An Amazing Trek Today!

Fantastic hike up to Namche here yesterday. Sunshine most of the day. Enjoyed a good reunion with the rest of our team at the Moonlight Lodge in Namche Bazaar! Early today we said farewell to Bills group as they are on the way up to Debouche today. My team is staying here in Namche an additional night. Went for a spectacular walk up to the Everest View Lodge and onto the small village of Khumjung where the Sir Edmond Hillary School is located.  Our first view of Everest this morning, complete with extremely high winds. Will be watching that closely over the next few weeks as the jet stream winds around the mountain. Perfect day, just a little cool and windy here. Now we are back at the Moonlight Lodge and enjoying a quiet afternoon. Photos from our hike this morning. 

 

Scott Woolums reporting from Namche Bazaar, Nepal

Kathmandu!

Update from Kathmandu!            

 

Yesterday morning Bills group, including Ephi, Chris, Neil and 3 trekkers flew into Lukla…in helicopters! Perfect day and Bill sent a message saying everything is going well from Phakding. Newall, Irenuz and I will be flying in tomorrow morning to start our trek. Including 2 other trekkers. The plan is to meet the other team after a few days. Lots of time, we are actually a few days ahead of our schedule last year. All of us are looking forward to getting out on the trail and away from the gritty streets of Kathmandu.

 

Scott Woolums in Kathmandu, Nepal

 

Permit Issued Today! Dinner at Dwarikas!

Welcome to Kathmandu! Our whole team is here now. Lots of projects mixed with great mini adventures around town! Had our briefing and received our climbing permit today. Out to Dwarikas for dinner. An old completely restored Rana Palace, that’s one of the nicest places in town. Awesome meal! See menu! Off to the Shymabunath Temple this morning, photos later! Bill, Neiol, Chris and EPhi will be off to Lukla tomorrow. I will stay for a couple more days to make sure things are in order before flying into start the trek to Base Camp! Yahoo, it all begins again!

 

Scott in Kathmandu, Nepal

 

Kathmandu!

Quick update! In Kathmandu and off for another Everest expedition! Very nice to be back, seeing lots of friends. Kathmandu is the same as always. Enjoying just being here at the Yak and Yeti hotel. A small oasis within utter chaos! Lots of projects but will keep updating every few days, all the way to the summit and back! So far Gregg, Debbie, Newall, Diane, Bill and myself are here now. Ephi, Chris and Neil are due in this afternoon.

 

Scott from Kathmandu, Nepal

 

Back from Antarctica at Last!

A long time down south, way south! I will post separate posts for each trip we did. Simply the most amazing season ever yet in Antarctica. The season started with on time flights straight into the new Base Camp this year on the Union Glacier, then directly out to Vinson Base Camp where Andy Holzner and Team and myself managed to do a very fast Vinson expedition in perfect weather. Andy is totally blind, what a lesson in determination and capabilities! Several days of great AT skiing before and after in super light Antarctic Feather Powder!

 

Next up was an unplanned opportunity to guide a "Ski the Last Degree" expedition, with 2 days to prep! Off we flew to 89 degrees south with a small team of Chinese to ski the last 60 or so miles to the South Pole. That went very well (still thawing out from that!). Quite a feeling being out so far and watching the sun spin circles overhead. The sun never sets and changes 15 degrees almost every hour. Quite disorienting! So my first time to the South Pole, Yahoo!

 

Back to the Union Glacier for a few days, then back out to the South Pole, this time to hang out for 5 days with Richard Parks, retired Rugby Star and super nice guy. Spent New Year's there and had an opportunity to Kite Ski every day! Spectacular Parhelions every day!  see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parhelic_circle .

 

And then another supposed quick trip back to the South Pole, an overnight that turned into 4 days this time with another ANI guide, Winslow and her Chinese Team, also Neil (there for an overnight camping adventure!) and David Rootes. We all made the most of some quite bad weather this time before flying again back to the Union Glacier.

 

Spent quite awhile here guiding clients on various skiing and climbing adventures. 4 ascents of the local Mt Rossman including a couple first ski descents. Perfect kiting conditions most evenings. A lot of delays this year with the Illyshin-76 aircraft taking people to/from Chile. So camp here was a busy place most of January.

 

Then the trip I had been waiting for since the start of the season, guiding an expedition out to the quite remote Mt. Sidley in the Marie Byrd Land region of Antarctica. 550 miles out from BC to the highest volcano in Antarctica. It's one of the new seven volcanic summits of the world. An interesting opportunity that turned into a fast and successful adventure up a new route and quite probably the second ascent of the mountain itself. Sidley is a huge volcano with half the crater blown apart very much like St Helens, yet still 14,000 ft. high. A relatively easy route leads up the East ridge which we did in 44 hours out of our Base Camp climbing and skiing 23 of those hours. We had flown out in a turbine converted DC-3 aircraft which waited for us at BC. Very nice to ski right onto the plane and fly back quickly. Lots more on this soon.

 

Scott

 

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