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Thunder, lightning and white-out conditions kept the Four Day Summit Climb from reaching the summit of Mt. Rainier today. The team was able to reach an elevation of 12,700’ before making a decision to turn around and head for better conditions lower on the mountain. RMI Guide Eric Frank and the Five Day Summit Climb Team will spend the day at Camp Muir acclimatizing before making their summit attempt tonight.

We are checking in from our descent back to Base camp. We stayed at 11,000' last night and are currently making our way to 7,800'. K2 Aviation has two planes scheduled to pick us up from the airstrip tomorrow morning. Let's hope the weather holds! RMI Guide Mike Haugen

The thick air of Elbrus Base Camp, the same air that felt so thin a mere 8 days ago, put us into a deep slumber. With a casual breakfast in the morning we gradually packed all of our gear in preparation for the van rides out of the mountains. By midmorning we were snuggly sitting in the back of our vehicle - a Russian interpretation of a '60s VW van with 4 wheel drive. Although lacking in certain onboard amenities (cup holders, anyone?), the vehicle performed its task of getting us out of the Caucasus admirably. We returned to Kislovodsk around 4 in the afternoon and immediately jumped into the hot showers. Emerging clean and sporting a new change of clothes, we headed to dinner at a nearby cafe, mystifying the waitress with multiple orders of appetizers and entrees per person. But she rose to the challenge and brought a fantastic meal to the table, all the more enjoyable due to the 8 days on the mountain. Tomorrow we will remain in Kislovodsk, exploring the city and relaxing a bit. We are hoping to visit some of its renowned mineral baths in the afternoon before repacking all of our gear for Thursday's flight to St. Petersburg.

Hello again everyone. Just one more day to go before we reach our goal of Basecamp! Today we arrived in Gorak Shep, the original Base camp that early expeditions used. Being that this is the last stop before the normal BC it is rather small, only about 4 tea houses here. Originally we were planning on climbing Kala Patar this evening, but due to reoccurring stomach issues and clouds rolling in we have opted for a morning ascent. The standard weather is clear in the morning and clouds in the afternoons, so hopefully it will continue to be the same. Just so everyone back home knows, I have spoken to a few doctors about the issues (just mainly upset stomachs) and they have informed us that there have been many trekkers with similar symptoms this season. Everyone is still smiling, just not all day long. We are looking forward to Base Camp! RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

On The Map

Lucky us! We had a near windless evening to celebrate the coming New Year. New Year's Day found us resolving to make it to Camp 3 in good style and we certainly did. We are slowly finishing up camp building in this rarified air and plan to rest for the remainder of the afternoon. If this weather holds for another day, we will have a great chance of making the summit mañana. Wish us some buenas suerte amigos. RMI Guide Jake Beren

