July 17, 2018
The team received their summit certificates.
IMG Guide Phunuru Sherpa called in from Moshi reporting that all is well. The team enjoyed their final day on the trail this morning, though they made quick work of it! The team was back in Moshi for lunch and some afternoon decompression. After some down time, the team got cleaned up and enjoyed a nice celebration dinner.
Tomorrow they’ll head to Arusha for their flight to the Serengeti. Bring on the safari!
Tye Chapman
July 17, 2018
Charlotte checked in from Mongolia to report that the team did a great job traveling and the doing the duffle shuffle today. After arriving to Bayan Olgii, the team loaded the vans and made their way towards the Park entrance. The team is now settled in for the night after having a nice drive with the company of unseasonable light rain. (Not a bad thing since it keeps the dust down during the drive.)
It is a beautiful cool night and the plan for tomorrow will be to finish the drive to the Park entrance (7,400ft) and trek to Base Camp (10,000ft). Charlotte reports that the team is incredibly strong and having a great start to the trip!
Greg Vernovage
July 16, 2018
The 46th annual JanSport Climb of Mt. Rainier is officially underway. Sixteen climbers from all over the world, representing JanSport in a variety of ways, converged on IMG on Saturday for the start of their climb. We kicked things off with a gear check and a BBQ. On Sunday the group of 16 separated into their respective teams – the Emmons Team and the DC Team, named after the respective routes they’ll be climbing.
On Sunday the Emmons Team, led by Luke Reilly, Rikki Dunn, Willie Webster and Nicole Sims, hit the trail and made their way to the Inter Glacier, while the DC Team, led by Emily Johnston, Justin Merle, Harry Hamlin and Kevin Kayl, went up to Paradise for a Mountain Day School.
Today the Emmons team moved up to Camp Schurman (9500ft) in advance of their summit attempt, while the DC Team hit the trail at Paradise, and made their way up to Camp Muir (10,000ft).
While the teams won’t attempt the summit on the same day (Emmons Tuesday / DC Wednesday) they’ll come off the mountain on the same day and will reconvene to celebrate and swap stories from their climbs.
Go Team JanSport!
Tye Chapman
July 16, 2018
IMG Lead Guide, Betsy Dain-Owens reported that our Huayhuash trekkers reached Lima on Saturday, and were homeward bound yesterday. The team wrapped up their experience with a celebration dinner prior to departing Huaraz, our base of operations for our trips in Northern Peru.
Many thanks to our strong trekkers for their efforts during the trip! It sounds like they had a wonderful trek and were able to make a number of small side-trips along the way to further explore the area. A few last savory Huayhuash pictures are attached to remind us why we go to such beautiful destinations.
We’re already working on our next year’s Huayhuash trek dates, which we plan to post by mid-August—so stay tuned! We’ll also run one of our other Northern Peru treks next summer, Alpamayo! This is another spectacular 10-day trek that has received rave reviews in the past.
Congratulations to all!
Jason Edwards
July 16, 2018
Charlotte checked in overnight to let us know that all members have arrived with all their gear. The Team hit the ground running and today, they toured the city of Ulaanbaatar, visiting the city center and the giant statue of Genghis Khan. After the city center, they took a short drive over to the monastery before heading to the National Museum. On the way back to the hotel, the team stopped off to do a little cashmere shopping. A few more gear checks and then off to the cultural show. The cultural show is a must see when visiting Mongolia. People sing and dance in traditional clothing. The throat singing is beyond imagination! Safe to say the team stayed busy to beat the jet lag.
Tomorrow, the team will repack their gear and head to the airport to start the journey to Mount Khuiten.
All is well in Mongolia!
Greg Vernovage
July 16, 2018
I received two great phone calls from Phunuru… The first came in last night at about 8:30pm PST (6:30am Kili time), it was Phunuru calling in from the summit! He said it was a great climb, they were out in front of all of the other teams and were able to enjoy the mountain pretty much all to themselves!
The second call came in this morning at about 7:30am PST (5:30pm Kili time), it was Phunuru again, this time from Mweka camp. The had made it down to Barafu Camp (their base for summit day) by mid-morning, enjoyed a short nap, packed up, had lunch then powered on down to Mweka camp which sits at about 10,000ft., a much more comfortable altitude to sleep at for their last night on the mountain.
Tonight the team will sleep soundly knowing the hard part is behind them… just a few hours down the trail tomorrow followed by a few beers, a hot shower and 3 days on safari!
All is well on Kilimanjaro!
Tye Chapman
July 15, 2018
Team Dinner in St. Petersburg (Jonathan Schrock)
Our first Elbrus expedition was back in 1989. IMG has run lots of expeditions since and our first for the 2018 season arrived in St. Petersburg on Sunday, 15 July.
IMG lead guide, Jonathan Schrock, reported everyone arrived without issue AND with all their luggage. Igor Tsaruk, our partner in St. Petersburg, picked the team up and made sure everyone got checked in to our hotel and grabbed dinner before calling it a night. Oh yeah, that included watching the World Cup Final before hitting the hay! Lots of jet lag all around, for sure.
Word is they meet in the hotel lobby at 9 am tomorrow to begin seeing as much of St. Petersburg as they can.
Strong Start to the 2018 Elbrus season!
Phil Ershler
July 15, 2018
IMG Senior Guide Peter Anderson checked in last night from Peru, “We are safe and sound in Aguas Calientes and ready for Huayna Picchu and Machu Picchu tomorrow. We are headed out for dinner after well deserved, long showers. We are happy and healthy in Peru!”
Today is the big day for the Salkantay Team, with the full tour of Machu Picchu and a beautiful train ride back to Cusco. Peter Anderson checked in again this afternoon, “We are almost back to Cusco and ready for our celebration dinner. We had a great day at Machu Picchu with everyone making it up Huayna Picchu! The sanctuary has really changed the schedule and paths which made it feel much quieter.”
Congratulations to the team for an excellent adventure!
George Dunn
July 15, 2018
​IMG Lead Guide Betsy Dain​-Owen checked in from Huaraz yesterday to confirm all trekkers completed the trek and successfully reached their hotel. They relaxed for a bit, then headed to dinner to celebrate their success!
The team’s trek from Jahuacocha (13,284′) to Llamac (10,660′) followed by an up-and-down route over yet a couple more high altitude passes. They’re a hearty team who’ve tackled each of the daily challenges well; crossing passes nearly always involved some upward travel to a pass–enjoying the views, and then a descent on the other side. Nice work, team, for taking the many challenges in great style!
The team is currently in transit homeward, and will arrive home later today. We’ll wrap up the trek blog posts tomorrow…with a few more spectacular pics from the trek.
Congratulations to the team on a job well done!
Jason Edwards
July 15, 2018
The team at Barafu Camp. (Phunuru Sherpa)
I received a short dispatch from Phunuru this morning. He said the team is doing well at Barafu Camp (15,400ft) and they’re all looking forward to their summit attempt in a few hours. They’ll ‘wake up’ at 11:00PM and hit the trail at 11:30pm. If all goes as planned they’ll be on the summit at about 8:00am. The sunrise from atop Kilimanjaro is well worth the effort.
The next call from Phunuru is hopefully from the summit!
Now we wait…
Tye Chapman
