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The daily blogs from this trip have been a huge hit at home it seems. And while many of you are reading them each day to see what we have been up to, we have also been reading your comments. They have brought tears to our eyes from both laughter (looking at you Rosie) and sentiment. 

What the daily blogs don't show you is the day to day life we have experienced together. This much time together has created a unique bond. We show up early for each meal, not because we have to but because we genuinely like spending time together. We get our daily dose of Piper over our morning coffee/tea and while none of us have met her, she is our favourite dog on this trip. We know one another's breakfast order by heart with one particular order even turning into a nickname (miss you Pancake Fred). 

We know if we see any animal on the trail that Steven is going to try and pet it and Vanessa is most likely going to be taking pictures of it.  We know to never leave our phones unattended around Brian but if this happens we know the resulting photos will be hilarious. Some days our biggest decision is what kind of tea we want to have and with the ongoing fresh mint shortage this area seems to be experiencing we have had lemon ginger honey tea almost as many times as Jack has asked if it's finally time to pull out the microspikes. 

We almost always end each night with a card game where inexplicably Rick always has Aces. We were all blessed to be part of Kevin's journey to basecamp, fulfilling a promise he had made to his daughter.

We are a competitive bunch and while this has led to many aggressive games of 22 - now shortened to 12 and including rock paper scissors for "funsies" it has also led us to push one another to keep going on the days when it was hard to keep moving and breathing. Some days it's the small things that help like Vanessa's dancing while on trail or Brian pretending to be on a rollercoaster when crossing a bridge, or watching Tim and Fred's friendship blossom in real time (still is and will always be my favourite TV show).

The real joy in this trip has been the people. Our amazing team of porters who carried our heavy gear with smiles on their faces. Our local guides who arranged and rearranged plans constantly for us, kept us on schedule and made sure none of us were trampled by Yaks. Our climbing guides who stayed up all night to set the fixed lines on Lobuche then successfully led the team to the top. Our amazing guide Jess whose sense of humour was a bright spot on many days.

Today we flew back to Kathmandu after 17 days in the Khumbu valley. The snack weight in our bags has been replaced by yak bells and Everest Outfit gear, although not as much as Tim who is an unofficial Everest Outfit influencer. Our bucket list has 1 or 2 extra check marks on it. 

For me this trip was a 30 year dream turned into reality. I knew it would be amazing but it turned out to be so much more. Chatter has now turned to which mountain we will climb next and if we are lucky enough we will climb together again.

RMI Climber Jen

Thursday, April 2, 2026

Hello there,

The trail from Namche to Lukla is long — longer than you remember — but yesterday it was lined with rhododendrons in full bloom, which makes just about any suffering tolerable. On the way down, we carried out bags of trash collected for the Sagarmatha Next and SPCC clean-up efforts. Small contribution, but it felt right to leave the trail a little better than we found it.

The real story of the day, though, happened at dinner.

In Lukla last night, we gathered around a shared table to honor the porters and guides who made this entire expedition possible. These are the people who carried our loads, knew the trail in every kind of weather, kept us moving when we were tired, and kept us laughing throughout. No summit happens without them — and we wanted to make sure they knew we knew that.

The meal turned into dancing. Someone produced a boom box, and for many hours after dinner, we celebrated together — not as clients and crew, but as a team that had been through something real. It was one of those nights you don’t want to end.

Tomorrow we fly to Kathmandu!

— RMI Guide Jess Wedel & the 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!

Hola amigos!

It was a simple day today but that didn’t mean it was an easy one. Our main mission was to get everything packed for the upper mountain and sneak some rest in.

But rest when you’re at 14,000 feet isn’t the same as taking a long sweet nap at home. Our bodies are still hard at work adapting to these great heights.

We’ve stressed our systems significantly and just as we start to feel pretty good here, we’ll stress them again as we head higher up. That’s acclimatization for you!

Everyone is doing well — little headaches here and there, but appetites are still strong and spirits are high.

We got our backpacks packed for tomorrow — mostly food, stoves, pots, pans, ice axes, crampons, and all the things we don’t need at base camp. They are loaded. Most of us with around 50lbs.

The winds are blowing up high, but down here it is that perfect kind of Plaza Argentina evening — sun still warm, boots off, everyone horizontal in some version of “rest.”

Soon we’ll have dinner and then fall asleep in our luxury accommodations: sleeping bags, down jackets and the gentle symphony of tent fabric flapping in the wind.

Sending all our love to everyone back home.

RMI Guide Jess Wedel and the Aconcagua team

 Wow. What a day we had! 

Today the team started early with breakfast at 5:30am and hit the road shortly after 6 for our 2 hour drive to the park entrance. 