On The Map

These are busy days at basecamp. The trail into camp is still quite full with trekkers, porters and yak trains. Most, although not all, climbers have now reached base, and the Puja poles with their colorful webs of prayer flags now form an intersecting canopy over the entire area. Each morning, teams of Sherpas are heading up into the Icefall carrying loads and a few teams have their members sleeping up at Camps 1 and 2 already. I'm not in a big hurry to get through the Icefall with Erica just yet. The route, although complete when I checked it out the other day, could still stand to be tracked in and improved somewhat. And I'd just as soon have my seventeen-year-old client as ready as possible when we go through to Camp 1 for the first time. So our plan has been to keep training and acclimating ... which, it turns out, is not a bad way to pass the time in this place. Yesterday, while half-a-dozen of the team made the early start and tagged C1, Erica and I got a full night's sleep, ate a fine breakfast, and then set out for a good day of walking. We made our way down to Gorak Shep, banged a right turn up into the hills, and began to climb Kalapathar. The weather was perfect throughout most of the day and our views were unlimited and improving as we climbed. We could look back to the peaks that had lined our path on the trek in, with Thamserku, Kangtega, and Ama Dablam in the distance. Tawoche, Cholatse, Nuptse and Pumori were big and beautiful a little closer in. To the east, Lingtren, Changtse and a big, dark, high pyramid by the name of Everest were stunning. From the top, Erica and I could see the South Col and part of the Lhotse Face. I was surprised when a Slovenian climber near Kalapathar's summit recognized me from the time in 1997 when we were alongside one another on Vinson in Antarctica. But such meetings are not uncommon here. We cruised on down to Gorak Shep for a drink and a rest at the outdoor tables, chatting with trekkers while watching a few soaring birds. We rallied for the hike back up to basecamp and compared notes there with Ed Viesturs, who'd gone for the same circuit a bit earlier in the day. Today was generally a good rest day in basecamp, which means meetings for those of us who endeavor to figure out schedules and strategies and future meeting possibilities. Erica and I did bust out of camp for a fine walk in the lower glacier before lunch. I love getting out there to explore ... note that I normally refer to walking "in" the glacier near basecamp, whereas anywhere else in the world it would be normal to talk about climbing "on" a glacier. In this particular section of the Khumbu, which is devoid of snow cover, one walks up and down hidden gullies and waterways in the ice. I like to get out to easier walking on a medial moraine of rock and then to find a new way home through the ice with a different gully each time. This time I was able to show Erica a few old logs that had been used for crevasse bridges in the days before ladders. These, of course, had originally been placed up in the Icefall and had been carried down with the passage of decades. Even so, the logs still clearly bore the crampon scars of whichever famous climbers had scrambled across them. After lunch, our camp was quiet with napping and a few board games. I joined Peter Whittaker, Jeff Martin and Linden Mallory for a short walk to Damian Benegas' camp, where an initial team-leader meeting had been called for. There was plenty of handshaking and backslapping among those gathered. All of the usual suspects of South Side Everest climbing, plus the former North Siders who've all given up on the Chinese restrictions on entrance to Tibet-The big players-IMG and HimEx, Adventure Consultants and Jagged Globe were there, along with Croatians, Russians, Kazakhs, Koreans, Irish, Spanish, Swiss and Canadians. Willie and Damian Benegas went over the group business with input from those assembled. We tried to figure out radio frequency overlaps and attempted to pool resources for rescues and rope fixing. The gang agreed to meet tomorrow to build a helipad to the west of camp. I helped myself to popcorn and pimento-stuffed green olives from the Benegas table while the big business was conducted and the hors d'oeuvres were sadly being overlooked. The olives were tasty and the meeting therefore a great and friendly success.

People always ask me what the hardest part of an Everest expedition is. I only have one Everest expedition behind me, but I suppose that is all it takes to know what is hard and what is not. Surprisingly, it isn't summit day and it isn't the Khumbu ice fall. For me, the hardest part is rest days. Writing that feels a little strange, as resting is something good, restorative and needed, but it is really hard indeed. I am the type of person that enjoys movement, enjoys physical challenge and the constant change that traveling provides. To that end, being asked to rest for roughly 1/3 of the expedition is no easy task. I feel like I have been moving forward constantly since I was a kid, and now slowing down to let my physiology catch up with my mind is a challenge for me. How do I accomplish the task of resting? Reading is a good start, but I cannot read anything related to adventure, otherwise my feet start to twitch and I feel the need to go for a walk. Card games are a good way to rest, they bring laughter and allow your mind to engage, while your body is absorbing the much needed down time. Perhaps the best way to rest is to eat. At the start of one of our many rest days, I look to the teahouse menu. I think about how many meals I can eat today, and if there is anything new that I would like to try. By midday I have rested my way through boiled eggs, tibetan bread, cornflakes, chicken momos, popcorn, fried potatoes, chicken soup, pasta, and if I am feeling really bold...a yak steak. I know, it sounds like it wouldn't be so hard to sit and read, laugh with friends and eat, but the truth is, that is why I climb...because it IS hard to do the other stuff. When you are moving on a trail, and breathing hard and feeling all the blood move through your body, well, for me that is the easy part. Making dinner after a hard day climbing, a day that starts before dawn, that is restorative in its own way. Maybe it is an illness, feeling more rested after a hard day of climbing three thousand feet than a day lounging in the sunshine and enjoying tea. I suspect it is really good to experience days that just force me to slow down and look around. These days are good for letting me think about the days behind us and renew the excitement for the many days that are still ahead of us. So today, I will practice my resting. I will go walk around the small, but busy, village of Namche and look over at the people who seem to be resting easily, perhaps I will even stop and inquire how they do it. For now though, I have another order of eggs to dig into and a small sunny spot to go sit in.

