Entries from Expedition Dispatches

The whole team stood on top of Pequeño Alpamayo today! We woke up to an almost shockingly warm night, and although it still got a little chilly at 17,000' at 4 am we spent most of the day in just one or two layers and thin gloves. Conditions were vastly better than the last time I climbed Pequeño in 2024, but don't be fooled, this was still a very long, hard day and everyone had to give it their all. To even get to the mountain one first must summit Tarija, itself a glaciated 5000m peak, before descending several hundred feet of 3rd and 4th class rock terrain to the saddle with Paqueño Alpamayo, all before the really steep climbing starts. All told you essentially summit three 5000 meter peaks, since you have to climb back up the rocks to Tarija on the way back, which makes for a pretty challenging "acclimatization" day, but such is the nature of climbing in the Cordillera Real. Hannah and I are both so proud of this team and impressed by everyone's efforts both on the mountain and in the preparation at home. We couldn't be more excited for two more big summit attempts within the next week!

RMI Guide Henry Coppolillo

Wednesday, May 20, 2026 - 9:28 pm PT

Tonight’s dispatch starts with a Haiku from Oliver:

Trango home on snow 

Vented, sturdy and solid 

Palace of solace

Today we woke up to a low cloud, light snow and calm winds. It was our chance to go back and grab our cache. As we let the morning slow roll, we enjoyed the the second smoked salmon meal of the trip and then geared up with empty packs and sleds and started back downhill to be reunited with our snacks and group meals we have been missing. After a quick 30 minutes of down we were digging. 

We then loaded everything up, and headed back up hill for a short hour. As we finally made it back into camp, weather mellowed out and we enjoyed a solid afternoon of building a kitchen, good burritos, and snapping a quick team photo. 

Weather might be a bit tough tomorrow, but when things allow we will gear up to carry to 13,500'

RMI Guide Nikki Champion

We finally had a good weather day!

Everyone was stoked that we got to cache near 14,000' Camp. We lugged extra food, some empty poop buckets, summit clothes - such as the super warm mittens (or as Jenn calls them, the "oh shit mitts") and our ascenders a few thousand feet up the mountain. The weather was spectacular. A stark difference from the cold, windy, snowy weather we had the last few days. There were dozens of rope teams out and about caching or moving camps. We made it back to tent city at 11,000' and some of us finally got to change into clean underpants! It's a good day.

Hi to Goose (the best dog) Matt, Betsy, mom and dad!

RMI Climber Katie

Wednesday, May 20, 2026 - 4:52 pm PT

Made it up to Condoriri basecamp today with the help of about a dozen mules. After setting up camp and having lunch we kept walking up to the toe of the glacier at around 16,000,' where we spent a few hours reviewing some more advanced mountaineering skills- steep cramponing, ice climbing and lowering and rappelling. We're getting to bed early ahead of an alpine start tomorrow, we'll check in when we're all back in camp tomorrow afternoon!

RMI Guide Henry Coppolillo

Hello from Talkeetna!

All of our travels went well yesterday and we are moved in to our hopefully temporary accommodations in Talkeetna. Today will be a packed day with a meeting with the park service and then lots or organization and preparation for our expedition.  Everyone is excited to be here and get things moving. Send us good weather vibes!

-RMI Guide Seth Burns and Team

white noise of the night

flapping prison of nylon

sky breaks evening light

- anonymous

Tuesday, May 19, 2026 - 5:49 pm PT

We left La Paz in the wee hours of the morning, navigating the maze of city streets to the highway leading to Huayna Potosi. As we neared the base of Huayna we could see headlamps high on the summit ridge, an exciting preview of what's to come. The sun was just beginning to rise as we turned north on a road that seemed improbable at best in a passenger van, but our driver navigated with ease and precision while we took in breathtaking early morning views of the west face of Huayna. After creating a 16000+' pass the "road" dropped down towards the Condoriri valley, and we hopped out of the van to stretch our legs for the final few miles to the Rinconada trailhead. We set up camp in the meadow surrounded by grazing llamas and alpacas. After lunch the rest of the afternoon was spent napping and organizing gear into loads for the mules that will help us move up to Condoriri base camp tomorrow. It's great to be out of the hustle and bustle of the city and under the spectacular Milky Way sky.

