Most Popular Entries

Monday, June 27, 2022 - 10:52 pm PT

This was a fine day of climbing.  We were up at 5 AM and eating, packing and getting ready for almost three hours.  We pulled out of 11,000 at 7:50 AM.  There were steady breezes but it wasn’t particularly cold as we went up Motorcycle and Squirrel Hills in the shadows.  It was blue sky overhead today, so it was definitely one of the nicer days we’ve had (though none have been bad).   Sitting in the sunshine at Windy Corner, we could clearly see the Tordrillo Mountains anchoring the Alaska Range to the Southwest.  Most eyes were on Mount Foraker though as it seems to get bigger every time we see it.  We were around the corner without any difficulties and then out of the wind as we made our way up into Genet Basin.  We pulled into the camp at 14,200 ft to join Andy Bond’s RMI team (who are several days ahead of us) and practically all the other teams on the mountain.  We’d made it up in five and a half not too hard hours.  Despite the fact that we were working at altitude to build a camp, conditions were quite calm and easy, so the work wasn’t too bad.  We climbed into tents to hide from the sun and took our customary afternoon naps.  The team finished dinner (mac and cheese) which is always a good sign.  Tomorrow is an easier day -by design- just a short walk down to pick up our food and fuel above Windy Corner. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Monday, May 24, 2022 - 10:39 pm PT

We woke up hopeful to take a jaunt up the fixed lines this morning. The sky was clear above and it was nice in camp. As we fired the stoves and the sun got nearer to rounding the ridge though, we started seeing large plumes of snow jetting of the summit plateau, then 17,000' Camp, then the whole ridge and the top of the fixed line. It was really nice in camp but we made the decision it wasn't a day to go up into the wind and pivoted instead to walking across the basin to The Edge of the World (our British friends call it The End of the World). From there the basin plummets to the Northeast fork of the Kahiltna, some 6000' feet below. We got glimpses of those views but a cliff was rising up from the Glacier obscuring the full magnitude of the place. We were back by early afternoon and took a siesta. Some built a card table out of snow blocks and played eucher until they couldn't feel their backsides. We'll look again in the morning hopeful to make the trip up the fixed lines if conditions allow.

RMI Guides Pete, Leif, Erika, and team

The Four Day Climb June 6 - 9 led by RMI Guides James Bealer & Jess Wedel reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning.  At 7 am, they were starting their descent from the crater rim.

Congratulations climbers!

Monday, June 13, 2022 - 8:50 pm PT

Hello from 11,000' Camp!

The alarm rang, we unzipped the tent and the conditions looked great. It was time to move to a new camp! Getting to 11,000' Camp is a great milestone. Here we get to spend several nights getting ready to move higher up the mountain. Step by step we are making it higher and higher. With all our camp loaded in our packs and sleds we hit the frozen trail. A brisk morning welcomed us on our trails and soon turned into a brisk breeze. A sting to the face brought us to the sunlight. We had finally climbed out of the clouds and man is it nice to be above the clouds. This camp has more teams. We are no longer alone. It's nice to see other teams around and have energy flowing through camp. Shoveling, chopping, and eyeballing the levelness of the tent platforms leads to a good looking camp. More naps and more snacking bring us to dinner. Life is simple out here. We walk, we set up camp, we sleep, we eat, we rinse and repeat. Tomorrow we will walk back downhill to our cache and be reunited with our things. It's a great feeling getting your food back. Hopefully the weather keeps treating us well and tomorrow is a smooth day.

Talk to you all tomorrow,

RMI Guide Hannah Smith and Team

Since our last update a lot has happened. As we speak the last of the group is filtering back to our respective starting points or wrapping up they're time in Bolivia with a bit of personal exploration! But before we get ahead of ourselves, there's great news to be shared. The entire team stuck it out for a 6 and a 1/2 hr ascent of Illimani! We were greeted with cold, clear climbing in perfect conditions up past 20,000 ft. Much of the climbing route faces west, so the morning sun was always tantalizingly close as we neared the glowing summit ridge. Our sunrise came as we finally broke off the west side and crested the ridge into the welcoming sun. With one last hour of breaking trail up the beautiful summit ridge the team could taste our hard work paying off. Before we knew it all three rope teams plopped down on the summit of Illimani to take a much needed food and water break and basque in our success. The top of Illimani is a breathtaking ridge crest amongst the greater expanse of the Illimani Massif. From that point, the highest in the Cordierra Real, we could see all the way past La Paz and track our entire trip from the glimmering Lake Titicaca to the jagged peaks of the Condoriri and the huge perfect flanks of Huayna Potosi. Our team had a brief moment to relive the wonderful past couple weeks before the tight wind was nipping at our heels as we pushed off to begin our 8,000 ft decent back to Base Camp. Our team's tired legs mustered one last push into camp and there we were! Happy, tired and feeling accomplished. I couldn't have asked for a better summit day and a better team to do it with! At last we've got to give a big thanks to everyone who made this trip so successful. Thank you, thank you to everyone who helped us along the way and a special thanks to our amazing climbers who made this trip so special! Until next time over and out!! RMI Guides Eric Frank & Caleb Ladue

