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Off to a good start down here. Everyone is in, safe and sound and after a brief orientation we kept the good times rollin' with a solid meal at Cafe Tacuba and an early night of sleep. Tomorrow we start our acclimatization with our journey to La Malinche. More later from the mountains. RMI Guide Jake Beren

Well, it's our last night up high here in Ecuador. Today we awoke to relatively clear skies and enjoyed a great breakfast with views of Cotopaxi. After a short hike up to the refugio we've settled in and dined on a great meal of chicken breast burritos with sauteed vegetables. Tomorrow calls for another rugged alpine start (midnight or so), and a long day of climbing. There's lots of new snow so the mountain is especially beautuful. Hopefully conditions and the weather will cooperate and the beast will let us up to the top! Other teams have been summiting so that is good news. I'll check in again from Quito tomorrow evening and let everyone know how it went! Thanks to Dawn Kim for the photos in this post!

In an effort to maximize the suffering and thus achieve the greatest level of mental training, we hiked Rucu Pichincha during the rainiest, snowiest portion of the day.  Alright, that was not the intention but mission accomplished!  Here on the equator, weather forecasts can only tell you so much.  If you ask a local about it, they typically look at the sky and tell you what is currently happening.  It was basically cloudy, raining or snowing all day but we did get some glimpses of Quito beneath the clouds.  On the way back down the trail we also dried off a bit in the warmth of the afternoon so everyone was in good spirits back on the bus.  Tonight we are headed to a local favorite restaurant to fuel up on baba ganoush before heading north towards Cayambe.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

Our Summit Climb team, led by RMI Guides Caleb Ladue and Mike Walter, reached the top of Mt. Rainier this morning. With sunny skies and moderate winds, the team is making their way back to Camp Muir. Congratulations to today's summit climbers!

"Analysis paralysis" is an accurate summation of my last few days here at Manaslu Base Camp. I've been reviewing weather information for the coming week collected from different teams and sources, paid forecasts, free forecasts, second hand forecasts. Of course, they all project different weather conditions. There is a general trend though... starting Thursday the 25th to Sunday the 28th looks like it might be a decent window for my summit day. The 25th being the worst day with 30+mph winds at the peak. Saturday, the 27th, is forecast to have 5 to 10mph winds but possibly precipitation. That precipitation could just be the result of a few days of good weather causing afternoon snow showers or a larger deposit. In this part of the Himalaya it can be hard to predict - and this is too many days out for a mountain weather forecast to be highly reliable. Decision time - It all comes down to this, the time, the money, and the mental dedication. I will depart in the morning tomorrow, the 23rd, for Camp 1, the 24th I'll climb directly to Camp 3 then if the weather window looks decent the 25th I'll move Camp 3 to Camp 4 and push to the summit the morning of the 26th. I'll keep the 27th as a backup day as it is currently forecasted to be the best day. I do not plan to stop at camp 2 on purpose because the entire area around camp 2 is unstable and dangerous. The many seracs and ice cliffs higher up the mountain - with large slopes below to accumulate snow - is a bad day just waiting to happen. This site is not for me. I'll just push through to camp 3, which is in a much safer location - as I described in an earlier post. I'll check back in from the upper mountain in the next couple of days with a weather update and my progress up the mountain. The photo below shows a view from base camp up towards the peak of Manaslu, my objective for this week. RMI Guide Alex Barber

Hello from Kikoti Camp, It was another amazing day on safari. We left the Plantation Lodge this morning and headed south to the last park we will visit on our safari, Tarangire National Park. En route, we stopped at a few curio shops to get gifts for our family and friends back home. Wood animal carvings, Maasai blankets, African masks, carved bowls, and few paintings will all make the journey home. Once we got into the park, the game viewing was a little slow at first. Our luck certainly changed after lunch. Not only did we see a leopard, we also saw a female cheetah with three cubs, several big elephant herds, giraffes, warthogs, and even a unicorn. Actually it was Thompson Gazelle that lost a horn, but from a distance, it definitely looked like a unicorn.We have seen a lot of animals the last few days and covered a lot of beautiful miles. We are now at our last lodge, a luxury tented camp right on the edge of Tarangire. The views are incredible and the sounds around camp remind us that we really are out in the African bush. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and what a perfect spot for our last night in Tanzania. Tomorrow, we drive back to Arusha, pick up our climbing gear and head to the airport for our flights back home. From literally the snows of Kilimanjaro to the African plains, this has been a hell of a trip. Thank you again to those who checked in daily to read our dispatches and to everyone who left the motivating comments while we were on the mountain. Best regards, RMI Guide Jeff Martin & Team

Wednesday, August 7, 2024 - 5:55 pm PT

Today we left our island paradise for the mountains! After a quick boat ride we made a quick stop in the famous town of Copacabana to walk around the local market. Then it was back on the road for a few hours which brought us to the base of the Condoriri group. It's nice to be back in the mountains meeting our local support crew that will help support our climb and get our gear up to base camp at 15,500'. The team is looking forward to stepping onto the glacier for the first time and attempting our first peak on Friday!

RMI Guide Henry Coppolillo

The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Casey Grom reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at about 7:35am PT. The team reported clear skies and calm climbing conditions. The team will spend some time on the Summit before starting their descent to Camp Muir. Congratulations to today's team!

I'm calling this the unofficial start to the 2013 RMI Mt. Everest Expedition. It can't be official yet because we are still waiting for Dave Hahn to arrive in Kathmandu after being delayed en route. The rest of us have all arrived over the last two days and are doing great. We got together for dinner tonight in the district of Thamel, a crazy-maze of restaurants, shops, bars and hotels. Tomorrow we'll spend the day picking up last minute items and getting packed for the trek into Everest Base Camp. We're all looking forward to getting started! RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

Hi there, Team Aconcagua checking in from Camp 1 (16,200'). We arrived at camp around 3 pm today. It took almost 5 hours for us to complete the move to our new home (we are planing to spend 3 nights here). It started to snow right after we set the tents and it hasn't stop since (3 hours), the accumulation is just 2 inches so far. We are ready to have dinner and relax for the evening and recover from our move. Tomorrow, if the weather is good and everyone is feeling well, we plan to make our carry up toward Camp 2. We will check in tomorrow when we are return to Camp. Thanks for all the comments on the RMI blog, keep sending them. Cheers, Team Aconcagua

On The Map