RMI Expeditions Blog
Today starts the beginning of a grand adventure. An adventure to the highest point outside the Himalayas...
Aconcagua. The team has shown up in the land of malbecs and carne asada looking fit and well prepared for the next three weeks. After months of anticipation for this moment, all we can do now, is get some well deserved sleep from our lengthy travels. Tomorrow we will continue our travels to Penitentes where we will do the duffel shuffle. Packing and repacking to get our bags ready for the mules will be our main activity for the day, because the following day we hit the dusty trail.
Buenos noches,
RMI Guide Hannah Smith and team
Today the team left the lively Zona Rosa district of Mexico City bright and early to make our way to the mountains. A beautiful drive through the Mexican countryside took us up through a cloud layer that blanketed the City to sunny skies above.
Once we arrived at our home for the night,
La Malinche, the team began our first big step towards getting our bodies acclimated for the peaks to come by hiking up to 13,700 feet. Here, we got our first views of the surrounding volcanoes including our next objectives
Ixta and Orizaba.
Tonight we will enjoy a much deserved authentic Mexican dinner, sleep at 10,000 feet and try to catch a glimpse of the Lunar Eclipse.
RMI Guide Grayson Swingle
We had an unusually warm night last night, the drainage near our tents was running with water until early morning. With a light wind in camp, we headed for our
Camp 2 located at 18,000’. The camp is technically called, Guanacos 3 since it is located on the now closed Guanacos Route. A guanaco is part of the South American camel family consisting of the llama, vicuña and alpaca. The route today takes us into the Ameghino Col with amazing views of the central Andes here in Argentina. The peaks of La Mano and Mercedario standout the most.
Today is a shorter day and since we are back in camp by 2 pm the Team gets to enjoy a casual afternoon in the tents. Tomorrow we have a scheduled rest day to continue our acclimatization. The weather is forecasted to be dry with 20-30 mph range. Everyone is doing well and glad to be moving higher up the mountain.
RMI Guide Mike King
The team all met yesterday in Mexico City where we took walks during the day and were impressed with the city. We met for a fun dinner with lots of tacos and laughs. We all are looking forward to traveling around
Mexico, climbing the high mountains, and tasting the best smoked chipotle sauces.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
This morning our team woke up at one the most impressive haciendas I’ve had the pleasure to visit in this beautiful country. I think what added to the splendor of the place was the outright need for rest after two big mountains in a row. The beds were superb, the food amazing and the amenities top notch. But in mountain climbing, as in life, all good things come to an end.
So where are we now?
Currently I am writing this at 17,500' from my sturdy but noisy tent on the southern flanks of Ecuador’s biggest mountain,
Chimborazo. We were just fed dinner by our awesome camp staff so life could be much worse. On the other hand the wind is tumbling down hill at 30+ mph crashing into the tents and buckling them over on a routine basis making the sound of jet engine stuck in place. Not exactly last night’s digs.
But now the full moon has begun to rise, we are wrapped up warm in our bags and the summit cleared up catching the last rays of sun enticing us to venture upward.
Which we intend to do in five hours from now.
Wish us luck as we attempt to reach the place farthest from the center of the Earth.
And Ecuador’s highest point.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
We could not have asked for a better day to pack up and move our camp to 16,400’. With little wind and warm temperatures, the Team did well today. They shaved some time from the carry day, better acclimatization, slightly lighter packs and nicer weather made all the difference. Camp is located between Cerro Ameghino and one of the many rock buttresses that make up
Aconcagua. There are great views to the East and often we see lighting in the clouds that develop over the high desert once the sun sets. There is still a lot of mountain left to ascend. Tomorrow we carry some food, fuel and gear to Camp 2 located at 18,000’ and return to Camp 1 for some rest and continued acclimatization. The Team sends it’s love to family and friends following along. We are all ducked into the tents to avoid the sun for a little while.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
Today the team had a very welcome rest day. After breakfast and loading our duffels onto the bus (again), we made our way to Ambato for groceries and a stop at Rey del Burrito, the Burrito King. It was far from your everyday lunch, as we were featured stars in a project by some local film students, and witnessed our teammate Dan take down "El Rey" - a 50 cm monster burrito. After Dan's dance with the King we made our way to Riobamba, the capital of Chimborazo province. The eponymous mountain was just barely visible through heavy clouds as we arrived at our hotel, getting us excited for a closer look. However, we were distracted from
Chimborazo by the tremors of a distant magnitude-5 earthquake! Ecuador is certainly a dynamic place. After dinner and some trash talk-filled pool, we returned to the rooms to pack for our move to Chimborazo high camp tomorrow. The team is getting psyched for our shot at this beautiful mountain!
RMI Guide Taylor Bickford
The winds have calmed down here at Plaza Argentina. The Team is enjoying a rest day before we move up the mountain tomorrow. This second rest day is necessary for the Team to acclimate properly with the quick ascent to 14,000’. Aside from sorting some gear, working on tents and a few naps, we are all eager to head up to
Camp 1. The winds are forecasted to build over the next few days so we will get our camp established at 16,400’ and see what the weather and mountain give us.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
Hello everyone
We spent yesterday touring
Tarangire National Park which is home to many elephants, in fact, it has more per square kilometer than any place on earth and it didn’t disappoint.
There were plenty of other animals as usual, and we got close to a few big giraffe, which was amazing plus a leopard sighting too.
We ended our day at a remote and off grid camp within the National Park and surrounded by wildlife. The camp has screened in rooms that allow the night sounds of Africa in and also last night's big thunderstorm.
It's been a memorable experience for everyone and great friendships forged. But finally it's time to return home to our families.
Jambo from
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Safari crew!
There is nothing like the mountains shadow on clouds below as the sun turns everything pink. We were fortunate to experience sunrise on the
summit of Orizaba this morning after spending the previous 6 hours slowly rest-stepping and pressure-breathing our way to 18,500 feet.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
Hope you guys see/saw the lunar eclipse. The moon was bright and shiny here in Atlanta and I hope it lights your way to the top! Best wishes and stay strong!
Posted by: Stephanie Renner on 1/21/2019 at 5:32 am
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