Entries By brent okita
June 1, 2024
Posted by: Brent Okita, Leif Bergstrom, Margo Kerr, Drew O’Brien, Sam Marjerison, Claire Pennell
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 13,400'
The Four Day Climb Led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Drew O'Brien reached 13,400' on Mt. Rainier before poor weather forced them to abort and head back towards the shelter of Camp Muir. The team is currently at Camp Muir and will start their descent to Paradise soon.
Congratulations Team!
May 27, 2024
Posted by: Brent Okita, Sam Hoffman, Drew O’Brien, Nick Sinapius, Raymond Holt, Ben Siegel
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Five Day Climb May 23 - 27 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. RMI Guides Brent Okita and Sam Hoffman led the teams. The group reached the crater rim around 7:45 am PT. This is our first Mt. Rainier summit of the 2024 season.
Nice work team!
May 19, 2024
Posted by: Brent Okita, Hannah Smith, Josh Geiser, Jack Delaney, Raymond Holt, Will Ambler
Categories:
Elevation: 11,200'
The Four Day Climb May 16 - 19 led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Hannah Smith climbed halfway up Disappointment Cleaver before conditions required them to turn around. Hannah's team climbed to Ingraham Flats and worked on some ice climbing. The teams descended to Camp Muir and will be packing up and starting their descent to Paradise later this morning.
Sheesh. Those are some gorgeous shots! Ice climbing also sounds pretty sweet.
Posted by: Some guy from Puyallup on 5/19/2024 at 1:44 pm
The conclusion of a climbing trip is always a bittersweet affair. We're looking forward to getting back home to loved ones, yet we're sad to end a great adventure with some new friends.
Our last day saw the group split up with Mike and Heidi flying out from an airstrip near our lodge in the park and the Corcorans needing to beat feet for an early flight home. Plenty of animals were seen on this half-day safari, with Mike and Heidi seeing another leopard! Our day rooms at our nice hotel back in Arusha were key for us to be washed and rested for our long flights home.
As I reflect on this trip from the modern Schiltpol Airport in Amsterdam I'm reminded why we do this stuff. Cool adventures, physical challenges of the type 2 fun variety, and most importantly, climbing (and safari-ing) with a special group of folks that I look forward to doing stuff within the future.
Thanks for reading these posts. See you in the mountains!
RMI Guide Brent Okita
Makes my day!
Thanks for the vicarious thrills!
Posted by: John Buckett on 8/13/2023 at 6:21 am
Land of elephants. Tarangire National Park has one of the largest concentrations of elephants in the world. And we saw plenty, along with most every other animal to be seen on safari. It was a great day of wildlife viewing in a park very different from the Ngorongoro Crater. This park is huge. A vast savanna broken up by a few river systems that provide much need water in this very parched environment.
Eric's big objective was to see a leopard, and our guides Chacha and Jacob didn't let us down. High in a leafy tree, camouflaged so incredibly well, was the cat! How our safari guides can pick these critters out of beyond me. We can only see it with binoculars, but there it is, with part of a carcass it had been feeding on.
The animal sightings continue regularly as we make our way to our luxury tent camp in the park. We celebrate our final night together with another wonderful dinner and a few glasses of nice South African wine.
We're off to get in a few more hours of wildlife viewing before having to get back to Arusha where we'll enjoy our day rooms for a few hours before our evening flight home.
Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and get into the big cats again on our way out.
RMI Guide Brent Okita and Team
Thanks for finding a leopard for Eric! And thank you for the updates. It has been fun to follow along. What an amazing experience for them!
Posted by: Lisa Corcoran on 8/11/2023 at 10:23 am
What an amazing adventure. I’m so glad Eric got to see a leopard! Leopards were such a big part of his childhood. Leopard PJ’s (nonstop for a while), stuffed animals, etc. With Eric’s awesome imagination he didn’t just pretend to be a leopard, he WAS a leopard. I bet there was a part of his soul that was right up in that tree with that leopard he saw.
Posted by: Judy Woellner on 8/11/2023 at 8:57 am
Wednesday, August 9, 2023 - 9:16 am PT
The drive to the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater brings you to well over 6,000', and on this day clouds obscured the views until we had descended most of the way to the crater floor. But this didn't get in the way of seeing the animals we had come to see.
This area is truly one of the greatest wildlife habitats of the world. And we weren't disappointed today. There wasn't much we didn't see, and we got up close and personal with many animals. Well, from the safety of our Landcruiser.
