HOW IT ALL GOT STARTED

Hello and thanks for visiting my climbing blog!

My name is Scott and I live in Atlanta, GA. I always had an interest in climbing mountains, but never really knew how to get started. In January of 2005, the company I was working for decided to open an office in Memphis and I volunteered to move and help get things kicked off. When I arrived in Memphis I only knew one person, whom I met a few years prior at a wedding, so I gave him a call. He agreed to meet me that evening, but couldn't stay out late because "...he was heading to Africa the next day." Upon meeting him that night, I learned he was leaving the next morning to try his hand at climbing Kilimanjaro.

The next morning, I was talking to my mother and telling her about the conversation from the previous night. During this conversation she asked me if I realized my Uncle Steve had been a climber for years. "No," I responded. She gave me his phone number and the following weekend I made a call to a relative I hadn't spoken to in years. Little did I know how much that call would change my life!

In the 6 years since, I've been to Africa (Tanzania & Kenya), Russia (Moscow & Mineral'Nye Vody), Mexico, Georgia (The country, not the state), and South America (Chile & Argentina), summitted Mt. Kilimanjaro, Mt. Elbrus, and Mt. Rainier, made two attempts at Cerro Aconcagua, an attempt at Ixta, made quick stops in London and Quito, Ecuador, met an endless number of extraordinary people, and developed a new relationship with my uncle.

The blog entries, pictures, and details below are my attempt to share my adventures with the rest of my friends and family. I hope you enjoy!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Awesome Picture!

I just saw this picture from the Route Conditions blog that RMI posts. Click the link below and it shows the upper part of the mountain on Sunday (7/18/10). If you look closely you can see the trail leading to the summit that has been warn in from all the climbers. Now for the cool part – once you pull the picture up, drag the mouse over the picture and left click. This will zoom the picture in and if you look closely you can see a group of climbers (Right before the trail bends to the right) and, for those that have good eyes, another group just north of the right hand turn. THis will put into perspective the size and scale of the mountain.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitTdDjZ9niFSc4lqqqfEQGxJ4AQrPnGW-t0mpXZIU4jeZ5u7K2xrFxBYKr1T7UfbdZrdZan_330ixBwO7nbp6XStYTPF6bhPuf0JQwA0hH0iF2VXMdsXXjcWYvQgxy6cwgIoQwVXZw2gw/s1600/IMG_0138.jpg
Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. Babu'July 21, 2010 at 9:49 AM

    Another way to enlarge the image is to hold down the control button and then depress the + or - keys. Unfortunately the image quality (pixels) isn't enough to allow enlarging to see the people. There is a base camp just below the lowest group of climbers. I'm not sure of the direction this photo is towards so I'm not able to tell what time the image was taken. If we knew the time it might give us some idea of whether the last group is just starting out for the summit; although I doubt it because of the amount of light. The sun seems too high for someone just setting out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Scott ZanniniJuly 21, 2010 at 1:53 PM

    I dont know what camp that is, but I did read that there is a small camp above 10,000 feet that cuts off 1,000 feet on summit day. Most people use Camp Shurman at 9K as their high camp. If this indeed the higher high camp, both those groups could be asending. Im fairly sure the top group is ascending, but you could make an argument both ways for the lower group. I noticed the lower group is on the right side of the trail and, from my experiences, that usually means going up. Agree?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ward JonesJuly 22, 2010 at 8:31 AM

    I wonder how far apart the two groups of tents are. The scope and size in this picture, and many others, are amazing. Is that a snow rabbit?

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)