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Our Current News and What's Happening Pages- Scotts Blog!
10/11/09 Again a long time since updating. Look for our more current blog at http://exploreyourplanet2009.blogspot.com/ The latest news is that Mt. Trip and Adventures International are join forces to speak to create a solid partnership in the Himalayas, Central Asia and Russia. Starting off this next spring with Everest from the south. Everyone will benifit from this. Since the last report, I have spent last season working with ALE in Antarctica, leading 3 Vinson summits, getting in some of the lightest backcountry snow on earth in the Ellsworth near Vinson base camp and working with some amazing people there. Very much looking forward to going back south this winter in December. See everyone that can make it down. After Antarctica, back to Aconcagua then onto Everest with Johnny and Brian Strange. A good trip, saw us up on the summit in great weather. This summer was full with Elbrus and then Peak Lenin. Love Kyrgyzstan! Lots to do and explore there. Would like to have a go at all the Snow Leopard Peaks in one season! Anyone want to go? This fall has been good. Reconnecting with friends here in Hood River and enjoying just being home for a bit. Will almost be 4 months, wow a new record. The mountain biking here in Hood River is amazing, anyone coming thru, bring your bike! Bigger Everest trip planned for this next spring, Nepal side! Looking forward to that. With VInson this last winter I completed my 3rd time around on all 7 summits! Amazing, and its really never been a goal of mine. Actually just one Carstensz summit away from my 4th time to all seven summits! We'll see what 2010 brings. Not sure if thats a record, I think so.
11/5/07
Wow, its been awhile since my last update!
Sorry! Just been out too much to enter the blogosphere! Seriously busy year!
After an amazing trip on Aconcagua with Nicki, Noel, Andy, Steve and Laurie. I
enjoyed some time off up till the spring Nepal season. I led 2 trips into the
Khumbu with DCXP expeditions and a friend of mine Duncan Chessler. We will be
working closer together on future expeditions (watch for Everest North Side next
spring!). So after two long trips into the Khumbu, climbing Lobouche twice,
Island Peak (south ridge), Pokalde,
KongMa
Tse, Kala Patar a couple times and crossing a bunch of high passes it was back
home for a very short time. I am now living in between Hood River and Shastina,
California. Very beautiful place here with Laurie. Now off to Alaska and Denali
with Nicki, Lauirie and Chris Klinke. Another excellent trip Just managed to
summit (only group during the last 3 weeks of the season!), via a different
variation up the west buttress. A direct alternate route to 19,400 ft. Very
nice, highly recommended for an option to Denali Pass. Back home, then off to
Guatamala with Laurie and her darling daughter Avriel. Pure vacation!
Immediately after this it was onto another plane to Russia to meet Nicki again
and Chris Klinke who would be helping me. Great trip! Summer in Russia is always
a blast! The Caucasus's and the Baksan Valley are just beautiful! The
Russian ALps! A good trip up Elbrus then home again. Now Nicki and I decided to
have a go at Carstensz while its still open. So off we went to Jakarta, then
West Papua (Irian Jaya) and on into Base Camp. Interesting trip, as I went for a
little acclimatization hike and ended up
climbing Carstensz in 3.5 hrs. round trip! The new record! The next day Nicki
and I climbed it in very extreme conditions. Serious
snow,
full on winter conditions. See the reports for more photos. Next day I climbed
Sunday Peak the second highest in Austrial Asia solo. So with 2 more summits on
Carstensz, I am 2 expeditions away from climbing the seven summits 3 times! And
with Vinson scheduled for December, hopefully that will make its twice around.
Not sure if anyone else has done that, but its not far away now. We fly to the
ice in 3 weeks from now! Busy, busy! Immediately after that I will be on
Aconcagua for a private guided trip with Laurie. Actually have some time off up
till the Everest season begins. Will be working together with Duncan Chessler
and DCXP expeditions going into the North side after a trek into the south side
base camp. Yahoo, really honestly never a dull moment (except catching up on the
web page!). Stay in touch and lots of space for some trips next year. 2 Elbrus
trips going next summer (one is full already), then Carstensz and Vinson.
Cheers! Scott
3/15/07
Hi, to my what's up page. Not always the most
frequently updated as I have been traveling super hard. And its all been good
with lots of things on the horizon. Lets see, after Kilimanjaro we did a good
trip on Aconcagua. Unfortunately the Aconcagua Park service has shut down
(hopefully temporarily) the Upper Vacas Route. So we have moved our Aconcagua
program over to the Vacas Normal route. I must say it was fun to be there again,
its actually a fun way to go. This was my 30th trip to Aconcagua! Immediately,
like 2 days after Aconcagua, I again left back to Africa for perhaps one of the
funniest trips ever. Mostly just all good friends. When you have a job like mine
eventually all your friends get opportunities to go. So this way ti. With
Richard and Eric we planned the coolest Kilimanjaro trip and Safari. And boy was
it fun! Did what I consider the ultimate route on Kili. Starting up the
Lemosho, across the Shira Plateau, then around the whole north side of the
mountain to the Rongai Route and School hut. Crazy weird weather. Its the heart
of the dry season and it rained every day! Never have seen rain like that during
this season and the whole upper mountain was covered by
snow. Anyways it went
well and we were treated to the most amazing sunrise right from
the summit ever,
period! Really beautiful, perhaps the most amazing summit ever,
perhaps.... We had 3 Land Cruisers with pop tops for the Safari, and again it
was wet and muddy...but a lot of fun! Now I have been working here in California
with Laurie (and Avriel her daughter). Always nonstop training with Laurie,
skiing, hiking, climbing, biking. We have been
doing a number of presentations
together on our last years Everest trip to the North side. So what's coming up?
I will be working togther with Duncan Chessler again, this time just for 2 super
fun Nepal treks/climbs. This will be a fun break from going high again on
Everest every year. We are planning a big trip again to Everest North side next
spring but this year, its about staying a little lower. Although over the next 2
trip we will climb 5 peaks over 20,000 ft.. Following the Nepal season, Chris
Klinke, Laurie Bagley and I will be joining Nicki on Denali. This will be the
first time I have been back in 4 years. So should be fun. That will be Nickis
3rd of 7 summits with any luck with the weather. Following Alaska, were off to
Russia. Again Chris Klinke will be helping me on Elbrus. Then I actually have
some time off, almost a couple months. Next scheduled trip now is to Myanmar
(formerly Burma). There is some quite high, very seldom climbed peaks in the far
north rising out of the jungle that we are planning a bit of an exploratory
expedition into to check out. We are also doing film project around that trip so
really will be fun and different. Immediately following Myanmar, we are off to
Antarctica for another Vinson expedition. This one is semi private with 4 of us
scheduled to go into Patriot Hills and then onto Vinson from there. So that's
almost the whole next year is going to be super busy and too much fun.
12/22/06
Hola Amigos! In Hood River now after 2 back to
back trips. Nicki and I did Kilimanjaro on the first of her Seven Summits! Way
to go Nicki! Next up is Aconcagua for her! I am happy to be together with Laurie
Bagley now. We are making plans to spend more of our life together in the
future. We just got back from another super amazing Catamaran trip in Mexico
with my good friend Eric Sandford. Another life changing experience, for the
best! A very amazing trip from Puerto Vallarta sailing down to Manzinillo.
Simply the happiest times on the ocean! Now I have a week here to get
caught up and then off for two more trips. The first to Aconcagua, where we have
to parrell trips. Then back to Africa, for a friends only private trip to
Kilimanjaro and Safari. I will be having a little break in Feb. then off to
Nepal to help Duncan and DCXP Expeditions for a Louboche Trek/Climb and
then either Everest again (North Side) or Ama Dablam. In June I will be going
back to McKinley for the first time in a few years for a private climb on the
West Buttress with Nicki. Then We have 2 Elbrus trips in July/August. November I
will be going to Myanmar for a very unique expedition into the far north and a
5800 meter glacieated peak. That will be pure adventure! Have a Vinson trip
scheduled for December and that gets me about a year out there from now! Whew,
things are definitly busy here at Adventures International!
6/13/06
Hello all! Well back in Hood River after almost 2
and a half months traveling. A super good trip to Everest North Side this
spring! 6 of us reached the top!
I summited Everest
for my third time, and from a different side of the hill! Mostly great weather earlier saw a lot of
earlier summits. We waited and literally had 4 perfect days to go high. A no
wind summit day (just say no to cold toes!). I spent over an hour on top, mostly
waiting for our last member. I worked together with Jamie McGuiness of Project
Himalaya and Duncan Chessler of DCXP Expeditions. It worked so well we have more
plans in the works already. Lets see, I will be off to China for a month to have
a go at Muztagata this summer. Then no plans for awhile until the Kili and
Aconcagua seasons kick in. I do have an Aconcagua trip Jan 2 going now.
