Entries from Locations

Following two nights of tent camping in the paramo, yesterday we climbed Antisana. Several members of the team reached the summit and everyone gave a serious effort. Congratulations to all for making it as far as we have.

Antisana is Ecuador's fourth highest mountain, but the complex glaciers that one encounters makes a summit bid quite difficult. Our camp sits at 14,800' in the final patch of grass before entering more serious alpine terrain. The first hour takes you through a glacial moraine before arriving at the base of the glacier. Once on the glacier, numerous huge crevasses are encountered as well as needing to navigate through serac-ridden terrain. Higher on the mountain, the team worked their way up some very steep snow pitches before walking the seemingly endless plateau to the true summit. Although this section is benign, the altitude of over 18,000' catches up with you. This is truly a difficult climb and for making the effort, you are rewarded with excellent views of other high mountains in Ecuador.

Honestly, Antisana might be my favorite volcano climb in Ecuador. The beauty of our campsite alone is worth a visit. We camped two nights in tents and there is also a dining tent where we were served delicious, hot meals every morning and evening. The staff at Antisana basecamp is lovely and as always, our local Ecuadorian guides are professional and just truly good people to hang with.

Today, a portion of the group heads home while the rest of us are headed to Chimborazo. We spent a final night as a team at Casa Ilayaku, a quaint hacienda on an old farm property near Quito. According to our smart watches, the sleep was near perfect. For those headed to Chimborazo, we are now on a four hour bus ride to the Chimborazo Lodge for one more relaxing night prior to another big summit push!

Thanks for following along.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

Iliniza Norte summit!

Our team reached the summit of Iliniza Norte at 6 pm yesterday evening. It was a beautiful afternoon, so upon arrival at the hut we decided to just go for it. We were rewarded with a lovely sunset at the summit, one of the nicer ones most of us have ever seen.

Back at the hut, we sat down for a hot meal and although it was quite tasty, Emma and I spent some time forcing people to eat. A long few days of acclimatizing is catching up with everyone, but you have to eat! The main objective lies ahead.

We are now in route to Antisana Basecamp, where we will spend two nights and hopefully be standing on top of the fourth highest peak in Ecuador less than 48 hours from now!

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

Flying into Quito you begin to grasp the magnitude and astounding beauty of the volcanoes surrounding the city. The dichotomy of the lush Amazonian rainforest and the high, snowy mountains leaves one with a sense of the diverse ecosystems of Ecuador. Our first day included trip introductions, getting to know each other and exploring the city. We spent the first half of the day at the equatorial line, learning about the indigenous people of the Amazon and their culture. The second half of the day we explored old Quito, checking out stunning architecture and discussing the current politics of Ecuador. Our second day we took a teleferico or gondola up to around 13,000ft to begin our acclimating hike up to the summit of Rucca Pichincha at 15,354ft. Everyone enjoyed snacks and laughs at the summit before heading back to Quito for a delicious Mediterranean dinner.

RMI Guide Emma Lyddan

Everything went like clockwork this morning, smooth and easy.  We ate a last trek breakfast and walked toward the Lukla heliport at 7 AM.  There were clouds, but there were also plenty of aircraft coming and going already.  After a short wait and weigh-in session, we were ushered out and into a running A-Star B3.  The pilot went right to work and we cruised out over farms, ridges, rivers and terraces.  He took us around clouds but there were always plenty of open avenues.  After 45 minutes we’d reached the busy Kathmandu airport.  Within minutes we went from being a famous and well above average trekking team to just another van full of tourists in a big city.  We checked back into the comfy Yak and Yeti and headed for the showers.  It was a day for catching up, for mingling with other trekkers and climbers and for getting ready for the next phase… the big travel chore.  But first, we went over to Thamel, the busy tourist and trekker Mecca for a last relaxed dinner together at the New Orleans Cafe.  We toasted a fine journey… one that wasn’t always easy, but one that seemed very much worth the trouble. 

