Hello from Mexico City!
Our team arrived throughout the day, and by 7pm we were all gathered on the rooftop patio of the hotel for an equipment review and logistics breakdown of the days to come.
We are all looking forward to leaving the hustle and bustle of urban life and heading into the hills for our first acclimatization hike.
We'll check in again from the La Malitzi Resort.
Thanks for following!
RMI Guides Solveig Waterfall and Billy Haas
The Four Day Summit Climbs led by RMI Guides Steve Gately and Geoff Schellens reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at about 6:45 this morning. Steve reported winds of about 30mph at the crest, but overall a beautiful day. The team has started their descent and are en route to Camp Muir.
RMI Guide Leon Davis called at 7:30 AM this morning from the Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons. He and the team are back at camp. They reached 11,600’, then turned due to a large crack. Later today they will take a walk to spend more time training about 500’ above Camp Schurman.
The word of the day is casual. We woke up casually. We ate brunch super casually. It started around 9:45 and ended around 12:30pm. We casually devoured breakfast burritos fortified by wild Alaskan game sausage provided by the legendary Bleys. Food comas quickly afflicted much of the crew. Everyone casually waddled to their tents for the afternoon to indulge in naps and further snacking. Some folks managed to stay conscious enough to read books and watch TV or movies. Eventually the dinner bell was rung and the tents casually began to rustle with life. Dinner tonight is a repeat of a classic - ramen but this time with the addition of some newly acquired Korean spice paste. It added some much needed flavor as our ability to taste is deadened at this altitude. Another weather day has passed uneventfully, but each day we wait we get more clarity about the weather for our potential summit window. Anticipation is slowly growing amongst the team as the day to begin our summit push gets closer.
The sun rose and crawled across the camp warming the tents as it hit them. Once the sun's rays fell onto ours, we woke to begin our day. Today we carried to Camp 3, our high camp. The morning started clear and sunny, but soon clouds started to build to the east. The clouds were dark and ready to release some precipitation. Mother nature taunted us with some flurries but luckily kept the clouds at bay and allowed us to make our journey to Camp 3 in the sun. At 19,600' the air is thin and everything is exhausting, but the team handled it like pros. Their performance today gives confidence for a good summit push in a few days. But before we go for the summit we are gonna rest tomorrow at Camp 2. Tomorrow will be our last relaxing day for when we leave here it will be go go go.
Keep on keeping on,
RMI Guide Hannah Smith and Team
Almost as if to make up for rain and sloppy conditions yesterday evening, today we were granted a perfect morning. We made good use of it. It was great to wake to birds singing... a reminder that we’d come all the way from the alpine zone to the forest and the land of living things. Despite the long, hard day yesterday, everybody showed up smiling at breakfast. After refueling, we stood out in the bright sunshine for a goodbye ceremony with our mountain staff. We tipped them, which is merely normal practice when forty men have worked their tails off to help you accomplish your dreams, and they sang to entertain us... and themselves. We knew -and they knew- that we’d done a lot more than just work together for a week, we’d become friends -which was worth commemorating. The singing and dancing with Kilimanjaro as an enormous and majestic backdrop won’t be forgotten. We then shouldered packs and dropped down the four thousand vertical feet separating us from the Mweka Gate. The trail was in surprisingly good condition -suggesting that yesterday’s rains had only fallen on our heads and weren’t widespread. We got into safari mode on the hike out by spotting a few black and white Colobus Monkeys in the trees. At trail’s end around noon, we signed out with the National Park, had a fine lunch and got rolling down the highway. We drove out of the cultivation zone, full of bananas and coffee, and then cruised through the outskirts of Moshi. It took a couple of hours in the bus to reach our garden sanctuary at the Arumeru River Lodge. Showers and cold beverages were very much in order. We each took a stab at reconnecting with the virtual world before meeting for a great dinner and lots of laughs and recollections about the real world of Kilimanjaro.
Tomorrow our adventure will continue... time for a safari!
