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The Four Day Summit Climbs led by RMI Guides Seth Waterfall and Jason Thompson reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning shortly after 5:30 a.m. They reported clear skies and warm temperatures with winds around 20 mph. As of 7:00 am the teams were descending from High Break (13,300'). They will continue to Camp Muir and make a short break there before continuing to Paradise this afternoon. Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!

Tuesday, June 22, 2021 - 11:22 pm PT

Hi,

Patience and more patience. Every day we look at the forecast and wonder how accurate will it be. Is the weather system going to happen or will it be nice out. Its a part of expedition life that is difficult. When do we move? Is this our time? Does it get better or worse? But no one truly knows. Its all in retrospect that we deliberate the decision and know the answer. So we wait. We wait for a forecast that is better than marginal. We have plenty of food and fuel to see if the winds will get better in the next handful of days. Patience is key. In due time it will be our moment, so we wait.

Good night,

RMI Guide Hannah Smith and team

The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Dominic Cifelli and Jackson Breen reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning and were walking off the crater rim at 6 am PDT. Dominc reported clear skies above 7,000' feet, and no wind. The team is making their way back to Camp Muir and will be back at Rainier Basecamp to celebrate this afternoon.

Congratulations Team! 

Thursday, May 18, 2022 - 12:46 am PT

We took our time over coffee and breakfast burritos this morning, enjoying the slow start and the warming sun that doesn't hit camp until 9 am. Satiated, we left camp and moved quickly downhill to our cache at 9600', relishing the opportunity to stride it out and cover ground. We passed a lot of teams headed towards 11,000' Camp, slowly trudging under the loads of big packs and full sleds. With our cache retrieved, we worked out way back uphill to our cozy camp. Overall, 11,000' Camp felt like it doubled in size today and lots of folks were strolling around, enjoying a warm afternoon. We'll look to continue our momentum tomorrow caching a load of fuel and food up high near Windy Corner.

RMI Guides Pete, Leif, Erika, and team

Today we experienced superb climbing conditions as we bumped equipment and food to our cache at 14,000' camp. We began with a steep climb out of 11,000' camp, up "Motorcycle Hill" and "Squirrel Hill" then enjoyed a mellow walk across a part of the route called the "Polo Field." We stopped just shy of the infamous "Windy Corner" at 13,200'. Guides and clients prepared to battle the harsh winds by dawning wind layers and face protection. We even made sure to have goggles readily accessible. When we rounded the corner however, we were greeted with only a light breeze. As a team we are constantly preparing for the worst and hoping for the best; the wind today turned out to be the best. With our cache stocked, we headed downhill back to our camp. Despite some clouds, we were still greeted with a view of the Peters Glacier, the Direct West Buttress and Father and Son Wall. We were reminded how truly huge this place is, and satisfied to see that we are making steady progress. The entire crew had their strongest day yet. We are currently back in camp hold up in our tents. It seems that in this place we are either working our tails off, or comatose and resting. Now we are the latter. We look forward to seeing what kind of weather greets us tomorrow. We hope to move up to 14,000' at some point in the next few days if the group feels strong and weather permits. Well keep you posted. For now, it's back to food and rest. RMI Guide Tyler Jones

On The Map

Today we made our first big move up the mountain as we left basecamp and have settled in atAconagua's Camp 1. Despite a couple hiccups (negotiating with some Russians over tent platforms, some minor blisters, and acquainting ourselves with the bio-bag human waste system) today's move was the smoothest I've seen. The guys are all in great spirits after having a great meal and a hot drink before crawling in for the night. We hope to take advantage of more good weather forecasted for tomorrow by pushing another carry up to our Camp 2, also know as Chopper Camp. We'll check in again tomorrow evening, RMI Guides Billy Nugent & Leon Davis

On The Map

Well hello, Mark Tucker here. On the top of Kilimanjaro one more time! Uhuru Peak looking all the way into Kenya, beautiful day! A big shout out to last week's team. Sorry to inform you, we had a pretty breezeless day. Hardly any wind. You guys had a tough day. You guys hung in there, fantastic. We have a colonel from the armed services with us on this trip and he brought out the Old Glory. A beautiful flag that he has had all over the world during his services. A real special moment for us all. The team is doing great. Everybody's doing well. We're going to go ahead and knock this one off and head on down here. All is well and thanks for checking in on us. RMI Guide Mark Tucker

On The Map

Weather forecasts that were passed in to us from Union Glacier suggested that things wouldn't be so great today. But then the forecasts changed. It was a fine and calm day with plenty of sun and blue sky. We packed up our basecamp and at about 12:30 PM, we began marching up the Branscomb. The going was slightly easier today as the track in the snow is getting packed down a bit better. We collected our cached food and gear from yesterday and then made the big northward turn with the glacier. This put us directly under Vinson's great western escarpment and it was a thrill to look up at 2000 vertical meters of rock and precariously perched ice. A few hours of easier going on a firm surface brought us to Vinson's low camp at a little before 7 PM. It was very comfortable in the sunshine but the slightest breeze or a small cloud putting us in shadow made everyone acutely aware of what the actual temperature was. The forecast that called for good weather today pegged the summit temp at -36 degrees. We got tents up and the kitchen going and had dinner sitting outside, surrounded by giant and jagged mountains. After dinner a few of us got a quarry of snow blocks going and built some walls for the camp... Just in case the weather changes, as usual. It is now around 30 minutes after midnight and the sun is blazing away on the tents. The sun won't set, but around 3 AM when it goes behind the mountain, we will know it. At this camp, we won't expect to see or feel it again until noon. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

The Five Day Climb led by RMI Guides Same Marjerison and Nick Sinapius turned at 13,100' on their summit attempt of Mt. Rainier this morning. The team climbed into a cloud camp with low visibility and unstable weather. They are back at Camp Muir and will descend to Paradise soon.

Everyone has now arrived in Quito and I must say it was a pleasure to show up to this morning's orientation and count all nine people present.  An added bonus is that all luggage is accounted for, although one luggage lock key was lost.  Turns out those can simply be pried open with two screwdrivers.

We enjoyed a nice weather day for our city tour and Mitad del Mundo museum tour.  It was just cloudy enough to filter some of the intense equatorial sun and it also never rained.  Everybody learned at least something new about physics or practices of the indigenous peoples of Ecuador, the two main focuses at the museum.

Tomorrow we turn our focus towards getting the body moving.  As a preparation about half the team spent the afternoon cold plunging and in the sauna.  I can still taste the eucalyptus when I take a deep breath.  Anyways, that's all to say that we are feeling ready to hike Rucu Pichincha tomorrow and hopefully reach a new high point for a few of the team members!

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier