Entries By felipe guarderas
Posted by: Mike Bennett, Sam Hoffman, Felipe Guarderas
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 16,300'
Cotopaxi Express Daily Blog
The team woke up this morning in a packed climbers hut at the ripe hour of 4am to climb Illiniza. Snow and sleet covered the ground and word came from the top to go back to bed. After a brief breakfast The team set off at 7 am towards Illiniza Norte with a windy snow still coming down but daylight on our side. Teams split into smaller groups to tackle the snowy scramble up the knife edge ridge of the mountain. Conditions remained poor, and we turned around 16,300’ to head down to the familiarity of the climbers hut. Repacked and trekking down to the bus, snow turned to rain and the bus was a warm bumpy welcome down the cobblestone roads. Lunch at a VERY FAMOUS pizza dive. Now the team is relaxing in front of wood stove fires, gazing over pastures towards the cloudy abyss—looking to catch a glimpse of the pinnacle objective hidden in the mist.
RMI Climbers, Dan and Joe Hayden
New Post Alerts:
Cotopaxi Express October 25, 2025
Posted by: Dominic Cifelli, Ben Luedtke, Lael Butler, Felipe Guarderas, Calvin Jiricko, Erika Barrett, Kat Porter, Julian Kral
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Five Day Climb July 26 - 30 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today! Led by RMI Guides Dominic Cifelli and Ben Luedtke, the team reached the crater under blue skies and excellent conditions. They enjoyed some time in the crater before starting their descent. The teams will return to Camp Muir for a well-deserved night's rest before contining the remaining 4.5 miles to Paradise tomorrow.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
PC: Ben Luedtke
Amazing trip! Thanks to all ... Cheers, Barry
Posted by: Barry French on 7/30/2025 at 5:01 pm
Congrats to my amazing wife Hsiaolei Miller! What an accomplishment! Thank you RMI team for taking such amazing care of her - and everyone who participated!
Posted by: Jaclyn Miller on 7/29/2025 at 6:17 pm
Posted by: Sam Marjerison, Felipe Guarderas, Mitch Valaitis
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 10,786'
The Mt. Baker North Ridge team, led by RMI Guide Sam Marjerison, reached the summit of Mt. Baker this morning. The team ascended via the North Ridge route, a classic climb in the North Cascades. Strong work by all, as everyone reached the top — a 100% success rate!
Congratulations, Team!
Congratulations to Kyle Zeitounian and the entire team om a great job,!
Posted by: Dee Zeitounian on 7/17/2025 at 12:33 pm
Posted by: Brent Okita, Nick Sinapius, Felipe Guarderas, Layne Peters, Hannah Billings, Brooks Ordway Smith, Matt Tucker, Matt Kelly
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
At 5:45 AM, under bluebird skies and in calm, clear, and beautiful conditions, the Four Day Climb team led by Brent Okita and Nick Sinapius reached the summit!
They’re already on the descent, making the most of this perfect alpine morning.
Huge congrats to the team for a strong and successful push!
Amazing accomplishment congratulations on summiting
See you all soon !!!
Posted by: Maria Pelikan on 7/5/2025 at 11:22 am
Congratulations Team Skopic & Pelikan! You rock!!!
Posted by: chris Skopic on 7/5/2025 at 11:01 am
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!
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
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!
Congratulations all, well done! The view was spectacular, thanks for the pics. Blessings to all.
Posted by: Dadeo on 10/31/2025 at 12:04 pm
Wishing everyone a safe and fun, but not too comfortable, trip. Bonus points for hunting your own food.
Posted by: Kyle Warfield on 10/30/2025 at 6:25 am
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