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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

The Five Day Climb teams for June 24 - 28, 2021 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier led by RMI Guides Mike King and Andy Bond.  The teams reached the crater rim at 5 am, happily reporting cooler than expected temperatures for today.  Blue skies and beautiful views were enjoyed from the summit before the teams began their descent.  They are making their way back to Camp Muir where they will stop for a quick break and to repack their gear before continuing their descent to Paradise this afternoon.

Congratulations to today's Five Day Climb teams!

If you’ve been following the blog posts, you’ve been doing some rigorous training - and it will pay off. I’m always looking for a little extra motivation or meaning in my routines and I’m often thinking about how to maintain the momentum that will carry me up the hill! As humans, we dedicate art, buildings, books and many other things. Often to loved ones, sometimes to causes. We can dedicate any effort. A mountain climb for example - to someone or something we care for. It can even be anonymous. Perhaps the person isn’t with us anymore, a team you once were part of, it could be your next-door neighbor! Personally, I’ll do it when I’m taking on something that will test my limits, or something that I’ve not had success with in the past. This process feels very tangible, “I’m grateful for what you did for me, I’m going to do this thing for you”. And it goes both ways. Someone once told me they found the stamina to go to the top of a mountain as a token of gratitude for the encouragement I gave them ... I’ll never forget that. When I start dedicating that next mile, thousand feet, workout or climb to someone who has helped me, all of a sudden I’m no longer going solo. I have a supporter, a team or my family behind me. It improves the quality of what I’m doing. Credit for this idea to Seth Godin, an inspirational out-of-the-box thinker whom I respect. - John Colver John Colver is a longtime climber, former mountain guide, and certified personal trainer with the American Council of Exercise. Colver introduced outdoor fitness classes to athletic clubs throughout the greater Puget Sound region before creating his adventX brand. Currently, adventX leads training programs in Seattle and Colver presents clinics on outdoor fitness at companies such as Microsoft, Boeing, the American Lung Association, and REI. Colver lives in Seattle. Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts with John and other readers on the RMI Blog!

After our hailstorm approach and the lightning storms visible on the horizon, no one on our team really had a lock on how the day would turn out. When we started breaking trail at midnight and the stars quickly disappeared, everyone crossed their fingers that Cotopaxi would let us stand on top. Luckily fortune smiled on us and we managed to find our way through some quickly changing glacial conditions with plenty of new snow to go with. The higher we climbed, the clearer it got and this team did a great job climbing smart and safe on this tough mountain and we all returned healthy and happy, albeit with the weirdest facial tanning we've seen. Thanks for a great trip with an awesome team. RMI Guide Jake Beren

Hey RMI this is Linden Mallory calling from Island Peak. We are up here at High Camp, it’s another fairly nice evening out, certainly on the chilly side but we didn’t get any of that afternoon precip that we’ve seen the past couple of days. This has definitely been some of the better weather we have seen in the past few days. It’s cold. Cold, cold temps right now about to jump in the tent and get warm. We spent the morning wrapping up our training down at Base Camp and then moved up here to High Camp got in about mid day. We spent the afternoon sorting our gear and preparing. I ran up to check out the route and get things started with Kulan Tusing, one of our Sherpa, so everything is looking good up there. We just wrapped up an excellent dinner and off to bed. We are looking at an early morning start somewhere around 2 to 3 o’clock in the morning. With these cold temperatures we might delay our start a little bit but definitely get an alpine start. A couple hours through the rocks up onto the glacier and then move our way up the snow and ice to hopefully get to the summit of Island Peak. We will check in tomorrow and let you know how things go. The team is doing well we are definitely excited to have the climb here and everybody is in good spirits and we send our best to everyone back home. We’ll check in tomorrow. Take care.

