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Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Posted by: Billy Nugent, JJ Justman, Win Whittaker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
Congratulations!!! You did it!!!
Posted by: Kate Miller on 8/7/2012 at 7:48 am
Way to go Hanky!
Posted by: H miller on 8/6/2012 at 5:03 pm
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Lauren Macklin, Leif Bergstrom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 348'
Here's one more haiku,
The otters finally flew
We have made it back.
After a few long days sitting and waiting in our tents at Basecamp, K2 Aviation was able to make their way up glacier to come and grab our teams and sneak us back to Talkeetna last night.
We unpacked all the group gear, took our first shower in a long time, and got to enjoy a hot meal not prepared by an RMI guide.
After a long and challenging trip, we were all very thankful to make it back to land safe and sound.
Until next year!
Nikki
Congratulations on a safe return, Matt and team! Looking forward to hearing your stories and seeing your pictures, Matt!
Posted by: Kathleen George on 6/5/2023 at 9:15 am
The itinerary of this Aconcagua climb has been anything but ordinary. The weather saw to that ever since we first tried to move to Camp 1 and promptly had to do an about-face back to Basecamp. Since that day, the guides have had to stay on their toes, rearranging, pivoting, and scraping together a plan that would give us the best shot for the summit. Well, this group's ability to adapt to the changing circumstances on a moments notice may just payoff. Today was originally our day to summit, but the wind had other ideas. So now we are once again resting, eating, and acclimatizing at Camp 2. However, this means that tonight is our night. The last night in fact! The wind and temperatures look ideal for a successful summit attempt. But don’t get excited for us just yet, having had to push the summit day back as far as possible to improve our chances with the weather means tomorrow will be a monster of a day. We will launch our summit attempt from Camp 2 instead of high camp, a move not possible with any other group I’ve climbed this mountain with. If we are successful and make it to the top, we then must head back down to Camp 2, pick up the gear the porters didn’t carry down and continue downhill all the way back to Basecamp! A summit to Basecamp in a day itinerary is no small feat, but having seen how well prepared these climbers are, I firmly believe they can pull it of in good style. Everyone one of them trained hard and came prepared for a difficult climb. Tomorrow will be extremely hard, but if we can pull it off, it will make one hell of a story! Wish us luck!
Steve and team nothing but the most positive vibes and thoughts for tomorrow! Know how much you trained for this and your team too!! Go Go.
Posted by: Paul and Susan Cambon on 1/23/2022 at 5:36 pm
RMI Guide Mark Tucker & team call from the summit of Kilimanjaro!
Paul, Congrats!! How come I didn’t get an “I Love You” too?!
Posted by: Adam Scott on 7/31/2011 at 10:56 am
...proud of you dr fletcher !!!!...
Posted by: doreen schulz on 7/31/2011 at 8:46 am
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Leif Bergstrom, Erika Birkeland
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 17,000'
Sunday, May 29, 2022 - 10:27 pm PT
Unlike two days ago, when we woke up there wasn't a hint of wind in sight. We had word from Mike Walter's team that the weather at 17,000' was perfect to, so we launched out of 14,000' Camp in high spirits. It was one of the most pleasant days I can remember on the West Buttress. Temps were comfortable, no wind, and the views unparalleled. It's also some of the most fun climbing. We were at camp by early afternoon, set up tents, fired an early dinner, and congratulated Mike's team as they came back from the summit. Things look really good for us tomorrow, so fingers crossed, we'll make our push in the morning.
RMI Guides Pete, Leif, Erika, and team
C’mon team! Can’t wait to read the post about the summit! Wishing you good weather and strength. Molta força!
Posted by: Anna P on 5/31/2022 at 5:43 am
Congratulations on getting to 17k! I’m so excited for your hopeful push tomorrow. We’re all pulling for you, sending you positive thoughts and intentions. Keep reaching towards your goals, be safe, be amazing!
