Switching gears... We walked hard every day for the last week. Today we rode around like royalty. We pulled out of the Dik Dik hotel by 9 AM and cruised in two modified Toyota Landcruisers through the outskirts of Arusha. Traffic thinned as we pushed westward toward Lake Manyara National Park. We spent a great afternoon seeing hippos, baboons, monkeys, flamingos, storks, giraffes, Cape buffalo and elephants... And of course a pair of Dik Diks... The smallest of the antelope family. Most thought the elephants were the highlight of the day, but they were nearly upstaged by whatever it was that we didn't see. At one point, the monkeys were sounding alarms, the elephants were trumpeting and charging and we found fresh big cat tracks in the road. But we didn't see the leopard or lion causing all the commotion. We looked, but were catless for safari day one. Beautiful day in a Tanzanian National Park though, and a fine evening relaxing at the luxurious Plantation Lodge. We already seem worlds away from our grubby Kili climbing days.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
What an exciting day for you and the animals! Here’s to seeing a “Big Cat” tomorrow. Loving the pics and blogs.
Posted by: Jen (Jason's sister) on 8/30/2016 at 6:39 pm
Deborah Beggan and whole team,
Congratulations on your thrilling, bad ass climb!!! I am awed by your adventure!!!!! Enjoy a very Happy Anniversary and Safari with Tom!!
Love, Aunt Ginny
Pictures say a thousand words. The team was firing on all cylinders with their cameras. Easy picking today for great shots of all the major food groups. Cats that were close enough to pet. The resident genet cat up in the roof of the amazing Kikoti Lodge where we are for the night. It made an appearance at dinner and Aaron with the quick draw got the shot of the night. Perfect weather and great team work. That would have Mario Andretti's pit crew impressed while a tire was changed with a beautiful sunset and some cold libation for yet another chapter in the book. Easy to find some peace in these parts of the bush. Safari on!
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
It was a beautiful day here on Elbrus.
We had a normal start to our day with breakfast in the hotel and then loaded up all our climbing gear and drove to the base of the ski lift where we rode not one, not two, but three gondolas to reach our new home for the next few days and happens to sit at just over 12,000ft. It's rather comfortable up here, as our outfitter has taken a few shipping containers and converted them into simple bunk rooms that sit atop some makeshift skis so they can be moved. Creative to say the least!
Once we got settled into our new home we headed uphill on another acclimatizing hike and reached about 13,500ft before returning to camp where our wonderful cook Dasha had a nice hot lunch waiting for us.
We spent the remaining of the afternoon relaxing, walking around and just enjoying the views of the Caucasus Mountain Range.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
June 30, 2016 12:55 pm PDT
RMI Guide Mike Haugen and team have landed safely in Talkeetna, AK after a successful summit of Denali. They are happy to return to civilization where warm showers and much celebration will be in store.
Congratulations to the entire team!
Hi! This is Seth. We are in the Ngorongoro Crater where, miraculously, I have 3G service. We are having a great day exploring the area. We got an early start and visited a Maasai village located on the rim of the crater. After that we dropped down to the crater floor and started the game drive. It started off pretty slow for the first hour but then we saw a pride of eleven lions, a single rhino and then a pair of rhinos. The last two rhinos were pretty active which was really cool. After lunch we spotted a completely different pair of rhinos making it a five rhino day. Now we're heading back to the Plantation Lodge for another night before heading out to Tarangire National Park and Kikoti Camp tomorrow.
PS: We did not get rained on today.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall & Team
Hey Everyone,
This is JJ Justman and Pepper Dee and Team 3 Aconcagua. We had one heck of a day you can probably hear the wind here. We fought the battle and we got up here to Camp One at 16,500 feet. Pretty adverse conditions, but the team just did a fantastic job! Actually Pepper and I are really impressed with these guys, none of them hired any porters and when we got to camp they set up the tents themselves. They're anchoring them out right now and getting moved, it's been a long day. I wanted to write a dispatch to let you know how great the team is doing, but we're running a little bit behind schedule. We've got some stoves to get going and get some snow melt into water to get re-hydrated and make sure these folks are doing well. Everyone's doing great! Thanks for Following along, Tough day to get up here at Camp One, but everyone safe and sound. As usual we're still having fun and the views are only getting better! We're probably going to have a couple of lazy days here. The forecast is calling for a quite a bit of wind for the next several days, so we're not in a huge rush to go running up hill. It is nice to get a little higher and improve on our acclimatization.
Again, thanks for following along and we'll touch base soon.
JJ Justman and Pepper Dee Checking in from Camp One on Aconcagua.
Brian and Brad: I hate to hear that the weather isn’t cooperating…y’all will have to make the most of it - swapping stories while you’re holed up in the tents.
Posted by: Johnny on 1/7/2016 at 10:33 am
Congratulations, everyone!!! Please continue to hydrate and to err on the side of caution.
God bless every single one of you. Mama Kucik
Hola from Ecuador!
After some very long flights and a little bit of sleep the team is doing well. We started our day with a team meeting where we did our usual round of introductions and discussed the game plan for our upcoming adventure.
After the meeting we headed out on the town to explore this beautiful historical city with our tour guide Foulsto. We first headed north to visit the Equator from which Ecuador gets its name, then headed to the older part of town where we visited several old cathedrals, and the colonial town square. Next we headed up to a small hill called La Panacia that over looks this beautiful city before returning to the hotel for a little break.
We wrapped up the day with a quick gear check to make sure everyone has all the gear needed for our climbs. Then it was off to dinner at a nice restaurant where we enjoyed getting to know each other better.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
The Four Day Summit Climb August 25 - 28 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. RMI Guides Brent Okita and Jenny Konway led the teams and were approaching the crater rim just before 7 AM PT. Brent reported a beautiful day on the mountain with clear skies and low winds. They will spend some time in the crater before starting their descent. Upon their return to Paradise they will transfer to Rainier BaseCamp and conclude their program with a short celebration.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
You did it Scott!! I’m so proud of you, and I’m sure your grandfather is feeling the same! You where just that much closer to him at the top! What a beautiful day for a summit! Love you!
Posted by: Sophia on 8/28/2018 at 6:45 pm
Great job Scott! I’m so proud of you. Can’t wait to see pics.
Posted by: Jennifer Martin on 8/28/2018 at 6:31 pm
RMI Guide Steve Gately and his team checked in from the summit of Mt. Shuksan. The team ascended via the Sulphide Glacier and is back to high camp. The team will descend off the mountain tomorrow morning. Above are photos from their training yesterday.
Congratulations to the team!
Buenos tardes!
Today we made the journey to Tlachichuca where the great Sr. Reyes lives. Sr. Reyes runs Servimont, the guide service we use to get to Piedra Grande by 4X4 trucks. The compound to which he runs his operation was once a soap factory. One of the drums used in the process to make the soap came from Philadelphia. But enough with the history lesson and back to the climbing. Once we arrived in Tlachichuca we were down to business, doing yet another gear shuffle. We packed our bags, ate a delicious lunch, and boarded the 4X4 trucks. A two-hour drive up a very bumpy and steep road brought us to Piedra Grande which sits at roughly 14,000'. We were in and out of the clouds while we pitched our tents and got settled in. Before eating dinner we had a refresher course of our skills for the climb. With fully tummies of probably the best rotisserie chicken we had ever had, we are off to get some shut eye before an early alpine start. Hopefully the next time you here from us we will be cal ling in from the summit.
Till then, good night to all,
RMI Guides Mark Tucker, Hannah Smith, and team
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What an exciting day for you and the animals! Here’s to seeing a “Big Cat” tomorrow. Loving the pics and blogs.
Posted by: Jen (Jason's sister) on 8/30/2016 at 6:39 pm
Deborah Beggan and whole team,
Congratulations on your thrilling, bad ass climb!!! I am awed by your adventure!!!!! Enjoy a very Happy Anniversary and Safari with Tom!!
Love, Aunt Ginny
Posted by: Ginny Shaller on 8/30/2016 at 5:49 pm
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