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Sunday, July 2, 2023 - 3:56 am

The RMI Denali Expedition June 11 led by RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli reached the summit of Denali on Saturday evening.  The team is safely back to camp at 17,000'.

Nice work team!

The storm arrived to the region as predicted yesterday and continues out our window here on the lower flanks of Volcan Osorno. We are sipping coffee by the fire in the comfort of our refugio after a chill day of travel to get here. Hard to say if tomorrow will be a summit day, but it looks pretty promising as a powder day! RMI Guide Tyler Reid

Monday, June 6, 2022 - 11:18 pm PT

Today began with a very difficult decision. Should we eat a full breakfast of cereal and fig bars? Or should we just coffee and charge down hill to the cache where a supreme breakfast awaited? Well the team decided, drink coffee, get cache and then have a relaxing brunch feast. What meal could be so enticing that we would exert ourselves on a retrieval mission with only caffeine running through our veins? Well glad you asked! It was breakfast burritos. Specifically pepper, onion, hashbrowns, eggs, Beecher’s cheese and MOOSE meat burritos. So yes, it was worth the wait. The rest of the day was a mix of napping, snacking, chatting, stretching, reading and card playing. It was an ideal day. Tomorrow we’re heading uphill to cache around 13,000' and along the way we’ll experience a series of classic Denali features! You’ll have to wait for the next update to learn all about them, oooh what a cliff hanger!

Until next time dear reader,

RMI Guides Avery, Jack, Liam and the Team

Wanting to make the best of our closing weather window, I managed to convince our team to forego our rest day today and go for our third summit in three days, Villarrica. Our alpine start began with a three-hour drive, arriving at a socked-in trailhead. Was this a good idea? It didn’t seem like it until the early afternoon when we popped above the clouds. The mental fatigue of skinning in a whiteout gave way to nice views and general alpine enjoyment, even as the wind increased. We tagged the top, peered into the active crater, and 5,500 feet later were drinking beer in the parking lot. Tomorrow the storm arrives, and we rest. RMI Guide Tyler Reid

The Four Day Summit Climb Led by RMI Guides Win Whittaker and Hannah McGowan reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. Win reported cooler temperatures and winds of 20 - 25 mph. This team spends all year training together and raising funds for the American Lung Association's Climb for Clean Air. Funds raised by participants supports the American Lung Association’s mission of saving lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease. Congratulations to today's Climb for Clean Air Team!

Mountaineering and music have much in common to share. When we consider music, we often think of pleasant noises combined together to make song—but it is precisely the silence between those bits of noise that make music more than simply a frantic crashing of sound. So too, it is with mountaineering: much focus is given to the getting up the mountain, but it is the descent that gives it meaning. You can no more have a successful climb without a descent than you can have a front without a back. And adding the mode of skiing to that descent provides an additional aesthetic beauty to that project. During early-April I had the opportunity to explore and expand my understanding of the ski mountaineering aesthetic through the American Mountain Guides Association's Advanced Ski Guide Course. This ten-day course is the follow-up to the twelve-day, introductory Ski Guide Course (which I'd completed in 2015) and is the precursor to an eight-day Ski Exam. With the benefit of RMI's commitment to the professional development of its guides, I was able to attend the Advanced Ski Guide Course in Thompson Pass, Alaska. Thompson Pass is part of the storied Chugach Range, the setting for more extreme skiing videos than perhaps anywhere else on the planet. Jagged, flat-iron peaks are flanked with row upon rows of steep and deep powder couloirs that spill into massive glacial basins, with easy access provided by the Richardson Highway running through it, connecting the port town of Valdez with the rest of The Last Frontier. This makes it the perfect place for the Advanced course. Whereas the introductory Ski Guides Course focuses on safely moving groups through backcountry avalanche terrain and finding the best skiing along the way, the Advanced Ski Guide Course brings in the components of safe travel on glaciers (e.g., navigating in white out conditions, avoiding crevasses, dealing with crevasse rescue, etc) and managing skiers in technical mountain terrain (e.g., roped travel through steep rock and snow, belayed entry into steep terrain, effective group management in narrow couloirs, etc). But there's more to it than just the technical aspects—because, after all, in ski mountaineering the focus of climbing a peak goes beyond just the joy of standing on the summit—there is the consideration of finding the most enjoyable line to ski on the way down. Having completed AMGA certifications in Rock and Alpine Guiding, I'm versed in the technique and mindset needed to successfully climb large objectives, and that mindset could be generally summed up with the word “efficiency”. Moving into the world of ski mountaineering has been an exciting shift of paradigms, working to also incorporate in the concepts of “aesthetics” and “enjoyment”. In the world of alpine climbing, enjoyment is often seen as what you experience upon completing the goal, standing on the summit and coming back down safely. In the world of ski mountaineering, standing on the summit is a necessary pleasure before the true pleasure of ski descent can be attained. A greater focus on both product and process that I'm finding increasingly attractive. I'm not the only one finding this product and process increasingly attractive: backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering is among the fastest growing segments of the outdoor world. And RMI is at the forefront in developing programs to help its audience enjoy the sport. RMI Guide Tyler Reid leads ski descents of Europe's highest peak, Mt. Elbrus, and explores Chile's renowned skiing with RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall. In 2018, I'll be doing a Mt. Baker Climb/Ski as well as a custom ski/climb program. RMI, long at the lead in helping climbers reach their summit goals, now has a range of excellent ski options to ensure that the descent is both safe and extremely rewarding. For a look at some of my other experiences with backcountry skiing, ski mountaineering, and the AMGA Ski Guide program, check out these links: • Mammut Athlete Team Blog about my ski experiences in the Alps prior to the Ski Guides Course. • RMI Blog post about my experiences in learning snow science during the American Avalanche Institute's Level 3 Avalanche Course. RMI Guide Kel Rossiter

Hello all! The whole team is finally in Mendoza and assembled! Due to several flight delays, today has been a bit chaotic, as we raced around to get through the park permit registration process, and buy last minute lunch food. In the end, we decided to cool our heels in Mendoza for one more night, rather than push up to Los Penitentes. This will allow us to organize, let a few folks get their first good nights sleep in a few days, and finish up the permits for a few folks. So it goes on a major international expedition. Tomorrow, we get back on track, leaving in the late morning for Los Penitentes. Once there, we will sort gear for the mules, and get ready to begin our trek the next day! In the meantime, we're going to enjoy another fantastic dinner in Mendoza. Best wishes to everybody back home, and we'll be in touch soon, this time from 9000 feet! RMI Guides Pete, Leon, Mike, and team

RMI Guide Ed Viesturs discusses the preparation for this January's Vinson Massif expedition with First Ascent.

We woke to another windy day here at basecamp. After reinforcing our tent anchors, we had a delicious breakfast.  The meal was leisurely and delicious, and everyone was in high spirits. We took a walk mid day to stretch our legs and get an incredible view of the mountain.  The rest of the day was spent resting and sorting gear. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to become more favorable, and we plan on moving to Camp 2 in order to best position ourselves for the summit.  

RMI Guide Nick Scott & Team

Lam Babu and our all-star Sherpa team were walking out of Basecamp by 4 this morning, bound for Advanced Basecamp (ABC). Their plan is to use the days ahead to establish Camp III on the Lhotse Face and to begin carries to the South Col. It is a good plan and works well with the climbing team intention to head up for a last "practice" rotation on the hill, sleeping as high as Camp III. We were going for that last difficult push starting tomorrow, but have now reconsidered. A cough has taken precedence, as coughs sometimes do in the month of May on Mount Everest. We've worked with this particular cough for weeks already and have no fondness for it. The judgement call has come down to: sleep at 24,000 ft, gaining valuable experience in a tough environment while coming down in time for a last rest before the summit bid... Or get healthy and banish the cough before trying for the top. Get Healthy won out. We'll stay down while the Sherpa team is up this time (they'll be back to BC in a few days). We'll put a priority on getting the climbing team strong and we'll contend with a longer-than-expected rest while carefully examining weather reports... On the lookout for a suitable "window" between the Jetstream and the Monsoon. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn