Entries from Expedition Dispatches

Monday, August 10, 2026 11:27 pm

Hannah, Daniel, and I sunset climbed on baker this evening. Back at camp. We will be walking out tomorrow and enjoying the blueberries.

RMI Guide Leif Bergstrom & Team

Monday, August 10, 2026 - 8:38 pm PT

We made it to Machu Picchu today! Through the Sun Gate, down into the citadel, six days of trail behind us and somehow it still didn’t feel real once we were standing there.

After the downpour yesterday and all through the night, we figured we were done for, views-wise. We hiked up this morning in intermittent rain and heavy clouds. By the time we reached the Sun Gate, it was fully socked in. Nothing. We played the mind games anyway, telling the clouds they’d never clear, half-hoping that saying it out loud would jinx them into doing exactly that. Eventually we gave up and started the descent into Machu Picchu.

About a minute after we took off, the clouds started opening up. And then there it was, the whole citadel and the mountains around it, in and out of this mystical fog like it was showing off on purpose.

We took a stupid number of photos and celebrated like we’d won something, because we had. This whole trip has been extremes: cloud forests and downpours, dust and dry high altitude, brutal trail days to long quiet nights in a tent. Somehow it all resolved into that one minute of clearing sky.

Tonight we’re in Aguas Calientes, showered, fed, and saving what’s left of our legs for one final hike tomorrow.

RMI Guide Jess Wedel and the Machu Picchu team

The Expedition Skills Seminar – Paradise, led by RMI Guide Joe Crawford, culminated its week of training with a successful summit of Mt. Rainier this morning at 6:30 a.m.

The team spent four nights and five days training on the lower slopes of Mt. Rainier, developing essential mountaineering skills including glacier travel, crevasse rescue, anchor and belay systems, and establishing and living in a mountain camp. Yesterday, they moved up to Camp Muir to prepare for their summit attempt.

They were rewarded with a beautiful day on the mountain and enjoyed some time in the summit crater before beginning their descent. The team is now making its way back to Camp Muir, where they will take a short break to repack and rest before continuing the final 4.5 miles to Paradise later this afternoon, concluding their program.

Congratulations to the entire team on a fantastic week of training and a successful summit of Mt. Rainier!

It's another beautiful day on Mt. Rainier and more teams are reaching the summit.  RMI Guide Dan May and team reached the summit at 6:30 am today.  The route is really nice and the weather is clear.  The team enjoyed an hour in the summit crater before starting their descent to Camp Muir. Once back at Camp they will get a short break before continuing the final 4,000' to Paradise.

Nice work team!

Luedtke and team enjoyed a successful ascent on Mt. Shuksan via the Fisher Chimneys. The team had 100% summit success on a blue bird day, nice work!

Hola!

Today we climbed up to Runkurakay, our third pass of the trip, a smaller ask than yesterday’s monster but still not nothing at this altitude.

The ruins there are round, almost like a watchtower, and it’s wild to think Inca messengers once used spots exactly like this as rest stops while running the length of an empire on foot. Meanwhile we needed a full snack break.

From there, into the cloud forest. Colonies of orchids appearing out of nowhere.  Some so tiny you needed a magnifying glass to see. Hummingbirds doing their impossible physics. The trail itself turns into pure engineering, stone causeways, a tunnel some ancient crew carved straight through solid rock.

Sayacmarca was a highlight: a ruin perched on a cliff edge, reachable only by one narrow staircase, tall rock wall on one side and a straight drop on the other. Edgar walked us through what it might have been, part checkpoint, part ceremonial site, nobody’s entirely sure.

We stopped for lunch at our fourth and final pass of the trip with views looking straight at Machu Picchu mountain and beyond. The clouds began to build (as they have most afternoons) but this time instead of dissipating, they got darker.

So we packed up and started the long descent into our camp for the night. And even though it is “dry season” the rain poured down. By the time we made it to camp it was a full on thunderstorm.

We piled in the dining tent, played our nightly Scum games and enjoyed our final dinner on trail. Tomorrow morning we wake up and hike to the Sun Gate. Cross your fingers these clouds clear so we can see Machu Picchu!

- RMI Guide Jess and the Machu Picchu team

Four day teams reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning at 5:40 am. The teams reported good visibility to the north and south and 20 mph winds as forecasted.

They were leaving the high point and starting their decent to Camp Muir at 6:30 am.

We'll see them back in Ashford this evening to celebrate.

Nice work climbers!

After dinner I asked the team what some of their highlights were from the day:

• One had fun learning and playing Scum (Scum is the chosen card game of this group — we’ve been playing every night and I’m happy to report we saw our first female president who served two terms, iykyk.)
   
• Some said they enjoyed waking up at 5:00am to the symphony of dogs barking and someone else chimed in “or not sleeping to dog’s barking” and then I reminded them I asked for highlights…
   
• There was consensus that the lasagna dinner served with deep fried cauliflower was a top notch moment.
   
• One mentioned that passing every other group on the trail was their highlight. Now before you think we were zooming, dear readers, we weren’t. We were moving in our uphill formation slow and steady. You know what they say, smooth is fast and fast is slow. That was definitely proven true today.
   
• Many mentioned that skipping and/or running down the many rocky stairs was the highlight. With caution! No injuries! But it was fun.
   
• But the top highlight was climbing the 430 flights of stairs (more than 4,000 vertical feet) to Dead Woman’s Pass, the highest point on the whole Inca trail, named because the ridgeline lays out like a woman on her back against the sky. And seeing down into the valley below — the views were 10/10.

 - RMI Guide Jess and the Machu Picchu team

We woke up with a little pep in our step after a good night’s rest at lower altitudes.

Today was our shortest day on the trail, and it came at exactly the right time after two big days and more ahead. After a leisurely breakfast — oat bread (a crowd favorite), quinoa porridge, breakfast sandwiches, and as much hot cocoa and coffee as we could physically put down — we hit the trail.

Descending for a couple hours, we took our time and stopped to learn about the plants, herbs, and flowers along the way. We stopped by the river and sat in silence for some minutes, everyone on their own rock, listening to what Edgar called “the music of Pachamama.” Peaceful, and a good reminder that you can do this anywhere, just sit and listen to birds and moving water, you don’t need to be at 12,000 feet in Peru to remember that. Though it helps.

We visited our first archaeological site on trail, then said goodbye to our horses and wranglers. From here on, we’re on the official Inca Trail, porter team and all.

The afternoon was ours. Rest, laundry, lying in the sun. A campsite chess match. Meanwhile the local chickens and roosters strutted through camp like they owned the place (they might.)

Well-earned, all of it, before tomorrow’s big climb up to Dead Woman’s Pass.

Everyone is doing well. Chess champions, laundry doers, chicken diplomats, the whole crew.

- RMI Guide Jess Wedel and the Machu Picchu team

The Four Day Climb, led by RMI Guides Dan May and Stella Johnson, reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 5:45 a.m. today. Dan reported excellent weather and a great route, allowing the team to remain above the smoky conditions below. The climbers have begun their descent and are currently making their way to Camp Muir, where they will gather their overnight gear before continuing down to Paradise.

Congratulations to the entire team on a successful summit!