Entries from Expedition Dispatches
The whole team is standing on the summit of Ixta at 8:10 am central time! It was a chilly climb but the sun is shining now and it is warming up a bit. The team did an awesome job getting up here. Now we will shift our focus to a smooth descent. That's all for now. We will check in again from thicker air!
Hello from 15,500ft on Ixta! The team did an impressive job carrying heavy loads up to our high camp today. Sunny skies and upbeat attitudes made for a great day in the mountains.
Our camp is above the clouds for now with only a light breeze. We have spectacular views of the Volcano Popocatepetl (17,800ft) to our south. Popo is an active volcano that spits out plumes of Ash from time to time which is fun to watch.
Tonight we will eat an early dinner and crawl into bed to get some shut eye before an early start to our summit attempt tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing the massive sprawl of city lights from both Mexico City and Puebla thousands of feet below.
Checking in from 13,000ft on Ixta. Today the team is preparing our equipment for our trip up to high camp (15,500ft) on Ixta. We are enjoying a beautiful sunset to the west with glorious views of Ixta to the North. The mountain has fresh snow above 15,500ft.
Tomorrow will be a challenging day with heavier packs, but our team is looking strong. As we watch the sunset, we are eating a delicious meal prepared by our wonderful local staff!
Wish us luck for continuing good weather and hopefully a successful summit of Ixta 17,100ft!
We will check in from our high camp tomorrow.
Sunday, October 10, 2021 - 5:46 pm PT
Greetings from La Malinche! Today the team moved away from the busy streets of Mexico City to the mountains that surround it. We got great views of our future objectives, Ixta and Orizaba on our drive today across the Mexican country side.
Everyone did great hiking up to 13,700ft on La Malinche, a dormant volcano. We had sunny skies today and no wind.
Tonight we are going to feast on some authentic Mexican food and stay in cabanas at 10,000ft. The cabanas we are staying in were once used by the Mexican Olympic team for their training. The stars are out and it is a beautiful night up here.
That’s all for now, tomorrow we move to the base of Ixta.
Sounds like a pretty perfect start to your adventure! Here’s to tomorrow and more great memories!
Posted by: Constance Roth on 10/10/2021 at 8:35 pm
Hola de Mexico!
The RMI Mexico Volcanoes team has arrived in Mexico City. After negotiating the busy maze of streets from the airport we have arrived in the lively Zona Rosa district. Last night we enjoyed some authentic Mexican food and prepare for our first acclimatization hike at La Malinche today. Stay tuned for more dispatches as we continue our trip around Mexico!
--RMI Guide Grayson Swingle
Posted by: Alex Halliday, Dustin Wittmier, Kiira Antenucci
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 11,200'
On Friday the Camp Muir Expedition Skills Seminar returned from five days of training on Mount Rainier. Aspiring climbers learned a variety of movement and technical skills that will further their future mountain experiences. This wraps up RMI trips on Rainier this season, thank you to everyone who has been following along!
RMI Guides Dominic Cifelli and Jack Delaney led the entire Mt. Baker - Easton Glacier team to the summit of Mt. Baker today! Dominic reports it was a super nice day on the summit and that "things are going great!" The team is spending one more night at camp before making the rest of their descent tomorrow.
This climb wraps up our 2021 North Cascades climbing season. We loved climbing with all of you this year and are excited for the climbs to come in 2022!
Congratulations climbers!
The Mt. Shuksan - Sulphide Glacier Climb led by RMI Guide James Bealer were unable to make a summit attempt on Mt. Shuskan due to rain and wind. While not the mountain experience the team hoped for, the team's time on the mountain was a true mountain experience. The team is back in town and preparing to warm up over burgers and beers.
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
At around 10am today a team led by RMI Guide Matias Francis reached the summit of Mt. Shuksan. The climbable weather was short lived, as they raced the impending rain back to camp. The weather won this round as they made it back to camp soaked, but happy. The team will spend the night at high camp, before descending down during the day tomorrow (hopefully in the sun).
Congratulations to the team!
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Jack Delaney, David Price
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 9,131'
We had a great day at Mt. Erie on Tuesday for the first day of our Expedition Skills Seminar - Shuksan. We went through gear, learned knots, anchors, belaying, and rappelling. We also did a bit of top rope climbing in boots to get ready for Shuksan. We then prepped and got ready to head onto the mountain for the next few days. We had a great day with a bit of cloud cover to keep it cool. We then moved into camp at the toe of the Sulphide Glacier with some incredible views for the next several days!
On Friday, we made our summit attempt with 100% of the group reaching the summit at 9,131'. It was a long day and we arrived back in camp late. Everybody is happy. We'll train on Saturday and check in then.
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
Love reading the updates. Hope tomorrow is a successful summit day!
Posted by: Katie Allanson on 10/12/2021 at 1:25 pm
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