RMI Expeditions Blog

RMI Guides Andres Marin and Katie Bono spent a week leading RMI's Alaska Alpine Skills Seminar this spring. After the seminar they returned to the Alaska Range for a personal climbing trip. Andres Marin: I guided the Alpine and Expedition seminars in Alaska, where our teams had an incredible time climbing and learning. When the seminars ended, I had a few days to spend climbing around Base Camp. Katie Bono: Both Andres and I had time at the end of our trip for some personal climbing. We bid adieu to our team in Talkeetna and the next morning flew back into Kahiltna Base Camp. Kahiltna Base Camp sits in the heart of the Alaska Range, surrounded on all sides by peaks such as Denali, Mt. Foraker, and Mt. Hunter. With the plethora of climbing options the pair decided to climb the Kahiltna Queen (12,380’). AM: Around Base Camp there are so many cool peaks to climb and one of those is the rarely climbed Kahiltna Queen. This peak is located at the end of the southeast fork of the Kahiltna glacier. It is the only peak in the range that divides three different glaciers: the Kahiltna, the Ruth and the Tokositna. KB: Andres and I spent a day skiing up the Southeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier, stopping along the way to look at different climbing options and to do some ice climbing. Kahiltna Queen looked like a gorgeous peak to climb and both of us were stoked about trying an unclimbed route. The following night Katie and Andres began their climb up the West side of the Kahiltna Queen. KB: The line we took followed a rib splitting the west face, starting from where the rib emerged from the glacier. The part of the climb was mostly steep snow climbing on some great and not-so-great neve (granular snow that accumulates near mountain tops from wind and precipitation). The route then transitions into ice climbing with some rock mixed in. AM: The mixed climbing was great all the way to the summit. The day was incredible and the views were just amazing. At the top we stopped to melt water and high five. Then it was time for us to start descending the West Couloir Route. The descent ended up being longer and more difficult than I expected as we had to do over fourteen rappels. Following the successful climb, Katie and Andres, skied two hours back to Base Camp. After 25 hours of climbing they returned safely to Base Camp. KB: Seeing the moonrise while we were climbing was awesome! It came up for maybe an hour or so and just skimmed the edge of the horizon. For the whole way up we had splitter weather and were basking in the sun at the summit. After this trip I can definitely understand why my friends are excited about Alaska. It was great to be able to climb the Kahiltna Queen after guiding the Alaska Seminar since it enabled me to spend so much time in the Alaska Range. Andres has heaps of experience in the Alaska Range and I learned a lot from working and climbing with him. AM: All and all it was a great climb with a great partner. I am already looking forward to next year’s seminar and more personal climbs in the Alaska Range. Andres Marin is a senior guide at RMI leading programs in Washington, Alaska and Colorado. He is an off-width specialist and an accomplished ice and mixed climber. One of his recent achievements includes climbing the five hardest mixed lines in Ouray, Colorado, in a day. Andres is a fully certified alpine and rock guide sponsored by Millet, Blue Water Ropes, 5.10, Petzl, GU and Ice Holdz. Katie Bono is an RMI Guide and accomplished climber with impressive ascents in North America and Canada. A retired Nordic ski racer and Millet athlete, she currently holds the women’s speed record on Mt. Rainier. To see more of their climb check out Andres’ Kahiltna Queen video.

RMI Guide Mark Tucker checking in from the final camp: down here at the Mweka Camp, 10,000 ft on Kilimanjaro. It’s all tall, giant heather; it’s beautiful. It looks like a fabulous night for a summit climb but that’s exactly what we will not be doing. It’s a done deal. We will enjoy our last night on this beautiful mountain. Tomorrow we head to the trail head.

On The Map

The team had a wonderful day here in Moscow. After a night of much needed sleep, the team set out and explored the city on foot. Not far from our hotel is the famous Red Square, Kremlin and GUM (sort of a super mall for the elite). Most team members did a little adventuring on their own in the morning, then met up later for a guided tour of the Kremlin. We spent a little over four hours visiting the beautiful grounds, and many churches that exist within the compound. It was a really enjoyable day for all even though there was a bit of rain here today. We finished the day off with another great meal at a local cafe where we communicated with lots of finger pointing at the menu and plenty of smiles. Everyone is doing great and looking forward to heading to the mountains tomorrow. RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Mike Uchal and Five Day Summit Climb reached the summit of Mt. Rainier after a 6 1/2 hour ascent. Mike Uchal reports sunny, beautiful weather and a busy route. The teams are en route back to Camp Muir, and will be back at RMI Basecamp later today. Congratulations to today's teams!

