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100% Summit!!

I was thinking the other day about just how motivated people have to be to come climb big mountains. It just takes so much effort, from paying for it, training for it, and actually doing it. Real go getters, doers. At the same time, I thought it was quite funny that those same type A, don’t sit around type of people. Have to sit in tents, bide their time, and do nothing for days on end in order to climb these mountains. They take time, patience, preparedness, and luck of course.

Today was our lucky day. We finally had the night we’ve been wanting. Still, cool, clear. And in the “morning” (the sun only hides for 2 hours behind Vinson) it was all systems go. We throttled the stoves and ate our breakfasts. We got our harnesses on and donned our gloves. We started to climb, and… continued to climb.

Vinson summit day involves gentle rolling slopes with bouts of steep seemingly unrelenting hills. It climbs Southeast through the Vinson Massif in the Jacobsen Valley situated at the base of Vinson. Behind, breathtaking views North to Tyree and Shinn from angles we hadn’t yet encountered. The Grand Finale? The summit ridge. A long traverse over the top of Vinson with steep drop offs to both sides, sprawling views, and bitter wind. 100% of the team stood on top this afternoon at 3:34PM.

We did all that today and more. We accomplished a goal that didn’t know we could achieve, we summitted the tallest peak in Antarctica on the best day we could have asked for. We’ll sleep well tonight after we scarf our dinners and run to our tents. Tomorrow, we start the descent.

RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli & Team

Tuesday, June 6, 2023 - 11:11 pm PT

The RMI team lead by RMI Guides Andy Bond, Jack Delaney and Joey Manship thoroughly enjoyed the K2 flight in to base camp this morning. The views were spectacular! We began our climb for a short distance down hill before beginning the arduous journey with heavy packs and full sleds up what we referred to as Blister Hill. The team made excellent time and established our camp at 7,800 feet elevation on the flats at the base of Ski Hill. As the clouds rolled in and a light snow began to fall we enjoyed delicious burritos and looked forward to a well deserved nights rest. 

Climber Jeff Ebeling

Friday July 1, 2022  11:25pm PDT

We were repetitive today.  “What a gorgeous day” was heard over and over.  We were out of our sleeping bags and firing the stoves at 7 AM and … as usual… it was calm and clear and perfect at 14,000 ft.  A little cool in the shadows, but by the time we’d eaten breakfast and done another big gear sort, it was 9:50 and the sun was coming on strong.  We headed up the now-familiar terrain leading to the fixed ropes and the crest of Denali’s West Buttress.  The work was certainly hard, carrying big packs on steep snow, ice, and rock at high altitude, but the scenery was magnificent.  It was even more magnificent once we loaded up the supplies from our cache at 16,600 and pushed on to new ground.  It was a thrill to walk along the ridge crest, balancing between the big drop down to Genet Basin on one side and the Peters Glacier on the other.  We rolled into 17,200 ft at about 4 PM in calm and sunny conditions and began to build our high camp. 

The decision was made, over dinner in our rather compact high camp dining tent, to take a rest day tomorrow (Saturday) and to focus on a summit bid Sunday.  Conditions look good for Saturday, according to the forecast, but even better for Sunday and we’d like everybody to have their best shot at the top after so much hard work. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Safety is priority number one. Rumors of high winds coming in early next week has our team paying close attention to the forecast. The higher the winds, the colder it gets. Lucky for us we have all the necessary gear. Sure our packs are big but we are warm. For now, the team is lounging around Camp 2 at 18,000 feet on Aconcagua. We went up to 19000 + feet to acclimatize and everyone is doing really, really well. We need to rest and recuperate here tomorrow. We will be watching the winds and then we will make a game plan. Keep the fingers crossed and the positive vibes coming!!! Everyone here says hello to friends and family. RMI Guide JJ Justman

