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This time of year in Antarctica, the sun never sets. The warmest part of the day is actually during the evening when the sun gets a little lower in the sky, hitting you straight on. After two days living in a horizontal position in my tent, waiting for clear skies to allow the Twin Otter to pick us up from Vinson Base Camp, I was more than ready for some adventure. We immortalized Mount Vinson by flying over it from all sides, reliving our time on it by flying over the climbing route and dreaming of new lines on all the untouched surrounding peaks. An hour later, we were back at Union Glacier camp where we'd started 12 days earlier. I instantly connected with my long time friend Victor Saunders, a British mountain guide who lives in Chamonix and who is always thirsty for First Ascents. And there are plenty to be had around Union Glacier since this is the first year ALE (Antarctica Logistics and Expeditions) is operating from here. He'd just put up 5 new routes with clients and invited me to join him for a sixth one. We left camp after lunch and skied the 5kms to the base of the beautiful ridgeline defining the horizon before climbing up to the ridge proper. The wind died and we were now basking in the late afternoon sun, making our way up a knife edge rock and snow ridge. Grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this first ascent, I untied from the rope and soloed ahead, breaking trail the whole way for Victor and his two clients, Dominic and Nick. The climbing reminded me of the ridges I guide all summer long in the Swiss Alps: loose on easy terrain and solid on the steeper steps, but without any scratch from previous climbers' crampons. When I reached the summit, I was elated. Being the first to tread on any ground is so unique, so special: it's so rare to know that no one before you has stood on a summit, or has climbed the line you are looking at; you have to figure out as you go, with no beta, relying solely on your technical and route finding skills.To me, First Ascents are the most rewarding style of climbing, all the more in a remote setting like Antarctica. We were back at our skis by midnight, the sun still looming high above us in the sky as we looked back to our ridge, the Midnight Ridge. - Caroline George

RMI Guide, Henry Coppolillo checked in from the summit of Mt. Baker this morning. The team enjoyed a great climb and will enjoy their evening at camp before they pack up their things and head back to their cars.

Nice work team!

Our first Kautz seminar called in from the top of Mt. Rainier this morning! RMI guide Joe Hoch reported a sunny day despite the cold, windy weather surrounding them.

The team is on their descent to camp tonight and will return to Basecamp tomorrow afternoon. 

Congrats climbers!

The Four Day Summit Climb teams led by RMI Guides Win Whittaker and Jake Beren reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The teams reported clear skies, light winds and pleasant temperatures. They began their descent from the crater rim after 7 a.m. PT. The teams will return to Camp Muir (10,060') for a short break and then continue down to Paradise (5,400') this afternoon. RMI Guide Kel Rossiter and the Expedition Skills Seminar – Emmons team called from Camp Schurman. They reported good conditions and great weather. The team made their summit attempt today and reached 13,500' but decided to call that their high point and return to camp. The team will spend tonight on the mountain with some additional time for training. They will break camp tomorrow morning, descend to the trail head and return to Rainier BaseCamp in Ashford in the late afternoon. Congratulations to today's climbing teams!

RMI Guides Brent Okita, Tyler Reid and our Four Day Summit Climb team reached the top of Mt. Rainier today. The teams climbed in the clouds and have started there descent back to Camp Muir. Congratulations!

There we were, finished up with our day of training, enjoying the amenities of the Gombu Hut. A screeching howl ripped across Camp Muir - the wind was here. We spent the rest of the evening discussing altitude illness and taking bets on the high score for strongest gust. Ends up we were all wrong, so so wrong. The darkness fell and our winds averaged 70mph with gusts in the 90mph. Things were knocking, shelters were rocking, and we hunkered down. This morning we awoke to thick solid ice rime covering the surface of our world. We affixed Everest style hand lines to the bathroom. Full battle gear mandatory. Today we will practice the most important mountain skill, entertaining ourselves while the storm rages.

RMI Guide Jack Delaney and the Muir Seminar signing off, till tomorrow...

