So there we were, moving into the "Blanca". A few hours of hiking brought us to the mouth of Quebarada Ishinca. With "burros" hauling the big part of our load, we arrived in style to Ishinca Base Camp, home for the next 7 days.
Unsettled weather only allowed brief glimpses of the ice-cloaked, jagged "rajus" above.
If our senses weren't already overstimulated enough, we sat down to a dinner of fresh trout at 14,300'. Stormy skies passed leaving us with a magnificent sea of stars highlighted by the Southern Cross. Until tomorrow, "buenas noches".
-Spanish climbing word of the day; la cumbre (the summit)
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
June 2, 2016 - 3:45 p.m. PDT
Pete Van Deventer called the office to check in this afternoon. The team is at the 14K Camp and plans to continue down to 11K or 7k today. It is currently snowing, and wind-free at 14,000 feet. They met up with Brent Okita's team and wished them luck as they prepare for their upcoming Denali summit bid.
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
Hooray for you Robert Hohn!!! I am so happy for you and the Team to make the Summit!
A hard worked for dream achieved, congratulations! Woohoo!
Praying for you all to have a safe decent and trip back home.
Love always,
Odett and Gretchen
May 23, 2016 - 9:39 p.m. PDT
The fickle nature of the weather on the mountain lately was again evident as the wet snowfall of yesterday had passed leaving us with cooler temps and a bit better visibility. Today we even got some nice views of this wonderful part of the Alaska range. Our big challenge this morning was Ski Hill, our steepest hill yet. Leaving a cache of food and fuel buried at our camp here at 7,800', our loads were a little more reasonable today, but Ski Hill still proved to be a bear. Hips and shoulders certainly got worked today, but I'm excited that everyone was up to the task and we arrived at our next camp with plenty enough spare energy to build a good camp.
I'm continually impressed with the crew. Their tenacity during the tough stretches and enthusiasm upon reaching camp bodes well for our having a great trip.
Life is good at 9,600' Camp!
RMI Guides Brent Okita, Christina Dale, and Chris Ebeling and the team
Hey Dawn! Tell Brent to post more pictures! :) I am pulling for you and the team from back here in Illinois!!!
Dave
Posted by: Dave on 5/25/2016 at 3:23 am
Paul,
Hopefully all the evenings you spent wandering around Chicago with Izzy’s 50 lb dog food bag prepped you for this! Mike, hope you are having a blast as well. Love you and miss you!
We had another clear night on Kilimanjaro with cold temperatures. There was just a little noise at midnight, most teams were content to be getting some shut eye instead of celebrating. We had a leisurely morning knowing that our next camp, Karanga,at just over 13,000 ft would take about three hours climbing time. It also allowed the bulk of other groups a head start to give us less traffic on the first part of todays ascent, the Barranco Wall. We had lots of fun and took many photos for the team during the half hour of rock scramble. We all did it with style and grace. A nice hot lunch upon arrival at camp was a welcomed meal. We spent the next hour going over details to prepare us for the upcoming summit push, tomorrow night! It is raining pretty hard right now, let's get that out of the way right here. The team continues to do well, and is in great shape.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Never seen a mountain goat like that! During our hike today, off in the distance, on a ridge, it was not that animal. It got one of the camera crew to push uphill hard for a bit to get the awesome shot. We had settled for some other great footage in all kinds of tough weather conditions. We continue to go through loads of batteries and will probably get that Emmy in the end. The team continues to do well and with the help of some great local guys, are capturing these beautiful mountains to share with you all on the big screen. That's a wrap for today; lots more tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Hello again everyone!
It started as a beautiful day here on Kilimanjaro but once again the clouds enveloped us as we left Karanga Camp and made our way uphill to our high camp, Barafu Camp. This camp sits on a ridge line around 15,000 ft which eventually leads to the summit of Kilimanjaro. It's a relatively large camp spread up and down the ridge and we are sharing it with all the other climbers using this route; I'd guess that there are ~100 other climbers here with us.
