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Wednesday, June 12, 2019 - 10:00 PM PT Greetings Loyal RMI Blog Followers! Today, at approximately 2:20pm, our entire team stood on top of North America! This team put in a heck of an effort and were rewarded with an amazing summit day! We wanted to call from the summit, but the only wind we had all day was the top 20’ of this climb. Despite the cold, the team spent a good joyful 20 minutes on top before making our descent back to 17,000' Camp. I couldn’t be more proud of this team today, digging deep and climbing hard! Tomorrow, we begin our long descent back to civilization. Ideally, we’ll be sleeping at 11,000’ camp tomorrow night in the thick air we miss so dearly. The weather looks like it may cooperate for the next couple days so wish us luck! RMI Guides Robby, Nick, Joe, and Team Summit!

On The Map

Saturday, June 15th, 2013 Today was a busy day at the roof of North America! Our team was first out of the gates from 17,200' camp, with a warm, windless departure at 8:00am. The first stretch of the route above camp is also one of the most technical and time consuming; it's called the "Autobahn" and takes a strong, committed team to single push across the steeply rising traverse to Denali Pass. Our group crushed it, and we were enjoying the sun on the east side of the pass soon enough. The next few stretches went by relatively quickly, although nothing is lightning fast at 19,000'. By the time we reached the Football Field, a flat saddle just below the summit ridge, we were down to base layers and light gloves. Considering the fierce reputation that Denali has for arctic temperatures and raging wind, we consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have had a such an incredible day. The last climb up Pig Hill was taxing our legs and our lungs, and just when folks had had enough we reached the final summit ridge. Forty minutes later, our team put the highest point of the continent under their crampons, amid much hugging and celebration. The trip back down was uneventful, albeit hot. The sun roasted our tired crew all the way back to camp. But as soon as we got back, folks were out of boots and into tents, resting and relaxing as we brought hot water and heaping helpings of ramen with bacon and chicken. We're ready for the long trip back to base camp, but that's for another day. Right now, we're savoring the day's events and getting ready for some well earned sleep. Thanks again and we'll check back in soon! RMI Guide Tyler Jones

On The Map

RMI Guide Jake Beren phoned from the summit of Aconcagua. The team climbed well and there are seven climbers on the summit with the guides. Jake reported cloudy skies with lite snow. They will be starting their descent and will check in again soon. Congratulations to the team!

On The Map

“UNLEASH THE BEAST!” That was the battle cry for RMI guide Geoff Schellens and I (Kel Rossiter) as we explored Red Rocks Canyon (Nevada) in preparation for the AMGA Rock Guide Exam in April. It seems that a few years back a friend of Geoff’s was climbing way above his last piece of rock protection and his belayer called up to him “Place a piece!” The fellow climbing heard the command as “Unleash the beast!” let out a yell, placed a piece, and successfully powered for the top. Throughout the course of our two weeks of training and the six-day exam in Red Rocks, Nevada, Geoff and I both placed lots of rock protection pieces and certainly unleashed the beast! Familiarity with terrain is a useful advantage when guiding, so Geoff & I met up in late March to get oriented to the amazing range of climbing options and areas that Red Rocks offers and to hone our rock guiding skills in that terrain. It was a lot of hard work and it was a great experience. We’d done the same thing last year, prepping for the Rock Guide Course (the second level of the AMGA Rock program) and that was a great opportunity for me to work with another talented RMI guide toward a shared climbing objective. This year was similar, but different—we definitely enjoyed the climbing and good times together, but we were also definitely focused on the rigorous exam ahead. Often, when people are a bit anxious about something they get a “tunnel vision” that causes them to overlook the big picture; fortunately, throughout the course of the prep and exam process the beauty of Red Rocks provided Geoff and I with many moments that prompted us to keep perspective and remember the big picture. On our first day of climbing, we headed out toward the Oak Creek area. Along the way we came across a boulder upon which someone had placed the majestic skull of a sun-bleached, full-curl desert bighorn sheep. Nothing like majesty and mortality to remind one to enjoy each moment! A few days later in White Rock Springs we encountered an entire herd of full-curl bighorns; their agility on the rock seemed to mock our efforts. On the exam, with a winter weather front coming in on high winds, I was topping out on the final pitch of a climb up the “Mescalito” and found a butterfly gently moving its wings in the shelter of the wide crack I was climbing. On another day, descending from the summit of Rainbow Mountain we entered into an astounding sinewy canyon of perfect sandstone baths and gigantic ponderosa trees rooted in the moist vein of desert soil. Moving through the anxieties and unknowns of the exam process, these moments helped to frame things in perspective indeed. By the time the exam arrived, Geoff and I felt ready. In six short days the exam was over. It’ll be a week or so until we get the final marks from the exam, but regardless of outcome each of us feel positive about the entire event. It was a pleasure to connect with a fellow RMI guide and to work together toward this shared climbing goal. We’re thankful for the learning the course offered, the good times we had together climbing, the wonderful nature of Red Rocks that we enjoyed, and the support of the RMI/Eddie Bauer guide grant in a making all of possible for us—and we look forward to sharing the skills we honed there with RMI clients on many a future cliff and summit, “unleashing the beast!” RMI Guide Kel Rossiter

Yesterday’s climb of Paqueño Alpamayo provided a full-value introduction to climbing in the Cordillera Real. A 2:30 AM and a short walk on trail brought us back to the toe of the glacier where we’d trained the day prior. We dawned our climbing gear and began working our way up the icy glacier. Each step sounded like shards of glass underfoot and required careful technique to move efficiently and securely. 

We reached the summit of Tarija shortly after sunrise, the first summit of the trip at 17,500’! The views of Huyana Potosi, our next objective, were excellent, and we could see the remainder of the route to Paqueño Alpamayo. This is where the challenge of Paqeño becomes apparent, the route really throws a little bit of everything at you! First, we descended several hundred feet of third- and fourth-class rock, followed shortly by two pitches of 45-60 degree ice up the west ridge. 

Sadly, the effects of climate change are painfully obvious in the Andes, and this peak was no different. What used to be a final pitch of steep neve below the summit is now entirely snow-free, so we removed our crampons and scrambled the final 200’ or so to the top. After a short celebration it was time to start making our way down, we still had a long day ahead of us before we could relax in camp! Some steep down climbing and a short rappel led back to the base of the east ridge of Tarija we’d descended earlier. The rock scramble back up to the summit effectively made for three summits over 5000m over the course of just a few hours! 

The descent back down the glacier was slow and a bit tedious at times given the icy conditions, but we were riding high from such an engaging and beautiful day of climbing. Everyone slept well last night after our big day. We are back at the trailhead now loading up the van to begin making our way to the base of Huyana Potosi. We’ll sleep in the base hut tonight and move up to a higher hut around 16,900’ tomorrow. After several nights sleeping up high and a big day of climbing yesterday the team is feeling stronger than ever in the thin air and we’re all looking forward to our next summit attempt on Monday! 

RMI Guides Andy Bond, Henry Coppolillo

Wednesday, May 29, 2019 - 5:00 PM PT Hey all this is the Denali Expedition with RMI Steve Gately. The team and I are on the summit! 100% of the team made it so everybody's up. Everybody's doing well. We had a wonderful morning- blue skies, warm weather. We picked up a little bit of wind towards the summit. We had to work for it at the end there. We're all here safe and sound. We'll give a shout via email to the blog when we are back safe and sound at [17K] Camp. That's all. RMI Guide Steve Gately

On The Map

Darned if I'm not standing on the top of Africa! Here on Uhuru Peak with the team. Everybody's looking good. A little beat up but not so bad; no issues. We're taking a few shots. It was a cold and windy one. Man, freezing, all layers on. But these guys know how to climb, they demonstrated it. They all did it with great style and impeccable technique. We're looking forward to a safe descent and back to that high camp sooner than later. All is well, we'll check in again later. RMI Guide Mark Tucker

On The Map

The weather moved into Everest Base Camp yesterday afternoon, the clouds settling in around the peaks and snow beginning to fall. It continued to snow on and off again all evening and into the night. The weather did have a welcome side effect thought: the clouds above and snow on the tents made temperatures a bit warmer and it never got too cold last night. When we woke up this morning everything was blanketed in a couple of inches of fresh snow. We packed all of our gear up, said goodbye to the Sherpa team at Base Camp, and headed back down the valley. The new snow on the trail actually made the walking on the glacier easier, filling in between all of the loose rocks and smoothing out the trail. After a cold morning in the shadows packing up, we quickly warmed up not long after Base Camp when the sun finally found us and we made good progress. We followed the trail back to Gorak Shep and onwards to Lobuche, where we stopped for lunch. Finally, we descended from the glaciers, rocks, and new snow above back down into the valley of Pheriche, reaching our tea-house here by late afternoon. It was a long day on the trail, with many miles to cover across difficult terrain at high altitudes, and the tea-house was a welcome sight when we finally reached it. The team was amazing today, toughing out the difficult sections of the trail and enduring the long final hours of walking to get here. We are all tired from the walk, and the many days up high, but happy to be here and heading downwards. We had a blast reading all of the comments on the Blog and want to thank everyone for their thoughts. Tomorrow, part of the group continues descending to Namche as they make their way home while the Island Peak team heads up the neighboring Imja Khola Valley to Chukung, near the base of Island Peak, to begin our climb. We will check in tomorrow from Chukung. The connection up there is sporadic so we will likely be checking in via satellite phone for the next few days. RMI Guide Linden Mallory

On The Map

Greetings from Punta Arenas, Our second Vinson trip of the season is officially underway. Our small but adventurous group arrived yesterday in the beautiful port city of Punta Arenas. This small southern Chilean town sits right on the Straight of Magellan and is the jumping off point for our flight to Antarctica. Today, we had our pre-trip briefing with our outfitter ALE to go over all the details about our flight and to review some of the protocols for visiting Antarctica. "Vast, large, and remote" is how Peter McDowell, one of the owners of ALE and the person giving today's orientation, described it. He then showed a slide with the US (the lower 48) overlaid on top of Antarctica. Even with the US, there was still a whole lot of land mass showing. After the team meeting we began to unpack and then re-pack everything for the flight to Union Glacier. With the final equipment check complete, the bags were weighed and transported to the airport to be loaded on the plane. It is now a waiting game. The forecast is showing an improving trend and with any luck, the team will be able to fly out tomorrow as planned and meet RMI Guide Dave Hahn who is waiting for them at Union Glacier. Today is beautiful here and we are now off to do a little exploring and then on to dinner. We'll check in tomorrow to let you know about the flight status. RMI Guide Jeff Martin

Monday, August 5, 2024 - 5:25 pm PT

It was an early start but not an early exit as we left La Paz this morning.  A gasoline shortage in Bolivia left us scrambling to find a spot to fill up our van as we headed to Isla del Sol.  After several hours of navigating La Paz and El Alto traffic we finally made it to the highlands with views of the Condoriri mountains and Huayna Potosi.  A quick ferry and a failed short cut down a dirt road eventually led us back to the standard route through the town of Copacabana which sits right on Lake Titicaca. Yet another curve ball was thrown our way as a fiesta in the town for the Bolivian independence day shut down our route to the boat that was awaiting us to bring us to the island.  After several detours and side roads we finally made it to our private boat that would bring us to the Island of the Sun. 

Isle del Sol is a special island for the Andean people as it is the center of creation for them.  On our walk from the boat to the Eco Lodge we passed by a pre-Incan Temple, and terraces built in the 1300's for farming.  The island itself does not have cars and provides spectacular views of 6,000m peaks that we'll be heading to shortly.  It is also a perfect place for us to acclimatize at 13,000' and enjoy the laid back island life compared to the hustle and bustle of La Paz. After an excellent dinner of fresh caught trout from the lake and local beef we are settling in for bed. As I write this we are being treated to views of a massive lightning storm over the mountains, feeling thankful to be here in our comfortable casitas and headed towards the high peaks in a few days when the weather is forecasted to improve. 

RMI Guide Andy Bond

PC: Andy Bond