Conditions today can only be described as having been perfect for a summit climb. It is tough to recall that we ate breakfast and geared up in cloud at high camp. But when we roped up and got going at 9:45, it only took us fifteen minutes to climb out of the cloud and into a world of bright snow, brighter sunshine and a big and brilliant blue sky. In our ten and a half hour round trip to the top, we barely noticed anything that could actually be described as a breeze. And so it is possible that the summit temps were the forecasted -38C but we sure didn't notice or mind the cold with the sun's super strong radiation at 16,067 ft above sea level. There did seem to be plenty of cloud down low -we couldn't see basecamp and a few hundred odd peaks were obscured. But a few thousand others were not. TA, Vlado, Mindy and myself all considered that we'd gotten extremely lucky... And so we made good use of the day in tagging Vinson's summit. We were back for a relatively early and relaxed dinner, and got to enjoy diving into the sleeping bags with plenty of good sun left on the tent walls. Tomorrow we'll head for basecamp on the Branscomb. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Hello from high camp on Chopicalqui! We're perched up here at 17,716' (5400m) after an early start this morning. The early start allowed us to arrive at high camp with enough time so we can give our bodies the rest they need before our summit push tonight. We're currently making dinner and we're shooting to be in bed way before sunset. The weather has changed a bit on us, but we how to have a good window for tonight. Keep your fingers crossed for an update from the summit! RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos and team

Yesterday we had a relaxing down day at the base of the mountain with on and off thunderstorms, walking exploration of the surrounding area, and coffee drinking. The day culminated in our celebration bbq dinner with our Russian guide Yuriy, master of ceremonies, pouring one vodka toast after another. Today we’ve just arrived in St. Petersburg after a somewhat tedious journey through Russian domestic air travel. In my experience it’s usually pretty smooth sailing, but today that was not the case. I’ll spare you the details - it’s the same story as you’ve probably experienced in America. We made our flight and the whole team is psyched to be here. RMI Guide Tyler Reid

Update at 2:45 pm PST: Dave called with a quick update: The team is back safe at High Camp and doing very well. 11:36 am PST: Hey, this is Dave Hahn, lucky enough to be on top of the Vinson Massif, highest point in Antarctica- 16,067 ft with the entire team! We've got Larry Seaton. We've got Fatima Williamson. We've got Bill and Sara McGahan. So all of us are up here. We we can't believe our luck. We've got perfect conditions. No wind. I'm going to give you a yell either by voice dispatch or a written dispatch when we get back to camp to let you know we are safe. But right now everything is going extremely well. Everybody's feeling good. Everybody's very happy. All for now. Thank you. RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

We hiked from the hotel to the parking lot in approximately 30 seconds this morning.  Which was our climbing goal for the day.  Then we shifted into Safari mode, driving out of Usa River at 8 AM.  Saimon and Izach, our safari guides/drivers, had us through the outskirts of Arusha (population 2 million) and out into the arid countryside in about an hour.  We cruised westward, watching Maasai tribesmen and boys moving cattle to water.  By late morning we’d reached Lake Manyara National Park.  We popped open the tops of our Landcruisers and stood up to search for wildlife.  The park was a little sleepy today, but we saw elephants and giraffes, Cape buffalo and eagles.  We drove along bumpy dirt roads through forest and occasional clearings to see impala and bushbucks, Dik Dik and vultures.  We spied Hirax and banded mongoose, crowned cranes and baboons.  There were monkeys galore.  During the course of the day, we enjoyed a picnic lunch in the park.  We looked up every tree for lions and leopards but came up a little empty on that score.  Still it was a fine day of exploring.  In the evening we drove out of the great Rift Valley and into the highlands to Karatu where the Plantation Lodge welcomed us with comfortable rooms and a delicious dinner.  Tomorrow we’ll venture out for Ngorongoro Crater. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn