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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

We were up early... but that didn't do much good. The clouds snuck in again overnight and by morning it was socked in and starting to snow at 14,200 ft. For a few hours, we held out the hope that conditions would improve, but we had no such luck. The two other guided teams at 14 decided they'd seen enough and by late afternoon they packed up and took off for Windy Corner, the Kahiltna and the airstrip. We bid them goodbye, wished them good luck and turned to look at a virtually empty camp. Now, the only other team trying to climb is made up of three Danish guys in a tent about 100 ft away. Our team is in surprisingly good spirits despite the roller coaster of yesterday's fresh hopes and today's bleak realities. We'll see what tomorrow brings, but we can't wait for all that many more tomorrows. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

Its not just about climbing mountains. Mountain adventures, especially international adventures, provide an opportunity to experience the whole enchilada. Seeing that we are in Mexico...no pun intended. And speaking of enchiladas and Mexico...today the team spent the day enjoying the local culture of Puebla. Everyone made the summit of Ixta yesterday. And everyone deserved a great day of rest, which mainly included enjoying the authentic cuisine of Puebla. I always said, "you've never eaten Mexican food, until you've eaten in Puebla". For breakfast we enjoyed scrambled eggs covered in mole sauce. For lunch we devoured tacos pastor. And now, we are preparing for dinner at one of Puebla's famous restaurants, where we will sample all of the mole sauces that have made this region famous. No, it's not all about climbing. However, tomorrow the team is looking forward to our next mountaineering objective... Pico de Orizaba. Stay tuned... RMI Guide JJ Justman

The Five Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guides Mike Walter and the Four Day – All Women’s Climb led by Melissa Arnot reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Today’s climb marked Melissa’s 100th summit of Mt. Rainier! The teams began their descent from the crater rim just before 7 am. Clear skies and beautiful sunshine. They will return to Camp Muir for a short break and then continue to Paradise this afternoon. Congratulations to today's summit climbers!

Well hello, Mark Tucker checking in. Here in the living zone. Lots of trees, air's so thick you can cut it with a knife. The whole team is already in the rack. 7:30! What's that all about? We had a big day, a very successful day. Everybody can take a big, deep breath. All the team is here and doing well. Fantastic! I can start to relax a little bit. We've got a few hours left on the hill tomorrow but overall, we are looking great. Happy times, great dinner, early breakfast and we'll have a nice program with the team here that has been supporting us. Donate a bunch of gear and cash in their direction. They've done a fantastic job supporting us. Not that we couldn't do this without those 56 men that have helped us a long the way. So we are all looking forward to singing a song with them in the morning. So all is well. We'll keep in touch. RMI Guide Mark Tucker

On The Map

It seemed as though everybody was on the move today. When I looked out of my tent at 4:15 AM, there was a line of headlights strung out like a Christmas parade through the icefall. Some of those lights belonged to our gang. The "first team" of Peter Whittaker and Ed Viesturs, along with a couple of the camera crew, got out early and were making their way toward Camp I. They are bound for a "rotation" up the hill, sleeping at CI tonight and possibly at ABC (CII) tomorrow night. That ought to work pretty good for them, although it won't necessarily feel so good. A first night at close to 20,000 ft. is usually good for a headache and some frustrating insomnia. Then a first night at 21,300 ft (ABC) will be good for... let's see, a headache, some more insomnia, and more of everything that is uncomfortable and mean about new altitude. These rotations up high can't be avoided though. Not if one is serious about eventually trying to spend nights at 26,000 ft above sea level, like we are. I'd hazard a guess that when they come down, Ed and Peter will be pretty happy to rest at basecamp again for a few days... which is also an important part of acclimating. It may be oversimplifying things to say that those bound for the summit just need to mix up intensely hard work and ample rest, time at extreme and less extreme altitudes, and endure terror and boredom for two months... but it does run something like that. I was looking out of the tent at 4:15 AM because I was putting on my own boots for an important run up to the midpoint of the Khumbu Icefall. At 4:30 AM, I got together with Seth Waterfall, Erica Dohring, cameraman Kent Harvey and producer Cherie Silvera in the mess tent where we each slammed a few hot drinks and bowls of porridge before stepping out into the last shreds of starlight and moonshine. We were walking by 5 AM on what I've come to consider a fairly important mission. Let's call it the Khumbu Dress Rehearsal. I've already explained plenty of the reasons why the Khumbu Icefall is not a smart place to dilly-dally... while also pointing out that the rapid gain in altitude and the difficult climbing make humankind very much prone to dilly-dallying there. When guiding, I want my climbers strong, acclimated and familiar with the weird skills needed for the Icefall... BEFORE they step into the Icefall for real. It is not a good place to have a client or partner stumbling around with exhaustion, obviously, since most footsteps in the Icefall have to be precise in order to avoid crevasses and cliffs. And the worst possible way to come into Camp I for a first night there would be on one's hands and knees, begging for mercy, oxygen and water. That does happen from time to time, but being so spent can make one a prime candidate for fatal altitude illness. As we chugged up the first ice hills and watched the light begin to hit the highest peaks, it was already gratifying to see how much stronger Erica was than during our initial forays up the glacier. This "dress rehearsal" was undertaken in the hopes of giving Erica the necessary confidence for climbing through to CI... but equally important for Seth and me was our need to watch Erica and gain our own confidence in her abilities. Before we risk our own lives in accompanying her toward her goals, we need to believe she is ready to reasonably go after them. It is a delicate balance. But Erica was doing a lot of good balancing herself as she stepped over bottomless crevasses and kicked up ice-walls on her spikes. Not to say that she had an easy time of it, just that her difficulties seemed no different than anybody else's in the same awkward places. In our second hour of climbing, we moved up the "popcorn" section, which is just a bunch of SUV sized ice chunks heaped against one another like... popcorn... actually. Erica and I reached the our goal for the day, the "Dum" which is the old Sherpa name for the dump... as in gear dump (in the old days when it took a lot longer to negotiate the Khumbu Icefall, the mid-point was a significant load-carrying goal and even an intermediate camp from time to time). Seth, Cherie and Kent were already there and welcomed us with gloved fist bumps and cheers. Since, at 7:40 in the morning, we were still without the heat of the sun in the Dum, we just took a quick food and water break before declaring the "up test" a success and beginning the "down test". We began to deal with a lot of traffic, both up and down and this was actually an important part of the test (although I definitely had not arranged with the Russians, Kazakhs, Croats, British, Koreans, Americans and assorted Sherpas to meet on these particular ladders at this particular time). Everybody stayed patient and pleasant and with some careful downclimbing we reached the lowest part of the Icefall and walked into the warm sunshine. Peter, Ed and the team already at CI had been listening out on the radios to make sure we were ok, and it was with great pride and relief that I told them to shut off and save their batteries... we were going to be fine. Erica passed her exams. She is ready for CI and I'm fully confident that she'll get there with adequate strength reserves. Toward that end, we'll maybe go hiking one more time, rest another day and then come at Camp I ready for that all important first rotation. Oh yeah... that's where they keep the headaches... can't wait.