Once at the park we checked in and dropped off our gear not needed for the hike and quickly transitioned into hiking mode, and what a doozy it was! We hiked up into a beautiful valley along a river, through the forest, and eventually up onto the moraine to fantastic views of the Torres del Paine massif, which the park takes its name. 

It was a bit of a haul to be honest, especially after days of sitting on planes, boats and eating endless amazing food. It was a little bit of a shock to our systems, but the team did great making good time despite there being quite a few other people hiking alongside us. 

The weather remained mostly pleasant the entire hike to the view point, before the famous Patagonian weather arrived and welcomed us with relatively gusty winds and a few light showers. 

It was a big day for us, and the team has happily returned to camp and I’m certain will sleep deeply after a the 10hr round trip adventure. 

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the team!

The team enjoyed a great first day here in Quito! We met as a group for the first time this morning and headed out to explore the city. First stop was a visit to the equator, followed by the Church of La Compania and Independence Square. With many of us arriving late last night or in the wee hours of the morning we are looking forward to catching up on some sleep and heading into thinner air on Rucu Pichincha tomorrow! 

RMI Guide Henry Coppolillo & Team

We did everything we could to get to the summit of Chimborazo yesterday, but the mountain had other plans. We delayed our start until 1 am to allow some lightning to pass by and made the long traverse around the Castillo rock formation above camp towards the toe of the glacier. As we rounded the corner the fresh snow that had been aiding our progress with smoother walking conditions over the rock turned into much deeper and more concerning slabs. Knowing that the hazard would only worsen as elevation and slope angle increased, we turned tail and headed back to high camp. 

While it always stings to get shut down, especially on the last and hardest objective of the trip, spirits were still high for our snowy walk down to meet the bus yesterday morning. A lazy afternoon of drying out gear, naps and packing was followed by an excellent final dinner at Hacienda Abraspungo. 

This trip was a success before we even stepped foot on any of the mountains. Each member of the team prepared diligently and showed up in Ecuador ready to climb, if the mountains would allow safe passage. In the end, we had the privilege of visiting two beautiful summits. Had we reached none of these summits, Dustin and I would be equally proud of this team for all the mental and physical training they accomplished before arriving here. A job well done team! 

RMI Guide Henry Coppolillo

Wednesday, February 4, 2026 - 10:23 PM PT

Today was a carry high, sleep low kind of day.

We hauled big loads up to Camp 1 at 16,400 ft. The winds were a little spicy, and combined with heavy packs it made for a hard push. Slow steps. Focused breathing. Lots of internal pep talks.

But wow. The views.

The colors up there are unreal — reds and oranges — like someone dropped us on Mars. It’s wild how brutal and beautiful can coexist so loudly.

We stayed up high for about an hour and a half to cache our gear and give our bodies time to adapt. Eat. Drink. Breathe. 

Then we turned around and sailed back down to base camp. We don’t use the f-word on this mountain — fast. But we did move very, very efficiently. Skiing down the scree with light packs.

And waiting for us when we got back?

Our local team, Grajales, welcoming us with an incredible recepción: fresh fruit, cheese, meats, crackers, and endless cups of jugo. Truly elite hospitality.

Right on cue, the clouds started building — and almost the second we made it back to camp, the snow arrived. A quick squall of wind and snow blew through, reminding us who’s in charge up here. Luckily, we were already in our  warm dome tent, listening to the wind do its thing outside while we stayed cozy inside.

It’s been an unpredictable weather year on the mountain, so we’re watching the forecast closely and hoping those bigger winds ease up soon.

The good news?

We’ve earned another rest day tomorrow. 

More mountain soon,

RMI Guide Jess Wedel & the Aconcagua team

The Four Day Climb, led by Ben Luedtke and Will Ambler, successfully reached the summit early this morning and is now on the descent.

Ben reports cold temperatures accompanied by sustained winds around 30 mph. Route conditions are firm, and skies remain overcast.

Congratulations! 

That’s a wrap. We are back at the hotel in Puerto Natales, having completed the full O Circuit with our cups full both figuratively and literally. What an incredible adventure, made even better by a truly great group of people who now feel like old friends.

We woke up this morning to the same strong winds that ushered us into the park at the start of the trip. This time, though, they felt easy to shrug off. A hot shower and a real bed were waiting, which has a way of putting everything in perspective. As we made our way back, we couldn’t help but gawk at the towering mountains and hanging glaciers welcoming us into this beautiful corner of Patagonia, all while reflecting on just how far we had traveled to arrive right back where we began.

The weather on this trip was the best I’ve ever had out here, and that good fortune belonged entirely to this team. From start to finish, it felt like everything lined up just right. Now the only luck we need is choosing which wine to taste next.

This is the Torres trek signing off. Thanks for following along.

RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli