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The sun took awhile to reach us this morning, the shoulder of Nuptse standing 9,000' above blocked the sun rays and cast long shadows that gradually crept backwards as the sun rose. By the time we stepped out of the tea-house after 8:00 am the sun hit us and almost instantly began to chase away the nighttime chill. We left Gorak Shep in good spirits, eager to complete the final few hours of walking to Everest Base Camp. The trail becomes notably less defined this far up the valley. In addition to seeing less traffic, the path is ever changing as the loose moraine settles and shifts with the passing glacier and the pull from gravity. Despite Everest Base Camp being a relatively short distance from Gorak Shep as the crow flies, no more than two miles, the trail itself is much longer as it twists and turns over the rough landscape, descending through boulder fields and climbing back up loose scree gullies. We picked our way along it, stepping from rock to rock and occasionally catching glimpses of the tent tops of Base Camp off in the distance. About two thirds of the way to Base Camp the trail finally drops off of the side moraine bordering the glacier and crosses onto its surface. This low down on the glacier the surface is covered in rock that was pulled down from the mountain side further up and large features of ice, pushed up by the pressure of the glacier above, are interspersed with giant pools of frozen water that sit on the glacier surface from when the ice melts in the warm afternoon sun. The walking, while relatively flat, is tricky as every rock lies atop a sheet of ice below and the footing is continually shifting underfoot. Nevertheless, the group navigated the trail well and by midday we crested the final rocky rise and walked into RMI's Everest Base Camp. Our Sherpa team has been busy working up here for the past two weeks, hacking away the shifting ice and rolling the rocks aside to create large platforms on the glacier's surface for our tents to sit on. With the creative eye of a designer, they set up a very comfortable camp here. Our dining tent looks right out at Everest, the lower stretches of the Khumbu Icefall filling the view out the door from inside. A series of large stone steps leads from the Dining Tent to the sleeping tents sitting in a semi circle on a small rise above. Just in front of them stands our Communications Tent, with direct sight to the mountain above for the best radio reception and good exposure to the sun as it tracks across the sky for the solar panels that power all of the equipment. The Kitchen and Storage Tents are just below, with a large stone path leading between them and the Dining Tent above. The Sherpa team greeted us enthusiastically when we arrived, showing us around before we settled down for lunch. Kumar, the Expedition Cook, pulled together an incredible meal complemented with fresh baked rolls and steamed veggies. The change of pace from the typical tea-house food is refreshing and the food was excellent. After lunch we settled into camp, unpacking our gear in our tents and relaxing in the warm afternoon sun. We are all very happy to be here, pleased that we don't have to turn around and walk back to the tea-house this evening and enjoying the life around Base Camp. Everyone continues to adjust well to the altitude and hiked well today. We are spending tomorrow here in Base Camp, enjoying this place for a bit and covering some climbing training in preparation for those of us that are headed to Island Peak next. We want to thank everyone for the great comments on the Blog, we read them aloud over dinner last night and enjoyed hearing the snippets from home. RMI Guide Linden Mallory

On The Map

Jambo! I am checking in from Machame Camp at 9,800', our first camp on Kilimanjaro. We arrived about two hours ago and have been relaxing in our dining tent. The hike today was very smooth as we got a nice early start and didn't have any delays at the Machame Gate (5,990'), our entrance to Kilimanjaro National Park. We were in the clouds all day and that kept the temps cool and perfect for walking. It was a great start to the trip! RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

We apologize to Mike and Nelson's family's for missing their hellos. Here they are saying hi to their followers. Nelson: Mom, Dad, I'm having an absolute blast. I love it up here. Thank you so much for making this happen. I'm feeling great and getting excited for the imminent summit push. Tomorrow (weather permitting) we'll get to the top of the fixed lines and up onto the famed West Buttress. Long story short, I'm having a great time. Thank you so much. To everyone else who I told to follow the blog (probably a good 3 people or so) this place is way sweet. Wicked fun. Big Rik--you need to get up here sometime, it's fantastic. Lynn--of course I'm winning and writing lots. I'll have plenty of stories for you all. It's cold, fun, and badass. Love, Nels Hi Susan, Mel, Hannah, family and friends! Thanks to everyone for your posts. Your thoughts mean so much. I'm having a great time, staying warm, and the guides make sure we eat very well. After being snowed in today, we'll hopefully move to high camp in the next few days where we stage our attempt for the summit. Miss you all! Love Mike

This morning provided blue bird skies and little to no wind. Though the air was cold at around -5F, the team broke camp, dug a cache and loaded our packs for our summit push. With Okita's team reaching the summit yesterday we once again shared the burden of equipment transportation by swapping some equipment to lighten the load. Okita's team saved some weight for their long descent to the bottom, and more importantly our load was lightened up to high camp. We are thankful for the established camp with wind walls and a ready to go kitchen. The stroke of luck rarely happens as teams do not often come up and down from high camp on the same day. As we have been saying throughout the entire trip "Patience pays" and today it most certainly did. Water boils at a fairly low temperature at this elevation. In fact, you can drink a hot cup of your favorite flavor right out of the boiling pot - a wild first for many team members. A hot dinner and soup re-energized our spirits and warmed our souls. The team is climbing strong and with a little more luck from the weather tomorrow we will make a push for the top of North America to Denali/Mount McKinley's summit at 20,320'. Wish us well for our final push! RMI Guide Tyler Jones

On The Map

From 14k camp on Denali's West Buttress, it is only a short walk to one of the best views in the entire range. The perch is called "The Edge of the World". The plateau on which camp sits falls away dramatically. Nearly 5,000 vertical feet below lies the infamous Valley of Death. This afternoon our team walked to the edge of the world and took turns getting belayed out to the edge to take in the view. This afternoon the valley floor was obstructed by clouds which would sporadically rise to engulf us, but several times we were able to glimpse parts of the wall thousands of feet below us. The weather in camp has continued to be squirrelly. Last night we were buffeted by winds up to 50mph from various directions. Thankfully, we had already built a few snow walls to protect the tents, but the incessant flapping on nylon all night has convinced us to build more. The snow is falling fast now as we settle in for the night when we rise we will just see what the day brings. RMI Guides Tyler Jones, Eric Frank and Logan Randolph

On The Map

With moderate winds blowing; Dave and Leif woke up early and moved to Camp 1, arriving in the early morning. The rest of us had a casual morning followed by some after lunch, packing and preparation for a team move to Camp One. The plan is to wake up at o'dark and push through the icefall to Camp One where we will spend two nights. After this we will walk to Camp Two where we plan on staying a number of nights with a daytime excursion to Camp Three.

When trekking into Everest Base Camp (BC) two weeks ago, it felt high, rugged, and hostile. Man, what a different perspective this morning, as Viesturs and I returned to BC after 5 days at Camp 1 (19,000') and Camp 2 (21,200'). What fun to enjoy the creature comforts that we did without for the last few days...thick air (yes, 17,500' feels thick compared to 21,000'), a shower, a shave, and a Coke. It never ceases to amaze me how much I appreciate the little things that we typically take for granted. A bit of suffering and "doing without" gives great contrast to our relative comforts of BC, where living on a pile of rocks and ice can seem quite luxurious. Our 5 days on the mountain went well and we accomplished all we set out to do on this rotation. Our night at Camp 1 was uneventful though light on sleep, as we listened to icefall and rockfall crash down from Everest's west shoulder and Nuptse. Camp 1 is in a good place but you never know "if" or "when" the big one might decide to come down. At daybreak the next day, fueled by high-octane caffeine, we blasted out of there and 2 1/2 hours later arrived at Camp 2. Camp 2 is in a much nicer place on the lateral moraine of the Khumbu glacier and is free from objective dangers...icefall, rockfall, etc. We still slept poorly, though not from worrying about things falling from above, but from the significant altitude jump we had made from BC to here...about a 3,500' increase over the last 36 hours. Altitude symptoms affect everyone, even Ed Viesturs, and I was happy to know I had a partner to share my mild discomfort with. The next two days we made forays up to 22,000' on the southwest face of Everest and to the base of the Lhotse face. These two morning climbs were not only great for acclimatization, but let us soak in the amazing beauty of the world's highest peaks. We would start walking by 8 a.m. before the sun crested Lhotse, when the entire Khumbu is arctic blue and silent...and COLD. Then, within the hour, the brilliant sunlight would ignite the snow, rock, and ice around us and our world not only brightened but warmed up considerably. Up here there are two sources of heat...what your body generates and the sun, and you quickly learn how to maximize both. At the end of our stay at Camp 2, we were feeling pretty good. Our bodies had adjusted to the altitude and we were falling into the pace and cadence of high-mountain living. Ed and I are now back here at BC for 2-3 days of rest. Melissa stayed at Camp 2 for another day of acclimatization, and Dave Hahn and his team just headed up to Camp 1 for their first rotation on the mountain. I'm really pleased that all team members are on track and making steady progress. Next we will head up for another rotation up high, which will include spending a night at Camp 3 (23,500'), climbing above to about 25,000' and then descending all the way to BC for more rest prior to our final push. We are one month into this expedition and so far, so good. Each day is its own challenge. My mantra is "short-term focus on a long-term goal." One step at a time, literally. But hey, I'm down here at BC resting my body and my mind, so I'm going for another Coke.