3/3/06
Hello to everyone! Thanks for finding your way to
this page. We'll its been a year for changes here at Adventures International
Inc. A lot has happened since my last update below. Lets see, after Vinson we
led trips to the mountains and cloud forests in Venezuela, the fantastic
Careterra Austral Highway on our "Explore Northern Patagonia" trip. This
one is definitely one of my favorites! Spectacular mountains and National Parks
in Chile and Argentinas remote Northern Patagonia region. After this we went to
Ojos Del Salado in the isolated Atacama desert! This is a very unusual and
interesting area. Great volcanoes to climb in this region. Ojos is the second
highest peak in South America! Then off to Russia for just about the best season
ever there! Two back to back 100% successful trips. Both trips the weather
was so good we ended up having 3 to 4 extra days for trekking in the spectacular
Baksan Valley. Very good trekking here! We also checked out the remote
alternative to climbing Elbrus which we plan to start leading next year. This
will get us off the super overcrowded normal route. A little more work, but
we'll have the mountain to ourselves! After Russia it was back to the Atacama
area for another exploratory trip out of Arica and the Lauca Park area on the
border with Bolivia. Our goal was to cross into Bolivia and have a go at Sajama,
the highest Peak in Bolivia. Quite a place and one of the easiest ways to
approach Sajama.
A lot of changes at this point. I returned home to find out my life was about to change! My wife had had enough I guess, and she left. Quite a shock, so it was a difficult period adjusting to these changes. So I actually took some time off and finished a remodel project on my house and started planning the next series of trips. Took a WFR course in October, joined a bunch of friends on just about the best trip I have been on in a long while (and it wasn't in the mountains!). We sailed Doc Phunns (Eric Sanfords) 42 ft. Catamaran across the Sea of Cortez from La Paz, Baja to Mazatlan! Yahoo! Fishing, rock climbing, snorkeling... just all fun in the sun. Soon after this, actually the next day! I left for our Patagonia Rock Climbing trip. We again went into the Bader Valley for almost 2 weeks of craggng in the great weather of the Bader. Lots of new routes on Cuerno Este. This was my 4th time into the valley here. What a place! Then up north a bit to meet another group for Aconcagua! Always fun! Several friends went on this one- Richard, Mike and John. A great trip, super weather, everyone summited! After this it was time for some attitude adjustment and a tour of some favorite places in Argentina and some new ones as well. Down to Bariloche and San Martin de Los Andes for trekking and exploring. A very good vacation.
So back from there a few weeks ago and trying to get caught up on everything before leaving for Mexico, then Thailand , then Everest! This will be my forth Everest trip. Looking forward to it though as it will be the Tibet side this year. A bit more interesting and I believe a little safer. So follow the reports, its always interesting. The format for things here at Adventures International will be changing later this year. I plan to focus more on even smaller, private and custom trips to all the places I have visited. This will be the perfect mix of high quality trips, on your schedule and abilities. Everyone will get exactly what they want out of each trip this way and I can assure you I will definitely have more fun leading these as well! So give me a call if you have something in mind! I am usually busy at least 6 months ahead! Its late, time to go! What a year it has been. Follow us on Everest this spring! Never stop dreaming! Scott Woolums, Hood River, Oregon.
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2/9/05
Welcome to 2005! Already been a busy year! Started
off in Antarctica where we had a very successful expedition to Vinson. 100%!
That's always nice. Anyways that was
my seventh summit!
Yahoo! Never has been a big goal of mine but there
it is, on the list! It has become a large part of our business now, leading
trips to the highest points on all seven continents. It feels good to have
this behind me. Being a climber at heart, it is one of the biggest goals that
you can accomplish. We have a number of customers that are close to reaching
their 7 summits also with us. Climb on! What motivates me besides being in the
mountains is the opportunity to travel and all the experiences that surround
climbing "the big seven". Guaranteed, if you make any or all of these peaks a
goal, the adventures, experiences and people you encounter may be bigger than
the actual goal of reaching the summits! I have found that out. I have joined a
small group of adventurers that have climbed these peaks and am now part of an
even more elite group of guides that have guided these peaks. Counting
Carstensz, there are probably less than 5 guides in the world that really have
guided all the 7 summits! We here believe in the Carstensz version as being the
"true seven summits". Carstensz is still closed unfortunately. Following Vinson
we lead a trip into Venezuela, the Sierra Nevada, Angel Falls and the coastal
cloud forests, what a great contrast after Antarctica! Here in the office for 10
days then off to our Explore Northern Patagonia trip. Should be lots of fun. We
may and may not go to Everest this season as things are heating up a lot in
Nepal right now. We are hoping peaces comes to the Kingdom of Nepal. Now it's a
complete kingdom, with no elected government! We have trips going to Africa,
Kyrgyzstan and Elbrus now scheduled. Join us for the adventure! Scott Woolums
10/14/04 Were getting set here for another very busy winter! Have a bunch of interesting trips going to Mexico, Patagonia, Aconcagua, Antarctica, Venezuela and Russia. Heidi Kloos is now working with us leading our expeditions to Russia, Aconcagua and whatever else comes up this year. She is bringing a new energy to our programs that's very positive! Very happy to have her working on the Adventures International team! I will be off to Mexico at the end of the month with a nearly full trip to the volcanoes outside Mexico City, always a great place! We also have 2 Explore Southern Patagonia Treks going to the best places in both Argentine and Chilean Patagonia. Simply fantastic trekking! I am personally very excited about our Vinson program in Antarctica. Its starting out this January with two expeditions, led by John Rust and myself. It will be great to be again working with John in the mountains, as the last time we worked together was during our 2003 Everest and Lhotse expeditions. Vinson will be my 7th summit! Very excited to finally achieve this goal. Its really never been a big goal of mine, its sort of just happened. I feel luck to be in a position to have the opportunity to climb, experience and reach the highest points of our planets seven continents. Explore your planet is really what life is all about! Follow the reports from the ice this winter!
6/2/04 Hello everyone! Scott here. What a perfect season again in Nepal. We led a trek into Everest Base Camp and also Walter led a successful Island Peak Expedition. All up a good season in great weather this year. Very good to touch bases with a bunch of friends and Sherpas up at Everest Base Camp this spring. Nepal has its troubles right now but it is still removed from the Khumbu region. Really now is the perfect time to visit as there are fewer people trekking. On our way back we stopped in the RaiLeh/Krabi/Pranang area for 6 days of rock climbing! Paradise pretty much describes this place! Walter and I enjoyed the time off after Nepal to eat seafood, climb some spectacular limestone, snorkel, and just enjoy the heat and humidity of beachfront Thailand! Lots of fun. I will be leading trips to Kyrgyzstan (Pik Lenin) and then Kazakhstan (Khan Tengri) in the beautiful Pamirs and Tien Shan Ranges starting June 26th. Heidi will again be working on Elbrus this season also. I am planning some time off just to catch up on several major projects. Heidi will getting her Alpine AMGA Certification and we are very excited to have her working Nepal, Russia, Argentina, Peru trips for us. Guess thats about all the new news. We do have some interesting stuff on the horizon with Everest, Aconcagua, Nuptse, Nepal Treks, Kilimanjaro trips all going! Call Yvette or me here for more information. We will be using the new Contact 3.0 Pocket PC program for live, as its happening, trip reports. Follow my Central Asia trips with pics and vids from the mountain side and hopefully the top! Scott Woolums
3/28/04 Just back from Chile. A great season on Aconcagua, Patagonia and our newest trip, Northern Chile, the Atacama and Ojos del Salado! What a place, northern Chile. The ultimate desert, actually the driest on earth. Huge, wide open areas, all over 14,000 ft. with 18,000, 19,000, 20,000 plus foot volcanoes rising up out of the Altiplano. Look for a lot more trips back to this area. Summited Ojos just a week and half ago! The second highest peak in South America and the southern hemisphere! Off next to Nepal, no Everest expedition this year which is nice as we need a break to keep things interesting! Do have a full Everest Base Camp trek, look for reports starting May 1st! We also have some interesting things coming up into Central Asia. Peak Lenin, perhaps the most fun you can have going to 7000 meters! Kinda like Aconcagua with glaciers! All in the middle of the amazing Pamir Mountains! We'll be back on Khan Tengri also this July/August. One of the most spectacular peaks in the world! Definitely a challenging technical route to over 7000 meters!. Scott Woolums
1/21/04 Busy season right now! Have a couple Aconcagua trips out the door (see reports) and getting ready to head south myself. Some interesting changes for this next season. Lots going on in Kazakhstan and Kyrghyzstan. We have added a new 7000+ meter program that should be a good place for post Aconcagua and McKinley climbers. Will be leading trips to Vinson Jan 2005, then Nuptse, Lhotse and Everest in April 2005 . Back to Everest for my 4th time! Really looking forward to a little climbing in Patagonia on this next trip, that's always a lot of fun! If anyone is interested, we have a super program for anything from easier rock climbing in the Torres to very challenging tower climbs in both the Torres and Fitzroy areas! Will be sending reports back from all trips so check it out! Scott Woolums
12/19/03 Happy holidays to all! Great trip to Africa. Everything went perfect. Good weather on Kilimanjaro saw everyone summit. The new route on Kilimanjaro is fantastic! We saw no one on the mountain until summit day! The Northern circuit will be our new approach and the best choice for anyone looking towards "The Roof of Africa". There are several glacier routes to do also along the East side there that we hope to visit this next year. A huge season down in South America just around the corner now. I will be leading a climbing trip in Patagonia into the classic Bader Valley (amazing climbing), then a trek through both the Argentine and Chilean Patagonia areas, followed by a trip into the Atacama desert and a climb of Ojos Del Salado, the second highest peak in the Americas. Should be fun, stay in touch and give us a call to check in. Scott
