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Saturday, May 9, 2026 - 12:15  am PT

Today started slow, similar to our previous days in Talkeetna. We walked the rainy streets, drank copious amounts of coffee and waited patiently. By mid afternoon, we were ready for a nap! Suddenly, the clouds parted and we were greeted with the first blue skies of the trip. We loaded the planes and took off from Talkeetna towards the Ruth Glacier.

We flew past rivers beginning to thaw after the long Alaskan winter and our planes shadow danced below against the rocky moraine covered with fresh snow. After circling the massive East Face of Mount Dickey, we landed and made quick work of setting up camp.

After a delicious dinner, we lingered outside and enjoyed a perfect sunset.

The skies continue to be clear and blue in the midnight sun and we are excited for tomorrow!

RMI Guide Sam Marjerison

Day 10 - Strong Winds and Snow Persist

Today is another weather day, so the blog is about birds.

Birding is the act of intentionally wandering around outside and looking for birds. People who engage in this hobby are called birders. There are many types of birding, some enjoy seeing local birds that are native to where they live, others enjoy making a life list of all the unique birds they’ve seen in their life, and for some - the most extreme birders their goal is to complete “A Big Year”. There are many types of Big Years but the most popular and competitive is The Lower 48 American Bird Association Big Year. The Big Year starts on January 1st each year and ends on December 31st. The goal during this time frame is to see or hear as many unique birds as possible in the contiguous United States and up to 50 miles offshore. There is a fantastic documentary about this competition available for free on YouTube called “Listers”, I highly recommend you give it a watch. 

Now here is a list of bird facts that I can remember to spice up the end blog…

• The Loggerhead Shriek is a small carnivorous songbird that uses thorns of plants and the spikes of barbwire to impale its prey.
• The Golden Finch is the state bird of Iowa.
• The Common Murre is a pelagic sea bird that can dive upwards of 300 feet below the surface.
• Horned Puffins nest on sheer ocean cliffs and lay eggs with a flat side on them, so the eggs don’t accidentally roll out of the nest.
• Blue-Footed Boobies have one of the top 5 funniest bird names.
• Bald Eagles have been known to sink their talons into fish that are too large to fly away with and are unable to release their talons, so they are pulled underwater and drown.
• Roadrunners are one of the few known predators of rattle snakes.
• At least one songbird dies every year on the West Buttress route of Denali.
• Varied Thrush can sing through two sets of vocal cords simultaneously, allowing them to sing incredibly complicated bird songs.
• Marbled Murrelets nest dozens of miles from their ocean habit, exclusively in old growth forests near rivers. This allows their chicks a higher survival rate due to the fact old growth offers more protection for nesting and when they’re pushed out of their nests to learn to fly, they plop into the river below.
• Red-Winged Black Birds are territorial and have been known to attack elementary school students walking to their friend Andrew’s house.
• The Steller Jay was the key to the first Russian expeditions knowing they had made it to Alaska as the Blue Jay family of birds is endemic to North America exclusively.
• And finally contrary to popular belief, the mosquito is not the state bird of Alaska, it is in fact the Ptarmigan.

Cheers,

Jack and the well-rested team.

Wednesday, May 27, 2026 - 9:03 pm PT

We woke up to a chilly morning with clear skies. After a couple days of carrying gear and moving camps, our lead guide Seth, called for a rest day. That called for a rest day. meant a slow morning enjoying extra coffee and english muffins and ham. Camp renovations soon followed and after building the best snow bench seen at 11 camp, we enjoyed some real rest on said bench. For five minutes until one climber said “man, I hate sitting... what else can we build!?”

We found a few other useful ways to pass the time (including some actual rest in our warm tents) but try to get a group of motivated mountaineers to do nothing on a nice weather day and that just might be harder than climbing the mountain itself.

- RMI Climber Connor

The Four Day Climb June 22 - 25 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today led by RMI Guide Ben Ammon. The climbers reached the crater rim around 6:15 am this morning and enjoyed a bit of time in the crater before starting their descent.  The team will take a short break at Camp Muir before continuing down to Paradise.

Congratulations to today's climbers!

