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Our Vacas fracas continued to Casa de Piedras (House of Stones).  The day started with a hearty breakfast where our fearless leader, Jess, discovered a majority of our team does not drink coffee. More java for the pros!

Pachamama blessed us with overcast skies and a gentle breeze as we pushed onward and upward amongst rusty red peaks and ethereal clouds.  Snow dusted distant summits down valley. Despite all this moisture, we managed to move camps without any rain!

The team passed a gorgeous herd of guanacos — a wild/native llama-like species.  We also stopped to admire a pack of mulas, getting shepherded up to camp.  The mules looked tiny, far across the braiding floodplain of the Vacas River.

We arrived at camp, where our incredible camp crew had prepared a delicious taco snack. We’ll refuel and rest ahead of our move to basecamp at Plaza de Argentina.

RMI Climber Munier and team

P.S. Today we used our imaginations as we were supposed to get our first view of the Aconcagua. The clouds had other plans but it was no problem for us because we are creative.

The four-day climb turned around at Ingraham Flats on their summit attempt this morning due to avalanche conditions. They enjoyed a beautiful sunrise! They will be descending back to Paradise later this morning. 

Friday May 29, 2026 12:58am PDT

We have ascended to 17 Camp. It is cold and windy but we are all tucked in safe and sound for the night.

RMI Guide Jack Delaney & Team

Monday, February 2, 2026 - 7:00 pm PT

We’re off to the races. Today marks the start of our trip, and while we are not trekking just yet, we managed to pack in plenty of sightseeing.

The morning began bright and early, traveling along the Strait of Magellan to Isla Magdalena, a small island about an hour and a half away by boat, to spend time among the penguins. What a place. Penguins and a wide assortment of seabirds stretch as far as the eye can see. Honks, chirps, and the whistling wind fill the air as we walk among them, pause for the habitual jaywalkers to cross, and then continue on. The penguins seem completely unfazed by our presence, waddling past with total confidence and a complete lack of athleticism, going about their routines as if we are just another feature of the landscape. An incredible experience and a perfect way to begin the journey.

We have now picked up the last of our teammates, delayed by the infamous snowy weather the Carolinas are known for, and settled into Puerto Natales, our launch pad for the trek. Gear checks, souvenir shopping, and a much needed rest await us tomorrow. We are excited to be here in this fjord side town and ready to begin the trek ahead.

RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli 

The Four Day Climb teams for June 20 - 23 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning around 6:40 am.  The team reported great conditions and a beautiful day. They will descend to Camp Muir, take a short break and continue down to Paradise later this afternoon.

Congratulations to today's climbers.

Photos: Seth Burns

Hello again Everyone. 

The team is doing great here in Patagonia. 

Today we thankfully had a relaxed start with breakfast just after 8 and then packed up our things, met our porters and hit the trail shortly after 10am. 

It was hot starting out in the sunshine, but luckily the Patagonian weather and wind arrived to help keep us cool for nearly the entire day. 

We had a few passing light showers that kept us guessing if we should be wearing our Gore-Tex or not, but that’s pretty standard here. It only took about 5 hours hiking with breaks to reach our next home for the night, called Seron.  We quickly settled into camp, took showers and before we knew it, our two amazing Chilean guides (Mauricio and Hector) had a huge charcuterie board laid out for us. Clearly we are being well taken care of and the team is doing great great! 

RMI Guide Casey Grom and 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!

Monday, June 1st - 12:45AM PST

Hello blog readers! We awoke this morning to the sun blessing our tents. It took sometime to get our momentum rolling but soon we were headed downhill. The sweet thick air below us was calling our names! We descended the 16k ridge in stellar weather with almost the entire thing to ourselves. Then back down the fixed lines for the final time. Next thing you know we were back at 14k camp! We were greeted with great hospitality from the RMI team lead by Seth Burns. After an hour of so of R&R and repacking, we continued on our journey downward. After 6,000 feet of descent, we were back at our nemesis - 11 Camp  but this time on better terms. This time it’ll only be a short layover with a few hours of sleep before we finish our descent to the Kahiltna International Airport where we hope to catch a ride on a Turbo Otter to Talkeetna!

Cheers,
Jack and the Team
(fingers crossed for flyable weather!)

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

June 18th - 10PM PST

This mountain is work. But not the kind of work that we do back home. Not the expediency of email after email, reacting to task to task.  Not back-to-back zoom calls.  Not Monday morning meetings, nor PowerPoint presentations. That’s the job that allows us to do this other kind of work—the work Denali requires.

The work up here is different. Waking up in the morning is work. It takes 15 minutes to get dressed and another 5 minutes to get our boots on. This morning was our first sub-zero wake up.  Avoiding the frost on the inside of the tent while putting on a shirt is work —you can’t let it touch your bare back. Rice Krispie treats are no longer for pleasure, but for performance. Today, after organizing her food bags for 2 hours, I heard Amanda say, “it’s hilarious how much work is required just to get by up here.”

Drinking water is work. It requires digging sacks of fresh snow, lighting the camp stove and waiting for the snow to melt  in a big pot. It takes a lot of snow to fill the water bottles of 9 climbers 3 times per day. Our guides handle this job. As climbers, we do a lot of work and it still only amounts to about 40% of the work our guides handle. We could not do this without our guides: Ben, Mike, and Avery.

Moving up this mountain is work. Every step is slow and heavy. Yesterday we covered 3K feet of gain up frozen glaciers as steep as double black diamond ski slopes. We pulled heavy sleds and carried heavy packs. Every patient crampon step was work. This is work that we get to do. Work that we choose to do. Do not feel sorry for our cold toes and sunburnt lips. This work makes us happy.

Yesterday’s effort took us 5 hours and 40 minutes as we moved from 11K camp to 14K camp. No music. No conversation. Sometimes the silence of the snow, and other times the shriek of Denali’s winds as she lets us know she’s aware of our presence on her west buttress. So far she’s welcomed us with beautiful weather, but we’re ready for when she changes her mind. We have lots of time to think on these long days. A luxury that we do not have back home when we’re in the daily grind. Out here I find myself thinking about the people I love and miss. My eyes fill with tears of joy as I think about my favorite memories we’ve made together. I find myself planning the next time we’ll see each other. The stories we’ll share, the laughs we’ll have, and the memories we’ll make. Today I thought about Nonnie. I promise I’ll come visit you as soon as I get back. I thought about Aunt Sandy’s Christmas Eve stories and my mom’s tendency to exaggerate her boys’ abilities. I thought about how Jake and Jordan would hate it in this tent, but they could do it if they had to. I thought about my boy Braxton and his upcoming Walmart meeting—go get it done, sir. I thought about Angela; Miss Chaosa, keep doing great work and you will be happy with the outcome. I promise. I thought about all of you guys and the strength of the hugs we will soon share.

Until then, it’s back to the work. We have a mountain to climb. This morning we back-carried to 13K feet to retrieve our cached gear and food. That was 2 hours of work. This afternoon we trained on the fix lines. We buffed out camp, built igloo walls with snow blocks, and we rested. We are preparing our minds and recharging our bodies. We are doing the work that is required to touch the top of North America. We feel lucky that we get to do this work. We are sharpening ourselves. We will make you all proud.

With love from 14,
- RMI Climber Jimmy D

PS: Happy big 6-5, John Morrison! We’ve been thinking about you every day. You inspire us to do this work with pride, with grit, and with determination. We will stand on the summit for you soon.