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Congrats to this team!
It was a fantastic climb of
Kilimanjaro yesterday and everyone did great and it was wonderful to be on top with the whole team.
It took us a little more than seven hours to reach the summit. The sky was full of stars and the weather was nice, although it was a little cold on that last stretch I have to admit.
After spending about 20 minutes on top and getting plenty of summit photos, we made our way quickly back to camp where brunch was waiting and then descended all the way to our last camp. It was a long, but rewarding day for everyone.
This morning we had a quick breakfast and got packed up one last time, then our wonderful staff gathered to bid us farewell and sang a few traditional Kilimanjaro songs.
We are currently relaxing back at our lodge where everyone has enjoyed hot showers and a delicious celebration meal.
It's time for a little sleep before we head out on a much deserved safari!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Here we are! Today Team Russia left town for the ski village of Azau where we jumped on a couple of trams and rode them up to Garabashi Hut at 12,000 feet.
Masha is our Sous Chef at
Garabashi Hut and she made a great lunch for us before we strapped on our mountaineering boots and went uphill for a little stroll RMI style! Nice and easy! The team is doing great! We made it to 13,200 feet but we didn't enjoy the sights. It was a rather cloudy and windy day on ol'Elbrus but our spirits are high back at camp.
Stay tuned for more exciting action!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
On The Map
The Four Day Summit Climb August 7 - 10 led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Bryan Mazaika reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Casey reported a breeze at the crater and overall good conditions. The teams began their descent from the crater rim around 7:20 AM.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
I'll have difficulty describing the sheer numbers of animals that we saw today, so bear with me. If there are ten thousand big animals in the
Ngorongoro Crater, we probably saw half of them.
Our safari started quietly enough enjoying the views of the quintessentially African Acacia trees and some water bucks browsing as we descended into the caldera. Once there, the occasional zebra and wildebeest showed up, but then we really got into the animals. Herd sizes got bigger and gazelles, impalas, hyenas, jackals, wart hogs got into the picture.
Hippos were seen from just feet away as they baked in the sun half submerged in ponds. But then the mission was to find the royalty of the crater, the lions and elephants. We didn't have to wait long. Although this pride of lions were mostly sleeping and not out chasing dinner, we were en rapt by their presence.
Elephants were next, though they were at a distance. However, their mammoth size made them stand out like the giants they are on the savanna. Rhinos too were seen from a distance, but the water buffalo showed itself up close and personal.
The day was capped off by seeing five elephants just 70 yards away at the top of the crater as we were leaving the park. Not to mention the baboons that were scattered all over the road on the way out, just hanging out, getting each other. One even jumped on our Landcruiser, causing a stir as we quickly rolled up windows.
Then it was back to the hotel where Luis arranged a nice wine tasting before dinner. Following another great meal the hotel staff came out with a cake to celebrate Gennadiy's birthday, and outdid themselves with a wonderful Tanzanian birthday song and dance.
The evening ended with a huge bonfire and libations.
Another safari to come, I'll be back after that.
RMI Guide Brent Okita
Things were a little different when we woke up at Karanga Camp today. It was cloudy below, cloudy above and cloudy most places in between. But after some coffee and breakfast, things began to look better... as they often do. We were walking by 9 AM in any case. it wasn’t particularly cold or unpleasant, we just didn’t have views of the upper mountain as it was cloaked in cloud. Pretty soon we were above any plant life and into the alpine (translation: rock) zone. We made great time and pulled into
Barafu Camp, High Camp, in just 2.5 hrs as light snow began to fall. We took shelter in the tents, but the snow didn’t amount to much and the squall passed quickly. Our afternoon was full of resting, relaxing, lunch and a team meeting to discuss the upcoming climb. The clouds finally dropped below us and Kibo was revealed -gloriously- in late afternoon.
We ate a big and fine spaghetti dinner which was followed by a surprise birthday cake and several rounds of singing, dancing and clapping in honor of Heather’s big day. She’ll have another one tomorrow, as we all will. We’ve planned an alpine start and so everyone has turned in early this evening.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Saturday, June 23, 2018 - 10:26 PM PT
This one started out differently. It wasn’t snowy at 3:30 AM and it wasn’t cloudy. In fact it looked pretty good for climbing. We were walking out of 7800 ft at 6 AM with a big view of
Denali’s South Face and some of its classic climbing routes. Our classic climbing route for the day was on “Ski Hill”. Once again we had heavy packs and sleds, once again we used snowshoes and ski poles. The fact that the snow surface had frozen overnight was in our favor, making for good walking. The fact that ski hill is all uphill certainly made things harder, but such difficulties weren’t exactly unexpected. We rolled into our intended site at 9500 ft by 10 AM. Building camp was easy enough in strong sunshine and calm conditions. We snoozed away the warm afternoon, or snacked, read, chatted and hydrated. Dinner in the dining tent was a picnic in the dry and calm conditions. We can no longer see Denali from this particular angle, but the view down 43 miles of the Kahiltna Glacier certainly isn’t bad. Most were in their tents again and turning in by 8 PM when the sun went behind Kahiltna Dome. A little cooler up here now as we start gaining altitude.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Monday, May 28th - 12:20 am PST
It was a perfect day to cruise up to
11K Camp and find a new home. Where most of yesterday was dead calm and pretty warm with strong sun, we had a light but really cold breeze running through camp in the morning. It died right before we started walking and suddenly we were cooking in the solar oven. Just as we were about to explode into flames, the breeze came back, from straight ahead, and we went the direction of ice cubes. We dug quickly into our mountains of clothing and were back in comfort land. Having previewed the terrain yesterday, today was a breeze, and we cruised into camp like a hot egg salad. Now we are nicely installed in our new home for the next few days. It's snowing lightly, and beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Everyone is healthy and psyched. Tomorrow, we chill, then we will keep looking upward.
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
On The Map
Thursday, May 24, 2018 - 6:21 PM PT
The snow that started last night continued into the morning, necessitating a 3:00 am shoveling session to dig out our tents. We picked up a little over a foot of snow over night, with no wind.
We had a rest day planned for today anyway, so the snow was of little consequence. We simply ate a leisurely brunch and lounged around our tents, resting and acclimating.
Tomorrow, if the weather allows, we plan to move camp up to
Genet Basin, at 14,200'. We will let you know how that plays out.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Safari time at
Lake Manyara National Park. The drive into the park took us a couple hours. The animals were out in force and a few clouds helped keep the temperature nice. Our all wheel-drive Land Cruisers took us comfortably very close to thousands of native creatures. This was a pretty nice introduction to the incredible bio-diversity that Africa has, and everyone enjoyed the day. We had a nice lunch in Campsite 1 but no tent time for the team on phase two of the trip. Our lodge has received thumbs up from all. Very comfortable here at the Plantation Lodge, and the dinner could not have been better. Up early for our next park in the morning.
All is well here in Africa,
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Hello from Huaraz!
Your
ESS-Peru team is back safely in Huaraz after a week in the Ishinca Valley. Two successful summits, a lot of learning, a dash of weather and adversity, and several spectacular sunrises and sunsets were experienced during the last week in the mountains. We're happy to be enjoying this bustling beautiful city this evening, eating our favorite traditional Peruvian dishes, enjoying local cervezas, and watching the sun set over this spectacular mountain range. This evening brings us much needed rest and relaxation before our final four-day climb of 6,000+ meter Nevada Copa beginning tomorrow. We'll hike to base camp in the morning, with our exceptional cook staff in tow, ready to attempt our biggest objective of the trip. We'll keep you updated, wish us luck!!
RMI Guides Robby Young, Steve Gately, and your ESS-Peru Team
We had an amazing experience getting to the summit with with Casey, Ross and Nate. Thank you guys!!!
Posted by: John Alkhatib on 8/12/2018 at 10:24 am
Congrats to you all!!!
Posted by: Jerry Nelson on 8/10/2018 at 5:08 pm
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