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Today our team bid farewell to the thick air and running water of
Aconcagua Camp 1 and headed uphill to Camp 2. We spent the majority of the afternoon digging in solid tent platforms, making sure to securely fasten our tents to the mountain with the biggest rocks we could find. We were treated to a beautiful day during the move-in process; the views of neighboring Andean peaks have kept many team members busy with photo opportunities. We're just getting ready to crawl into our tents before the sun dips below the horizon and it gets COLD.
More tomorrow!
RMI Guides Mark Tucker and Pepper Dee
On The Map
RMI Guides Billy Nugent and Ben Like led their
Four Day Summit Climb teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Billy radioed at 7:30 am as the teams were approaching the crater rim. The report was clear skies and winds 15 mph from the North.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!
Right now I'm watching a gigantic, large tusked elephant tearing apart an acacia tree just a few feet away from the porch of my stilted tent platform in the full moon light. Funny how a creature that large could literally sneak up on our digs for the night here at Kikoti camp, just outside
Tarangire National Park. It has been another perfect weather day with just enough clouds and breeze to keep the bush land from being too hot. After an hour of driving we stopped for a tour of a Masai Boma. It's very interesting and always amazing to see the hearty souls living in the traditional style. Another hour put us in the park where we enjoyed just amazing landscape and crazy plant life. If that wasn't enough throw a couple thousand animals in the mix. We ended the day with a most flavorful bounty back at camp. Tomorrow we have another half day on safari in Tarangire as we make our way back to the Dik Dik.
RMI Guide
Mark Tucker & Team
Greetings,
Our whole team is here in
Moscow and we just finished up a nice first dinner together. Everyone did great overcoming our first challenge - walking back to the hotel in a severely down-pouring lightning storm. With jet lag. Everyone passed the test with flying colors. And flashes of light.
We're looking forward to a great trip!
Cheers,
RMI Guide
Tyler Reid and Team
Hi from
Shira Camp at 12,500 ft on Kilimanjaro. It's currently raining cats and dogs!
We started the day under clear blue skies, had a great breakfast and were hiking by 8:30 in the morning. The clouds started to build at around 9:30 but we had sun breaks for our whole hike.
The terrain was fairly steep right from the start but every one handled it well. The vegetation was very different from the lush rain forest we were in yesterday. As we gained altitude the fauna had a more alpine feel that corresponds to our high elevation.
After we arrived at camp the cooks made a great lunch and while we were eating the rain started. It is nice to be in camp for it so we can rest and relax with the sound of raindrops on the tents.
One of our climbers would like to say hello to Mrs. Price's second grade class. Thanks for following along with our climb.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
On The Map
The
Four Day Summit Climb Teams checked in at 7:40 AM as they were leaving the summit crater of Mt. Rainier. The group enjoyed blue skies and a really nice morning on the mountain.
Once they return to Camp Muir they will repack and continue their descent to Paradise. They will end their program with a celebration at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!
The Four Day Summit Climb team led by RMI Guides Paul Rachele and Chase Nelson reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 6:40am. Paul reported strong winds of about 50 mph and a cloud cap covering the crater rim. The team started their descent at 7:00am and are en-route to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's team!
Summit! The
Mt. Rainier Summit Climb teams, led by
Mike Walter and
Steve Gately, began their descent at 8:00 a.m. With such nice weather, the teams were able to spend over an hour on the summit, crossing the crater and enjoying the views with no clouds in sight. This afternoon we look forward to congratulating the teams this afternoon here in Ashford at Rainier Basecamp!
After a night of distant thunder and periodic power outages, it was a bit of a surprise to wake to relatively calm weather and clearing skies. The team was ready for a 6:30 breakfast and had no trouble making our planned 7:30 departure from the Dik Dik. But more than one person was heard saying how comfortable the place was and what a shame that we actually had to leave such comfort. These thoughts faded quickly as we loaded into the big green Mercedes Benz expedition truck/bus and started heading East toward our mountain. The skies kept clearing as we moved down the highway, giving us some great views of
Kilimanjaro. Two hours got us to the Machame Gate of the national park... the end of the road. We got out and got our permitting chores finished as our local guides figured out staffing and Porter loads. Then we got to the good part. We set out walking. We pushed upward from about 60,00 ft through jungle and tall forest. We'd found cloud cover again, but that just protected us from the sun and we didn't mind a little mist and murk. Six hours of slow, steady work took us from the zone of big trees to the land of giant heather. At almost 10,000 ft we walked into a perfectly built camp -our staff had carried more than us, walked faster, and had enough time left over to get camp all ready for our arrival. We were humbled but happy to crawl into tents. Just in time, as it turned out, since the rain began the moment we did so. Still, it was comfortable sipping tea before dinner in our dry dining tent. We had a fine meal and retired to our tents, pleasantly tired and happy to finally be on our mountain.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Early up again. Why not, it's vacation. Your going to get home exhausted from the travel halfway around the world, so give it your all while here. We traveled a few hours from the Dik Dik Lodge to
Lake Manyara, located in the Great Rift Valley. The first of three national parks we will visit on our safari. The introduction to our new challenge, sitting instead of hiking was well received. Nice four-wheeled Landcruisers carried us from one group of animals to the next. Hundreds of creatures near and far, above and below, right and left, fascinated the whole team with little interruption. We are now at the Plantation Lodge being very well taken care of in luxurious surroundings. We have positioned ourselves just outside our next park, Ngorongoro Crater, the eighth wonder of the world. Up early again. Why not, it's vacation!
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Go team, go. While we in Washington DC go low you go high keeping our focus where it should be!
Posted by: Charlie Thomas on 1/19/2017 at 3:20 am
Looks amazing, simply amazing, & we are loving the blog updates!
Posted by: Chicago Dees on 1/18/2017 at 9:37 pm
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