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The Kilimanjaro Family Climb reached Uhuru Peak this morning, the summit of Kilimanjaro and the highest point in Africa! Watch their video dispatch from today's climb:

On The Map

The Mt. Baker Summit and Ski Descent team led by RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer wrapped up their time on Mt. Baker today. The team took advantage of short periods of sun breaks to ski around Sandy Camp. Low clouds, snow, and poor visibility prevented the team from ascending too far out of camp. Pete reports great skiing and a happy team, making the most of their time on the mountain.

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Paradise Glacier team, led by RMI Guide Ben Ammon, spent the week on Mt. Rainier. The crowning point was this morning. They reached the summit of Mt. Rainier! The week entailed various mountaineering skills, such as crevasse rescue techniques, anchor placements, ice climbing, belays, rappelling and much more. We look forward to congratulating them on a successful week this afternoon!

It started out like Groundhog Day as we got out to start the stoves.... socked in with clouds and light falling snow... 14,200 camp was in the soup. I joked to the gang at breakfast that there certainly wouldn't be any climbing on this day (admittedly a lame joke on the heels of so many non-climbing days). We took a few enjoyable extra minutes at breakfast since the weather was so poor outside the POSH tent. It seemed a good time to read out the comments posted on the blog (and cut and pasted into a message for us by the RMI office). We all got laughing and forgot about the storm and then a funny thing happened. We unzipped the tent, walked outside and the storm was gone. There was the usual sea of clouds just below us, but only calm, blue skies above. Within a few minutes, a plan was hatched to team up with the other guided teams at 14,200, to get the climb leaders up in the direction of those suspect slopes and to determine once again just how suspect they still were. Mountain Trip sent two guides, Alaska Mountaineering School sent three, and Tim and I went to represent RMI. Meanwhile Cody and Solveig conducted a course in ropework and belay techniques for the gang in camp. Those of us on the survey mission found ways to keep getting higher without taking unreasonable risks. It took all day long and a few mini-conferences as to the best way to proceed -we traded off the honor of being out front where trailbreaking and risk evaluation were both essential and intense jobs. By late afternoon we felt we had a good understanding of the snowpack and where we could and couldn't go. We agreed that it was reasonable to try busting through the last couple hundred feet of snow to reach the fixed ropes. We took a cautious approach, setting up good anchors and a protected belay station, since by this point we were dealing with a fairly steep slope, crevasses, and all that recent snow we've been moaning and groaning about for days. It all paid off as we reached the security of the ropes without incident. We knew we finally had a safe route to take our teams climbing toward the West Buttress in the morning. Which is just what we'll do if the weather cooperates. Having reached about 15,500 ft in elevation, it was a thrill to ramble down the "safe trail" at flank speed and spread the good news to our climbers. We still need plenty of luck, and there still may be insurmountable obstacles between us and the summit, but at least we finally get to go looking for them. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

Beautiful moon rise last night and a perfect morning. Slow roll out of camp, to tackle the infamous Barranco wall. About a half hour section of rock scramble that is more fun than fear, and we got some great photos. We did have to deal with some rain en route to Karanga Camp but we just had a solid hour of sunshine and most of the gear is back in good shape. Some comments from the team: Nate- Climb, Hike, Win...Aim High-Kili High Will- Climb is going well, talk soon Gary- Hi Vicky and girls, all having fun at wet Kili Steve- Hi from Kili. Everything is POA {cool} ! On top Sunday ! Jan- Endlich mal Schnee auf dem Kili Dave W.- Great adventure, fun people ! I hope there is beer at the top otherwise why are we doing this ? Bob- Enjoy everyday on Mt. Areebaaa ! Missing everybody and you to Indy. Tuck- thanks for all the support Cheers, RMI Guide Mark Tucker and the RMI KILI Team

On The Map

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.

July 2, 2023 - 4:16 am PT

Summit!!! On a fine day. A little bit of a long one though -fifteen hours round trip. We got tangled with a couple of other guided parties.  Those other teams were breaking trail, so it is tough to fault them for being slow. We were on top at 8:30 PM and back to 17,000' Camp just after 2 AM. The weather was very nice, but it wasn't the warmest day on top.  Most of us had on all the clothing we had. 

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

The RMI May 7th Denali Expedition led by RMI Guide Mike Walter, reached the summit of Denali Monday May 29th. The team has safely returned to their 17,000' and will continue their descent to the airstrip over the next few days.

Congratulations to all the climbers!

As our first real warmup, the team hiked Rucu Pichincha today. Of all my times on this peak, today was by far the clearest. We were able to identify numerous big mountains once we got off the Teleferico (gondola): Cayambe, Antisana, Sincholagua, Cotopaxi, Rumiñahui, Chimborazo, Iliniza Sur and Iliniza Norte. Being such a clear day also meant we did not get rained on to end the hike nor have to slip around on the muddy trails following a rain event.

We have been happy to be in Quito, adjusting to life in Ecuador, but are now ready to venture into the countryside. Tomorrow, we head for our second acclimatization hike on Fuya Fuya and will stay the night at La Casa Sol, just outside of Otavalo.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

Sunday, May 29, 2022 - 6:33 pm PT

Today we climbed Iliniza Norte to it’s quite pointy summit at 18,818 ft.  The entire group made the top in a mere two and a half hours from the hut.  We began at 6:30 AM in partly cloudy conditions.  It was a little cold and windy at first, on icy and slippery rock and dirt, but things improved.  We got amazing views of Cotopaxi and Iliniza Sur, but the rugged rock scrambling required to get up Iliniza Norte kept us well focused on the task at hand.  We hit the top at 9 AM and spent 30 minutes before beginning a careful descent.  The team moved well, with excellent help from our local guide staff, and we were at the base of the mountain by midday. 

We enjoyed a celebratory steak lunch at a restaurant on the way to Cotopaxi National Park and then made our way uphill and into the park to the Tambopoxi Lodge.  Clouds cleared from the mountain at sunset and we had amazing views of our big objective of the next few days. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn