Entries By chase nelson

Good evening, The team spent the day hiking up with big loads on our backs to our high camp on Ixta, with the goal of going to the summit tomorrow morning. The team looked as strong as they have the whole trip and the weather forecast is looking quite nice for us. We arrived at around 2 pm to camp here at 15,400 feet and have been relaxing and breathing the thin air. It's been generally cloudy all day but this evening the clouds have settled down below us and opened a gorgeous view of Popo, the other volcano in our vicinity. We'll be getting up before the sun for our summit bid, wish us luck! RMI Guide Chase Nelson

On The Map

Here we are at the Altzimoni hut, checking in after another good day in Mexico. We rose this morning and hit the road from La Malintzi to the town of Amecameca where we picked up some last minute fresh food items for our climb on Ixta. The bus then took us up to the Paso de Cortez, and continued up to the hut here at 13,000 feet. Upon arriving we grabbed our day packs and went up tomorrow’s trail, towards Ixta high camp, for another acclimatization hike. It’s been a bit cloudy here at the moment but otherwise it’s as beautiful as ever up here in the mountains. The whole team seems to be handling the altitude thus far exceedingly well and I think we’re looking really strong for our trip up to high camp tomorrow. We fueled up with a nice dinner of carne asada, rice, and fresh tortillas so now it’s time to get some sleep for a day of heavy packs and uphill travel! RMI Guide Chase Nelson

On The Map

Hola from Mexico! The team met yesterday evening following our flights to Mexico City, and had a nice dinner a short walk from Hotel Geneve. Little did I know that shortly after we sat a mariachi band complete with a singing luchador began to play... what a trip! This morning we boarded our bus and took the journey to La Malintzi at the foot of a dormant volcano, La Malinche, and spent the day hiking up to nearly 13,500 ft to acclimatize. Our goal today was less summit oriented and more for preparing our bodies for the climbs ahead so we opted out of going all the way to it’s 14,500 ft summit. That being said, the team was strong from start to finish and capped off the hike with a bit of earned relaxation before dinner. Tonight we’ll be sleeping in the cabañas here at La Malintzi at 10,000 feet to keep acclimatizing, all in prep for the next several days on Ixta! I’ll check in as our climb progresses, RMI Guide Chase Nelson

On The Map

The Four Day Summit Climb September 27 - 30, 2017 was unable to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier today due to weather and route conditions. RMI Guides Casey Grom & Chase Nelson led the teams to 11,400' before deciding to turn around. The teams will return to Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.

The Mt. Shuksan Seminar, led by Chase Nelson, checked in last night and let us know that they made their summit attempt today. The team reached the base of the pyramid and conditions were too icy to continue so they turned back. However, they are excited about what they did accomplish and they will make their way off the mountain today. RMI Guide Chase Nelson

This is Chase and team checking in from the Sulphide Glacier! After three days of almost constant snowfall we finally enjoyed a bit of a break in the weather and even had a few hours of sun. About a foot of snow has fallen since our arrival but the training has continued as planned. Tomorrow we're going to venture higher up towards the pyramid and see if conditions are suitable for a summit attempt. We'll check in tomorrow afternoon! RMI Guide Chase Nelson

RMI Guide Chase Nelson led his Paradise Seminar team to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. They have spent the last six days training on the mountain with beautiful weather. We look forward to seeing them back at Rainier Basecamp this afternoon.

The Four Day Summit Climb team led by RMI Guides Paul Rachele and Chase Nelson reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 6:40am. Paul reported strong winds of about 50 mph and a cloud cap covering the crater rim. The team started their descent at 7:00am and are en-route to Camp Muir. Congratulations to today's team!

RMI teams, led by Pete Van Deventer and Chase Nelson, reached the Mt. Rainier summit at 5:45 a.m. The weather is nice and at 7:05 a.m. the teams were at High Break on their descent. Congratulations to today's summit climbers!

Our third AMS-Alpine Expedition has come to an end. What an incredible time we had! The rugged terrain of Little Switzerland didn't disappoint at all... While the weather has been the main challenge, conditions on the routes were stellar. Our team of four climbers were super talented and motivated, and training days in the vicinity of camp waiting for weather to clear, turned to be the most productive lessons on the terrain; from rock rescue scenarios, to anchor transitions, all paid back with very efficient climbs up iconic formations like "The Lost Marsupial" or "The Troll", which astonished glacier landing tourists from down below as their K2 Aviation plane landed on the Kahiltna Glacier. Worth mentioned was our menu. If most of us are familiar with the concept of car camping... imagine how plane camping can be! With a powerless fridge like the glacier, steaks or fresh vegetables are unquestionable components of our diet in here. Yes, the alpine climbing in our seminar is at its best; light packs, 1 day missions from camp, and technical terrain. But when we're at camp, fun times, quality rest and better food is guaranteed. Now we're headed to the airport, already thinking of next year's edition. Thanks for following and I hope you will consider joining us next season! RMI Guide Elías de Andrés Martos