Trip Reports
The team is on the move! Yesterday, they drove from Mendoza up into the rugged, arid mountains just shy of the border with Chile. They stopped for lunch in a town called Ushpallata, which gained some fame years ago as the base for the filming of the Brad Pitt film, Seven Years In Tibet. After…
DECEMBER 19th ACONCAGUA TEAM Truly the “Roof of the Americas,” Cerro Aconcagua, at 22,841 ft. (6,962 meters) is not only the highest mountain in South America, but also the highest peak outside of Asia. The December 19 group met a couple of days back in the small, lively city of Mendoza, Argentina, capital of the…
Jambo (Hi)! It’s a bittersweet moment sitting on the deck at the Ngorongoro Safari Lodge. We are perched high above the Ngorongoro Crater overlooking one of the most beautiful conservation areas in the world, yet it is our last night here in Africa. Our team has enjoyed three days of safari, what an incredible way…
The Elbrus team has returned to civilization and they’re back down in the valley of Cheget after a perfect summit day. They had the good weather when they needed it, and everyone reached the top on the 29th, and now they are enjoying traveling around the region a bit before heading North to St. Petersburg…
Joe Ceurvorst called in on behalf of our 2019 Elbrus team to report that the entire team made the summit! The team departed early in the morning, traveling up the first segment of the route via snowcat and then cramponing up to the top! We don’t have much additional information at this time, but we’ll…
Laura Duncan called in from the flank of Elbrus after the team spent the day reviewing skills under bluebird skies. The plan is to awaken at 2 am and start uphill at 3:30 in the morning. They have hiked up the initial stretch of the route previously so rather than repeat the start of the…
The team woke up early this morning and began their ascent of the Western Breach to the summit crater of Kilimanjaro. The route above high camp through the steeper terrain of the breach takes them up to the rim of the crater at about 18,700 ft. From there, they walked across the crater, past some…
The Kilimanjaro team had a leisurely three hour hike up to camp at the base of the famous Lava Tower on the Lemosho Route. Located a little over 15,000’ up the mountain along the Lemosho and Machame routes, Lava Tower is a large rock formation that was formed back when Kilimanjaro was still an active…
Mountain Trip lead guide Jacob Schmitz called in another update for the Elbrus team, who were enjoying breakfast at their lodge before beginning their trek up to the Heart of Elbrus Hut. They will spend three to four nights at the Heart of Elbrus continuing to acclimatize and review some essential alpine skills before heading…