RMI Expeditions Blog

RMI Guides Hannah Smith and Steve Gately and the Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir Team spent a fun week on Mt. Rainier learning new mountaineering skills such as snow & ice anchors, crevasse rescue, ice climbing, fixed line travel, belaying and other technical skills needed to tackle the world's greatest peaks. The team spend their time training on the Cowlitz and Ingraham glaciers that surround Camp Muir and made it to Ingraham Flats at 11,200' to enjoy the incredible views of other peaks in the Cascade Range. 

Congratulations Team!

RMI Guides Josh Geiser and Evan Sather joined many guide services last weekend in the first annual Sandy Camp clean-up project. Josh had the following to say about their weekend on Mt. Baker:

"We had a great time representing RMI for the first annual Sandy Camp cleanup on Mount Baker. After a summer of heavy use, it was great to put our Leave No Trace (LNT) principles into practice helping to clean up an area that we all share. It was also nice to see guides from so many other companies coming out to help and make new connections across guide services. In total, we cleaned up 74 used blue bags as well as a bunch of other trash scattered throughout the camp.”

Sandy Camp is an alpine camp used along the Easton glacier route of Mt. Baker, one of the most popular standard routes on Mt. Baker. All recreational activities including climbers are expected to pack out what they pack in and dispose of their waste properly (LNT Principle #3). Leave No Trace (LNT) principles are an important part of recreating, especially in the Mt. Baker National Recreation Area, operated by the USDA Forest Service. This includes all kinds of waste, especially human waste. The Sandy Camp clean-up event spent a lot of the focus on improperly disposed of human waste and toilet paper.

Proper disposal of human waste helps to avoid negative impacts on water sources, minimize the possibility of spreading disease, and maximize the rate of decomposition. As the fragile alpine settings of Mt. Baker and the surrounding trails are becoming more popular, it becomes increasingly important to practice Leave No Trace principles to ensure the long-term sustainability of these beautiful places.

Join us in practicing Leave No Trace principles while recreating! You can learn more about Leave No Trace principles at lnt.org.

RMI Guides JT Schmitt, Dustin Wittmier and Dominic Cifelli are in Nepal on an expedition with the main objective to climb Manaslu without supplemental oxygen. They departed the United States on September 1st and are able to check in from basecamp:

Hello,

We arrived at Manaslu basecamp on September 11th after four days of trekking through remote valleys in Nepal. Most days were spent shrouded in a cloudy veil, but we were treated to the occasional view of rugged glaciers clinging to high mountains. Staying in tea houses, we were immersed in Nepalese and Sherpa cultures through conversation and enjoying traditional foods together.

Six days after arriving in basecamp we are well established at 16000’ and have made our first rotation on the mountain. We spent three days moving to as high as Camp 2 at 21,000’, setting up our tent and caching gear. On that rotation we spent two nights at Camp 1, letting our bodies acclimatize to sleeping at 18900’.

Currently we are on our third rest day, waiting out torrential rains; and the report from higher on the mountain is that there is significant snow accumulation. It is beneficial that Wi-Fi is available in basecamp so we can continue to monitor weather forecasts, waiting for a window to make a second rotation.

We are hopeful we will be able to push through some marginal weather tomorrow to take advantage of a small, upcoming window. Our second rotation will hopefully allow us to reach Camp 4 at 24,300’, to cache some gear and set us up for a summit push.

RMI Guides JT Schmitt, Dustin Wittmier & Dominic Cifelli  

Hello again everyone,

The team had a good nights rest last night and today was just a short 3hr hike up to 15’000ft to our high camp. Everyone is excited and maybe just a touch nervous, which is very normal! 

The team has just wrapped up lunch and discussed in great detail the plan for tomorrow’s climb. Everyone knows what we’ll be wearing, what will be in the pack, as well as the schedule. 
Our game plan will be to wake at 10:30pm and have a quick breakfast at 11, then hopefully hit the trail around 11:30pm. It’s a bit busier then I’ve seen previously, hence the slightly early departure tonight. Hopefully that will get us out in front of the majority of the other climbers. 

The team has been doing great thus far and I’m expecting us to reach the summit in 7 to 8hrs if things go according to plan. 

We had another trivia challenge, and one lucky winner will get a phone call from the summit. 
So, everyone back home please keep your phones handy and if you receive a call from a strange number please answer. We are 8+hrs ahead of the east coast time zone. 

Casey Grom and the RMI Summit Team!

Hello again everyone,

Things are good here on Kilimanjaro and the team is doing great!

Today started like the last few, beautiful, and clear and then slowly clouded up as the day went on. 

We left camp a little later today to allow the many porters to hit the trail before us as we had our only major obstacle right out of camp. This obstacle is the great Barranco Wall, which rises about 1000ft and looks as intimidating as it sounds. Thankfully there is a nice narrow trail that weaves its way up and through the wall and all the way to the top. Most of it feels more like steep hiking, but there are a few places that require our hands to help us climb up. The team did great and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. After reaching the top we took a nice break to enjoy the beautiful view. We spent the remainder of the day relaxing in our camp and solving many of the world’s problems! 

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili Crew

All is well here on Kilimanjaro!
Once again, we woke to beautifully clear skies with even better views of Kilimanjaro and clouds obscuring the valleys below. Our morning ritual has been walking around 6:30 and getting everything in our tents packed up before heading into our very spacious dinning tent for quite the feast. Normally there is fresh fruit, fried eggs, bacon, and plenty of hot coffee awaiting us, obviously we’re being spoiled up here by our wonderful staff!

We hit the trail once again around 8am and hiked for an hour before taking our usual 10-15min break, then back on the trail for another hour. All total today we hiked for just over 6hrs before reaching camp which is set up and ready for us. 

Along the way we passed around the famous and beautiful Lava Tower reaching just over 15’000ft, setting new altitude records for some and we also chatted with a few other climbers who are on the same schedule with us. All in all, it was a really nice day with clouds gathering in the afternoon to help keep the temperature comfortable for hiking. 

That’s all for now. 
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili Crew

Hello again Everyone,

It’s been a bit cloudy the last few days, but the team awoke to beautifully clear skies and views of Kilimanjaro looming above us.

We started our day with fresh fruits, eggs, porridge, and plenty of coffee, before setting off on our second day. The trail out of camp slowly ascends through the last remaining trees and makes its way along a rocky ridge that climbs up onto the Shira Plateau. We hiked a little more that 4 hours to reach our next camp arriving shortly before the clouds returned.

Everyone enjoyed the warmth of the sun and the views of the valleys below as we climbed steadily up Kilimanjaro.

We are currently relaxing in our camp enjoying good conversations and stories from team members.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew!

The Mt. Baker - Easton Glacier September 11 - 13, 222 led by RMI Guides Seth Burns, Tatum Whatford and Nicole De Petris reached the summit of Mt. Baker yesterday.  The team reported smoky conditions but they were able to practice their glacier travel skills and make it to the summit.  The team descended from Sandy Camp today and are back at the trial head.

Congratulations to the team!

Hello Everyone

We awoke early today and left behind the comforts of our beautiful lodge and have headed to the mountain towards the start of the climb. We hit the road shortly before 8am we drove along the rural country side for two hours to reach the park entrance. Most of the area surrounding Kilimanjaro has been cultivated and primarily used for coffee production and for a variety of other agriculture needs, but there are still some areas that have been untouched and resemble more of a savannah that Tanzania is known for.

The base of Kilimanjaro is forested and resembles a jungle or cloud forest. Traditionally it supports a large part of the banana production for this area. Lucky for us it was cloudy, which made for wonderful hiking conditions.

Once at the gate we had all of our gear weighed and divided into 20kg loads for our porters to carry before hitting the trail. Once everything was in order we started our climb slowly making our way up the winding trail. It was slightly busier than last week, but the team made good time.

The team just finished an amazing hot meal and are looking forward to a good night of sleep at a little bit of exercise.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew.

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir September 8 - 13, 2022 enjoyed a great week of training at Camp Muir.  RMI Guides Matias Francis and Henry Copolillo led the team with instruction on ice climbing, crevasse rescue, student led glacier navigation, fixed line travel, intro to multi pitch climbing, rappelling, alpine bouldering, nightly talks about altitude and avalanche awareness. The team is doing a bit more training this morning before starting their descent to Paradise later today. They will conclude their program this afternoon at Rainier Base Camp.

Nice work team!