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We woke up this morning fully intending to move. Bags were packed, boots were on, breakfast was happening. And then we looked at the sky, looked at each other, and made the call: one more day in Namche.

The morning had given us just enough to keep us guessing — clouds rolling in and out, the peaks beyond Namche appearing and disappearing like they couldn’t quite commit. By afternoon, the snow settled in for real, steady and cold, and it became clear the weather had already made this decision for us.

Here’s the thing about an extra acclimatization day that’s easy to forget in the moment: it’s not a setback. It’s one of the best things that could have happened to us. At altitude, your body is doing serious background work — building red blood cells, adjusting to thinner air, recalibrating systems that have worked perfectly at sea level your whole life. That process doesn’t care about your itinerary. It runs on its own clock, and what it needs most is time.

So today we gave it time. Some of us explored a Sherpa museum, some walked to a monastery at the top of town, we ate a lot, drank more tea than any of us thought possible, and checked out all the bakeries in town.

Tonight we’re making it a proper snow day game night — salad bowl, cards, and Farkle around the table. Somewhere out there the route to Tengboche is getting a fresh coat of white. We’ll be ready for it tomorrow.

RMI Guide Jess Wedel

Pico. De. Orizaba. 

What an incredible place, an incredible volcano, and an incredible climb. Congratulations to the team today for making it to el cumbre! After a glorious dinner last night before bed, prepared by the wonderful Rudolpho and Allan, we woke up same night to tackle our final objective. The night shined bright thanks to an almost full moon, lighting up the Labyrinth light a simple fable....with almost no wind and not a mouse to be heard (only felt on the back of the head while sleeping), we then enjoyed an insanely colorful sunrise that pictures can't even describe. Not all of us made it, but we are ecstatic for those that did. Now here we sit, back in Tlachichuca, all showered and bonito again. We could not be more grateful for our local guide Allan, and the rest of the Servimont crew for all of their hosting, driving, cooking, and overall hospitality. David Bowie may portray it better, but we will miss this place, once we are gone.

RMI Guide Ben Luedtke & Team

Hello again.

What an amazing day we had here in Chile today!

Today we started early, leaving the hotel and headed to the local marina to catch a boat ride to Magdalena Island to do a little penguin viewing. It was a beautiful and calm day which made the 1.5 hr boat ride relatively smooth and allowed us to glimpse a few whales breaching and dolphins too.

Once on the Island, we were all in awe of the cute penguins that were far less curious about us as we were about them. They just waddled in every direction while we took photos and just enjoyed being in such a peaceful place. We only spent an hour with them before heading back to the boat to minimize our impact.

Once back in Punta Arenas we rushed off to a quick lunch at one of the incredible restaurants in town, then hopped aboard our shuttle to Puerto Natales.

It was a smooth, albeit windy ride across the Patagonian landscape, as we  passed many Guanacos and Nandus along the way.

The team has just returned from another fantastic meal and are headed to bed.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and team

Day two in Ecuador and we are already tagging 15,000'! The teleferico (gondola) whisked us up to 13,000, and then we started the hike through the gently rolling highlands below Rucu Pichincha. Swirling clouds throughout the day kept us from getting our first views of Cayambe and Cotopaxi, but also kept the sun at bay and made for pleasant hiking temperatures. After an hour or so of hiking through the grasslands the gradient kicked up and we started to pick up elevation quickly, traversing exposed slopes around to the far side of the peak, where a short but fun scramble brought us to the summit of Rucu Pichincha at 15,407'. With overcast skies and rain in the forecast we were on the lookout for afternoon thunderstorms, but the team moved well and we made quick work of the descent before any rain drops could reach us. 

Now we're all back at Hotel Mercure to rest the legs, dry out our trail shoes and pack up to leave the big city tomorrow. The team is feeling strong, psyched and ready for Cayambe! 

RMI Guide Henry Coppolillo

Hello again from Colera,

Surprise! We’re still here. The cold and the winds kept us from attempting a summit run early this morning. Instead we slept in and had breakfast “in bed” but it was actually just our sleeping bags because that was the only place warm enough. We decided as a team to stick around one more night — the forecast doesn’t look great but there’s always a chance. It could surprise to the upside. We press on here at nearly 20,000 feet — we’ve come this far, what’s one more night of frozen boots and wind lullabies?

Come on atmosphere simmer down now,

--RMI GuideJess Wedel and the A-team

We had a full day in Kathmandu today.