Saturday, July 20, 2013 - 9:20 p.m. PT RMI Guide Mark Tucker checking in, I guess they call it Uhuru Peak, the tallest point in Africa. Here we are! Pretty good conditions. The team did fantastic. I am happy to report 100% on top! Yes, everyone is doing well. A few beautiful clouds above Mt. Kilimanjaro and clouds below, a beautiful sunrise. We are having a gas, everyone is doing well. A couple more photos and we are going to start the descent. We are going to head down into the rain forest. That will be the goal. Thanks for everybody’s support back home. We will check in again soon.

On The Map

Hello everyone, Teams all here! Excited and I'm sure a little tired after such long flights and the big change in time zones. We kept things pretty simple with just a brief round of introductions and dinner. Tomorrow we'll stretch our legs and explore the city. RMI Guide Casey Grom and Crew

Mark Tucker checking in from Barafu Camp. We are at the lower camp at about 15,000’ just under the southeast edge of the Kilimanjaro Summit. We have the jungle below and the top of the mountain above and a team that is rip-roaring and ready! We put on a couple of miles today from the Karanga camp. The upper mountain is a bleak zone, but quite beautiful in its own way. We’re going to have a quick dinner and crawl into the tents for about five hours of rest to get us ready for an early a.m. departure. I am happy to report that we are 100% go power with this team. Everybody is getting pretty excited and doing really well. A couple of minor headaches but the overall health and well-being is very very good. We are ready the weather is cooperating we had to puffy clouds in the afternoon not unusual. Last night was beautiful so we are keeping our fingers crossed that we have one of the same. We have a pretty bright moon illuminating our trip so we are in pretty good shape. Talk to you later, RMI Guide Mark Tucker & Team

The RMI Four Day Summit Climb team led by JJ Justman reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The team reported a beautiful morning with clear skies and light winds of about 20mph. The ascent to the summit took about 6 hours and 10 minutes. The team left the summit and will descend back to Camp Muir and then continue to Paradise. RMI Guide Billy Nugent led a team of climbers in the North Cascades. They reached the summit today around 2 pm PT. They returned to camp around 5 pm and will spend their final night in the mountains. Tomorrow they will descend to the trial head and complete their trip. Congratulations to today's team!

Hello, This is RMI Guide Mark Tucker checking in from the Karanga camp on Kilimanjaro, situated at about 13,160', or 4011 meters above sea level. We are looking so good. Having a gas - wish you guys were here. We have the most amazing night out. The moon is getting fuller and brighter as we speak. We are poised for our next push to the Barafu Camp tomorrow which will be our high camp. Things worked out very well today, we timed our selves perfectly for the ascent of the Barranco Wall, which is right out of camp, some step traverses, some ledges and face, several rock bands. Just really fun climbing. Everybody did great and we took some really nice hero photos. Then we did a traverse, only a couple miles today, and into this camp. And we're on the impressive south side of Kilimanjaro with the Diamond, Heim, Kersten, Decken Glaciers hanging right above us. It's quite a sight. So, the weather is holding and everyone on the team is healthy. They are definitely keeping our kitchen staff busy keeping those pots filled. No loss of appetite for this crew. We are doing so well in and we are psyched up. We had a bit of a summit talk today, passing along some information going over some tactics that will be useful in the near future. So all is well, and we will check in tomorrow.

On The Map

The Four Day Summit Climb July 16 - 19 led by RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer and the Expedition Skills Seminar -Paradise led by Garrett Stevens were unable to summit this morning. A snow bridge over a crevasse collapsed this morning preventing the groups from continuing their ascent. This collapse happened at approximately 13,600’. All climbers are continuing down safely. The teams will return to Camp Muir to re-pack and take a short break before continuing down to Paradise. We look forward to seeing the groups at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.