Thursday, May 23, 2024 - 12:38 pm PT

It's a sunny day at 14,000' Camp with thick clouds below and strong winds above. We'll be resting again today, continuing to get stronger for our summit push. Weather models seem to be in agreement that improving conditions this weekend will usher in the first big wave of summit attempts of the season. We're in position to take advantage when we get our shot. We'll keep you posted.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Friday, June 23, 2023 - 11:43 pm PDT

After a stormy night it was time to say goodbye to our beautiful Camp 2 on the magnificent Kahiltna glacier. Some of us got a little sentimental about it, as it was home to us for the last five nights. I guess we never had a chance to mention it earlier, but we put quite a lot of effort in our camp to make it nice and neat with the snow walls around it, especially our restroom, this was a piece of art :).

We woke up at 6am and following another great breakfast and then packing we had to wait until we got the right window at 10:30 am for Mother Nature to clear up the weather and let us to move to the higher camp. We ventured into Motorcycle Hill, then retraced our steps from yesterday and went through Squirrel Hill which leads us to through polo field and then the famous windy corner. The Windy Corner deserves its name, yet the Squirrel Hill isn’t any less windy. I was about to fly away two times with the backpack and the sled. When we passed the Windy Corner and started going up the last hill before we reached Camp 3, the mighty Denali decided to show us its warm face. As the sun went up and the wind stopped, we started getting extremely warm on the hill. Since nobody ever claimed a name for this hill before I decided naming it "Double Fry Hill" (I have nine witnesses now :) The upcoming two days stronger weather is waiting for us in the Denalian wilderness. Yet we are hoping to carry the cache tomorrow from 13k.

Today we were lucky to get the right time window to move to our new camping place which is one step closer to conquer the fabulous Denali Summit. The team remains strong, positive, and hopeful that Denali will grant us clear skies in the next few days so we can spread your wings and soar towards its magnificent summit!

Stay tuned.

Till tomorrow! A bientot!

Climber Ilknur Colak & Team

Ps. The word of the day is "clutch" (from Travis)

Way to go Team! Last night we had a team of five Sherpa depart from Camp 2 at 11: 30 pm en route to the South Col. They reached the South Col in just under eight hours. A few of them were also able to make a carry to Camp 3. They encountered some high winds and did an amazing job, getting most of the oxygen bottles, tents and supporting equipment to Camp 2 for the first time this season. And here they are back at Base Camp already. These guys are tough! The rest of the team did some local hiking to keep up the fitness. Teams continue to work on the upper mountain but have not placed any new rope above the Col as of yet. The route fixing group has decided to wait a few days based on forecasts of strong winds in the near future. RMI Guide and Everest Base Camp Manager Mark Tucker