, dug out and rested today. The teams with us at low camp went for a late afternoon start on moving up, We'll give it a shot tomorrow. Finally with a couple of days of semi stable forecast in our favor. After several days of a constant roar it is great to be back to profound silence... the kind that stretches to the horizons.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The Four Day Summit Climb Teams August 14 - 17, 2016 enjoyed beautiful weather during their time in Mt. Rainier National Park. Today was no different as the teams got an early start from Camp Muir and were able to enjoy the views from the summit of Mt. Rainier. The teams, led by RMI Guides Mike King & Steve Gately, reported light winds and perfect weather. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Greetings, RMI blog followers! This is your ESS-Peru team standing on the top of Pisco Oeste at 18,871ft. Beautiful day as always in the Cordillera Blanca. Barely any wind and we are standing in the sun. We're all super psyched to get up this high in the culmination of our trip. Our crew has a very important message for those folks at home. [Team cheers!] We're going to enjoy the sunshine on the top for a bit more and then start walking down, then our journey home begins. Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Robby Young
RMI Guide Robby Young calls in the Pisco Oeste summit!
Hi Nini,
What a beautiful mountain and it looks like a great group. Have a ball and take lots of photos.
Peace and love
Dad
Posted by: peter von Mertens on 1/22/2019 at 6:44 am
Hi Christina! I’m excited to follow along. I am doing this trip with Eric and Jenny in March.
Dave
Posted by: Dave Kestel on 1/16/2019 at 3:18 am
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