Wahoo- Training for Antarctica.... in Mexico!

So how do you train for Antarctica?  1 hour of snorkeling, 10 miles hiking in the deep sand, tennis, afternoon kitesurfing session and then 30 min oceanswim! Life is good, so a few more days here in Cabo, then home for one very short day before flying off to Punta Arenas, Chile on the 28th. The first stop on the (long) way to Antarctica. Our flight south to Antarctica is scheduled for Dec 3rd.  I will again be working with Antarctic Expeditions and Logistics at Vinson and the Union Glacier for 60 long days! Its all good, lots of free time for kiteskiing, exploreing,climbing and skiing in some of the lightest powder on earth! So will try to post some updates, but communications is challenging. Hope this finds everyone having a happy thanksgiving and onto a great holiday season!

 

More Safari Photos!

 

Awesome Safari!

Just back again to Arusha. What an amazing safari to the best of 5 differnt game parks in northern Tanzania!  We had a few concerns concerning the local presidential elections going on as Tanzania actually relected their president. No protests which is always nice. SO after Arusha Park we left for Tarangiri and the very nice Tarangiri Safari Lodge. Followed by Lake Manyara Park, then the vast Serengeti and back via Nogorongoro Crater. Endless wildlife throughout these areas. SPotting everything from Cheetahs, Leopords and Lion to Dik Dik, Baboons and zebra. Just simply amazing! Everyone enjoyed the safari, lots of bouncing around and long days but very rewarding! Now back to the USA again! Scott Woolums reporting from Arusha, Tanzania!

 

Just Back from Arusha Park!

First day on safari! Out to Arusha Park and what a great day. Tomorrow Tarangiri Park....  Scott reporting from Arusha, Tanzania.

Back from Kilimajaro!

We are just back here in Arusha, Tanzania this afternoon after a great Kilimanjaro climb! And yes everyone reached the summit! A big zuri sana to all the members. Really enjoyed a good trek in over 5 days across the Shira Plateau, then around the Northern Circuit and up to our high camp on the Rongai route, then a perfect summit morning saw us all on the top at 8am. A tough long day but good. Now the team is getting some well needed R and R in Arusha before we atart out on safari tomorrow morning. Should be able top post another report tomorrow evening. Yahoo!  Scott Woolums reporting from Tanzania!

 

Were all Here and Off to Kili Today!

A long flight for the Kilimanjaro Team, but were here and all things are good! We are off this morning for Kilimanjaro. Its still a bit of a journey today, 5+ hours to the start of the trek, then 3 to 4 hours to camp. So the adventure begins! We will be posting a report as soon as we are back here in Arshua after the climb. That will be on the 2nd. Scott Woolums reporting from Arusha, Tanzania.

On the Road to Africa!

John and I just left for Africa. And no, they do not have Moose in Africa, were in St Paul, MN on our way to Amsterdam and onto Kilimanjaro. Its a long way there, 24 hours or so in transit. Looking forward to being there and actually relaxing. Its been an extremely busy push to pull everything together for this, but now its all about going for a hike up Kili and seeing the best of Africa in Northern Tanzania! Scott reporting from another airport somewhere!

Off to Africa in a Couple Weeks!

Quick update on the upcoming Africa trip. The Montana Team is off to Kilimanjaro... followed by a safari to 5 different game parks in Tanzania! This is one of my favorite trips. Exotic, challenging and spectacular! Follow updates here starting October 23rd.  Scott Woolums reporting from Hood River, Oregon

 

Next Year!

Were all preparing now for our next years expedition to Mt Everest! Join us.... on one of the true challenges on our planet!

 

Namaste,

 

Bill Allen and Scott Woolums

 

Thanks to Our Sherpa Team!

We all wanted to say thank you again to our Sherpa team, one of the hardest working teams on the hill! Without them, this really would not be nearly as successful. These guys are some of the most stellar people on this planet! You simply could not ask for a better team for climbing Mt Everest with. I can say over many expeditions climbing with this team, I would not up high without everyone of our Sherpas!

 

From all of us at Mt. Trip, Thank You!

 

Scott Woolums

Celebrations and Congratulations!

Thanks and Congratulations come in many forms!

 

Enjoying Kathmandu!

