Entries By felipe guarderas
Posted by: Tatum Whatford, Felipe Guarderas, Mitch Valaitis, Ben Thorneycroft, Miles Watson, Avery Stolte, Matt Kelly, Ben Porter
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guides Tatum Whatford and Felipe Guarderas led their Five Day Climb teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The guides reported an amazing day with light winds and clear skies. The route is busy with climbers so the teams reached the crater rim and have started their descent to Camp Muir. Once back at camp the climbers will enjoy a relaxing afternoon on the mountain and celebrate their accomplishment. The team will spend tonight at 10,080' and continue the remaining 4.5 miles/4,500' down to Paradise tomorrow.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Posted by: Seth Burns, Lael Butler, Felipe Guarderas, Layne Peters, Avery Stolte, Mac Nolde, Erika Barrett, Ben Porter
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Five Day Climb June 20 - 24 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at around 7:30 am this morning. After spending an hour on the summit enjoying their accomplishment, the teams started their descent back to Camp Muir. Once back at Camp Muir they will savor some much needed rest and enjoy a day of training on the upper mountain. After spending one more night at Camp Muir the teams will desend to Paradise and return to Rainier Basecamp in the afternoon tomorrow to celebrate their success.
Nice work team!
Posted by: Casey Grom, Lael Butler, Mitch Valaitis, Brooks Ordway-Smith, Julian Kral, Felipe Guarderas, CJ Rogers, Simon Kearns
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climbs led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Lael Butler reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning! The teams were on the summit around 7:45 am and enjoying the beautiful weather. We look forward to seeing them back in Ashford later this afternoon.
Congratulations climbers!
Posted by: Sam Marjerison, Ben Thorneycroft, Felipe Guarderas, Layne Peters
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Expeditions Skills Seminar - Kautz June 6 - 11 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning via the Kautz Glacier route. After several days of training the team put their skills to the test ascending the Kautz Ice chute and Wapowety Cleaver. They reached Point Success at 8:50 am and crossed to Columbia Crest, the true summit of Mt. Rainier 14,410' arriving at 9:12 am. The team enjoyed a bit of time in the crater and then began their descent. They will return to camp for a well deserved rest and spend a final night on the mountain. Tomorrow they will continue their descent to Paradise, returning to Rainier BaseCamp to conclude their program.
Way to go team!
PC: Felipe Guarderas & Layne Peters
Another great climb, Sam!! Love reading some of the details — stay safe!
Gram & Gramp ❤️
Posted by: Jeri Marjerison on 6/11/2025 at 8:26 am
Three for Three on Mexico’s Volcanoes!
A week of hail storms, dark clouds and lightning was nice and all, but as we drove closer to Tlachichuca and were treated to a stunning view of 18,500 foot Pico de Orizaba backed only by a blue sky, it felt like spring break.
We were running early and carried that luck all the way up the two hour 4x4 road to Piedra Grande, our Orizaba high camp at 14,000 feet. Dinner was at 4:30pm, and bed time came early at 5:30pm. This allowed us room to at least claim that we’d gotten some good sleep when tents were rattled at 11:30pm.
As we climbed under a bright half moon with light winds it seemed like cheating. After single-pushing on Ixta what we’d normally do in two days, a simple 4,500 foot climb was coming easy. That is until we hit the 17,000 foot mark and things started to grind.
But just as things were getting tougher with the elevation, Orizaba gave us all the classics. An amazing sunrise, the pyramid mountain shadow and finally the false summit with only a short walk to the true summit.
We all stood on top of the highest point in Mexico and third highest point in North America in the warm sun with barely any wind.
A great finish to a strong trip by all our climbers!
RMI Guide Joe Hoch
New Post Alerts:
Mexico's Volcanoes February 1, 2025
Posted by: Joe Hoch, Felipe Guarderas
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Puebla Rest Day and Off to Orizaba
After our single push of Ixta, the Mexico Volcanoes team deserved a rest. We took full advantage of Puebla’s welcoming streets, cathedrals and parks and mostly lazed around for a day.
