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Hello again from 14,200' on Denali! The weather was beautiful today, and we enjoyed it by taking a nice short hike out to the Edge of The World, a spectacular viewpoint near our camp. Then we reviewed and practiced fixed line travel with our ascenders. The rest of the day was spent lounging around, eating, napping, listening to music, and telling lies. We enjoyed a hearty dinner of black bean and chicken quesadillas, and now we're all getting horizontal and settling in for the night. We are planning to carry some supplies up high tomorrow, in preparation for moving up to high camp later in the week for our summit bid. Everyone is doing quite well adjusting to the 14,200' altitude of our camp, and I expect that we will all do well climbing higher tomorrow. Of course we have the luxury of returning to our comfortable camp at 14k tomorrow night for a good night's sleep. That's all for now. We'll be in touch again tomorrow night after our carry. Thanks for all the great comments on the blog. Keep them coming! RMI Guide Mike Walter

On The Map

The Five Day Climb August 23 - 27 led by RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer & George Hedreen reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning.  The teams enjoyed clear skies, a funky cloud and a light breeze for their climb and were able to enjoy some time this morning in the summit crater.  The team began their descent from the crater rim around 9:30 am.  They will return to Camp Muir and enjoy another night on the mountain.  Tomorrow the teams will pack their gear and descend the remaining 4.5 miles to Paradise.

Congratulations team!

PC: George Hedreen

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier and team reached the summit of Mt. Rainier via the Emmons! All team members were able to look out on the beautiful skies this morning from 14,000 ft. Nice work team!

They will get up early tomorrow morning, spend sometime practice crevasse rescue before starting their descent and return back to Rainier Basecamp in the afternoon for their celebratory lunch.

Thursday, May 19, 2022 -  10:57pm PT

It was a perfect day to switch from lower glacier load hauling to actually climbing. The weather was clear and calm in the morning, so we pumped through a bagel breakfast, grabbed loads of food and fuel, and set our sights on motorcycle hill. Many teams cache at 13,5k just past windy corner, but we had our sights set on 14. The first several hours were pleasant. Sunny, but with just enough air moving to keep us comfortable. Rounding windy corner, there wasn't a breath of wind. The sauna turned on and we all had mild cases of heat panic. We cruised on into 14,000’ camp and got to say hi to Mike Walter and team, who were kind enough to top off some water bottles. With our goal secured, we turned and beat feet back to camp.

It was a solid day out and hard work, so we will reward ourselves with the first proper rest day of the trip tomorrow.

RMI Guides Pete, Leif, Erika, and Team

Hello again everyone-

The team had a really nice day here on Kilimanjaro today, waking to clear skies and a beautiful view of Kilimanjaro looming in the distance. We had a light cloudy layer which helped keep us cool while on the trail, which was nice as the sun can be quite intense here near the equator.

We started the day waking at 6:30 to start packing up before moving into our dinning tent for a nice breakfast with porridge, fried eggs, toast, avocado and even some fresh fruit, and most importantly plenty of hot coffee.

We hit the trail shortly after 8am and slowly made our way up the rocky trail with occasional views of Kilimanjaro above. The trail climbed up a blunted ridge and eventually out of the trees and allowed for some truly spectacular views of the valley below. The team hiked for a little more than four hours before reaching our next camp that sits on the Shira plateau, which is an ancient lava flow.

Everyone is doing very well and we are currently relaxing in camp.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

Yesterday, we woke at 7am just before our welcomed friend, the sun, hit our trailhead camp. After finishing the last of our packing that was put on hold from the thunder and hail the previous night, we had a warm breakfast and donned our climbing packs for the first time on the trip. Conditions were mostly snowy and cloudy on the trail to Campo Alto, but the team managed to make good time nonetheless. In 4.5 hours we arrived, ready to set up tents before the afternoon hail storm set in. Taking shelter to cook in the Refugio, we had the camp to ourselves and enjoyed warm ramen and quesadillas. The team then got their climbing kits ready and took to the tents early to maximize rest for the upcoming summit push tomorrow.

RMI Guide Alan Davis

Friday, June 28th, 2013 Summit Team 6 finally hit the summit! Second time is a charm. We left camp around 8:45 this morning with perfect weather. As we got higher, Denali decided to challenge us again; this time with some wind. The wind was blowing very hard as we approached the summit ridge. We were all bundled up ready to get pummeled by wind on the ridge, but the ridge actually blocked the wind making the summit really nice! We stayed on top for quite some time before we headed back down into the wind for a safe descent back to 17,000 feet. Time to get some well-deserved sleep! RMI Guide Mike Haugen and RMI Summit Team 6

On The Map

Sean McCroskey and his dad, Jeff McCroskey, stretch out their sore muscles on Kilimanjaro. ---- RMI climber, Sean McCroskey recounts his first climb – Kilimanjaro in 2017. Read RMI Guide Casey Grom's dispatches of the team's climb here on the RMI Blog. Find out more about having your first climb featured on our blog! ---- In 2017, I was fortunate enough to climb and summit Kilimanjaro with my Dad (not only was I fortunate enough to do that but also have parents that let me skip the first two weeks of my last semester of college to go and do it!). I didn't have much climbing experience before but had done some hikes up Mt. Mitchell and Mauna Kea as well as worked out a lot to prepare. We arrived in Tanzania and immediately met our guide, Casey Grom. From the get-go my dad and I knew we would be in good hands going up the mountain. Climbing Kilimanjaro was a once in a lifetime experience made even better because of the RMI Team. Our porters were incredible, it was so nice to be able to arrive at camp and have everything set up for our team and to be able to toss our gear down and rest. Sean and Jeff McCroskey with some of their teammates on Kilimanjaro. At night we would bundle up, put our headlamps on, and sit around the dinner table and tell stories (some the funniest stories I've ever heard) and talk about life. I learned so much from a team of people from all different backgrounds. When we reached the top, I took out my Xavier University flag I got just before my freshman year of college and displayed it from the summit with my Dad. The best surprise though was the satellite phone call Casey let us each take from the top – my Dad called my mom and I got to call my best buds back home. Sean and Jeff McCroskey displaying their Xavier University flag on the summit of Kilimanjaro. We had such a great experience; we came back the following summer and climbed Mt. Rainier with Ben Liken and got to see Casey! Sean McCroskey

We are in Mount Rainier National Park and on the mountain! The weather has been finicky this past week with a good accumulation of snow. So much snow that we were worried that the park wouldn't have the road to Paradise open. At 11 AM the park opened the gates and we made it up. With all the fresh snow it was slow going but the team trudged on and we are busy making camp...Denali style! We are definitely having the true feel of what the mountains can dish out. It's currently snowing hard and we are working fast on the kitchen and dining tent. I need a hot drink! RMI Guide JJ Justman

The RMI 2013 Everest Expedition has now officially started! Dave arrived late last night along with the last of our baggage. We are now set to head out from Kathmandu. We had our first full team meal this morning at breakfast and after that we had an interview with Elizabeth Hawley. Miss Hawley is a fixture for Everest climbers. She has maintained a very thorough database of all ascents of the mountain ever since the first ascent of the mountain in 1953. It was a treat hearing her stories of climbers past and present. Now in her 90s she is still sharp as a tack and is absolutely interested in all of the expeditions on the mountain. After that we spent the rest of the day packing for the trek into base camp. If all goes well we will fly into Lukla tomorrow and trek to the village of Phakding. We're all fired up to get that started. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map