RMI Guide Henry Coppolillo

Well, the walls we built last night turned out to be the right call. Throughout the night, the winds ramped up and snowfall continued. By the time the morning rolled around, our fate was obvious. It was going to be a weather day. With the strong winds and constant snowfall, we all snoozed our alarms and settled into our sleeping bags for a few more hours before a slow morning of scrambled eggs, ham, and English muffins. The day didn't improve much, and being outside was less than desirable, so every one settled into their homes for the day, and moved through a steady rotation of sleep, sport eating, and the occasional tv show. During any lulls, or when we all got a bit stir crazy some shoveling would partake, but most hours were spent in the tent. 

We are going to wrap the night up with some Thai curry and rice noodles before heading to bed with the hope to back carry tomorrow!

RMI Guide Nikki Champion

The Five Day Climb led by RMI Guide Ben Ammon took a sunrise walk to Ingraham Flats this morning, reaching 11,200'.  Unstable snow conditions made their decision to turn around. The team returned to Camp Muir and plans to start their descent to Paradise around 9:30 am.   They will return to Rainier BaseCamp in the early afternoon.

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

On the second day of our trip we had a leisurely morning, enjoying our breakfasts while the sun worked its way out of the clouds. We spent half the day practicing roped travel and discussing some of the other techniques involved in glacier travel. After the sun had us half baked we turned around and skied the warm, soft snow on the glacier back down to camp. After a brief siesta we dove into some more technical skills associated with crevasse rescue. Once the spongey parts of the brain seemed at capacity we chilled a little more and made dinner. 

The next day started much earlier with the goal of reaching the crater rim. Undesirable snow conditions made skiing off the top a less attractive prospect. We left camp in the dark and hacked our way through some frozen piles of avalanche debris and old tracks and back onto the glacier. Slowly the pale gray light of dawn bloomed into a stunning sunrise. We paused to take it in, multifaceted in its varying refractions and reflections, the sunrise, as seen from on high, cannot be captured in word or image but only seems to exist in fleeting experience or inferior replica. But I'll attach an image anyways. We made it up to the crater in good style and soaked in the sun and sulfur. The particularly active steam vents were an exciting reminder of the dynamic nature of our mountain home and geological world. The skiing down from the crater was, at first, quite poor. I've skied worse snow but I don't remember when. But thankfully it improved as it became denser and then softened. We broke down camp and descended to the trail. On our way in we were able to skin on the fresh snow over most of the trail. On the exit we walked most of it as the new snow was quickly headed down to join sulfur creek. We finished our trip at Tacos Tecalitlan which has quickly become one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. 

This trip was a success thanks to an enduring team and a little love from the weather. Thanks to this storm I'm hoping to keep my ski season going for at least a few more weeks. 

RMI Guide Will Ambler

Monday, May 18, 2026

The Mt. Baker Summit & Ski Team reached 9,700', the crater on Monday and decided to call that their high point due to snow conditions and incoming weather.  The team descended on skis back to Camp and then continued their descent to the trailhead. Although conditions weren't great for skiing, the team enjoyed their time in the mountains and celebrated their adventure in the late afternoon, completing their trip and continuing their separate ways after sharing a meal. 

Saturday, May 16, 2026

After a cold dreary gear check in the rain, huddling under the picnic shelter in Sedro,  we were delighted to find that it was snowing at the trailhead. Our team did well managing the winter weather on our way up to camp where there is about two feet of new snow. The moment we found a suitable site the sun popped out and has us going to bed warm and dry. 

Tomorrow looks like easy weather so we're planning on going for a ski tour and learning some rescue skills. 

RMI Guide Will Ambler