The Island Peak and Base Camp trek team had a 5 a.m. wake-up call this morning and are set to fly from Kathmandu to the small, high-mountain airport in Lukla. Flying into Lukla, situated in the rugged Himalaya at 9,383′, is an experience in itself as they land on the hillside runway in the…
Mountain Trip guide Dave Ahrens called in from Kenya Lodge, after reaching the base of their trek from Mount Kenya’s summit back to the lowlands. They descended from the dusty alpine into the jungly lowlands via the scenic Chigori Route. They decided to push on past the camp that they had intended to sleep in…
Mountain Trip’s Autumn 2016 Island Peak expedition has all gathered in Kathmandu, Nepal today, to meet each other and their guides before endeavoring to climb one of the Himalaya’s most iconic trekking peaks. A couple members of the expedition will end their trip at Everest Base Camp. The Island Peak (also known as Imja Tse)…
Mountain Trip guide Dave Ahrens and climber Sole Marritimi called in from camp at 14,000′ after successfully summitting the North Face Standard Route to the Batian Summit. At 17,057′, the summit of Batian is the second highest point on the African continent. The route features between 15 and 23 pitches, depending on climber choice, all…
Mountain Trip guide Dave Ahrens relayed a message from his deLorme GPS device this morning that they had successfully reached the summit of Batian on Mount Kenya and are now heading down the route using a series of rappels. The precipitous peak of Batain stands at 16,355′, is the highest of Mount Kenya’s summits, and…
Mountain Trip guide Dave Ahrens called in from just over 14,000′ on Mount Kenya, the second highest mountain in Africa. Dave reported that they had a great day yesterday, that began with a 5 a.m. alpine start towards Point Lenana at 16,335′ (pictured below). While Point Lenana is more of a trek than a technical…
On September 10, our small but strong Mount Kenya team arrived in Africa, ready to head to the mountains. The team, consisting of climber Sole Marritimi and guide Dave Ahrens, will make their way from Nairobi Naromoru to the Mount Kenya National Park Gate (8,694′) and begin their trek into the base of the mountain via…
Dave and Sole are off to Mount Kenya! They began their trek into the mountain today after a couple of days of traveling to Nairobi, Kenya and a drive to the trailhead they were excited to be underway and try to shake off the jet lag with a bit of a hike. They’ve been seeing…
We are all down from Everest! Greg and Vanessa are already in Kathmandu after being whisked away by helicopter from Camp 2 this morning. Greg has some frostbite and is going to visit the clinic/hospital in Kathmandu to get that looked at and treated right away. Our entire Sherpa crew made it down to base…
Bill called a bit ago to let us know that he, Greg and Vanessa all arrived in Base Camp a short while ago. Our Sherpa team are just behind them, and will soon arrive back at the luxurious-feeling 17,500′ camp. Spirits are high and everyone is looking forward to the myriad of niceties that “civilization”…