On The Map

Lukla! Back to where we started after another long day hiking. We left Namche about an hour later than planned to get in some last minute shopping, I'm sure everyone can guess who prompted that decision..... Lucky enough to have another beautiful day for hiking, we were happy to spend all day on the trail again (but actually)! Making our way down what we lovingly dubbed the 'Namche Hill' on the way up, we encountered way more yaks and porters than last week...due to the Saturday market tomorrow, that some of us are sad to be missing! What goes down must come up....after a quick stop in Phakding for some lunch, we started back up our final hill to Lukla. Although the lower altitude certainly helped, after so much downhill the past few days I've got to say it was tough switching gears again! About two-thirds of the way up to Lukla, Lakpa's two adorable kids came and met us on the trail - what a wonderful surprise! Lakpa and his family then hosted us at their house for some tea once everyone caught their breath, which was another great surprise. After showers and some dinner, we said many many thanks and gave many hugs to our wonderful porters and Sherpas (see picture!). Our trip certainly wouldn't have been the same without their hard work, and I know that their smiling faces put me in a good mood each and every day. We were so lucky to have them! Everyone will be happy to know that a dance party just got started in Lukla! Hello and I love you to all my friends and family (Daddy, Dana, Haley, Scott & Bandit - Mommy is up on the dance floor. Uh oh!). --Allie RMI Guide Casey Grom

On The Map

Hey everyone, this is JJ Justman with the Mexico Volcanoes climbing team. We are looking up at Ixta right now and the reason why is we are safely down from of successful summit of Ixta. The team did great today. Definitely a little tired but we had a beautiful day climbing to the top of Ixta. So wanted to give a shout out to all our family and friends. We're loading up the van and we're gonna have a little bit of R&R in Puebla for the next day and a half. Well deserved. But again, the team did absolutely outstanding. We'll touch base when we are in Puebla but everyone is safe and sound. Having some cokes and gonna get some fresh quesadillas on the way. But hope everyone's doing well back at home and we will talk with all of you very soon. Ciao from Mexico. RMI Guide JJ Justman

On The Map

Down in the low lands, below 15,000 feet. Bushes abound! Not as low as tree line but I will take it. We were having too much fun up at Everest Base Camp and left a little bit late. Eight hours later here we are in Dingboche. We changed our location for the night based upon information that our lodge in Pheriche was booked full. Not a bad option since we were able to take the high route into here and will not need to climb a small hill in the morning from Pheriche. Our teahouse here in Dingboche is on the way to Island Peak. Light snow showers started as we left Everest Base Camp and continued throughout the day. We were able to get John on the Khumbu Country Club for one par three hole. I hit a five iron spot on for a hole-in-one on this beautiful par three right out of camp. John ended up with a par, not bad. Short day tomorrow but lots of prep work when we get in to our last teahouse before tent time. All is well. RMI Guide Mark Tucker

RMI Guides Dustin Wittmier and Dominic Cifelli led their Four Day teams May 15 - 18, on an early alpine start from Camp Muir this morning.  Unfortunately, high winds forced the teams to turn around at 10,600 feet. Everyone returned safely to Camp Muir. They plan to begin their descent at 9:30 a.m. PT and are expected to arrive back at Rainier BaseCamp in Ashford by early afternoon.

Sunday, June 4, 2023 - 11:33 am PT

Well, Denali didn't disappoint, nor did it ever relent, but we've wrapped up a safe and successful expedition. Stormy weather bookended our trip, delaying flights both onto and off of the glacier. Not to be outdone, we endured snowy and windy weather throughout the trip, taking advantage of the sunny days in between to climb and get into position for a calm and warm (albeit cloudy with no views) summit day. 

Our team was elated to see K2 Aviation's de Havilland Otters approaching Basecamp to pick us up. As excited as we were to get to town, there's always a little sadness watching the beauty of the Alaska Range, our home for the past twenty-three days, disappear underneath the wings of the ski plane. 

Thanks for following our adventure. Now we're off to climb in the Cascades!

RMI Guide Mike Walter and team