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The
Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz team with RMI Guide JM Gorum slowly worked their way up the Katuz Ice Chute today, but route conditions on the Wapowety Cleaver did not allow the team to climb beyond. The team in on the descent working their way back to high camp. The Team will spend the evening on the mountain. Tomorrow morning will be spent wrapping up their mountaineering skills training, and they will descend to Paradise in the afternoon.
Congratulations to today's team!
Tarangire delivers! Hard not to finish this day by pronouncing ourselves lucky in the extreme. We saw things today... and then we saw more things... and more and more things. At first, we just did a little touristing when we left the Plantation Lodge, hitting a souvenir/art shop and then visiting a Maasai Village. This definitely interested us and is not to be minimized, but then we got into
Tarangire National Park and began being mesmerized and amazed. Things built up slowly. First there was the watering hole with a flood of zebra and wildebeest charging in for a drink. Then there were the dozens upon dozens of elephants we watched digging for water. (The proclamation was made -prematurely- that it was the day of the elephant) then there was a landscape where every single tree had a giraffe, eland, waterbuck, impala or warthog under it... for miles. But then there were the cheetahs. Mom and cub, majestic and regal in their fur coats. And then there were the lions. At first there were a handful from a distance... then more of them, walking away. Then a meeting of male and females and cubs in the distance. Then we investigated to find thirteen cats of all sizes going to work on a freshly killed zebra. The sights and sounds were stunning. Better than any TV documentary. Our cameras kept clicking and clicking as the sunlight got golden. But we'd each put the electronics down to just stare in awe as well.
A short time later, we were sipping pre-dinner cocktails at beautiful Balloon Camp when our driver/naturalists walked in. Juma and Edson got spontaneous and sustained round of applause.
The day couldn't be topped... but it could be savored.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Yet another rest day! Today the team just chilled... all day. It was a windy night so most people made up for the lack of sleep by taking naps. Walks around camp, reading, taking pictures and talking took up the the rest of the day.
The assistant guides made it up to
Camp 2 and back to cache almost all of the group food for the rest of the climb. This should help lessen the load for our team's move to Camp 2 tomorrow.
The wind died down this evening (woohoo!) so we enjoyed a comfortable quesadilla-making session outside as part of or dinner. Bellies are full and everyone is excited to continue moving up the mountain tomorrow.
Thanks for tuning in!
RMI Guides Steve Gately & Hannah McGowan
On The Map
The
Mt. Rainier Summit Climb team, led by
Kel Rossiter, reached the summit at 6:00 a.m. The team was above the clouds, with the cloud deck hovering around 11,000ft. After spending an hour on top, they began their descent.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
The Mt. Rainier
Four Day Summit Climb teams led by RMI Guides Jake Beren and Geoff Schellens reached the summit crater around 7:45 a.m. Jake reported light winds and pleasant conditions. The teams spent about an hour on the summit before beginning their descent just after 9:00 a.m.
We look forward to seeing all of the climbers back in
Ashford later today.
RMI Guides Brent Okita & Seth Waterfall led their teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Brent radioed in at 7 am from Columbia Crest reporting great conditions and a beautiful day for the first summit of the 2016 season. Both teams left the crater rim around 7:30 am en route to Camp Muir. They will repack and continue their descent to Paradise this afternoon. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp later today.
Congratulations to today's
Five Day Summit Climb Teams!
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
On The Map
Hi folks,
Well, it's time to say goodbye to
Aconcagua Base Camp and hit the dusty trail back to Las Lenas. Given the grim outlook on this mountain for the next week, the team is rather excited to be able to get back home to you all just a little bit sooner. We're hoping that the promise of huge slabs of steak cooked over an open fire will motivate us along the 18 or so miles we have ahead of us today. Hopefully we can stay hydrated and blister free.
You used to call us on our sat phone,
RMI Guides Pepper Dee and JJ Justman
Jambo! I've just returned from the airport with the last of the arriving climbers for our first
Kilimanjaro Climb of 2016! Everyone has made it and although there were some delays along the way all the bags are here.
The crew is a mix of folks on their own and some that have been friends for a long time. Either way we will all be turning into a big team starting with a meeting and gear check in the morning.
After that we are off to the mountain. Wish us luck.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Hello from 16,400 feet on blustery Aconcagua.
After a successful carry to Camp 2 yesterday we all took a well deserved rest day today. We slept in, which proved difficult to do because of the winds trying to huff and puff and blow down our houses. Then after hot drinks we took a small walk to a beautiful spot overlooking the valley. There we got the blood flowing by doing some high altitude yoga. Now we're back to the tents for an afternoon nap to prepare for a big move day tomorrow. Everyone says hi and is doing well.
RMI Guides Christina von Mertens and JJ Justman
On The Map
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Merry Christmas Hannah and the rest of the team! Maybe way up there where the air is thin you’ll have a clear sighting of Sant, Rudolf and all the reindeer!
Sending you all much love, warmth and admiration,
Hannah’s Mom, Lisa
Posted by: Hannah's mom on 12/23/2016 at 5:41 pm
The pictures really are unbelievable. What an amazing opportunity?!?!?!?! Can’t wait to hear all the stories and see more pictures when you get back.
Posted by: Rowan and Sawyer on 12/22/2016 at 4:23 pm
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