Lions, of course, were the highlight of the day and we were lucky enough to get multiple sightings. The list of animals we saw covers most of what you'd see in a National Geographic special, but the sheer numbers of animals continues to impress. Thousands, and this is not even prime season, according to our wonderful safari guide/drivers Chacha and Jacob.
We ended the day visiting a Maasai village where we were entertained with some dancing, a fire starting demo, view of their traditional living space - the boma - and their school. Yes, it was all a little staged, but it was also nice to know that we were helping support the village financially.
We're now enjoying the comforts of this wonderful lodge after a long day. Doesn't get any better!
Tomorrow, Tarangire National Park. Can't wait!
RMI Guide Brent Okita
Lion PC: Mike Tully
A safari is on my bucket list and I hope to do this in 2024. Love seeing the photos which brings this into reality. Have a great safari and thanks for the blog.
Cheers,
Barb
Posted by: Barbara Heck on 8/9/2023 at 5:55 pm
Reluctantly, we got out of our beds this morning in preparation for our first day of the safari. After seven days in a tent and sleeping bag, I know we all could have used a few more hours in the wonderful beds at the RiverTrees Country Inn, but we had animals to view.
Initially things were slow but picked up after lunch. The highlight: watching a pair of elephants from 30' away. Now, we're bring spoiled at the Plantation Lodge, a truly special and wonderful lodge where the rooms are 5 star and the food just as good. We're all looking forward to getting horizontal because we have a big day ahead: the Ngorongoro Crater where we're sure to see thousands of animals
Lala salama,
Aug 7, 2023 1:55PM PT
A sound sleep and much needed recovery was had by the team after our descent to Mweka Gate and the thin air of 6,000'. Negotiating a slick, slippery path down the 4000' to our waiting bus and celebratory lunch proved tricky, but no casualties were had.
We said our goodbyes to our new friends who supported us this week on Kilimanjaro. We all welcomed the showers, dancing, and comfort at our hotel - plus the ability to connect with friends and family.
Tomorrow our safari begins the second half of our adventure. Catch you then!
Welcome back down to earth where the breathing is easy. Congratulations to all who make this climb. What a great feeling you must all have.
Glad there were no casualties. A good week for you all.
Cheers,
Barb
Posted by: Barbara Heck on 8/7/2023 at 2:49 pm
August 6, 2023
Posted by: Brent Okita
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Elevation: 10,000'
Summit day! Waking up at 11:30pm the moon and stars were in full force. Everyone was nervous and excited to start climbing. After breakfast we began. As we ascended the altitude and cold really challenged us. Finally, the horizon started getting light as sunrise greeted us. As we got to Stella Point fantastic views of the crater showed up, bathed in the early morning sun. The climb to the summit, Uhuru Peak, was beautiful as we traversed past the summit icefields. The climb was tough, but to be expected of a 19,340' mountain.
RMI Guide Brent Okita
August 6, 2023
Posted by: Brent Okita
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Elevation: 19, 340'
Saturday, August 5, 2023 - 9:38 pm PT
Hey, this is Brent Okita with the RMI Kilimanjaro team. We are on the summit of Kilimanjaro right now. It's, oh, I don't know what time it is, a couple of hours after sunrise. We have a beautiful day up here. Everyone did great and we are looking forward to coming down and celebrating. Congratulations to the whole team. All right, that's all for now from the summit of Kilimanjaro, 19,340'. We will talk to you later.
RMI Guide Brent Okita calls from the summit of Kilimanjaro.
Wow that’s awesome, congratulations! That’s an altitude few people outside an airplane ever achieve! Impressive hiking. You’ll remember this day forever! Well done.
Posted by: Judy Woellner on 8/6/2023 at 12:58 pm
Yahoo!!!! So excited to hear you achieved the summit. What a great feat for you all. Proud of those brave hearts that follow the sport of climbing. I give you all a a lot of credit for the commitment to challenge these mountains and volcanos you so love to conquer.
Have a safe and fun trip on the descend. Can’t wait to see photos of the summit.
Cheers,
Barb
Posted by: Barbara Heck on 8/6/2023 at 12:29 pm
Yay! Congratulations
Posted by: Kim Uncapher on 5/30/2024 at 7:35 am
Nicely done. Heading there June 25. Are all summit attempts via the cleaver vs. Ingram direct?
Posted by: Ed on 5/29/2024 at 5:44 am
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