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We had an early wake up this morning at Winay Wayna so our Porters could catch an early train home after their impressive work the last 3 days. We let camp clear of the other trekking groups and began our hike to the Sun Gate at the top of the Machu Picchu Sanctuary around 5:45 am. Overcast skies kept the early day cool and as the team descended into Machu Picchu  taking in the stellar vantage point. Since the pandemic, the way people are routed through the site has allowed for less crowding and more time in the different points of interest. We got some sun to make the pictures pop and provide context to the intricate terracing that makes this site so unique. Our Peruvian guides Marco & Jaime gave a nice 2 hour tour and history lesson. We are at the hotel in Aquas Calientes for some R&R. Tomorrow we'll return to Machu Picchu for some more wandering around and possibly a hike up Huyna Picchu depending on the weather and how people's leg/feet are feeling. Regardless, it will be a nice morning to wrap up this trek before catching a train back to Cusco.

Thanks for checking in. 

RMI Guide Mike King

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

The clouds came back up over us in the night at Machame Camp, but the morning was pleasant enough.  We busted out of camp just after 8 AM and started right off with some hard work through a forest of giant Heather.  The trail was steeper and rockier than anything we had encountered yesterday… and a bit relentless. We pushed on for a couple of hours, getting above the clouds once more. After the steep hill, we worked more gradually up along a ridge crest through bright and intense sunshine. The team stuck right together as we made a turn to the North and traversed out toward the Shira Plateau. There were a few interesting parts requiring us to use our hands on the rock, and then we popped out on the plateau to the West of Kibo at 12,800 ft.  It was a relaxing descent then to get to our new camp at 12,500. We took just over 4 hours to reach Shira and so we had a relaxing afternoon -as planned- in our new home. There were actually a few short rain showers as the day went by, but most of us were napping in the tents by then.

We met for teatime and storytelling in the late afternoon and then, after a beautiful sunset, dinner at 7 PM.  By the time we piled out of the dining tent, the stars were brilliant. The Southern Cross and the Milky Way were easy to pick out, as were the distant lights of Arusha.

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

The dry weather held out for us and we summitted Antisana at 6:30am yesterday. Clouds threatened in the distance, with a fantastic lightning show in the direction of the Pichincha Volcano. However, it was mostly calm and clear at Antisana, until the summit where wind and rime ice conditions convinced us to not hang too long.

Antisana is well-liked by climbers for it's challenge and aesthetic beauty. The mountain is heavily-crevassed with numerous seracs. The largest snow bridge we crossed yesterday stretched nearly 20 meters! The use of steep snow climbing techniques and running belays are required, especially in the final 1500 vertical feet of the ascent.

Climbers on this trip have now summitted the fourth (Antisana) and third (Cayambe) highest peaks in Ecuador. If future trips bring them back here, they have Cotopaxi and Chimborazo to round out the top four. But for now, Cotopaxi continues to erupt, so those plans will need to be on hold.

After the 11-hour day of climbing, we descended to camp, ate one final Locro de Papas (potato soup), packed up camp and made one last trip in 4x4s down to the bus. We said our goodbyes to the Ecuadorian guides who have taken care of us along the way and we rejoined Victor on his bus for the two-hour ride back to Quito. The afternoon was spent relaxing in the hotel and I'll say the cold plunge felt better than ever. Today, most folks head back to the United States to regale their families with stories from another successful climbing trip.

Thank you all for following along and consider joining us next year!

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

On The Map

The Four Day Climb July 16 - 19 led by RMI Guides Nikki Champion, Michael Murray and Bo Torrey reached the crater rim around 7 am today.  They took six hours to climb from Camp Muir to the summit and reported calm winds and clear skies.  As of 8 am they were on their descent returning to Camp Muir and then continuing the remaining 4,500' to Paradise.  They will conclude their program this afternoon with a celebration at Rainier BaseCamp.

Congratulations to today's climbers!

May 27, 2023 10:29PM PT

Today we woke up to brutal cold, and clear skies. We blasted the stoves and rolled into a late morning of granola.

After watching Mike and Pete's teams roll out of camp, we followed suite and began our way up the steep corridor to the base of the fixed lines. We shortened up the rope internals, set up our ascenders, and made our way up the final 700' vertical feet of blue ice to the saddle on the west buttress. Right around 16,100, we crested the buttress and made our way up to our cache site near 16,300'.

After digging a cache hole in the world’s firmest snow, we turned around and made our way back to 14 camp for a late dinner of ramen.

Everyone worked hard and is looking forward to a well-deserved rest day tomorrow.

Nikki, Leif, Lauren and Team