Thursday, June 13, 2013 We are all safely nestled in our tents just off the landing strip at basecamp. We had a magnificent flight from Talkeetna to basecamp at the flanks of Denali. The weather on the glacier is as warm as I have ever seen it. For this reason, we are not traveling today and instead used the warm weather during the day to organize our backpacks and sled loads. We worked on some crevasse rescue techniques as we are about to head out onto the Kahiltna Glacier; a glacier filled with giant cracks in the ice. We are going to travel up glacier tonight so we can travel on firm snow and solid snow bridges. Wish us a solid freeze! RMI Summit Team 6 - RMI Guides Mike Haugen, Mike Uchal, Katie Bono & the team

On The Map

Hey RMI, this is Walter Hailes calling from 17,200’ on Mt. McKinley. We made our move today from 14,000' to our high camp at 17,000'. We are all safe and sound up here. It's a beautiful day, warm temperatures, sunshine and light wind. This nice weather is not expected to stay around so we'll see what it looks like in the morning but we may be making our summit attempt soon. Stay tuned and hope for good weather! RMI Guide Walter Hailes

The winds continued to blow through high camp last night, not breaking until early morning. With the winds gradually dying down we got up at 6:00 to make our summit push. Leaving camp we still were experiencing sporadic gusts but they were becoming less frequent and weakening. From our high camp we started a long gradual traverse on the glacier, cutting below the East Summit and eventually gaining the saddle between Elbrus' twin summits. The days of wind had scoured the slopes, leaving a firm surface of snow that made for smooth sailing - we rarely encountered drifts of new snow to break trail through and we made excellent time. By midday we reached the Saddle at ~17,500'. The winds were stronger here as they were funneled between the two peaks so we took only a short break before tackling the final push up the steeper slopes to the Western Summit. About halfway up the slope we joined the main route from the South Side, falling into stride on the substantial trail kicked in by the climbers coming from that side. The Western Summit is a broad plateau with the high point on the far side from where we gain it. When we reached the plateau the winds really picked up, making the final steps to the summit especially tough. But by 1:00pm the entire group stood on the summit of Mt. Elbrus, the highest point in Europe. Below us Russia stretched out to the north while to the south the jagged peaks of the Caucasus marked the border with Georgia. We spent just about ten minutes on the summit, snapping photos and exchanging high fives before the winds chased us away. We later estimated the wind chill to be about -15F up there. Needless to say, it was cold. We turned our sights back towards camp, making a quick descent off of the summit. We stopped at about 15,800' on our descent at a little plateau amongst the rocks where about two weeks ago a Russian military helicopter crashed trying to land during a training routine. It was bizzare to stand next to this hulking mass of metal, electronics, and hydraulics all twisted and lying on its side in such an environment of rock, ice, and snow. Back at high camp we took a short break before packing our gear and continuing our descent to Camp 1 where we are more protected and conditions are far more hospitable. It has been a long but exciting day. We are all tired and ready for a good night's sleep, but still energized by our climb today. After such an unstable weather pattern we feel very lucky to have made the summit - thanks to everyone who kept their fingers crossed for us! Tomorrow we will descend back to Base Camp and are hoping to check out some of the nearby hot springs.