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Mike Walter called at 12:00 a.m. Friday morning and reported that he and the team had reached 17,000’ Camp on Mt. McKinley. They had a nice day of climbing with light snow and no wind. They rolled into camp at about 5:00 p.m., and are now resting. The team may take a rest day at 17,000 but if everyone is feeling good they might just go for the top. Good Luck Team!

On The Map

What a commute. It seems like I left days ago to get to the office, (actually, that is true). It feels so good to get on the trail. The charm of the city is OK but being here in the Everest region of the Nepal Himalaya, is tough to beat. The flight into Lukla is always a bit hairy for us in the back of the plane but it is business as usual for the pilots. Local support has been stellar as usual. Thank you Sagar and Kili Sherpa of High Altitude Dreams for all your hard work in getting our team to this point. We were on one of the first flights from Kathmandu to Lukla this morning, not too bumpy. We were greeted by our Lukla staff at the landing strip. All of our gear arrived in good shape and we started along the trail, our first three hour tour in the multi-day trek to Everest Base Camp. We arrived in Phakding in good style. Looking so forward to what usually is my first real sound night's sleep to the music of the Dudh Kosi river, which is situated just outside my room. Location of couple of good sized floods, one in 1977 from an avalanche off of Ama Dablam, (a nearby peak standing at 23,355 ft) and in 1985 when a glacier lake broke loose. Not to worry, I won't miss a wink over it. Love to live on the edge! -- RMI Guide Mark Tucker Living on the edge (of the river) is the great adventure for the day. Well, maybe the exhilarating flight on the tiny airplane between two mountains was a greater adventure. The trail is great. It is plenty busy but not overcrowded. The hike was mostly downhill, which was a great way to ease us into this trek. We are enjoying the warm weather before we move up to higher & colder ground. Mark has been encouraging us to eat food often to keep our energy up. And the tea houses serve large quantities of food. It has become a running joke in the group since John is not a big eater. John keeps claiming that he is being force fed. All kidding aside, the team as a whole is in good spirits and is getting along well.--Kim This has been a long day, but a fantastic start to the trek. We headed for the airport at 5:00 am, trading the crowded noisy streets of yesterday for more space and speed. Mark arranged for boxed breakfasts to ensure we were nourished and ready for the trail when we arrived. We moved through the airport smoothly and quickly - which is saying something given the throngs of people all heading off on their own adventures. Mark and the High Altitude Dreams crew were all over the details and in no time we we in the air heading for Lukla. The flight was short, the runway was shorter. It took a few minutes to collect our gear and sit down in a nearby teahouse for breakfast - again. After a couple hours on the trail we stopped for drinks and food with a great view of Kusum Kangguru. A couple hours later we arrived at our home for the night - and had lunch - again. The rest of the day we just hung out and relaxed, saving energy for our first real uphill push. I'm sure dinner is soon. -- John

On The Map

Happy Valentine's Day from Machame camp. When we woke up this morning, it was sunny and warm and the perfect day to start our climb. After a quick breakfast, we loaded up in the vehicle and drove to the park gate, about an 1 1/2 drive from our hotel. With our park registration complete and the porter loads weigh, we were all more than ready to start walking. With not a cloud in the sky, shorts and t-shirts were all that were needed today. As soon as we started on the trail, we began a steady climb up through the forest zone, the most dense section of forest on the mountain. After we climbed several thousand feet, the forest started to thin and the flanks of Kilimanjaro came into full view. A short stretch later, we were walking into our first night's camp at 10,000. With our tents already set up and a snack waiting for us, it was a nice ending to our first day on the trail. The team did great today on the hike and everybody is feeling strong and healthy. Tomorrow we will be checking in from Shira Camp. Team Sima Sita

On The Map

Happy 4th of July from Ecuador! We hope that everyone back home is having a fun and safe Independence Day. Today we took our first acclimatization hike. We started the day with breakfast in the hotel and were then joined by our two local mountain guides Esteban and Robinson. After a short drive to the base of the Quito Teleferico we took the gondola to 13,100 feet. From there we embarked on our hike on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano. The weather was mostly cloudy today but that was actually very nice as it kept us nice and cool for our hike. We hiked up for about 2.5 hours and topped out at almost 15,000 feet! We enjoyed our lunch there along with a great view of Quito. After descending back to the top of Teleferico we had a nice cup of tea and then rode back down to the city. Everyone is now having a little down time before we meet up for our last dinner in the city. Tomorrow we are going to head up towards the Illiniza peaks and overnight at the Hacienda Chilcabamba. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

Today, the Four-Day Climb, led by RMI Guides Joe Hoch and Joe Crawford, successfully reached the summit of Mt. Rainier!