Thanks for following along.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

We walked for seven hours today… of course we did take a leisurely lunch break in Phakding, so it was less.  But it felt like a big day.  We lost about 2,000 vertical feet in the first hour, coming down the Namche hill.  That was significant, since it meant we were then working at low altitude (around 9,000 ft) which was easier than so much of what we’ve done in the last week.  It was a cloudy day, but there was an amazing amount of helicopter traffic overhead.  And there were plenty of trekkers, porters and pack animals on the trail.  It is prime time in the Khumbu.  Still, we had some fine peaceful moments gazing at waterfalls and flowers and children playing on small farms.  We bounced across a bunch of cable bridges and finally we climbed uphill for the final 90 minutes to reach Lukla.  We’ll spend the night and see if we get lucky with clear weather for flying in the morning. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Thanks everyone for following along and once again, a shout out to Farmer Dave for all the encouragement!

Climbing Orizaba is never easy. We ended up having a great weather day and route conditions were also favorable. But it still felt like a hard push after the long week of being rained off of big mountains and spending hours drying gear. The team can take pride in their perseverance and their summit of Pico de Orizaba, the third highest peak in North America.

Last night we celebrated in Tlachichuca at the Servimont hostel, where there is always a nice meal and cold drinks. Most people were in bed by 8pm, it was quite the party. Now we are on one final bus ride, to the airport this time, and will return to normal life tomorrow. The muddy, dusty gear we are bringing home will remind us of the good times we had in Mexico.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

Saturday, October 14, 2023 7:11 am PDT

Summit Orizaba. High clouds, cool, light breeze. Nice day!

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier & Team

As hoped, we woke up a bit more refreshed and recharged at 13,200 ft Dhole.  We were already under puffy clouds as we began walking, but they weren’t very threatening.  Our trail took us further down yesterday’s steep sided valley.  The river far below was positively boiling and churning in its gorge as we passed down into trees (for the first time in nearly a week).  Finally, we had to climb out of the valley we’d been descending.  We gained 1200 feet in a short distance… which we each realized would have been a tough thing at 13,000 ft earlier in our trek.  This time we cruised, acclimated and conditioned to hiking every day.  At the top of our climb, we reached Mong La and sat outside sipping tea to enjoy views of Ama Dablam, Thamserku, Tawoche and Kangtega.  We moved on -with a few more ups and downs, to the beautiful village of Khumjung with its neat yak pens and potato fields.  We enjoyed a leisurely lunch and then walked through the grounds of the Hillary School as we headed for one last mountain  pass to Namche.  It felt easy as anything to come back into the luxury of the 11,300 ft Camp De Base Hotel for an afternoon and evening.  One more big day of walking remains. 

Best Regards,
 RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Alright, we are rested and have pressed the reset button. A rest day in Puebla is always well deserved for a group that has been tromping around in the mountains and enduring long bus rides. Rest day activities included all the standard stuff: museums, sampling local coffees, the bouldering gym, walking around the historic city center and a nice team dinner.

We are now on the bus, headed for Tlachichuca and it's a nice morning. Everyone is hopeful that the weather will be better than on Ixta, where we were slammed by rain and wind associated with the category 2 Hurricane Lidia, the eye of which passed just to our north. That was certainly an experience. We're looking for something less dramatic on Orizaba. Stay tuned for an update tomorrow afternoon!

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

We got a lot done today. Things started out crystal clear at 15,600 ft in Gokyo this morning. We started walking at our customary 8:00 am. At first we strolled along one glowing turquoise lake after another, then we got moving down steeper descents along a charging, churning river. It got really big when we reached the terminus of the Ngozumpa Glacier. The steep sided valley got bigger and bigger. We had “new” mountains to look at on all sides. Despite the rugged and confining valley, we’d occasionally come across hidden side valleys with vivid green yak pastures and a few tea houses. We took advantage of one of those houses to simply sit outside and sip tea for a relaxing 45 minutes. Then it was back to work, dropping altitude. We rolled into 13,200 ft Dhole and settled into the welcoming Alpine Lodge after about four hours travel. High altitude was wonderful and exciting…but none of us mind being a little lower. Eating is easier, sleeping is easier…almost everything is easier. The afternoon clouded up--again--and so it wasn’t hard to just take it easy after our big walk. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn