Thursday, January 21, 2016
We are all enjoying our day off today. After getting some well deserved sleep most of the team spent the day drinking coffee, eating various types of mole sauce, and taking in the beautiful sights of this historic city.
Tonight we will gather for dinner and discuss the logistics for our departure to Tlachichuca tomorrow morning. The forecast looks great, and we are all excited about our next mountain...El Pico de Orizaba!
RMI Guides Solveig Waterfall, Billy Haas, and the team
Hey Mark Tucker checking in. What a 24-hour period we've had. Wow. Amazing night up there on Orizaba. Crazy weather, amazing light storm going on and little bit of hail. The team got up early and we put in our work, and we just had a fabulous climb. It was wonderful event that we all participated in and it's been go time ever since. Back down here all cleaned up and doing well at the Reyes Compound. We're just having so much fun; we don't want this trip to end. We're going to come away from this thing with some happy hearts and lots of experience. So we're just looking forward to getting back out there when we can. Thanks.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Good evening from Icchiccocha (small lake), where we're camped for the night, on our way to Alpamayo Basecamp. We did bypass Llamacorral, the standard camp, and continued another couple kilometers up valley... and the reality is that this group is looking really good!!! So continuing on, and secluding ourselves from the different groups who are sharing the trail along this section of the astonishing Santa Cruz trek, wasn't an issue. The cute note of the day, was the two dogs, beautiful but homeless puppies, who followed us all the way to camp, and are currently guarding our donkey pack. That's it for the day, we will be checking in tomorrow from Basecamp.
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos and team
We were greeted this morning by another beautiful Peruvian morning! Our agenda today would take us to the toe of the glacier at about 16,000ft to review and learn climbing techniques that we will use on our ascent of Ishinca tomorrow morning. The approach takes about 2-3 hours and follows a track through old glacial moraine, remnants of when the glaciers used to flow deep down these valleys. At the toe of the glacier we all donned our climbing equipment and began the days learning. Our training site gives one massive view of the surrounding peaks and glaciers. Many of which are above 6000 meters. The team did fantastic today and we're all feeling really good about our climb tomorrow. We are all back at camp now where we'll take a short siesta before dinner and an early night in preparation for tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for following along. Tune in tomorrow for more!
RMI Guide Steve Gately
After falling asleep to a gentle rain last night, our team woke up to to star-filled skies. The clouds had dropped a few inches of snow up high and the glaciers suspended above camp glistened in the light of the moon. After a hasty 5:30am breakfast we shouldered our packs and climbed uphill three hours to the base of the Ishinca Glacier. The new snow made the hard glacial ice a bit more forgiving, and we used the terrain to train on basic mountaineering techniques such as rope travel, crampon technique and ice axe arrest. After taking a break for lunch and admiring our beautiful surroundings, we got into more advanced techniques like ice screw placement and V-thread anchors.
Tonight was the current group favorite dinner- Lomo Saltado, a Peruvian mix with beef, french fries, rice and tomatoes. Delicious!
RMI Guide Robby Young
Good Afternoon Team Peru!
I love these photos and action information! Please say hello to Neil Yoder and tell him that we will expect him to perfectly replicate the Lomo Saltado for “Family Time.” Happy climbing to all!
Karen
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Paradise led by RMI Guide Mike King wrapped up their week of mountaineering training with a successful summit of Mt. Rainier. The team will descend off the mountain and be back in Ashford this afternoon to celebrate.
Congratulations!
The "improving trend" turned out to be a bunch of baloney and shortly after finishing my dispatch last night the starry sky clouded over and began to steadily pour almost without relent. We woke in the morning and the steady downpour had not begun to show signs of letting up. The team decided over breakfast that with the zero probability of climbing Antisana, that our best move was to pack up and hike out and hopefully dry out at a hacienda. So here we are, some time on the road later hanging up all of our gear to dry yet again at another hacienda this time at a scenic spot at the base of the Illinizas. Despite the tough weather the gang is doing our best to have fun and enjoy the Ecuadorian countryside. All this traveling has been fun but we're hoping to get in a little more legit climbing before our trip winds down.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Hello again everyone!
Today the team left behind the hustle and bustle of Quito and moved just north of the Equator to the comfortable and quiet rural countryside. Once outside the city limits the landscape quickly turned into rolling hills with farms pitched on steep slopes and dozens of small eucalyptus forest.
Our plan was to visit a smaller mountain called Fuya Fuya where we stretched our legs on a nice steep and short acclimatization hike. Thankfully the weather wasn't too bad which allowed us to see some amazing views of the beautiful surrounding landscape.
We are just on the outskirts of a town call Otavalo, which is known for its massive market and we are currently relaxing at a wonderful Hacienda called "La Casa Sol". The team is doing great and looking forward to nice quiet night here.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Howard and Bill—-you guys look great!!!!!—continue being SAFE CAREFUL CAUTIOUS and enjoy this awesome experience. Best of luck to the whole team. (Love you Howard —neehi :-). )
Hello again,
Things continued to be exciting here on our final day in Africa. We started the day early with hopes of seeing a few more animals but the constant rain has most of them running for cover. We did manage to see a few more Lions, elephants, and giraffes, but those smaller cats never showed themselves.
Most of the roads were either a muddy mess or completely covered in water. It made for quite the exciting ride especially after finding our main route impassable due to a bridge being flooded. Thankfully our safari driver knew of another safe way out.
It's been a memorable experience for everyone and it's going to be sad to part ways with such a great bunch of folks. But now it's time to head home and share the stories.
That’s all for this trip.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili/Safari crew
RMI Guide Mike Walter checked in with us from Mt. Shuksan. He and his team reached the summit via the Southeast Ridge in 3 1/2 hours. They are back at their high camp and will descend Fisher Chimneys tomorrow as they finish their climb.
Congratulations to the team!
Looks like you’re having a great time and seeing some beautiful sights. Am enjoying following your blog and seeing the pics. Lynne Penrice
Posted by: Lynne Penrice on 1/22/2016 at 1:32 pm
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