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It is tough to realize just how hard Everest is on the human body until one comes back down to "normal" altitudes like 17,500 ft Basecamp. The first night of deep sleep convinces you that whatever you thought you were doing for twelve hours a night at 21,300 ft was not actually sleep. A plate of breakfast that you actually want seconds on makes you think of how easy the mountain would be to climb if you could have had your normal appetite up at ABC. Life is easy for us today at Basecamp. Chairs with backs to lean against. Oxygen and air pressure in abundance. Cellphone connectivity. Showers and mostly clean clothes. And very little risk for a change... Unlike looking forward to a day on the Lhotse Face or a morning in the Khumbu Icefall. Not so much can fall on us on our rest day and we aren't likely to step on anything that collapses without warning. Lots of good things about life at Basecamp... once the morning flurry of helicopter flights is finished, there is peace and quiet and a billion dollar set of views out every tent door. Today the views included jet stream winds raking the upper Lhotse Face, driving snow a thousand feet higher than the mountain itself. We are catching up on the news and trying to beat Mark Tucker at a game or two, but he has all of the advantages while our brains are still fuzzy and our bodies are tired. Tomorrow. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

Sunday, May 29, 2022 - 11:20 pm PT

Everything came together for us today and we made a successful summit bid of Denali and, more importantly, we returned to High Camp safely. Clear skies and moderate temperatures made for an enjoyable day of climbing. Light west winds kept a nip to the air all day. The route was in great condition and we got out ahead of everyone so we didn't experience any traffic jams. Our team climbed strong and efficiently, with a round trip time of 9 1/2 hours. Back at camp we ate dinner and worked on rehydrating. Everyone crawled into their tents pretty early for some well-earned and much-needed rest. Tomorrow we'll begin our descent. Our itinerary is up in the air, and first we'll focus on climbing safely back down to 14k. The weather looks good for traveling; we'll keep you posted on our progress. Now it's time for some zzz's.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

We just had our first team dinner here in Temuco, Chile. Everyone made it today despite various fight delays and the standard rigamarole of crossing continents, hemispheres and time zones. It’s snowing in the mountains and we might just get to ski some powder tomorrow... but first we sleep. RMI Guide Tyler Reid and the Chile Ski Team

The team enjoyed an evening kayak near the large icebergs on Lago Grey yesterday. Today we had a windy but scenic 6.5 miles through the 2013 wildfire scar. The terrain is a series of rocky bluffs and valleys covered in burned and sun bleached trees. While holding onto thier hats, some were able to get pictures of Glacier Grey. Some, decided to forge ahead and get out of the wind. This Refugio is located on Lago Pehoe pay way) which has a brilliant turquoise color. We got our first views of the Cuernos (horns) of the Paine Massif. A short stay here tonight and we’ll head up the French Valley tomorrow morning on our way to Francis Domes. 

RMI Guide Mike King

The June 3rd Expedition Skills Seminar Team safely reached Camp Muir yesterday afternoon. Here is a video from their ascent to Camp Muir. The team will spend the today training at Camp Muir.

This morning, RMI Expeditions guides Jack Delaney and Joey Manship led their Four Day Climb teams to the summit of Mount Rainier—an incredible achievement for all involved!

The teams reached the top under dynamic mountain conditions, reporting broken clouds, light precipitation, and a cloud deck hovering around 8,700 feet. Despite the weather, spirits were high as climbers stood atop the 14,410-foot peak, many for the first time.

At 9:20 AM, the teams began their descent, and are currently en route to Camp Muir. 

Congratulations Team! 

Wednesday June 22nd - 5:34pm PT

To the edge and back. Not a lot of excitement today, given it was a rest day.

Breakfast burritos started our day and led into a walk to the Edge of the World. The Edge of the World is a cool rock feature one can stand on, a lot like pride rock on Lion King but this one had a relief of 7,000 feet. The view will give you chills from the beauty and the sheer height of it. The walk is short but is nice to stretch the legs. Our legs are about to have a handful of large days coming their way. More napping and snacking have wrapped our day, along with a visit from another RMI team who did their carry to 14k camp.

Tomorrow we are hoping to move to 17k camp and be in position to summit this beast. It's all so close and yet, so far away. Send all the good weather vibes our way.