Two nights of sleep, some light sightseeing, a gold plated brisket sandwich this time, and even some parking garage yoga later, we reluctantly packed the van back up and headed to Tlachichuca.
We’re off to attempt our highest summit of the trip, Volcan Orizaba. Wish us luck!
New Post Alerts:
Mexico's Volcanoes February 1, 2025
100% Team Summit of Ixta!
Fresh off our successful summit of Malinche dodging thunder storms, our Mexico Volcanoes team pulled into La Joya, our basecamp for Volcan Iztaccihautl, to find dime-sized hail falling and lightening cracking just overhead.
We overheard a trip report from some nice climbers who had camped at 15,500'. “Our hair was buzzing. We threw everything metal out of the tent, then the lightening struck! I still can’t feel my thumbs!”
This pretty well made our decision for us to not walk out into the storm to our high camp on a ridge. Easy decision, but it meant that summiting Ixta the next day would be anything but easy, and could only be done in a single push from La Joya.
We discussed with the team that this would be a very long and demanding day, and they were all excited for the challenge.
And they crushed it! We left camp at 1am and walked the normal three miles and 2,000 feet to high camp, then turned to the upper mountain, and no one flinched. Eight and a half total hours of climbing later we all stood in the sun on the 17,169' summit of Ixta.
Our total time on the climb was a little over 14 hours, with somewhere around 5,500 vertical feet. Half of which we normally do in a big day the day before. Strong work by our whole team!
As we pulled into Puebla around 6pm for our much needed rest day, there wasn't an open eye in the van.
RMI Guide Joe Hoch
New Post Alerts:
Mexico's Volcanoes February 1, 2025
Congratulations, Christian! Very proud of you. And thank you to Joe and team. Onward and upward to Orizaba! —- Dad
Posted by: Geoff Culbert on 2/8/2025 at 8:44 am
100% Team Summit of La Malinche!
We arrived to La Malinche cabins at 10,000 feet under sun and puffy clouds. Everyone enjoyed a pleasant walk to stretch the legs, then went to rest and prepare for our big climb in the morning.
Around 5:30pm our tranquil mountain setting was rudely interrupted by dozens and dozens of lightening bolts and thunder that was way too close. Then the heavy rain started and as we went to bed, waterfalls and lakes were forming around the cabin grounds.
Surprisingly, 5 am brought a starry sky and perfect climbing temperatures! And as we made our way past tree-line at 12,800 feet, a rare sight greeted us-La Malinche covered in snow almost like the old timey photos in the basecamp restaurant.
The team was expecting a ‘training hike’, not a ‘mixed snow and ice alpine climb’, but the new snow was good walking, and after a couple belayed sections on the summit block we all gathered for a quick summit photo. Quick! Because as we smiled for the camera, thunder clapped right above our heads and it was time to go!
We walked down through dime sized hail and more thunder, which will only make the meat tower at dinner taste that much better!
New Post Alerts:
Mexico's Volcanoes February 1, 2025
Well I am happy to report that our Mexico Volcanoes team all arrived safely as of last night. We met in the lovely lobby of our Hotel Geneve and had a nice chat about what to expect in the next few days. Followed by a classic dinner of local tacos.
We’re headed this morning to La Malinche to begin acclimating to the elevation.
Tomorrow we go for our first summit, La Malinche at 14,500’!
RMI Guide Joe Hoch
New Post Alerts:
Mexico's Volcanoes February 1, 2025
Posted by: Drew O’Brien, George Hedreen, Sam Marjerison, Felipe Guarderas
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 9,460'
Good Morning!
Most of team opted for a full educational day over a difficult summit climb. Summit team woke up at 10pm and with high winds in camp we made the call to skip the walk and prepare for a full educational day today. We will finish our expedition skills training here at Camp Schurman before descending tomorrow.
RMI Guide Drew O'Brien and Team
Such a wonderful trip! Still reeling. Looking forward to the next one ;)
Posted by: Alex Trimpe on 7/1/2025 at 11:12 am
Wonderful accomplishment! Congratulations.
Posted by: Joyce Metcalf on 6/29/2025 at 8:17 pm
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