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Hello, Our team arrived yesterday to Aconcagua Base Camp at 14,000' after three nice days on the trail. We spent today resting and acclimating for the upper mountain. After a delicious breakfast we checked in with the Basecamp Medical Staff and received a clean bill of health all the way around (everybody looks like rock stars). During the afternoon we worked on sorting the gear that we are going to carry to Camp 1 tomorrow. The weather was marvelous until 4 pm and since then it has been cloudy with a little bit of snow. The team wants to wish a very Happy Birthday to Chad Johnson! Cheers, RMI Aconcagua Team

On The Map

The Five Day Climb led by RMI Guides Robby Young and Avery Parrinello climbed the Ingraham Direct route and were able to reach 11,800' before high winds forced them to turn. The team spent two days at Camp Muir on this climb and will be descending later this morining. We expect them back at Rainier Basecamp to clelebrate this afternoon.  

Congratiulations to Today's Team!

The night in Phakding, with the river dependably charging past to form perfect "white noise", was conducive to deep sleep. This morning we ate a relaxed breakfast and hit the trail at 8:30 under a light overcast. Travel along the river, through more small farms and villages, was peaceful and easy. Crossing a few long suspension bridges we soon came to the entrance to Sagarmatha National Park, where Lam Babu submitted our permits. A short walk into the park took us to Jorsalle where we ate lunch at the final tea house in town. Then it was across the river again and onward to the Namche Hill where we rapidly gained altitude and shed a little sweat in the process. An hour's hard hiking brought us to the lower end of Namche Bazaar at just over 11,000 ft. We strolled the narrow "streets" -there are no cars- and made our way to Camp De Base, our home for the next three nights. The afternoon was spent shopping and exploring. We put on a bit more clothing against the cool evening air and met for a great dinner in the communal dining room. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

This is Craig Herd reporting in for the RMI Team on the Cotopaxi Climb. We are now at the hut on Cotopaxi at 16,000 feet. The weather is a balmy & cold. We just had an enjoyable dinner. The climbing team has come together very well. We're looking forward to an early morning start for our summit attempt. Everyone is in good spirits. We look forward to reporting in tomorrow. Thank you. RMI Team Member Craig Heard

The summit bid is getting close. This is how I know: 1. Dave, Linden and Tuck (aka Mark Tucker who is called everything but 'Mark') are constantly huddled around the latest weather report, which seem to come out every 2 to 3 hours. The weather forecast is murky (which is better than it being bad). What Dave, Linden and Tuck seem to know is that no big storm is on the horizon, but the jet stream seems to be on the move. The question is "when" the jet stream is going to move, and then how fast its going to move. We do not want any of our team high on the mountain when the jet stream is over us. We know its going to be cold up there, but what we want to work hard to avoid is high winds. Here is the understatement of the year: the level of difficulty in predicting the weather at 29,000 feet is quite high. 2. Lots of other climbing teams are comparing notes on when to start their bid. It seems that other teams have different forecasts and information, but the conclusions seem to be the same: even the people making the forecasts don't have a high degree of confidence in them, and that the forecasts are uncertain. 3. Our entire climbing team of 7 people seem to be fully rested and well (not sick). This means that they have been down long enough to have their full strength and are ready to start climbing when it is determined that its time to go. I keep bugging Sara to "eat more" and "drink more" to build up her strength but she 1) knows what to do, and 2) is tired of listening to me. Everyone on the team has lost their baby fat, some even a touch of their adult fat, on this trip, but we have to keep trying to eat as much as possible to keep our strength. 4. Our Sherpa team has done a phenomenal job of strategically positioning gear on the mountain. We have tents positioned at Camps 1, 2, 3 and 4 (although the Camp 2 tents are the only ones 'up' - the rest are in bags - due to the ever present threats of high winds), and our oxygen bottles and gear are at Camps 3 and 4. We have other gear (food, safety equipment, etc.) at different camps throughout the mountain. It really has been a herculean task to get things positioned. 5. Today we are taking showers. We always take showers close to the day of departure. 6. Sara is trying to get a massive amount of history homework done. Sara always tries to get a lot of work done prior to a week long climb. It is like cramming before a test I guess. She is massively reading (and highlighting) a text book on the Byzantine Empire (Sara occasionally reads something to our group about the era at dinner, and we all pretend that we know what she is talking about). 7. Our entire climbing team is charging all their cell phones an Ipods/Itouches. We always make sure we are a fully charged team as we start off. The Sherpa's focus is on charging their cell phones, which work at the higher camps for some reason, (the non-Sherpa's cell phone coverage doesn't work above base camp). Westerners have to use a service called Ncell, but locals are allowed to use a different cell phone provider that has better coverage up high. Its one of the mysteries of Everest in 2011. 8. Sara, Dave and Linden have all picked out food to eat at Camp 4 (at the South Col). While the team only hopes to stay one night at Camp 4 (at 26,000 feet), they are bringing enough food for up to 3 days (just in case). This food consists of a lot of freeze dried dinners (Mountain House Lasagna), candy bars, cup-o-soups, cheese sticks, etc. The group hopes to climb to Camp 4 one day and then leave for the summit in the middle of that same night, but if a storm pops up (or even high winds), they may stay at Camp 4 for longer. 9. I have picked out a "get fired up" movie for Sara to watch tonight: The Fighter. The movie (starring Mark Walhberg) is based upon a true story, and has several messages, one of which is what incredible sacrifice and determination it takes to be a champion. 10. The Calendar. It is May 16th. I know we are getting close for a try at the summit because we are getting close to the Monsoon showing up. And when the monsoons start, the mountain is closed for the season. 11. All of Everest BC is abuzz with groups getting ready for their summit bids, monitoring their teams on the mountain, or just leaving. Several camps are already gone, having accomplished (or not accomplished) whatever they set out to do. 12. The physicians here are incredibly busy. The HRA (The Himalayan Rescue Association) doctors are a group of physicians whose costs are covered by the various climbing groups to treat clients, guides, porters and Sherpas, They do an incredible job. Many patients are treated face to face, but other times the HRA docs are called upon to help treat climbers who are high on the mountain. They are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and are currently working (as I write this) at an incredible pace under tremendous pressure. 13. We are almost out of Coca Colas. When we started this trip Sara and I ordered 24 twelve ounce Coca Colas (for about $40) to have at Base Camp. We have been enjoying them, but self rationing them, since we arrived at base camp on April 6th. We are down to one Coca Cola. I think we are going to split it. 14. Our camp is melting. We live on the Khumbu glacier and our camp is noticeably melting every day. Our tent sites, which were originally flat, are now not, but we are living with it because, hey, the glacier may melt them flat again. Pools of water form in our camp daily and then freeze at night. The base to our Stupa is rapidly melting. We may have to do some construction work in the days ahead. 15. Avalanches are now so common we don't pay much attention to them. When we originally got to Basecamp we would rush out of our tents to see an avalanche coming off one of the many surrounding mountains. Avalanches are now so common (due to the warmer weather) that we no longer rush to view them, or even pay much attention to them, unless they are in the Khumbu Ice fall. Needless to say, the ice fall is an extremely scary place. So, in summary, this is how I know that our summit bid is getting close: food picking, charging, showers, homework, doctors busy, dwindling Coca Colas, etc.. I am both nervous and excited for Sara. I know how hard she has trained and worked for an attempt at the summit, but I also know how much luck is involved in actually summitting. I know she is very determined and "wants it" very badly, but I also how easily things could change to prevent a summit bid. Three years ago Sara and I tried to summit Mt. Elbrus and bad weather stopped our entire group. Then last year Sara and I went back to Elbrus and had a perfect weather day and made it to the top in about 6 hours of easy walking. Mountain climbing is a fickle business, and it can be extremely rewarding, and also extremely disappointing. I know that Sara is strong enough to climb this mountain, but one never knows if things will work out. So, that's it from Base Camp for today. Bill M.

