This is Seth checking in from the summit of Kilimanjaro (19,340 feet). Everyone in our group has reached the top! The weather has been spectacular all day. We watched the sunrise from the crater rim and have been enjoying the warmth. It's all down hill from here!
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Seth Waterfall checking in from the Roof of Africa.
Our final day in St. Petersburg!
The team had a great last day here in Russia. We visited the very famous Hermitage museum, known for its enormous collection of paintings and sculptures by many well known artist including Rembrandt, Michelangelo and even Da Vinci. It's one of Russia's great treasures and houses several thousand pieces of art collected over the last few hundred years. It consists of five buildings, each with three floors, and has hundreds of rooms. The team did their best to take in the highlights in just a few hours.
We also swung by the Cathedral of Kazan and Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, that's decorated almost entirely with Mosaics.
The day was wrapped up with a wonderful evening boat cruise to see this amazing city by water via its numerous canals.
It's been a wonderful adventure here in Russia, but it's time to say our goodbyes and return to family and loved ones.
Thanks for following.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and team
Sunday, October 8, 2017
Hey this is Christina in Mexico with a blog post:
Some of our team, our world champion boxer, Patty, summited La Malinche today! The rest of us had a truly great day and got in a big acclimatization hike up to 13,400 feet. The best part of the day was that everyone felt great and was so happy to be hiking up way above the Mexican countryside. The climb took us up through the green forests and to the summit ridge where we watched thunderheads roll across the land below. We can back down in a whirlwind of conversations and laughter to hot showers and a sizzling dinner. Everyone is looking forward to Ixtaccihuatl.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
Hey there, this is Adam Knoff and JJ Justman- Team Mexico. We're happy to say that we had a successful climb of Pico de Orizaba today with beautiful weather. But we did it the old-fashioned way, we earned it. It was not an easy climb. Seven hours just climbing up the mountain and four hours coming down so eleven hours round trip of constant movement. We're all very relieved to be back at Senor Reyes' compound where we will be having dinner and relaxing for the evening before flying out tomorrow. All is well and we're happy to be coming home to our loved ones. This is Adam and JJ signing off. Adios.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
RMI Guide Adam Knoff checks in after the team's Orizaba summit.
May 29:
Holy guacamole, another sabbath (day of rest) here at 14 camp. Definitely well-deserved after yesterday's hard work getting a cache in up on the West Buttress. We spent the day hanging out and worrying about ambiguous weather forecasts, philosophizing as usual, and helping Mike Walter's crew get settled in and reinvigorated after their successful summit push yesterday. Our plan is to make our move up to high camp at 17,000' tomorrow and hopefully put ourselves in a good position to take a crack at the summit in the near future. The weather is a definite concern but with a little luck the team will hopefully be standing on top in the next few days!
Lots of hard work lies ahead.
Wish us luck,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent and the gang
May 28:
Caching at Washburn's thumb
A clear and cold morning slowly gave way to a hot climb to the fixed lines. As we managed our layers we climbed higher gaining better views of Mount Hunter and Foraker. Ascending the fixed lines with out incident we reached the West Buttress proper and began climbing towards Washburn's thumb. Picking our way through rock outcroppings and steep snow ridges with GoPros rolling we made our cache at 4:00 PM. Retracing our steps we reached the fixed lines and descended into the afternoon clouds. A long day concluded back at 14 camp with Indian Fare, rice, and hot drinks.
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens
George,
we have been following your progress. We weren’t able to write from Pinetop but could log on at the rec center and see where you and the other two teams are at. Laura says it seems as if the trail never ends…Kids miss you. I do, too. God’s willing the weather cooperates for your summit. take a lot of photos.
Hugs and kisses from the three of us
Posted by: janina on 5/30/2012 at 8:41 pm
To Paul from Chloe:
I can’t wait for you to get to the top & come home. I really miss you. xoxo air kiss and air hug
It is like a ghost town up here at ABC. We don't mind a bit, having fought half the day to get here from Basecamp. Most others were struggling to get elsewhere. There is a storm sumo wrestling with the exposed summits of Everest and Lhotse today. Since this one is coming out of the west, 25,000 ft Nuptse gives us some protection down here in the Cwm. We still get good strong belts of wind and blowing snow, but we know it could be a lot worse at Camp III and Camp IV in this pattern. Our friends up at the South Col - hoping for a break so as to ring the summit bell - didn't get a break. They were forced to retreat this morning just as we were tentatively moving up. We were tentatively moving up because that seemed like the smart way to be with a 4 AM sky full of clouds, a couple of inches of new snow on the ground, and untested legs in our crew.
It didn't take long at all for Erica's legs to prove they were ready for climbing today. I could hear her crampons digging in just a few steps behind me for all of the first dark hour-she was cruising over the same ice that had defeated her 24 hours earlier. I focused on other problems. The big one was the misbehaving cloud ceiling. It was steadily dropping as we climbed and the morning light came on. The more I could see, the less I could see. When we took the first short break it was snowing, and I polled my team as to whether they thought it would intensify. There were six of us today - the five usual suspects (Seth, Erica, Kent, Ang Kaji and me) plus Maila - the Camp II cook who had been enjoying a brief Basecamp vacation from one of the toughest jobs on the hill. Maila thought-as we all did-that the snow was just getting started, and that there wasn't much point in going on. None of us wanted to be doing the braille thing through a Khumbu Icefall whiteout. And there definitely weren't any takers for a stroll in close to the Nuptse avalanche chutes beyond Camp I, with serious snow coming down.
So we very nearly called it quits at 5 AM, before getting into the worst of the Icefall. The retreat plan was sound - and we hated it. This acclimatization round is important - it is our "tryout" for a summit bid. We want the extra strength, skill and confidence that may come from it. We can't really get that by going an hour out of BC every day. And the calendar is moving on to the phat part of May. We want to be ready. We decided to hedge our bets-pushing onto the middle of the Icefall - another hour along, for a final call on the weather.
In that next hour, the snow quit and the clouds lifted. We knew the storm wasn't finished, but we saw our little window of opportunity for scampering out of the Icefall and past Nuptse, and we were determined to take full advantage.
Long story short - our little gamble worked. We arrived at ABC at midday excited as kids (even those of us not quite kids anymore). Excited with storm adrenaline, excited to have put things on the line, and to have made correct climbing decisions, and to feel the fitness we didn't have 5 weeks ago.
We called down to BC to boast - but also to be assured that the rest of our team is coping well with their summit holding pattern. They are not alone in that - as I said, we've got ABC pretty much to ourselves - and we barely had to make room for other climbers today on the route. Most are lower. Most are waiting for summit weather.
Greetings from the bottom of Ski Hill. We’ve been keeping our trend of staying on east coast time (3am wake up Alaska time) in order to keep up with the stock market and take advantage of the cooler temps and firm snow. This morning we packed up all our excess supplies and gear and headed uphill to cache them. Conditions were ideal again as we were able to climb without the aid of crampons or snow shoes. Apparently, granola breakfast was the breakfast of champions because the team crushed it! They marched uphill without tiring and kept cheerful smiles while doing it. The sunrise was incredible and even saw what could be described as a non-traditional rainbow in the distant rains near Talkeetna! We soon climbed past the traditional cache spot around 9,500 and stopped just below the last hill to 11 camp. The only reason we didn’t go all the way was to save the experience of seeing what will be our new home for tomorrow.
The afternoon was spent back at ski hill, napping, relaxing, snacking and trading stories. Some of which seemed too good to be true.
Hey Team!!! What a day! How great to be able to be a tiny part of this experience with you - thank you for sharing! Keep up the great work and positive attitudes! We are all behind you. Go Michael Go! Am with you in spirit bud- Love you!! Hugs all around team- Alicia xoxo
Posted by: Alicia Becker on 6/6/2022 at 7:46 pm
Thank you for allowing all of us on your incredible journey!!!
Sending the most amazingly brilliant positive vibes to you Michael & the whole team!!! Go team go!!! I am so proud of you!! Lots of love to all!!
Aunt Tulip
Hey RMI, this is Linden Mallory calling from Chukung in the Imja Khola Valley, it’s a side valley off of the main Khumbu Valley. In the last days before Island Peak, part of the group headed off back down to Namche today and four of us are headed up towards Island Peak. We’ll be heading into Base Camp tomorrow to begin the climb. Everybody is doing well; the weather has been nice so far and we’re keeping our fingers crossed that it stays that way. We’ll check in with you again at Base Camp. Take care.
We are anxious to hear how things are going. So you summit Saturday, which means Friday night Nepal, which means Friday day EST. I’m confused and I’m at sea level.
Keep the Sat phone updates coming Linden
Posted by: john barsanti on 3/29/2012 at 9:14 am
Thanks for the update. We are going through withdrawal without our daily blog feeds from Linden and Dana Marie. Take care and keep looking upward.
June 12, 2017
Hello from our new camp at 17,000 ft on Denali! The team had an early start pack up camp and departed around 7 am. The winds picked up on the West Buttress as we neared the first break. The team had some amazing dance moves as we waited an hour or so for the morning winds to subside. The team climbed strong all the way to high camp in optimal weather. We worked for a few more hours to build camp. The climbers crawled in to have a rest as the guides worked to melt snow and tidy camp. We are now eating big bowls of Annie's Mac and cheese with bacon and soup. The hydration and eating up here never stops. Tomorrow with high hopes of good weather and light wind the team will shoot to stand on top of North America. Send us good vibes!
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
Matt - Hoping to hear news of a summit soon! Stay safe. Sending love and good vibes for fair weather!! Daisy and I are trying to be patient waiting for you to get back. We miss you so much!!
Love, Colleen
Posted by: Colleen on 6/15/2017 at 6:32 pm
@ John Gunn and team,
you got this!!! hope it all goes well getting to the tippy top! stay safe and hopeful!!! you’ll be down here sitting around the table telling all your stories and eating a home cooked meal from momma in no time!
It is a beautiful day on Mt. Rainier. The Five Day Summit Climb July 7 - 11 led by Eric Frank and the Four Day Summit Climb July 8 - 11 led by Mike Haugen reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. The teams reached the crater rim around 7:30 a.m. They reported clear skies, great conditions and winds ranging from 0 to none.
The Five Day Kautz Climb is descending to Paradise this morning. Their entire team reached the summit of Mt. Rainier yesterday morning.
Congratulations to today's summit teams!
SO VERY EXCITED TO JUST READ THE NEWS!! WE ARE BOTH VERY PROUD OF OUR SON, MATTHEW AND HIS FIANCE, ELLA!! CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE IN THE GROUP, AND A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO THE GUIDES FOR LEADING THE ENTIRE BUNCH SAFELY UP ...AND BACK DOWN!! NOW GO AND CELEBRATE!
Posted by: BRENDA & LOTHAR on 7/11/2012 at 10:12 am
Congrats to Scott, Alex and the rest of the team. What a huge accomplishment! Looking forward to hearing all about your adventure. Safe travels back to civilization.
love, Michelle and the entire clan
Posted by: Michelle Rico Wilsdon on 7/11/2012 at 9:53 am
Congrats to all
Posted by: Tom on 9/18/2011 at 4:50 am
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