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The loop is complete. We are back at the Arumeru Lodge after a whirlwind Safari. We had a fine night in the bush of Tanzania. In those remote tented camps with all of their creature comforts prepared us well for our last safari. A delectable breakfast started our way back out through the park. Cloud cover did not lend to animal cover since we once again were overwhelmed by the abundance of game to be seen. A whole pride of lions doing some snacking was a wonderful touch to send us on our way. Took about three hours of us having to put up with nice smooth pavement to get us here. Repacking, showers, and of course more food has the team in good shape for travels abroad tonight. The new stories from trips like these last a lifetime and we are all excited to get home and share them. RMI Guide Mark Tucker

RMI Guide Christina Dale led the Five Day Summit Climb June 15-19 on Mt. Rainier. The team ascended to Camp Muir on Saturday and spent the following day training at Camp Muir. This morning they made their summit attempt but due to new snow over the last few days the conditions today did not allow their team to summit. They have safely returned to Camp Muir. They will repack their gear and continue their descent to Paradise later today.

Good morning everyone. This is Eric Frank calling from the top of Mount Shuksan. We just climbed the Sulphide Glacier Route. Everything is going well. We walked up in the fog yesterday and didn't have much visibility, but this morning was beautiful. We woke up to starry skies and had a nice climb up the glacier, and a great climb up the final summit pyramid. We are going to hang out for a few more minutes, and then make our way back down and rest, relax and hopefully get a nap in this afternoon. Take care. Bye. RMI Guide Eric Frank

Should we stay or should we go now? Today we started our rest day by waking up to a winter wonderland. The red rocks of camp now had a dusting of snow covering them, making it feel a lot like Christmas. The morning was leisurely with multiple cups of coffee and Avery's specialty, high altitude pancakes. Afterward came an afternoon of many naps and the struggle to not go crazy from boredom. Self entertainment is an important part of expedition life, especially when its snowing outside and you find yourself tent bound. As the day continued, we got the updated forecast and after much consideration, we are going to take another rest day at Camp 2. Given the forecasted winds, it is looking like Tuesday instead of Monday is our better bet for summiting. This just means we will get more practice at tent life. Good night, RMI Guide Hannah Smith and team

On The Map

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz led by RMI Guide Andy Bond worked their way through the Kautz Ice Chute early this morning to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier. The team was 100% to the summit! Andy reported warm weather climbing conditions and a tricky route. The team will camp and train one more night on the mountain before descending to Paradise. Congratulations team!

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

Hey, this is Dave Hahn calling from Barafu Camp. We got back here to Barafu at 10:45 this morning. We were on the summit on Uhuru the highest point in Africa. The highest point on Kilimanjaro at 7:35 this morning. It was a little too busy up there this morning to give a call, but now we are catching up. We are back down at high camp. We're going to finish the day down at Mweka. I will send you a full dispatch then, but everybody is happy and healthy and we got 10 out of 11 to the summit this morning! So it was a good day with lots of great help from our local staff here. Thanks. I'll catch you up later. Sunday, September 24, 2017 10:12am PST As promised, a dispatch from Mweka Camp -near 10,000 ft- at the end of our summit day. We set out for the top at 12:35 AM under clear and starry skies. It was a windless night, which is always a plus when climbing in the cold. Initially we encountered a few other teams starting out of camp, but within an hour or so, we'd put a fair bit of distance between the teams and so had the route pretty much to ourselves. As we gained altitude and got closer to dawn, things got plenty cold -as expected. We kept our rest breaks short and business like and tried to move steadily. Most reached the point of having all of their cold weather clothing on at once. It was just getting light enough to see as we reached Stella Point on the crater rim. The sunrise was eagerly anticipated and hit us as we made the walk along the rim to Uhuru -Kilimanjaro's highest point. By the time we hit the summit at 7:35, things had warmed up nicely. We spent a half hour on top, checking out the glaciers and the immensity of the crater. We didn't have big views as an upper level layer of cloud had formed just below the mountain top. Descent to Barafu Camp took us just under 3 hours. A great mid morning meal in the mess tent helped fortify the team for the continued three hour descent to Mweka Camp, which we reached at 3:45 PM. All in all, it was a pretty exciting day. We discovered just what it takes to climb above 19,000 feet and to the highest point in Africa. We were pleased to be both capable and lucky...and to have the friendship and help of six amazing Kilimanjaro guides; Patric, Freddy, Naiman, John, Fillbrit, and Happyson made our climb memorable and successful in a hundred positive ways. Best Regards RMI Guide Dave Hahn

RMI Guide Geoff Schellens led the Four Day Summit Climb team to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. While on the summit, Geoff reported cold and windy weather with clear skies. The team began their descent around 7:30 a.m. and will return to Ashford later this afternoon. Way to climb!

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!

May 15, 2016 - 9:39 pm Greetings from base camp, This morning we were not greeted with the sunny cloudless skies, but a low cloud ceiling. The precipitation fell as snow but behaved like rain once on the ground. That did not stop us from fortifying camp with snow walls which the team dispatched of quickly. It's a fast hard working crew we have here. A few folks ran some crevasse rescue drills in the fog while the rest of the team did some training around camp. Tomorrow we plan to explore the southeast fork and try to climb something while getting some real field immersion training. Rain or shine we will be getting some real Alaskan expedition training in. That's a goodnight from us here in midnight sun country. RMI Guides Leon Davis, Mike King & Megan Budge