Saturday, June 14, 2025 - 11:25 pm PT

Nobody missed a flight and all the bags arrived just fine.  They came from Norway and New Zealand and a few places in between.  Our team -8 climbers and four guides- got together as planned in the Anchorage airport.  We talked gear and logistics briefly before relocating to the curb for our van shuttle to Talkeetna.  It was a day of blazing sun and wide open blue sky in Alaska. 
We broke up the three hour drive with a stop for groceries in Wasilla and then pushed on to Talkeetna, rolling in at about 6:30 PM.  Along the way we had been granted a few breathtaking views of the Alaska Range.  Our first stop was the K2 Aviation hangar to drop off the big bags of gear.  Next we checked in at the Swiss Alaska Inn.  The team then strolled ten minutes through the birch forest and over the railroad tracks to beautiful downtown Talkeetna.  The town was bustling with tourists and the odd climbing team.  We ate our fill at the brewery and then walked the 100 meter length of town to the banks of the mighty Susitna River.  McKinley, Hunter and Foraker shot up into the sky across the river… impossibly high.  Or maybe just possible.  We’ll see.  Tomorrow we get started… packing and prepping in earnest. 

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

We enjoyed great weather and snow conditions yesterday as we moved our camp from 11,200' to Genet Basin at 14,200'. We have a well-deserved rest day on tap today as we fortify camp, eat, drink, and lounge.

This afternoon we will practice some fixed rope travel techniques in preparation for our next task, establishing a cache up high on the West Buttress proper. The weather forecast is looking good, and we may head up the fixed ropes tomorrow to get that cache established. Our team is doing well, taking the challenging work in stride, and adjusting to the lack of oxygen and colder temps up here at our new home. We will keep you updated with our status as we work to get into position for a summit bid. There is still a lot of work to do, a lot of acclimating, and a lot of variables, but so far, we're very pleased with the progress of our expedition and we're not complaining about the beautiful views of the Alaska Range.  

We'll be in touch again tomorrow with the latest. Until then, know we are enjoying the rare mountain air.

RMI Guides Mike, Abby, Henry & Team

"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. . . " After nearly two weeks of hard work here in the Andes, our team stood on top of the tallest mountain in either North or South America! Congratulations on a job well done. We had to earn it today, climbing through the chilly pre-dawn winds into a whiteout summit. Occasionally the surrounding peaks popped out, only to retreat behind an opaque veil that became our visual reality as we ascended the Canaleta to the summit. A fine day in the mountains nonetheless and everyone should be proud of a tough, safe and successful climb. Tomorrow we start the long voyage back to Mendoza, retracing the steps taken a few weeks ago back to civilization. Thanks for all the support from the homeland and we'll be seeing you soon. RMI Guide Jake Beren

On The Map

I don't know how the Ngorongoro Crater can be beat but Tarangire National Park may have done just that. What an incredible day! 

Having gotten some much needed souvenir shopping done on the way to the park we arrived before lunch time and decided to put some miles in before stopping to eat. In the first 3 miles we saw so much game that we had to turn back to eat at the designated picnic stop by the entrance. 

With our fill of zebra, wildebeest, impala, giraffes, elephants and more, all at less than a stone's throw away, we went on the search for a lion. Did we ever score, thanks to our safari guides/drivers. Lions hanging in the grass were nothing compared to seeing two hanging out on a tree limb. This was followed up by seeing a young male who was busy digesting his kill from the morning that we passed by earlier. Then, miraculously, we came upon a leopard lounging in a tree, surveilling her area hoping for dinner to walk by. This was a first for me, and we were all quite excited about it. 

Then, it was a long 1 1/2 hr drive to our lodge in the park. When we finally got there, we were amazed at just how incredible this place was. Not only super posh, but as we sipped on drinks on the patio listening to the manager explain about life at his safari lodge in the park, we had elephants. Impala and several other species of game walking past the lodge in plain sight. Then, in our ''rooms' we found 5-star accommodations waiting for us. I think we're all in awe! 

Now, later, I'll just say that dinner was perfect, and I didn't get jumped by a lion on the way back to my quarters

All for now, 

RMI Guide Brent Okita & Team