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The Mt. Rainier Four Day Summit Climb led by Pete Van Deventer radioed from the summit at 7:20 a.m. They crested the summit just before 7 a.m. with clear blue skies and calm winds in the crater. It's a gorgeous day on Mt. Rainier! After spending some time enjoying the magnificent views, the teams will begin their descent back to Paradise. Seth Waterfall and the Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons team checked in from Camp Schurman. The entire team reached the summit yesterday. They spent almost the entire previous night battling a tough storm, but the team managed to overcome the challenge and enjoyed a beautiful climb of the Emmons Glacier. Today they will descend down the White River valley for the final leg of their trip. Congratulations RMI teams!

It's us again,

Today we said goodbye and safe travels to the other RMI team who trekked to Everet Basecamp. While we are focusing on acclimatization, they are eager to get to lower altitudes and more oxygen. To help with our acclimatization the team took off uphill outside our teahouse and went up Nangkartshang. The top sits at 16, 644' with half the team making the top and half the team hitting 15,000' before turning around to get some more rest. Everyone did great and is feeling well. Tomorrow we push higher to Lobuche. We are only a couple nights away from basecamp and several nights away from heading to our high camp on Lobuche peak. The days are flying by and blending together. Before you know it we will be the team heading downhill while Everest teams head uphill. The nights are cold, so we are all bundled in our sleeping bags getting warm and allowing our bodies to rest before another uphill filled day. 

So goodnight all,

Hannah, Abby, and Team

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

Hello readers,

Today officially kicked off our Ecuador Seminar! The team gathered in the hotel lobby to introduce their selves, say why they chose the Seminar, and where they are coming from. From first glance it appears we have a fine looking team, who is going to be a hoot to climb five peaks with. After running through the itinerary for the next twi weeks, we grabbed a quick day pack and loaded the vans to go on our city tour. First stop was the equator where we learned many fun facts about the region, the culture, and how to make delicious chocolate. We also learned who has steady hands and the patience to balance an egg on the head of a nail. After the Equator we drove to a magnificent view of the city and walked the streets of old Town. It felt good to stretch the legs and see Quito. A casual night out for dinner wrapped up our day. Today we hit our first acclimatizing hike where we get to hopefully hit 15k feet and get our bodies adjusting to the high altitudes. The team is psyched and ready to go high.

Adios,

RMI Guides Avery Parrinello, Hannah Smith, and Team

Today was an easy day of getting packed and ready for the mountain.  We began with an after breakfast meeting outside under the big trees while monkeys jumped from branch to branch above us.  We discussed the plan for our climb and talked about how the gear needed to be ordered and arranged for starting out.  Then we conducted equipment checks back in the rooms to help folks decide what to leave in and what to take out.  There was then plenty of time in the afternoon for packing, napping away the jet lag, walking the peaceful grounds of the hotel, and eating.  We got together for a team dinner at 7 PM to cap things off.  Everything is set to go now, we’ll head for Mount Kilimanjaro in the morning. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Peter Whittaker reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Peter reported windy conditions on the summit. The team is making their descent and we expect them back at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon. Way to climb!

At 3:30 this morning I was startled awake by what I thought was the rumbling of a distant avalanche. Perhaps my mountain senses have an automatic alertness to these deep thunderous roars that will pull me from the deepest sleep. As I poked my head out of the tent door, I remembered where we are. Two days ago I broke the news to the team that a serious storm was brewing and the risk of staying at high camp, in my opinion, outweighed the reward of a potential summit. Going for the top on Monday or Tuesday would put our total time there at eight or nine days, well beyond anyone's preference. So we packed camp with heavy hearts and set off on our descent. We moved efficiently down to eleven thousand feet where we rested for six hours. The alarm went off at 5:00 am to no one's delight and we headed toward basecamp at 7:30. By 3:00 pm we were drinking MGD and relaxing in the sun. K2 aviation was optimistic about flying us off so morale, all things considered, was high. That was until one hour later the clouds moved in and it began to to snow. That was more than 24 hours ago. Now as I write this at 4 pm on Sunday, we have received two feet of snow. Welcome to Mt. McKinley! We have all just come in for lunch after two solid hours stomping down the runway so if the storm does abate, planes might fly. This is all we hope for now, the high pitch sound of propellers and don't think twice about those avalanches in the distance. This is Adam Knoff signing out.

On The Map

Jambo from Plantation Lodge, When you see Ngorongoro Crater for the first time, it almost leaves you speechless. It is massive; the crater is 26 miles in diameter, and you look down almost 2,000' to the crater floor. There are countless little black spots scattered throughout the 125 square miles of the crater floor. You can't really make out what animals they are from this distance, but there are thousands of them, with most estimates claiming 25,000 residents. We have to drive about 1/2 way around the crater rim before we come to the "descent" road, with impressive views the whole way down. The luck from yesterday continued today as we saw so many interesting animals. From new born wildebeest and zebras, warthogs, lions and lion cubs, cheetah, cape buffalo, black rhinos, ostrich, elephants, to hippos, and gazelles, we were very fortunate to see them all. We ended the day with a visit to a Masai village and then headed back to the lodge for a little relaxing time before dinner. Tomorrow is our last stop on the safari circuit, ending at Tarangire National Park. While not too far away, it is very different from the first two parks we have visited, and should give us our best chance of seeing leopard. Good night, RMI Guide Jeff Martin

Tuesday, June 21, 2022 - 9:56 pm PT

Hey hey hey,

You freeze, you fry they say in the mountains and oh did we do both. A frosty morning greeted us as we packed for our carry and ate our cherrios. Hot coffee brings you to your happy place as you thaw your fingers on the vessel. It's a quick walk to the edge of camp before the terrain steepens and we approach the bergschrund where the fixed lines begin. It's steep gaining the West Buttress but man are the views great. A birds eye view of 14,000' Camp give perspective along with the grandeur of everything around us. We bumped just another couple vertical feet up the Buttress before digging our hole for our cache. The morning started cold but soon turned to hot when the sun arrive. By time we got to our cache it was windy and clouds were swirling around us. As we retraced our steps back to the fixed lines we lost the wind and then entered a mega heat bubble. The temps swing so drastically, so quickly out here. It was a solid day of work today that deserves a rest day tomorrow. We are now in position to wait for a weather window to go for our summit bid.

Here's to waiting and being pateient,

RMI Guide Hannah Smith and Team

Saturday June 11, 2022 – 10:54pm PT

Hello bloganeers or whatever you call people who read blogs!

We went to bed with a nebulous forecast and thankfully awoke to optimistic looking skies! Looks like the weather would allow us to climb high and sleep low. We feasted upon a southern favorite, grits and pop tarts for breakfast. Then we racked up our gear and headed towards the fixed lines.

A couple hours of slow but steady walking and we arrived at the gaping maw that is the bergschrund at base of the fixed lines. The team locked and loaded and soon we were climbing up the steep snow and hard blue ice. Shouts of “This is awesome!” and “My fingers are cold,” were heard at various times during our ascent. Topping out the fixed lines rewarded us with beautiful views of the West Ridge of Denali and everyone and everything below us. We dug our cache, tossed in our excess gear and took a couple deep breaths of 16,000-foot air before beginning our descent.

Fleet feet and sturdy arm wraps meant a quick trip back to camp where a large meal of mac and cheese and cheesecake was enjoyed by all! Tomorrow, we let the winds up high blow while we gain strength and acclimate here at 14k camp.

Thanks for tuning in blogadors!

Avery, Jack, Liam and the team

Sunday, May 23, 2021 - 6:01 pm PT

The weather has not gotten the message yet that we’re trying to move up to the 14,00' Camp. Winds calmed yesterday afternoon, but picked up again early this morning. We were poised to break camp when they ramped up to the strongest we’ve seen this trip, strong enough to break guy lines on our cook tent. Texting via satellite with friends at 14k, we knew conditions were even harsher up there.

Instead of moving up today we built some snow walls to protect our camp here at 11k. The weather is improving this evening, and again we’re hopeful that we can push camp up higher tomorrow.

We’ll let you know...

RMI Guide Mike Walter