After breakfast, we gathered in the garden for a team meeting — a little pocket of calm before the city fully woke up. We talked through the plan for the days ahead and shared what brought everyone here: a curiosity about the Himalaya and those who call them home, a desire to honor loved ones, a chance to step away from the everyday and even a little geology enthusiasm in the mix. Good people, good reasons.

The rest of the morning was dedicated to gear checks. Lots of gear checks. Layers sorted, boots inspected, stuff sacks ripped (iykyk… purely accidental). Not glamorous, but essential.

Then — Kathmandu.

If you’ve never visited this city, nothing quite prepares you for it. The traffic alone is a cultural experience. Crossing the street requires a mix of calm confidence, a light jog, and a willingness to trust the universe just a little. We did fine.

Our first stop was Boudhanath, one of the largest Buddhist stupas in the world. We walked beneath prayer flags and wandered into a thangka painting school, where artists can spend years on a single piece. One painting we saw had taken over seven years and was valued at $1.6 million. We took that in, nodded, and collectively agreed we will not be bringing that one home.

Next up: Swayambhunath — the Monkey Temple — perched on a hilltop with sweeping views of the city. The vistas are incredible, but the monkeys absolutely stole the show. No filter, no personal space, full commitment to whatever they’re doing at any given moment. Honestly… goals.

We wrapped the afternoon with a stroll through the chaotic, colorful streets of Thamel — Kathmandu’s adventure-gear-meets-tourist-bazaar neighborhood — before heading to an early dinner.

Now we’re back at the hotel, packing and repacking for an early start. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we’ll fly to Lukla and officially begin the trek.

We’re ready to get moving.

RMI Guide Jess Wedel

RMI Guide Jess Wedel checked in a with a quick message to let us know that the team reach Everest Base Camp just before the snow began to fall.  

We had a nice rest day yesterday as we made our way from La Cienega to the famous Chimborazo Lodge. Tucked in one of the valleys under the south face of Chimborazo, it’s essentially a climbing museum that happens to offer rooms for climbers- every conceivable inch of wall space is covered in photographs or memorabilia spanning the entire history of alpinism both in Ecuador and abroad. Surrounded by dozens of llamas grazing in the surrounding fields, the ambiance was perfect the last night before our final summit attempt of the trip. 

This morning we awoke to dense fog and made our way up the road into Chimborazo National Park with never more than a few feet of visibility in front of bus. The hike up to high camp was longer, snowier and steeper than the approach the Cotopaxi hut, but at least we all have a few more red blood cells at this point in the trip! The Chimborazo high camp is much more primitive than the Refugios at Cayambe or Cotopaxi, but the big white domes up here are still a big upgrade over tents, especially in a raging thunderstorm like the one that rolled through a few hours after we got up here this afternoon.

There is a lot of snow on the ground up here and more falling as I write this, so we are unsure what the upper mountain will look like tonight and tomorrow. With a high degree of uncertainty around the state of snowpack and much more consequential terrain than our previous two mountains we are going to take a cautious approach into our climb tonight and climb as high as the mountain allows us to with a reasonable margin. We’ve controlled every variable we can at this point, so it’s just a matter of seeing what the mountain allows us to do. As of right now the plan is for a midnight departure, check back tomorrow to see how we fared! 

RMI Guide Henry Coppolillo

Good morning from Mexico City!!!

What a beautiful place. After a wonderful plate of tacos for dinner, a good night of rest, and a relaxing breakfast, we are packed, mingled, and ready to roll. We are off to the cabins at La Malintzi. Today will be an easy day of acclimitization, but tomorrow will be our first true test to reach the top of Malinche at 4,461 meters. (14,636 feet) Dormant for the last 3,100 years, Malinche's original name was Matlalcueitl, meaning "lady of the blue skirt," a goddess of rain and song. Hopefully the goddess helps keep the rain away so we can reach the top to sing our song tomorrow. 

RMI Guide Ben Luedtke & Team

Hola from Puerto Natales!

Beautiful day here in southern Chile for us. The team met shortly after a hearty breakfast and plenty of coffee to walk through the schedule and review all the necessary gear to keep the famed Patagonian weather at bay.

We then took most of the afternoon to explore, shop, read, nap, adventure around town by ourselves. Everyone seemed to have had a great day and we wrapped up the evening with meeting our 2 local guides, Mauricio, and Hector that will accompany us and share their insights on this trek.

We finished the evening with another wonderful meal and great conversations and a short but beautiful walk back to the hotel.

We head into the mountains tomorrow!

RMI Guide Casey Grom and friends!