A quick update from Kathmandu here.  A very busy couple days as we flew out from Base Camp in helicopters down to Lukla, and from there connected (after an extra night in Lukla!) onto Kathmandu. Awesome to be down and celebrating one of the best trips ever.  Now we are waiting for bags to show up for onwards flights home. Lots to do wrapping everything up. Mostly enjoying just being with the team and out for meals. Kathmandu definitely has a festive atmosphere now with a lot of teams here now. Lots more still hiking out. The helicopter option is definitely a good choice as when its time to go out, were there!  Staying at the Yak and Yeti, a good place to decompress (unacclimitize!) while meeting friends and taking care of business in Kathmandu style!

 

Scott Woolums reporting from Kathmandu!

More Photos from Up High!

Wahoo! Everyone is very excited (and exhausted) right now in Base Camp. Its
hard to believe that we made it, all of us. Reality is slowly sinking in. Up
till now we have been just too tired to really appreciate what just
happened! Everyone worked very hard for this goal. Its just simply amazing.
So we have attached some more photos from the summit push. A more few
details. Watching the weather forecasts closely, we made a decision to go up
to Camp 3 on the 21st. Simply perfect day, no wind, everyone moving well to
a small chopped out perch at 24,000 ft. on the Lhotse Face. Beautiful sunset
later, then super cold weather. Next morning looked perfect so off we went
to Camp 4 at 26,00ft., starting very early. Along the way we had to climb
the Yellow Band and the Geneva Spur. These are quite challenging at this
altitude. Quite a few people moved up to high camp on the same schedule as
us. Probably close to 80 people. It's a big mountain though, so people get
scattered quickly. So again, a very good day to move up. Into Camp 4 around
noon, so we had some time to rest, rehydrate and recover some. Then the wind
kicked in quite strong. Over the next few hours we were on the fence if we
would wait till the 24th to go as there were huge streamers of wind and
blowing snow coming off the top and through the South Col. Both Bill and I
were seriously worried about conditions...then the wind just stopped about
an hour before we had planned to leave for the summit. Remarkable and lucky!
So we continued to prepare and were off at 8.30pm on the 22nd for the top.
Yep, that's 8.30pm the day before! A long hard, cold night of climbing up
across the South Col, up the Triangle Face towards the Balcony. It's a night
of fighting personal fears, freezing cold and simply watching a small
headlight beam in front of you. It seems to take forever up to the Balcony
at close to 28,000ft. This is really our first stop in the dark to change
out our first Oxygen bottle. We had a total of 11 sherpa climbing with us,
carrying extra Oxygen which makes life up here safer, warmer and for most of
us...even possible! So from the Balcony we started up the difficult rock
climbing/scrambling towards the South Summit. This is where it slooowllly
got light, then we watched one of the most amazing sunrises over Tibet. We
had been climbing almost 8 hours at this point and those first rays of sun
felt simply amazing! So we now were in good position, winds were still light
and everyone was still moving well. AT the South Summit we again change out
our Oxygen so we have plenty for the climb over from the South Summit to the
Main Summit of Everest. This next section is where the famous "Hillary Step"
is. It's a very narrow, exposed ridge with quite interesting climbing at
well over 28,500 ft. now. After the Hillary Step, it's a slow climbing
traverse up and over to the main summit. Yahoo, we had all made it! As well
as our whole Sherpa team. That's 18 of us total! Top of our planet! The
winds were now blowing maybe 20 mph and it was farily cold, but still more
or less perfect weather for the summit! We spent almost an hour taking
pictures and enjoying the outstanding views all around us! SO then the long
descent begins. Quite a lot of cloud and wind moved in as we reached the
Balcony. This is where we loaned one of our sherpas, Gombu, to help another
climber with possible Cerebral Edema and who was having some troubles (later
this went well and he was evacuated from Camp 2). This climber was not in
our group. Anyways, quite a sporty descent and night as the winds and snow
continued till the next morning. So we had found the small window to summit
in. Not all teams are so lucky!

Now we are in Base Camp and packing everything as tomorrow there will not be
a camp here! Everything is getting loaded into barrils, onto Yaks for the 3
day descent back to Lukla where our equipment will be transferred to
Kathmandu. We have scheduled 2 charter helicopters for the flight out
leaving tomorrow morning. So it will be quite a shock to go from Base Camp
directly to Kathmandu in 1 day! But I can safely say that everyone is very
much looking forward to being back to civilization and everything that
holds! Although Kathmandus more of a transition back. So enjoy the photos,
more stories soon! And then Everest 2011.....

Scott Woolums Reporting from Everest Base Camp