RMI Expeditions Blog

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

Monday, May 18, 2026 - 11:48 pm PT

The first alarm went off at 5AM. The sound of snow falling on the tent was there, but lighter than the last few days. We spent the next hour paying attention to the weather to see how the winds and snow progressed, and they seemed to stay the same. By 7AM the stoves were rolling and the plan was to move uphill if weather didn't get much worse. The light snowfall and dense clouds lingered, but winds remained calm at camp. By 10:30 we had torn down camp and began our way up Ski Hill in the light snow and clouds. As we made our way through the first few stretches the sun would occasionally try to peak out, but sooner rather than later the clouds rolled in, snowfall picked up, and visibility was reduced to a whiteout. This continued all the way past our cache before the skies broke again. After a tough day, we finally rolled into 11 camp where we found our RMI cohorts, and set up camp right below them. The long day was wrapped up with some ramen, and a little bit of wall building to prep for the next incoming storm. 

We are hunkered down and now set to face the storm, or back carry, whatever weather brings.

RMI Guide Nikki Champion

MERVEILLEUX ENFER!

Cet oxymore correspond tellement bien à notre environnement. Lorsque le ciel est dégagé et que le vent cesse, nous avons l'immense privilège de contempler la merveille qu'est le Denali. Des glaciers à perte de vue, that's huge! Les pics rocheux gigantesques jouant avec les nuages, that's so wild ! La glace d'un bleu vif des séracs suspendus, that's so cool man ! Et la neige poudrée scintillante au soleil, for sure ! Ce soleil justement, nous apporte de la chaleur et une luminosité qui ne cesse jamais (masque obligatoire pour dormir !). Mais il est aussi notre première menace invisible ! Whaaat ? Sans protection, votre peau brûle littéralement. Même sous la tente, la crème solaire est indispensable, that's so badass! 

Les autres menaces, elles, sont bien perceptibles... Les crevasses sont béantes mais les plus dangereuses sont celles que l'on ne voit pas, that's so impressive!

Quand le temps se gâte, c'est à dire presque tout le temps..., le froid mordant vous glace jusqu'au os. Couplé aux rafales de vent, les gestes les plus basiques du quotidien deviennent un enfer avec nos équipements (non je ne vous parlerai pas du poop...). Enfin installés dans nos duvets pour quelques heures de repos, après avoir évacué la neige qui s'est infiltrée à notre passage, nous avons le plaisir de prendre sur la tête au réveil toute l'humidité de nos respirations sous forme de glace...

Bienvenue dans ce merveilleux enfer !

Les nouvelles du lundi 18 :

Hey buddy ! Aujourd'hui on s'est équipé et avons préparé nos "stuffs" pour aller les déposer à la 2eme cache, awesome !

Mais... les guides ont finalement décidé d'annuler car une nouvelle tempête arrive...

A des fins d'entraînement nous avons montés la Motorcycle Hill et, we figured it out une fois en haut pourquoi nous n'avions pas intérêt à poursuivre vers Squirrel Hill, Polo Fields et le fameux Windy Corner!

Alors, dans la lignée des derniers jours, we spilled the tea ! Des moments d'échanges joyeux, renforçant la cohésion de cette team maintenant bien soudée et où la bonne humeur et l'entraide règne. Et pour moi c'est cours d'anglais hundred percent!

Le délai s'allonge encore pour espérer rejoindre le sommet, fingers crossed!, mais nous préférons nos vies à la précipitation. La patience fait partie intégrante de l'expédition.

Il n'est pas possible de vaincre le Denali, notre plan est d'attendre qu'il accepte de nous laisser aller to the top, pour admirer de tout en haut ce merveilleux enfer! 

NB: tous les mots en en anglais sont ceux que j'entends des centaines de fois par jours, impossible de les oublier, Yeah Yeah !

Note personnelle : à ma famille, mes amis, mes collègues et tous ceux qui suivent mon projet OXYFIGHT, je veux vous dire que je suis en excellente forme, que je dors particulièrement bien et que les américains sont terriblement attachants et gentils avec moi ! A ma femme et mes enfants, I LOVE YOU

RMI Climber Thomas / OXYFIGHT (le frenchie)

Monday, May 18, 2026 - 6:13 pm PT

Yesterday took the team to several unique sights around the south end of La Paz, all while breathing the thin air and preparing our bodies for the high peaks that lie ahead. First up was Valle de la Luna, a bizarre collection of rain-eroded rock towers in the middle of the suburbs not far from our hotel. From there we drove uphill a few minutes before hiking to Muela del Diablo, a striking rock tower overlooking the city. After taking some time to enjoy the views it was on to a longer hike to a stunning viewpoint a little above 13000', where we enjoyed a picnic lunch and made a traditional Bolivian offering to honor the mountains we came here to climb. Yesterday in the Witch's Market we acquired an offering pallet of sorts, made up of various chalk and sugar pieces each inscribed with imagery asking for blessings of various parts of our travels, topped with a generous helping of coca leaves. Javier, our local liaison and logistics coordinator, explained the significance of each part of the offering before setting fire to it all on the mountain top where we found ourselves enjoying lunch, complete with great views of Huayna Potosi to the north and Illimani to the south. This important ritual complete, it was on to another short hike past more stunning columns of eroded conglomerate, these ones several hundreds of feet high!

Today we ventured a little higher with an acclimatization hike near Cerro Saturno on the northeastern edge of the city. It was a lunar-like landscape of near-black sand, loose shale and the occasional picturesque lagoon. We topped out at just over 16000', a new altitude record for some in the group! We returned to the hotel by mid-afternoon to organize and pack our gear for the coming week of climbing. After a leisurely few days of acclimatization, it is finally time to head to the big mountains! We're making an early start for Rinconada tomorrow, and will spend the next several days climbing in the Condoriri group. The team is feeling strong, psyched and ready to get up high! 

RMI Guide Henry Coppolillo

5/17 - On any proper adventure, there comes a time—long after the bags are packed and the body has proven it can endure—when forward progress is no longer the prevailing goal. Instead, adapting to a new environment becomes the focus.

In those early stretches, adaptation is far from obvious. From mummifying one’s feet in athletic tape to hoisting an overstuffed pack onto weary shoulders, every action feels foreign. Eventually, though, progress seems less like a fight and more like the key to a secret world: frozen, strange, and infinitely explorable.

But this new world unfurls in unpredictable ways. Last night, I nodded off to the rustle of tent nylon in the breeze. An hour later, I was yanked from sleep by an intense blast of frigid wind. The gale persisted, an unyielding rhythm that drummed through the night. Snow puddled around us, transforming our cozy cocoons into claustrophobic reminders of who really makes the rules up here.

Today, we found ourselves stuck yet again at 11,000 feet—far from idyllic, but the best option given our forecast and supplies. We squelched back and forth between our group and personal tents, packs and sleds buried beneath reams of spindrift. Some of us read books, some took naps. Some typed long missives to the outside world on our phones.

The upside is that we are not yet working ourselves into paste hauling food and gear further up the hill. Instead, the tasks have been a light blend of the practical and absurd: digging, and then re-digging, our communal toilet out of the snow; downing carb-laden meals with competitive zeal until we are both proud of and embarrassed by our gluttony; shuffling our creaky bodies across a slick, uneven camp with all the grace of baby deer on ice; and generally extricating ourselves from our self-imposed predicament with routine bouts of only somewhat effective shoveling.

Days like today—and, indeed, trips like this—can easily be dismissed as pointless, or even wasteful: so much time and energy spent in pursuit of an ultimately frivolous goal. But in a world increasingly designed to be safe, comfortable, and instantly gratifying, there is something to be said for leaning hard in the opposite direction. What rare thing will we find up there? Or right here?

Getting to the summit is the goal, though today—our sixth on the illustrious flanks of Denali, our second battered by snow and wind—adaptation feels sufficiently ambitious.

—RMI Climber Tina Currin

P.S. Hi to Grayson and Rollie, Mom and Charlie, JK and the Little Gang. I love you all more than than you know.