On The Map

A climber from Mark Tucker's Kilimanjaro Climb, Mike Wyatt, composed the following poem about his summit day. BLUE SNOW by Mike Wyatt The air is cold, burns the lungs deep – Wish I was in bed fast asleep. Obsidian night – Black as a raven feather. Buttery crescent moon shepherds in good weather. Heavy limbs fight the rocky slope – Trekkers tied by an invisible rope. The echo of fatigue resonates down the line – Fiery meteorite the color of red wine. The air is cold, burns the lungs deep – Wish I was in bed fast asleep. Blindly pushing forward, we pass another team – What is reality? What is a dream? Summiteers from years past whisper in my ear – not give in, for the peak is near. I chase the heels before me repeatedly catching my breath – One unconscious slip could mean injury or death. Tangerine pink color accent the sky – It’s pure silent beauty is no lie. The crater rim now in sight – Ebullient hikers descend in weary flight. Icy dry wind burns my face – Tired scarred boots don’t leave a trace. The air still cold burns the lungs deep – I’m glad I am not in bed fast asleep. For the glacier’s blue snow is still cold, hard and deep.

The RMI Denali Expedition May 5th led by RMI Guides Mike Walter, Jess Wedel and Michael Murray reached the summit of Denali on Sunday, May 26th.  The team safely returned to High Camp, 17,000', after a 12 hour round trip climb.  After some much deserved rest they will begin the descent, returning to Kahiltna Base Camp and then onto Talkeetna.

Congratulations team!

After a few days of unsettled weather on the mountain, the Four Day Climb August 5 - 8 was able to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier led by RMI Guides Alan Davis and Jack Delaney.  The teams reached the crater rim around 6:30 am PT and enjoyed an hour in the crater.  They will return to Camp Muir for a quick stop before continuing down to Paradise this afternoon.  We look forward to seeing the teams back at BaseCamp later today.

Congratulations to today's climbers!

Monday, May 16, 2022 - 9:37 pm PT

At 4 am this morning the wolf tried his first huff. He then continued to huff and puff and try to blow down our house but we had built it strong. While we hunkered in our tents it was clear that it wasn't a day to try to walk anywhere. It blew for the morning but by early afternoon began to abate and have us a chance to get out of the tents and stretch our legs. This evening turned gorgeous as the wind went calm and the skies cleared. We should have smooth sailing for a move to 11,000' Camp tomorrow. We'll touch base.

RMI Guides Pete, Erika, Leif, and team

The day started pretty early for Lam Babu and the Sherpa squad. They were putting on crampons at 4 AM and getting busy with the Khumbu Icefall as daylight came on. The five men were passing Camp One by around 6:30 and carrying their loads on up toward Camp 2 (Advanced Basecamp or ABC). The rest of us were just getting up and enjoying a calm morning at EBC, happy that the storm of the past couple of days seems to have fled. Great day for another hike, as it turned out. We went for a slightly farther goal today, if not exactly higher. Kalapathar is around 18,300 ft and we'd beaten that the other day on Pumori Camp One, but for KP we needed to descend farther, pretty much to the village of Gorak Shep. So the overall altitude gain, including having to climb all the way back up to Basecamp afterward, was greater. Exactly what the doctor ordered... more exercise at altitude, more great views. Kalapathar is actually not a mountain summit in its own right. It is more properly about as high as you can reasonably go in trail shoes on the start of one of Pumori's insanely steep ridges. But it is perfectly positioned to gain views of Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse, not to mention Pumori. And it is popular. We were in the mainstream of trekker and climber and porter traffic again, and things are definitely getting busy now. Just walking through Basecamp takes us a good twenty minutes and we are only going through about two thirds of camp (since we live in the upper third). But it turned out to be a wonderful day and we even had the top of Kalapathar to ourselves -for a few minutes, at least. We were able to keep in communication with the Sherpa team and were pleased to hear that they were all back down to base by about noon. A monumental effort, all safely accomplished. So now, although we don't have tents up yet at either place (no sense putting them up any earlier than necessary, the wind would just take them down) we have Camps One and Two established. The team is working steadily up toward the goal of safely taking on the Icefall. The route to Camp One is steep, technically difficult, dangerous and at high altitude... So if it seems like we are going out of our way to be ready for that first time through... We are. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

The ALA Climb for Clean Air led by Win Whittaker and our Four Day Summit Climb led by Tyler Jones reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 6 am this morning. Win reported cold and breezy conditions with some high clouds. The teams have started their descent and are now en route to Camp Muir. Congratulations to today's teams!