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Posted by: Robby Young, Eric Frank
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Peru Seminar
Elevation: 14,000'
Our 14,000 feet home here in the Ishinca Valley was draped in sunshine for most of today as we did some technical training right outside our tents. A thorough knots review and a gear prep session has prepared us for our first day on the ice tomorrow. We even had the time to sneak in an acclimatization hike this afternoon up the moraine to the overlook into Laguna Tocllacoccha. The views from there proved spectacular, as always. From our 15,200' perch, we were able to see where glacier meets lake, deep within the surrounding moraines carved out by the most recent glaciation, below the 6000m summit of Tocllaraju. For some of us, this was an exciting new high altitude record. Light rain is audible on our tent flies as we're bedding down for the night. An early wake up is in store tomorrow as we plan to spend the day reviewing glacier travel and ice climbing at the toe of the Ishinca Glacier. Stay tuned, friends.
Buenos Noches,
RMI Guides Robby Young, Eric Frank, Edwin, and the Peru Seminar Crew
P.S. Spanish climbing term of the day is "Ballestrinque", which means Clove Hitch.
The Four Day Summit Climb Team led by RMI Guides Tyler Reid and Zeb Blais reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The team climbed in and out of the clouds this morning and were able to spend a short time on top. They have started their descent and will be back at Rainier Basecamp in Ashford early this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's teams!
Posted by: Brent Okita, Christina Dale, Chris Ebeling
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'
May 28, 2016 - 11:20 p.m. PDT
Luck has been with us as today turned out to be a nice day for a walk. And walk we did, moving camp up to 14,200'. We retraced our route from yesterday, passing by our cache just long enough to pick up a couple extra shovels to help build camp. The team crushed it going to 13,500', but as is normal, felt the altitude on the last 700'. Unfortunately, we weren't lucky enough to find a vacated camp to move into, so had to build camp from scratch. What's nice though is that our neighbor is the RMI team before us. Graciously, they filled water bottles for our thirsty crew upon arrival.
We're all in bed now looking forward to some well deserved rest after our big push.
Good night from 14,200'.
RMI Guides Brent Okita, Christina Dale, and Chris Ebeling, and the team
On The Map
Hey Mike!
We are pulling for you. Be strong and climb safe!
Posted by: Scott and Nicole Clark on 5/30/2016 at 1:26 am
Hi to everyone! Greetings from Norco, CA where we are in t-shirts We check your blog everyday and enjoy everything you report. Glad to see everyone is doing so well. Looking forward to your next report. Cheers
Posted by: Lori Golding on 5/29/2016 at 5:15 pm
Posted by: Adam Knoff, Walter Hailes
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guides Adam Knoff and Walter Hailes led the Four Day Summit Climb team to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The team reached the summit in gusty winds. We look forward to greeting the teams at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon when the finish descending.
Congratulations climbers!
Update 7:15 pm PT
Hi all...
We are safely back at camp after a long descent down a very wet and snowy central gully on the summit pyramid. The team stayed strong the whole way through and rounded out a great day after putting the whole team on the summit.
Now, it's just a walk through the woods tomorrow morning and we'll be back in Babylon!
2:07 pm PT
Hey everyone. It's Billy checking in from the summit of Mount Shuksan with our whole crew! Give a shout you guys,"Yeah!" I will give you guys a call when we are back down at camp , safe and sound. We are about to begin our descent.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
RMI Guide Billy Nugent calls in from the Mt. Shuksan summit!
The winds have calmed down here at Plaza Argentina. The Team is enjoying a rest day before we move up the mountain tomorrow. This second rest day is necessary for the Team to acclimate properly with the quick ascent to 14,000’. Aside from sorting some gear, working on tents and a few naps, we are all eager to head up to Camp 1. The winds are forecasted to build over the next few days so we will get our camp established at 16,400’ and see what the weather and mountain give us.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
Posted by: Brent Okita
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
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
Posted by: Tyler Jones, Bryan Mazaika, Nick Scott
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'
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Monday, June 3, 2018 - 3:11 pm PT
The sun is shining and the weather is sweet at 11,000 feet. We were singing a sweet song as the walking was easy to grab our our cache back at 10,200 feet. To the rescue came quesadillas for breakfast filled with eggs, hash browns and bacon along with some rest day vibes from Bob Marley. We want y'all to know our bellies are full and we are taking it easy this afternoon with some training later this afternoon as we begin the climbing portion of our expedition. We will stir it up in the kitchen tonight and prepare ourselves for another hard day, as we will be jammin’ up to 14,000' camp to cache half of our group and personal supplies. We are hoping for another natural, mystic day tomorrow.
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
Matt Hill(and team),
Very inspiring and equally jealous. Proud of you, bud! Have a great climb!
Posted by: Mark Ward on 6/5/2018 at 4:37 am
Matt Hill, Have a good climb from your buds Ricky, Julian, Bubbles, and Paul!
Posted by: Paul Downs on 6/4/2018 at 9:36 am
Posted by: JM Gorum, Hannah Smith, Avery Parrinello
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 9,000'
Today the team said goodbye to Mendoza for a while. After a leisurely breakfast of pastries, and more pastries, we finished off the process of obtaining our Aconcagua climbing permits. We only experienced a few hang ups in the permit office, which is about par for the course.
We amassed our gear into one big pile in the hotel lobby, partly to prepare to load it into our trailer, and partly just to see how much stuff we have. In my professional opinion we brought enough stuff, judging by volume alone. After transferring our pile into a vehicle, we hit the road to Penitentes. A few naps, and more than a few empanadas later, we arrived in Penitentes.
This afternoon, we packed everything for our travel to Aconcagua Base Camp. Everything has to be packed such that it doesn't get destroyed on the mules. The team made quick work of that task, leaving us plenty of down time before dinner. I'm pretty sure most people took another nap. Tomorrow morning we will hit the dusty trail, and things for us will get much simpler. For a few days we will just walk, eat, and sleep. Everyone is looking forward to it. We'll let you know how it goes.
RMI Guides JM Gorum, Hannah Smith, and Avery Parrinello
Have a great time! Enjoy yourself. Be safe.
Posted by: Dean & Dodie Radloff on 12/17/2017 at 8:19 pm
” It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves. Sir Edmund Hillary
Have fun be safe…enjoy the day!
Mike & Debbie Mitan
Posted by: M Mitan on 12/17/2017 at 10:23 am
The Mt. Rainier Summit Climb, led by Eric Frank and Andy Bond, reached the summit at 6:15 a.m. With good weather and light winds, they are on their way back to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's summit climb teams!
Wow!! Looks amazing, Scott. You are my hero!!
Posted by: Sandy Isham on 8/5/2017 at 10:54 am
Congratulations to Scott and the rest of team!! So proud of you Scott!!
Laurie
Posted by: Laurie on 8/5/2017 at 10:48 am
Great ascend fantastic experience responsible safe and enjoyable climb to the top, unsurprisingly spectacular crevice formations just below the summit, memorable experience Thank you Zeb, Tyler , JT Schmitt, Chris, Jordan, Steve for all fabulous work!
Posted by: Lauro Urbina on 7/9/2016 at 10:45 am
Congrats. I hope it was amazing.
Posted by: Mark Steranka on 7/8/2016 at 8:06 am
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