10/22/03 Working hard here to get our Kilimanjaro Ski Expedition and Safari out the door. Looking forward to working closely with the Colorado Cancer Organization to help support their fund raising efforts. Pietro Simonetti, who sumited Aconcagua with me a number of years ago has done a great job putting together an amazing list of sponsors for this trip. Follow our live reports. So what an exciting trip it will be! We will follow this with a great trip into the Atlas Mtns. and the Sahara Desert in Morocco! A busy Aconcagua season coming up, Also trips to Mt. Kenya, Patagonia for both trekking and climbing, then Ojos del Salado. Have an almost full Everest Base Camp trek this spring. We plan to wait another year before going back to Everest. Hopefully ANI will continue their Antarctica flights next season down south as we are planning a Vinson trip for January 2005. Off to Africa in a few days! Cheers, Scott
8/11/03
Just back from Kazakhstan and really excited about getting thing all set for some great trekking and mountaineering trips for next summer into the Tien Shan. What an amazing place! The trekking is better than Nepal, super good support, great easier peaks to climb as well as Khan Tengri and Pobeda. Those are quite challenging! Read our account from this summer as we got close, in tough conditions! We have a trip over on Elbrus right now with Lisa Rust leading that. She just called and they are at high camp and have waited out a day of bad weather already and are set for tomorrow to go. Go Lisa! We are sorting out the Aconcagua season now, getting 5 trips ready now, with more people signing up all the time. Jump on one of the dates soon as we may limit the number of trips we will do this year. Have 2 trips to Africa going now one in November and another in January. Have an Everest Base Camp trek going next spring that has room for 2 more now. Kazakhstan next summer, put it on the schedule! It is a very special place! Dasvandya!
7/4/03
Hi! A busy post Everest month here. Felt very amazing this spring being again on top of the world! Photo on
the summit of Everest to the left this spring, below on the summit last spring (2002). A bit more mixed weather this year. We will plan to have a regular program going to Everest and several other 8000 meter peaks now. Super good job by John Rust also in leading our successful Lhotse trip as well this spring. All up a very good season. Were getting a number of interesting trips going from Kazakhstan to Africa! Have 5 Aconcagua trips set now. I leave for Kazakhstan in tomorrow so call Yvette here in the office for any information you may need. I will be setting my schedule for the next year for a series of more private departures. Hope you can join us to Explore Your Planet!
3/13/03 Hello Everyone! Well thanks for checking up on what's going on at Adventures International. We've been busy! Lots of stuff on the horizon also. We are right in the middle of getting out the door to Everest, Lhotse and a couple treks into the Khumbu area of Nepal. A huge season. Some really fun things also this summer with Elbrus, Bolivia, Peru and a new trip going out to Khan Tengri in Kazakstan then into the Gobi desert for some double hump camel racing! Not a lot of time right now with everything going on at once! Some of the big news is we have purchased and have some really amazing new technology that will allow some nearly live web reports following our trips around the world. A new high speed internet terminal, 2 new sat phones, and the new Compaq IPAQ Pocket PC to allow instant photos, videos, sound and written reports that will appear directly on our web pages, immediately and directly, from anywhere in the world! Its definitly fun playing with the new toys! Check out our Everest Reports 2003 for this technology in use! See our new Technology page with more details on all the fun stuff! Back to packing! We still have room on the Khna Tengri trip and Elbrus this summer. Give us a call! Ciao, Scott
Upcoming Departures:
Kilimanjaro and Safari Nov 2nd, 2003 and Jan 4th, 2004
Elbrus 2003- 3 Trips July 20th, Aug 3rd, Aug 17th
Khan Tengri- Super Technical July 5th, 2003
Explore the Gobi Desert in Mongolia- July 27th, 2003
Aconcagua- 9 Departures starting Dec. 14th thru Feb. 8th, 2003 and 2004
Everest Expedition March 22nd, 2004 Yep, going back next spring. plans are set already!
Lhotse Expedition and Camp 3 and Camp 4 on Everest trips! Call for Details
Carstensz Pyramid - Nov. 15, 2003
Vinson Massif 2004- Join us for Scotts Seventh Summit!
Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador this summer!