Tuesday, June 7, 2022 - 9:46 pm PT

Welcome back to another fine edition of the Denali blog! Today we awoke to somewhat stormy conditions so we hit the snooze and waited an hour for the weather to improve. Once the sky was looking happy we snarfed breakfast and took off towards the 13k cache garden. The first obstacle was the intimidating hill directly out of 11,000' Camp known as Motorcycle Hill, which was no problem as the team zoomed up it. We then turned the corner and surmounted the famous Squirrel Hill (less long and steep but with more exposure). Next we galloped across the long but flat feature known as the Polo Field! We took our last break at the edge of the infamous Windy Corner, which happened to be windless today! Finally after another hour of walking we were at the cache garden.  Luck would have it that we found an empty cache hole! We tossed our excess supplies in it, covered it up and turned down hill. In the blink of an eye we were back at 11,000' Camp relaxing till dinner time. Tomorrow should the good weather continue to hold we’ll move to 14,000' camp!

Thanks for tuning in…

RMI Guides Avery, Jack, Liam and the team!

Tuesday, June 25, 2024 - 1:27 pm PT

Climbing mountains is hard. Ya that’s obvious, but I’m not only talking about the effort while on the mountain. Whether or not you make it to the summit there’s countless hours spent training, researching, anxiously thinking about what might be. Time spent away from friends and family because “ I’m going to go climb a mountain” and of course the countless question that follow from there. It’s hard to explain though, to those that don’t come out to these wild places to suffer so beautifully. To be trying to do perhaps the hardest thing we’ve ever done in the most remote and beautiful places in the world. It’s so uniquely vulnerable. We do it because we have to, or else we’d be spending those hours and days daydreaming of what could be. We have to find out for ourselves what it’s like and experience a grounding that nothing else can give you.

We summitted Denali, the highest peak in North America, at around 6:20 PM June 24. It was a beautiful day with light, but bitter, winds and clouds all around us but never above us. It was amazing. It was everything we had been working and hoping for over the past 13 days on the darn thing. We rest up tonight, an easier task than most days, and start our long descent back to where it all started 14 days ago, Basecamp.

Thanks to all the friends and family that might not quite understand why, but instead understand that we have to. None of this is possible without that support.

RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli

Taking advantage of the clear weather this morning we took a day hike above Namche. The steep steps right out of the door of the tea-house quickly got hearts pumping and we climbed out of the cold morning shadow in Namche into the morning sun above. The trail we followed ascends steeply up the hillside, making dozens of short switchbacks as it gains the flat plateau above. By the time we arrived the top, at over 12,000', we were breathing hard, feeling the effects of the new elevation. Thankfully, the trail flattened out and walked across the gentle plateau through clusters of juniper trees and fields of grass cropped short by grazing yaks. We reached the edge of the broad bench of Namche and were greeted to incredible views of the mountains higher up the valley. Hardly a cloud hung in the sky and we could clearly see Ama Dablam, Lhotse, Nuptse, Taboche, and Cholatse - all famous peaks of the region. Above them all stood Everest, it's recognizable triangular summit hanging in the sky above. The winds in the upper mountains were blowing strongly this morning and the peaks had plumes of blown snow trailing off their summits and ridges. We gazed out at the mountains for a bit and then continued walking to the Everest View Hotel where we found a seat on the back patio and treated ourselves to a cup of tea while enjoying the views. Afterward, we continued on to the village of Khumjung, a large village near Namche and where the Sir Edmund Hillary School is located - serving kids all over the region. The school was quiet since they are in the midst of their final exams but a few young boys were outside playing in the school grounds. We passed through the school and made our way back along a stone lined trail to the edge of the bench above Namche and dropped back down into town, completing a large loop. We spent the afternoon back in Namche, taking advantage of the down time to grab a hot shower, track down an espresso at the local bakery, and peruse the many small shops on Namche. Tomorrow we leave Namche and head further up the valley to the village of Deboche. RMI Guide Linden Mallory

On The Map

The Four Day Climb May 20- 23, 2021 was turned around at the top of Disappointment Cleaver today due to low visibility, blowing snow and cold temperatures.  The teams, led by RMI Guides Andy Bond and Taylor Bickford, returned to safely to Camp Muir and will be descending to Paradise later this morning.