Posted by: Patrick Schmitz on 5/30/2022 at 8:19 pm
Posted by: Jack Delaney, Mike Bennett
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
Elevation: 4,500'
Thursday, May 11, 2023 - 12:01 AM PT
Sorry for the delay of game blogoneers! Yesterday was so jammed packed and busy with doing nothing that I forgot to blog. We awoke at 6am with high hopes of starting our summit day but instead when we poked our heads outside it looked like we were inside of a marshmallow. The lighting was so flat that up was indistinguishable from down. Suffice it to say, those are not ideal conditions for going uphill and assessing unknown avalanche terrain from the bottom up. So we stayed put and waited, and waited, and waited… until around 1pm we got sunshine for a whole 20 minutes! Then back into the clouds.
The team had high spirits and we enjoyed our weather day as best we could with movies, podcasts, music and books. Today was a new day! The skies were clear and we had a long way to go ahead of us. We packed up camp and descended from 747 Pass in great time compared to what it took us to come up it. Clouds started to pour over from the next valley and soon we had an overcast sky above us. We made it back to our cache we had left behind two days prior and had a nice, leisurely lunch. Then we reshuffled all our gear to make use of the sleds again and started tromping up glacier. A vicious headwind and snow hampered our progress but only slightly as the team was strong and motived to make it back to the airstrip. After a grueling climb of the final glacial hill, we were back where we started. What seems like a life time was only a week ago. The team expertly and quickly assembled camp, downed a tasty meal of garlic siracha bacon Mac and cheese, and promptly fell asleep. A well deserved rest after a long and arduous day. Assuming the clouds clear by morning, we’ll be back in Talkeetna tomorrow!
Cheers,
RMI Guides Jack, Mike and the team
We are settled back into the climber’s hut at Cayambe after a morning of reviewing climbing skills. Some competitive rounds of Yahtzee will now be followed with afternoon charcuterie and tea. The team is in good spirits and looking forward to our first alpine start tonight!
RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier & Team
Climb Strong Dustin!!
Posted by: Dave Kestel on 12/6/2021 at 4:25 am
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Sam Hoffman, Calvin Jiricko, Bailey Servais
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 348'
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Friday, July 4, 2025 - 1:33 AM PT
After we got in the tents at 11k last night, there was a violent thunderstorm passing over with inches of hailstones. We awoke at 2:00 AM to fire the stoves, choke down some oatmeal and get ready for a big day. It was party cloudy but mostly clear, which led to easy walking conditions. We were walking by 4:00 AM and and fairly soon, we’d reached the upper regions of Ski Hill and then our old camp at 8k. It only took us a further three hours to reach base camp. For late season, conditions were amazing. We never had to cross an open crevasse. We stayed busy at base camp sorting our own gear and helping others to load planes. Our flights came in around 1:00 PM and then we were headed to Talkeetna. Our team had donated pizzas in their mouths within 5 minutes of landing in Talkeetna. K2 Aviation did an excellent job bringing us home. In checking out with the National Park Service, we learned that we had been the absolute last team on the mountain and that the success rate for the season had only been 36%.
We sorted gear for the afternoon and then celebrated with a dinner at the brew pub. We celebrated a safe and enjoyable climb that didn’t reach the summit. That seemed appropriate given how much we enjoyed the effort of simply trying to get up the mountain.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn and Team
PC: Dave Hahn
New Post Alerts:
Mt. McKinley Expedition, June 14, 2025
Well done! Did the best you could with the conditions…looking forward to the stories and your safe return to the states. Karl and Diane
Posted by: Karl Ring on 7/8/2025 at 4:34 pm
God reise hjem etter det som må ha vært en fantastisk opplevelse selv om toppen ikke ble nådd.
Posted by: Erik Blaauw Evensen on 7/4/2025 at 12:45 pm
Posted by: Brent Okita, Avery Parrinello
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 10,600'
The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Avery Parrinello turned at 10,600' today due to high avalanche risk. The team had calm skies during their climb, but the new snow from recent storms has not had time to settle on the upper slopes of Mt. Rainier making travel above Camp Muir unsafe. The team has started their descent and will be back at Rainier Basecamp in Ashford, WA in the early afternoon.
Congratulations team!
We are so proud of all of you! Heather Heather this is a shout out from your friends who love you so much and we wanted to let you know that you inspire us!
Posted by: Janine Paradiso on 6/1/2022 at 5:08 am
CONGRATS YOU HAVE DONE great DANIEL
Posted by: w. d. cate on 2/5/2013 at 3:24 pm
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