The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Expedition Skills Seminar Paradise led by RMI Guide Ben Liken reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Ben reported sunny skies and a lot of wind on the summit. The teams began their descent around 9 am. We look forward to greeting them in Ashford this afternoon.
Congratulations Climbers!
We are down in the beautiful city of Puebla today. The team and I had a great time on Ixta. What a sight to wake up to the neighbor mountain, Popo, venting a lot of steam from it's top on a crystal clear morning. No wonder it has been closed to climbing for years now. We spent part of the morning packing up so we would not have to return to the hut after skills training. Fun day getting to practice the nuts and bolts for the climb ahead on Orizaba- crampons, ice axe, and rope training were the featured program for the day. So fun to see the enthusiasm when you pull out and put on this type of hardware. The team did well adapting to some new toys and techniques. I feel that they all performed to a high enough standard that I would be willing to rope up with any one of them. It is a special bond up here in the mountains that can happen very quickly.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Greetings from Huaraz!
The ESS-Peru team is back in the bustling city of Huaraz after a wonderful week in the Ishinca Valley. Perfect climbing weather allowed for successful summits of both Nevada Ishinca (18,143') and Urus Este (17,600'). After a wonderful breakfast of eggs and bacon (at 14,200'!), we made quick work of our descent out of the valley this morning. Town life brought more great eating, shopping, and resting here at the Hotel Andino, all in preparation for our next objective, Pisco Oeste. Tomorrow morning we depart Huaraz for the stunning Quebrada Llanganuco (Llanganuco Valley) and make our move to Pisco Base Camp at 15,400'. Our well acclimatized bodies should take to this altitude well as we set our sights on Pisco, our highest objective of the trip at 18,741'. We'll check in again tomorrow evening from our perch in the Llanganuco. For now, enjoy the "best of" from Robby and Eric's cellphone photo galleries.
Buenos Noches,
RMI Guides Robby Young, Eric Frank, and the ESS-Peru Team
P.S. The Spanish climbing term of the day is "tocino", which means bacon.
Jambo!
We are all up at our first camp and everyone is doing good. Dinner ended a little while ago and the team has headed off to the tents for a long night of rest.
We got an early start this morning with breakfast at 6:30 and we were on the road just after 7:30. It took us about two hours to drive to the national park gate where we spent some time getting organized and sorting out the climbing permit.
Once we were all checked in, we started our trek through the rain forest. Everyone on the team was excited to get going and we spent the next several hours hiking and chatting as we gained about 4,000 vertical feet.
Everything went smoothly except for about five minutes of rain right before we hit camp. That's no problem for this team though and anyway our tents were nice and dry inside when we arrived.
Tomorrow we climb up to the Shira Plateau. I'll check in again from up there.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Hey, everybody. This is Casey Grom calling in from Cayambe and Chimborazo climb corn here in Ecuador. We're doing great down here today. We had a nice relaxing morning at Casa de Sol. We then headed into the center of Otavalo, close to where we are staying. Otavalo is one of the largest open air markets in all of South America. The team spent a little over an hour practicing their bartering skills and doing a lot of sightseeing all the local artisan goods they have for sale. After we felt like we had enough shopping done, we got in our van and we went out to lunch just a few miles down the road. Then we headed up a long and winding road that leads up the mountain where we hit Cayambe. There's two huts up here. There's a big one and a smaller one. Thankfully for us our outfitter was able to secure the smaller hut, which is nice. It sleeps about ten. The big hut is full tonight and sleeps about 40 to 50 people, so we are pretty thankful that we got the smaller hut. We just finished our dinner, and we're settling in for the night at the base of Cayambe. Everybody's doing well. We will give a check in sometime tomorrow afternoon and let you know the game plan for the summit. See you tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Sending all my best to Danny, and fearless leader Casey Grom and team. I took a quick peak at the weather and looks like there may be some heavy snow in your area, especially Monday night. Hope all is well and you will be able to stay on schedule. Everyone looks they have been enjoying themselves in the pictures. Stay strong for yourselves and each other! -Virginia
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Brent Okita and the Five Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Ben Liken were unable to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning due to challenging route conditions. The teams called Camp Comfort at 12,700' their high point. The teams will return to Ashford this afternoon.