In a fun twist of trail magic, both groups were guided by not one, but two Joes, two Hannahs, and two Bens — in addition to Bailey and Simon, who helped keep things from getting too confusing! With this strong and experienced team at the helm, the climbers were in great hands every step of the way.

The teams pushed through some smokey conditions on their ascent and were rewarded with beautiful clear skies upon reaching the crater.  After soaking in the views from the top, the climbers began their descent to Camp Muir, where they’ll pack up before continuing the remaining 4,500’ down to Paradise this afternoon.

Congratulations to today’s climbers on an incredible accomplishment!

Three for Three on Mexico’s Volcanoes!

A week of hail storms, dark clouds and lightning was nice and all, but as we drove closer to Tlachichuca and were treated to a stunning view of 18,500 foot Pico de Orizaba backed only by a blue sky, it felt like spring break. 

We were running early and carried that luck all the way up the two hour 4x4 road to Piedra Grande, our Orizaba high camp at 14,000 feet. Dinner was at 4:30pm, and bed time came early at 5:30pm. This allowed us room to at least claim that we’d gotten some good sleep when tents were rattled at 11:30pm. 

As we climbed under a bright half moon with light winds it seemed like cheating. After single-pushing on Ixta what we’d normally do in two days, a simple 4,500 foot climb was coming easy. That is until we hit the 17,000 foot mark and things started to grind. 

But just as things were getting tougher with the elevation, Orizaba gave us all the classics. An amazing sunrise, the pyramid mountain shadow and finally the false summit with only a short walk to the true summit. 

We all stood on top of the highest point in Mexico and third highest point in North America in the warm sun with barely any wind. 

A great finish to a strong trip by all our climbers! 

RMI Guide Joe Hoch

Tuesday, June 27, 2023 - 8:25 am PT

The morning started out cold, crisp, and clear. Excitement was in the air - today we were climbing.

We ascended the steep snow up to 15,700. For some, each step was a new highest altitude ever climbed, while for others the thin air was all too familiar. Looking up, we could see the two ropes poking out of a steep slope of blue ice and wind blown snow. Looking down, through the clouds that had rolled in, glimpses of our camp could be seen far below. One by one, we attached ourselves to the fixed lines with ascenders. Initially cautious and unsteady, we soon found our footing and got into the groove - one duck step after the other. Nearing the top, the wind had picked up, and it was decided around 16,100 to descend back to camp - our mission of acclimatizing and experiencing the fixed ropes accomplished. Heading down the lines was exhilarating; facing downhill with one arm ensnared around the rope, we leaned forward and let gravity do the work. Relaxing in camp the rest of the day, we all felt prepared and ready - hopefully awaiting our chance to climb higher in the coming days.

RMI Climber Alex Smith

A successful summit for the whole team this morning!

In perfect weather our team summited Izta. She graced us with smooth climbing conditions as we scrambled up rocks, down a glacier and up to summit where, after climbing in the dark for hours, we were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise. 

After a long descent, we bid our new dog friends farewell and left for Puebla. Tonight we will enjoy showers, clean beds and a warm meal. 

We are ready to rest up for our next big mountain! 

RMI Guide Abby Westling

Hello, this is Adam Knoff and the Upper West Rib Team. We are settled in nicely here at 14,000’, Advanced Base Camp. We moved up today in the harsh winds but pushed through, maintained, got here in good style and everyone here is doing great. We have coined ourselves a new team name that being “The Family Style West Rib Team”. Because back in Talkeetna we decided we were going to fit 5 people in a 4 man tent on our expedition. Courtney Scaife being a good old fashion Wisconsin girl said “This is just like family style camping” and now we will refer to ourselves as the Family Style West Rib Team. The weather here is cloudy but calm and relatively warm for this altitude. We will be taking a rest day tomorrow, with the exception of climbing down about 500’ below camp to retrieve our cache . The following day we will have a full rest day. So a nice, leisurely couple of days coming up compared to the seven solid days of movement we’ve had the last week. We will be checking in tomorrow and let you know how our rest is going. RMI Guide Adam Knoff

Peter updates from the South Summit.