Like we’ve said before, the weather hasn’t been in a good mood here in Alaska. Keeping with that trend, was the dramatic ending to our long and hard-fought expedition. As we resigned ourselves to sleeping yet another night on the glacier, we got the call that planes were in the air. 

Hopeful, salad eyed, and smelly we packed our stuff and waited for our return trip home. Then the rain started. As we stared down the southeast fork of the Kahiltna, we could only hear the buzz of the planes and the patter of the drops on our coats. Muttering “ cmon, cmon” as if to plead with Mother Nature to abate and let the clouds lift. We willed the weather to let up just enough for the pilots to pull off a landing and high tail it out of there. 

We slept in beds last night, took showers, and celebrated like it was going out of style. We can’t wait to see our friends and family soon. Thank you all for following along and cheers to another great, successful expedition on Denali. See you next year! 

RMI Guides Dominic Cifelli, Seth Burns, Dan May and Team

Hey, this is the Ecuador trip checking in. Today we had a much deserved and much needed rest day here at the Chilcabamba Lodge. We woke up this morning to glorious views of Cotopaxi and a magnificent breakfast. We ate wonderful food and drank lots of coffee. We spent the majority of the day resting, relaxing and drying out and organizing our gear for tomorrow’s departure to Cotopaxi. This afternoon we enjoyed more coffee and continued reviews of Cotopaxi and finished the day off with a wonderful dinner this evening. Everyone is doing well here in Ecuador and we are all looking forward to tomorrow’s adventures. We'll check in later. RMI Guide Jason Thompson

Hello to our friends and family!

We talked about this as a team yesterday before we went to bed “the possibility exists that we could make it to the top!” But if we knew for sure then my job (as a guide) would be so boring and mountains wouldn’t be that fun for anyone to climb.

You don’t come here because you know you are going to succeed. You come to the mountains because you are open to both - success and failure.

Today some of the team stood on the summit of this beautiful and brutal mountain and some of us turned around. But each one of us was pushed in a different way and most definitely beyond limits we had previously set for ourselves. We endured strong, cold winds from start to finish, learned something about ourselves along the way and are all safely back in our tents at campo 3. I’ll call that a successful day - summit or not.

After such a tough climb, most everyone is snoozing in their tents. Going to 22,841 feet really takes it out of you.

Jack and I will wake everyone up soon for their favorite meal ever, FREEZE DRY (hopefully the last one of this trip) and then we’ll all head straight back to bed to sleep better than we’ve ever slept at 19,600 feet.

Big, big winds are moving in so we’ll get an early start tomorrow on our descent to base camp.

I’m so proud of each person on this team and the courage they had to try something so hard.

RMI Guide Jess Wedel

The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guides Adam Knoff and Rob Montague reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The team spent about an hour on the summit before starting their descent back to Camp Muir. While on the summit, the team experienced a dense cloud cap, decreasing visibility to about 100ft. Summit winds were 20-30 mph and the temperature is warm. We look forward to seeing the teams at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon. Congratulations to today's Summit Climb Teams!

Cache and carry was the theme of the day; or more appropriately the reverse. We carried loads up Ski Hill to the Kahiltna pass and buried them in a cache, to be dug up on a later day. We did this to acclimate and make moving camp easier. The weather was hot, cold and windy; so typical for the mountains. We then loaded our sleds in our backpacks and looking like characters in a Mardi Gras parade tromped back down hill to some of Jack’s spicy Jambalaya. Check back tomorrow to see what  kind of adventure or mischief we get into - same time, same channel. -

RMI Climber Scott Coffey