The city life is nice, but it's back to the mountains for your ESS-Peru champions. We're back at it again, climbing from 10,500' to 15,000' on our approach to Copa Base Camp. The views here at camp are otherworldly. The looming south face of Copa dominates our view up the hill, fluted with spines of snow and ice as the western glacier spills over the summit plateau into space. Our views back down to the valley are just beginning to glow red and pink as the sun begins its descent on our day. We're going to get a great night of sleep tonight, planning to sleep in to best prepare ourselves for our move to high camp at 16,400' tomorrow afternoon. We can't contain our excitement. We'll keep you informed. Keep following along and send us good vibes for the biggest climbing of our trip.
RMI Guides Robby, Steve, William, and your ESS-Peru team
I am jealous! What an incredible experience! Collectively, we are keeping fingers crossed for the team to reach the ambitious 6,000+ m peak goal! Stay strong! You can do it!
Hilda, the one that “EATS MOUNTAINS FOR BREAKFAST” will be having a big feast tomorrow morning!
Posted by: Martina Kalusova on 7/12/2017 at 7:53 am
We are back at base camp this afternoon after our carry to Camp 1, located at 16,200'. The Team took advantage of a direct route which included snow and great trail. Years past has seen this day's route made up of loose and steep scree slopes. While packs were heavy the 3.5 hour up time meant they were not on our backs too long. We put in a cache of food, fuel and some personal items.
While the wind was gusting in the 40's we enjoyed a clear sky and spectacular views of the Vacas Valley. The team is doing well, all appear to be acclimating well and spirits are high. A rest day tomorrow is highly anticipated before we move to Camp 1 on Friday.
The wind continues to plague Aconcagua Base Camp, we will check in tomorrow, until then keep your fingers crossed for calmer weather.
RMI Guides Mike King, JM Gorum & Team
Happy Birthday to Rob Millman from all the Wisconsin Millmans! We love you and pray your enjoying every moment. Glad for a rest day on your special day!
Posted by: Debbie Millman on 1/5/2017 at 5:02 am
Loving the updates! Best Wishes to all as you continue the journey. Jason- we love you and are excited to watch this unfold! RISE!
Update: August 14, 2016 - 2:24 am PT
Dave Hahn here on Kilimanjaro. I just wanted to update you. We got down from the summit just fine actually at about 11:45 am local time. It's now almost 12:30 in the afternoon we've had lunch at our high camp here at Barafu and we're packing up to go down to Mweka Camp, down in the forest. So we still got an afternoon of work, but everybody is good and all is well. Bye.
August 13, 2016 - 10:16 pm PT
Hey, this is Dave Hahn with the RMI Mt Kilimanjaro climb. We are on the summit! We are on Uhuru Point. We are 19,340 feet above sea level. We are higher than anything else in Africa, and it's a spectacular day. We got up here the whole team doing just fine at about 7:55 local time in the morning. And just a beautiful day, very calm sunny, no clouds above us and clouds way down at the bottom covering all of Africa. We feel like we're the king of the world today. We're really lucking out and I'll let you know when we're down at camp safe. And will keep you updated on our progress. Bye now.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn calls from the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
So excited to hear you had beautiful weather and everyone is doing fine. We can’t wait to see the pictures which probably won’t be half as spectacular as the real thing. Safe travels during your final descend and thank you for the updates and giving our kids such a wonderful adventure.
Posted by: Janet and Ted Armentrout on 8/14/2016 at 12:59 pm
Dave Hahn , thank you so much for your updates . Congratulations Jason and Jasna . Your dreams are done ! Good trip and happy return to Dik Dik. Mom
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!
Bett, you are inspiring. Congratulations on reaching your goal. Such determination. Can’t wait to hear about it.
Posted by: Peggy Meyer on 8/22/2015 at 8:21 am
Keep climbing Janet and Bet!! Thinking of you!
Posted by: Di on 8/22/2015 at 8:19 am
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