6/6 - After a long day of travel and a few overnight flights, our team is here in Quito! We spent today visiting many of the tourist hotspots and wandering around town. Our purpose was two-fold: experience a taste of Ecuadorian culture and begin the acclimatization process. Moving around town, even on flat ground, at 9,300' felt like a significant effort and we look forward to a good night of sleep before heading out into the mountains. 

- RMI Guide Eric Frank & Team

The Four Day Climb June 1 - 4 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning led by RMI Guides Dustin Wittmier & Tom Skoog.  Dustin reported moderate winds but blue skies above as they were approaching 13,500' just after 7 am today. The team reached the summit and is currently on their descent to Camp Muir. Once back at Camp, they will take a short break before continuing down to Paradise. Their program will conclude this afternoon at Rainier BaseCamp.

Congratulations to the team!

Sunday, May 31st - 8:30PM PST

Today Seth, our benevolent lead, let us sleep in for one extra hour. We woke to crisp, clear skies. Many hot beverages were served, paired with  granola bars and an air of white gas. Post “breakfast” we headed downhill to collect our cache. There were tears of joy as people were reunited with precious snacks, and for some, toilet paper. After our short adventure, we settled into the posh, ate blueberry pancakes doused in maple syrup and enjoyed the heat from the stoves. Full on cakes, we moved to our next task: fortify our walls for the incoming wind. Graham is the undisputed block building champ, and after some time in the sun our labyrinth was complete. Thankfully this included higher bathroom walls, hopefully decreasing awkward interactions at the pee hole. The rest of the day was spent training, and then greeting our friends from up high. Continuing the food trend, we finished with a green coconut curry. All in all, the day was good, and somehow, the food was even better.

- RMI guide Marge

Saturday, May 30th 8:30PM PST

Today we pulled our sleds from camp 1 to establish a cache just below camp 2. This was our first real elevation gain, and it feels like we’re nearing a turning point where in the coming days, the challenge of hauling loads and staying cool in the heat of the day will transition to hauling mostly just ourselves and keeping warm.

I’ve taken a hundred of photos already, but every time I return from a new place, I scan through my photos and realize that, in looking for a wider and wider angle lens thinking I could capture everything about that place, in fact I capture very little of what it’s like to be there. I feel this already here. The sky is deepest blue and the snow brilliant white, but our days are spent focused on the tiniest details which no photo will capture. The way the rope cuts a groove in the snow as it slides the length of each step. The texture of sunscreen layered on sunscreen layered on sweat. Tiny adjustments to backpack straps which cut either into our hips or into our shoulders. Analyzing every twitch of our guide’s arm to see if it signals the next rest break.

I struggle to conceptualize the innumerable tiny tasks and footsteps separating us from our goal next to the scale of the mountains which surround us. The mountains still seem impossibly big to me and, in alternating waves, oddly small. Glaciers stretch on for miles and seracs the size of houses hang thousands of feet above our heads. But houses align into city blocks, city blocks cluster into neighborhoods, and what hiker would think twice about passing through a few neighborhoods to get to the other side of town? I rationalize to myself that the next turn in the track is only as far away as the next stop light.

So too, the whoops of exuberance and sighs of commiseration between teammates stack into shared experiences, and these shared experiences stack into friendships. I’m grateful for these new friendships and for the opportunity to be here, even if it’s accompanied by separation from everyone back home and a certain amount of discomfort and trepidation.

Friday, June 5th - 11:30PM PST

Sleep at 17 camp is never glorious nor sound. We woke up our tired and stiff bodies feeling better the more we moved. The sun was hot on the tent, and encouraged us slowly out of our sleeping bags. Once again, the day was splitter, and we broke down camp excited to climb down the buttress.

Spectacular climbing led to one more trip down the fixed lines and back to 14 camp. We made a quick stop at 14, digging up our cache and saying hi to friends. We rigged up the sleds and wrangled them down to 11 camp where we now enjoy dehydrated meals to a short nights sleep.
 

RMI Teams led by guides Dustin Wittmier and Tom Skoog made it to the top of Mt Rainier this morning around 6:15am. After several days of extremely high winds, they reported light winds and nice temperatures. They will return to Ashford this afternoon. 

Great work, team!