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The Team successfully moved the remainder of our equipment to Camp 1, located at 16,400'. It's always refreshing to see the performance of the Team increase after just a few nights sleep at lower altitude. We covered the same terrain as the carry day but the effort needed by all seemed a little easier on folks. We high fived the descending RMI team today on their way back after a successful summit day. Camp is built, re-hydration and relaxing have become the focus of everyone. Tomorrow we'll do a carry of gear and food to Camp 2. Until then, we are all warm and content with a new camp and eager to see what the weather has in store for us. Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Mike King
RMI Guide Mike Walter led his team reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning! The left the crater rim on their descent at 7:30 a.m. Mike reported sun, smoke from the eastside of Washington and moderate winds.
Jambo from 9,900 ft on Mount Kilimanjaro. We are happily bedded down at Machame Camp after a great day of walking. The day began with the team shuffling duffle bags back and forth in the dark on the grounds of the Dik Dik. We were eating breakfast at 6:30 AM and then we actually drove out of the hotel compound at 7:28 AM...An unbelievable and unprecedented two minutes ahead of schedule. Our mighty Mercedes truck/bus carried food, gear and a huge number of climbers and staff. It was quite cloudy, so we didn't get to see the mountain during the two hour drive. But we saw plenty of interest along the highway, from villages to towns to cornfields, banana and coffee farms. At the Machame entrance to the National Park, there was the normal hurry up and wait process of getting the team registered and the porter loads sorted. By 11 AM it was all done and we got to start walking. Naturally -in terms of altitude- this was our low point for the day...6000 ft, but all agreed that it was an emotional high point. It just felt so good to start walking uphill through a forest after all the planning, preparing, travel and jet lag. The team did well with Filbert -one of our local guides- setting a perfect "pole pole" pace. (Slow in Swahili). After a couple of hours, we were out from under the clouds and all were surprised and pleased to see Kibo -Kilimanjaro's main peak- through a break in the trees. The forest transformed as we got higher and at 4:30 we pulled into a well built camp in the giant heather. We moved in -grateful at all the work our staff had put in. We sat for an excellent three course dinner just after sunset and told stories into the darkness.
We finished with a round of "lala salamas". (Sleep well) and turned in for the night.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team
It’s so exciting to read about what the team is experiencing. Thanks for the blog. I feel that I’m there with you!
Posted by: Sue Rentschler(Jason's aunt) on 8/24/2016 at 6:26 am
Finally - you are all on your way! While we know each of you is focused on the summit, remember to also focus on your journey. “Joy is found not in finishing an activity, but in doing it.”.
Countless thanks to you, Dave for the blog and your info. - it’s awesome to follow your trek!
Posted by: Kathy and Denny Meyers (Jason's Mom and Dad) on 8/23/2016 at 2:54 pm
We had to put up with perfect weather again today. A quick 3 hour hike to the park gate where we said good-bye to our mountain adventure. We all boarded our monster truck that held about 30 of us including all mountain gear on the roof. A stop along the way for a lunch to break up the 3 hr drive and we are back at our lodge. The Dik Dik lodge welcomed us with open arms and has done an outstanding job assisting us with desired creature comforts. They are going to supply us with our safari guides and vehicles for the next phase of our adventure tomorrow. Tonight we just finished up a great celebration dinner. Now we are off to bed, everyone is doing well and we are looking forward to starting our safari tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker & Team
Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. Copa taught us a great lesson about ourselves today; about how much trail we could break, how much wind we could withstand, route finding we could do, crevasses to go around, or in other words, what are we made of. The climb stopped for us at 5,850m, basically a few feet from gaining the summit ridge. But the team had been building up to the circumstances with the previous climbs, and we held it together until it was no longer the right thing to do. Regardless, the feel of accomplishment is very present, and we're celebrating at Base Camp with the most awesome of dinners our cook Emilio could collaborate, including homemade chocolate cake, which by the way, made at 14,800ft on a portable propane stove top, is big deal. We'll head to Huaraz tomorrow after loading our donkeys, and close up our program with a celebratory dinner.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Spanish word of the day: viento blanco (cloud cap)
Go Grassy ! Looks like those yellow boots are ok? Jack and Doug said its all about the feet .Keep up the good work !!
Posted by: Anne Sullivan on 1/30/2018 at 6:17 am
Enjoy your first night at camp one! Hope everyone is feeling well and having a great time.
Posted by: Tania Walls on 1/29/2018 at 7:59 pm
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