Most Popular Entries

Clear skies and light winds greeted the Four Day Team on the summit of Mt. Rainier. RMI Guide Jess Matthews called in to let us know the team reached the summit at 6:05 am. They spent some time on the summit before starting their descent. The team will be back at Rainier Basecamp this afternoon to celebrate! 

Congratulations to today's team!  

Quick check in for the Torres del Paine trek group. We are all in Punta Arenas with our luggage. The amount of paperwork and long lines to enter Chile was the first major obstacle. With late arrivals we didn’t get much sightseeing around Punta Arenas with the exception of a few walks along the water front to see the sculptures and lots of cormorants.  Today we will head to Puerto Natales to sort our gear and enjoy some of the Southern “fjord” landscape that make up this area. I will be sending daily updates of our trip once we enter Torres del Paine National Park on Tuesday. 

Thanks,

RMI Guide Mike King

Hello, Mark Tucker here, calling from Everest Base Camp. Fourscore and 23 years ago, I stood on top of Mt. Everest with the International Peace climb led by Jim Whittaker. And what a day it was and what a day here today - May 10th. We now have a group of Sherpa on top of Mount Everest, so the floodgates are now open. The (Sherpa) team did a great job. Sounds like conditions were very favorable for an ascent as of now. People are starting to rally, lots of teams are looking at the weather of course, as well as us. Making some plans to the start the movement uphill. The Lhotse and Nuptse Teams have gotten very far along in the progress of fixing the ropes. We are not quite sure on the status of those, but it won't be long now for those mountains to see some summitters. It's a crazy place here right now and we are enjoying some good weather. It looks like there is some wind up high with the jet stream around. Hopefully some people will get started taking advantage of the opportunity to make their summit attempt and get on top this season. Our Sherpa team is resting well. And they are ready to give us the support that we're going to need in the near future and Dave Hahn, he's the best in the business, so we will have a great attack coming up here pretty soon. So, we will keep you posted when we can. RMI Guide Mark Tucker

Hello there, this is Peter. It is January 17th and it is 8:45 [p.m.] here down in Antarctica. [We're] on the ice, back here at Union Glacier. We woke up this morning to beautiful blue skies and sun which is really nice after two days of weather. We were told that we had an hour to pack and break the tents and that the plane would be picking us up right after that. So we scrambled and broke everything down [and] the plane showed up. We were pretty excited to work our way to a couple of objectives that we had identified as skiable and climbable on the way to Union Glacier. When the pilot showed she had a forecast that was not good and we decided that we would fly back, watch the weather, and see how things went. The weather rolled in and shut things down; we were able to get back in to Union Glacier where we landed in that's where we are now. So we were not able to get to our ski objectives were a little saddened by that. But we're here and the forecast is not too good for the next several days. But we're already getting maps out and finding some different objectives. The cool thing is that the runway is in an area here at Union Glacier that is basically unexplored, so there's lots of potential for first ascents and first descents, accessible by Twin Otter if the weather permits, and also by snow mobile and they have these wonderful vans with big snow tracks on them as well. So, the game is always changing with a few twists and turns but the whole team is here. We did reunite with Ed, Cindy and David and so the whole team is back together, all nine of us. We're eating dinner and digging in here. [Brief Static] That's the update from the First Ascent RMI Team down here on the ice and we'll talk to you soon.

Buenos Dias Bloglandia,

I’m sure many of you out there have been gnawing on your steering wheels and passing up Instagram to check on today’s happenings of the Ecuador skills seminar. Well, wait no longer because the moment has arrived. 

Beginning with last nights dinner (food and drink report) the team all gathered around a big table in a classic Ecuadorian restaurant, sharing stories and laughs eventually waiting for Dan’s guinea pig to arrive, his main course.  After realizing it didn’t really taste like chicken, we all focused back into our potatoes and meat happy we didn’t follow the adventurous Dan’s lead. 

Come morning we all returned to the table for breakfast while preparing for our bus ride to the giant volcano just out of the city where our first team climb would take place.  

After 15 minutes of solid Quito traffic we arrived at the trailhead.  Except here, as it should be on all mountains, the trailhead is actually the ticket office to the cable car waiting to zip us up the first 3,000 feet so our legs won’t get too tired.  No one botched getting into the moving car so we were off to a good start.  

With swirling clouds and occasional views of the city thousands of feet below, we all made quick and steady progress up to the 14,000 foot mark.  Soon afterwards my GPS began to rock a lady Gaga song as we broke the 15,000 foot barrier, marking the altitude PR for half the team.  Thirty minutes later we were all giving high 5’s on the summit of our first real mountain.   Pichincha Rucu, 15,300 feet!

The descent was uneventful except for a hummingbird which almost flew full speed into my face but crisis averted due to my lightning reflexes.  Maybe that’s exaggerated.  

Anyhoo, the team did great and gets the green light from both Hannah and me to climb again tomorrow.  I expect the same results barring anything loco!!

If Yellowstone wasn’t enough, give Ozark a try.  It will get you through until tomorrow.

RMI Guide Adam Knoff

Thursday, June 30, 2022 11:25 pm PDT

Another beautiful day, but this was an easy one.  We just rested and solidified our acclimatization today.  And ate and ate and ate.  It was great to see Andy’s RMI team come back into the camp at 14,000 on their way lower.  We congratulated them and wished them a safe journey out. 

In between afternoon naps, the team roped up and walked to the “Edge of the World” overlooking the Kahiltna Glacier’s NE Fork.  Camp at 14,000 is in a broad and mostly flat basin, but at the edge, there is a fairly breathtaking view straight down… seemingly for miles.  The gang enjoyed watching clouds race up the face and catching glimpses of the Cassin and West Rib climbing routes.  Back at camp we had dinner in calm sunshine and prepared for the big move up to 17,200 ft.

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Well it's been quite a day. This morning (technically speaking) we arose to a pretty full moon and gave climbing Ixta a shot. The past few mornings have had Popo's (Ixta's neighboring volcano and protector) smoky plume ascending straight into the sky. These "no wind" mornings are a treat to climb in and this morning was certainly a treat. Our team cruised the perfect conditions left by last month's storms and stood on top early this morning. We were able to see Orizaba in first light looming over Puebla where we now rest. Popo's aforementioned plume actually glowed red with the magma exposed in it's crater! I've never seen it do that before. On our descent Ixta's shadow stretched for miles and we pulled into camp seemingly just as a cold front made it's way to the mountain. Quite a day. Now for a little R&R here in Puebla before heading to Orizaba. RMI Guide Jake Beren

On The Map

The Four Day Summit Climb Teams August 26 - 29 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Mike Walter. Dave Hahn reported clear skies above and light winds with a cloud deck below at 9,000'. The teams were walking into the crater at 8:15 a.m. and will spend some time on top before starting their descent to Camp Muir and continuing to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp later today. Congratulations to today's teams!

It was cloudy overhead this morning, threatening another pulse of snow. We'd enjoyed yesterday's calm sunshine and hoped for one more day of the same, but that didn't seem likely. The snow held off nicely for our Puja ceremony though and we even got a couple hours of sunshine. The climbing Lama had made his way up from Pangboche for the event... Ours was the first in camp other than the one for the Icefall Doctors (who have been hard at work building the climbing route for the past two weeks already). We sat and listened to the prayers and chants as our Sherpa team attended to all of the mechanics of the ceremony, distributing offerings and building the prayer mast with colorful flags radiating out in five directions. The idea is that we want the blessing of the gods before we put any of our team at risk on the mountain. Having watched a gargantuan avalanche come down over the icefall around seven this morning, we all hoped the gods were paying attention to our pleading. The Puja finishes with everybody throwing tsampa (barley flour) up to the heavens and then in a gesture of friendship and camaraderie, spreading the remaining tsampa on the cheeks and noses of one's fellow climbers. We all wished each other good luck and careful climbing and then toasted with beer, coca cola, whiskey, rakshi and chang (it wasn't a requirement that any individual have each and every one of those... we are at 17,500 ft and it really doesn't take much sipping to feel an amplified effect). After lunch, we walked out onto the lower section of the Khumbu Glacier to stretch our legs and explore as the storm moved in. We were able to walk on frozen streams and watercourses beneath great towers of gleaming ice. It was snowing good and hard by the time we got back to camp, but now -in early evening- that snow has quit although cloud still hangs low and plentiful around us. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

What does normal feel like at 14,200'? Certainly not what it feels like at home. At least not at first. The headaches and weariness that some felt last night evaporated by morning and it was nice to see smiles on everyone's faces at breakfast. Yet still, we are not fully adjusted to the elevation. This becomes obvious when some normally easy things like shoveling snow or even walking to the 'bathroom' cause our respirations and pulse to surge a bit. But, it's getting better. Today we retrieved our cache from 13,500' and did some training in preparation for the most challenging climbing yet. Becoming comfortable with the mechanical ascenders that we will use for protection while ascending the steeps of the fixed ropes leading to the West Buttress is critical for our safe and efficient ascent. Next, being proficient in dealing with running belays used for protection on our climb up the exposed and most beautiful ridge of the Buttress is essential. And I'm happy to say that everyone is well prepared for tomorrows climbing. Good news from our friends, RMI 2, led by Billy Nugent, who are now at 17,200' camp, is that there are plenty of supplies at camp there, so our packs will be fairly light on our first foray up to 16,000' or 17,000'. Our climbing tomorrow serves two purposes. We do need to get food and fuel up to our next camp. But more importantly, tomorrow will serve to heighten our acclimatization greatly, allowing our bodies to feel even more normal up here. And the more 'normal' we start feeling here at 14,200', the more prepared we will be for our eventual move to high camp at 17,200'. But that's jumping ahead a little. For now we'll just concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other for a few hours and see if we can't get a cache in somewhere above us. Goodnight from 14,200' camp where our expected low temp tonight will hover around 0 degrees. RMI Guides Brent Okita, Leon Davis, and Lindsay Mann

On The Map