All the best,

Hannah and Team

This morning, feeling rested, refreshed and blessed by our Puja... We set out for a "hike" in the lower reaches of the Khumbu Icefall. Each of us felt excited to finally be geared up and clawing our way over minor ice obstacles, not to mention stepping over crevasses once again. Seems like we've been on a lot of pretty trails lately, but today it was good to be climbing, even if for just a warm up. We went up about an hour, the consensus was that we'd reached close to 18,000 ft, but we stopped just before the "popcorn" section of the Icefall where the risk ramps up a bit. Back down to camp we came, stopping off for a cyber break, of course, in a safe place where we were finding the all-important 3G signal out of Gorak Shep for our smartphones. Lunch was perfect as usual, but the afternoon weather had us mostly hiding in tents, reading and napping. We can hear big wind above and the sky is now fully clouded and turbulent. Best regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

The clouds and fog took over Vinson basecamp again today. There was slight improvement by late afternoon, but not enough to get airplanes moving our way. Our team hasn't been particularly worked up or worried by the enforced downtime though. Naps are popular, reading and mathematical puzzles pass the time. We went for another glacier walk today. Meals together never fail to entertain. The forecast apparently calls for better weather tomorrow. Fingers Crossed. Best Regards RMI Guide Dave Hahn

The storm that seemed to be coming in yesterday afternoon got here. The morning wasn't actually all that bad. Just a bit breezy and overcast, but it was obvious that up high it was hitting a lot harder. For all of that, though, it didn't hold our team back. Lam Babu and the Sherpa team (Cherring, Kaji, Gyaljen, and Uberaj) were out in the dark, walking just after 4 AM bound for Camp One. The first carry went well and the boys established camp at close to 20,000 ft, reporting not much in the way of difficulties with the Khumbu Icefall (in truth though, our guys rarely report much in the way of difficulties). Not willing to be totally sedentary while the Sherpas were setting such a fine example, the rest of us set off on a hike to Pumori Camp One. We figure that camp sits at about 18,600 ft, so it is perfect for getting in a workout and getting a little time up high without exposing ourselves to hazard. We even got some great views of the black pyramid-top of Mount Everest fighting it out with monster storm clouds. The West Ridge was taking on its ten millionth storm, splitting wind and clouds with its jagged rock prow. As we got a bit higher, scrambling our way up a rocky trail, we were treated to views of both the North Col (23,000 ft in Tibet) and the South Col (26,000 ft in Nepal). We were able to see all the mountains we'd trekked through to get to Everest, and closer to home it was humbling to look at the giant hanging glaciers of Pumori and Nuptse, up close and personal. We didn't spend too long at Camp One, before dropping back down and joining the trekker traffic again on the main trail to Basecamp. We were well motivated by Chef Kumar's lunch scheduled for 1:30 PM. As we got in the tent for lunch, it began snowing outside and so we mostly just huddled up and slept, read and played games for the afternoon. Such is expedition life at the moment. We are getting stronger each day now... We hope. Several days ago a tragedy occurred as one of the "Icefall Doctors" suffered a crevasse fall and died close to Camp One on Everest. We were very much aware of this sad circumstance at the time, but chose not to break such news on the blog. Obviously it wasn't our news to break and we didn't want to get ahead of word reaching family and loved ones through proper channels. But it is time to acknowledge the loss of one devoted climber and of the selflessness of our own Sherpa team, who played a key role in the rescue effort. Chherring Dorje flew by helicopter to the scene and managed the retrieval while Lam Babu conducted things from the heli-pad at Everest Basecamp. Although there was a sad outcome, I was extremely proud that our partners were able to offer help to the Icefall Docs, whom we admire very much. This small team of about a half dozen men are hired by the National Park to establish and maintain the route through the Khumbu Icefall. It is physically demanding and dangerous work. The docs do an incredible job each year, and the same men come out year after year. They never boast or seek recognition... They aren't rewarded by being able to tag the summit and run up their "count" on the mountain, and they are paid modestly. Mingma was from the village of Dingboche and leaves a wife and several daughters. Of course many of us will try to help out with donations... Mingma was working on our behalf... but there is no getting around the reality: this dangerous work has once again taken the ultimate toll. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map