Everyone is doing very well and we are excited to start our climb early in the morning. The team will have a early dinner and if all goes according to plan we hope to have breakfast and be hitting the trail shortly after midnight. We'll have a nice slow pace that should take us around 8 hours to reach the summit. So keep your phones handy as I said, one lucky climber will get to call home from the "Roof of Africa." That will be around midnight for those of you on the east coast.
Fingers crossed!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Hi Giulia - so you´ve reached the top of Africa - well done - hope you get a wonderful view up there & a good celebration & rest before the descent. Great to get your PC- Look forward to seeing a Photo of you all up there. Take care - love Tessa
Sunday, September 9, 2018 - 1:20 PM PTRMI Guide Bryan Mazaika called from the summit of Mt. Baker this afternoon. The team attempted the climb a day early to take advantage of a forecasted lull in the rainy weather. The decision proved wise as the team was able to summit 100% in dry weather! They will make their way downhill to camp where they will pack up and exit the program a day early to beat the coming rain and snow.
Congratulations team!
Bryan Mazaika checking from Mt. Bakers Coleman Deming Route. September 9, 2018.
It was a beautiful morning on the northern flanks of Ecuador's "jewel mountain" when we awoke from our fist night at Cotopaxi's Refugio. This newly remodeled hut sits just under 16,000 feet and offers a full service kitchen along with indoor and outdoor toilets. This isn't exactly roughing it but no matter how swanky the accommodations, waking up at this altitude always feels like a self inflicted hangover without the fun stories from the evening before. After coffee, a traditional Ecuadorean breakfast and a few Ibuprofen, we were ready for a fun day of training.
Just as we began packing for the day, a group of Germans arrived looking haggered and shell shocked after having come down from the summit. It was their first ever mountain climb and they said the route was beautiful, steep and challenging but well worth the effort. This provided promising news and gave us good optimism for tonight's climb.
Once out the door, a steep 45 minute climb took us to a perfect training location on the glacier where we set up a top rope for ice climbing, a fixed line and fun crevasse rescue station. The weather remained nice so our attitudes stayed really positive as we all took turns doing each activity.
From above we were amazed at the hundreds of people coming and going from the hut below. The remodel has sparked new interest from locals in visiting one the this countries coolest tourist attractions.
Now it is five o clock and we are resting and preparing for the climb to come. The route is shorter than Cayambe so we have high hopes for all of us making the top.
We will report tomorrow after the ascent.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
Adam and Jordan, thanks for the informative updates and photos. Team, congrats on a good day of training. Very pleased to hear the weather treated you well and that you are all in good spirits despite the virtual hangovers. As I write this I expect you are already geared up and headed out to summit Cotopaxi. You are all in my thoughts and I wish you a safe and awesome climb. I eagerly await news and photos of your adventure on the “Jewel”. Go team! Stay strong, stay safe!!
Jacquie
Thanks to the many hours of route work from dedicated guides on Mt. Rainier over the last few days our Five Day Summit Climb team for August 12 - 16 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning around 6 am. RMI Guide Mike King and team spent some time on the top before starting their descent. They will return to Camp Muir and then return to Paradise later today.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb Team!
Today our team carried food and personal equipment from our current camp at 16,500 feet to our Camp 2, which sits at right around 18,000 feet. Our climb took us up to the saddle, or "Col," which separates Aconcagua from her sister peak Ameghino, and then wrapped around to the north side of the mountain. We spent the second half of the climb marveling at the newly visible high Andes stretching away to the north, and pulled in to camp 2 in fine form. Gear cached, descent styled, our team is looking forward to a well earned rest day tomorrow.
RMI Guides Mark Tucker & Pepper Dee
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Hooray for you Robert Hohn!!! I am so happy for you and the Team to make the Summit!
A hard worked for dream achieved, congratulations! Woohoo!
Praying for you all to have a safe decent and trip back home.
Love always,
Odett and Gretchen
Posted by: Odett Ferguson on 6/2/2016 at 7:58 pm
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