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Dobrye Veycher from Moscow! The RMI Mt. Elbrus Team arrived into Moscow throughout the day today, making the hour long drive from the airport to our hotel in the heart of the city, across the Moscow River from the Kremlin. With climbers coming in from all over the globe, it has been a long couple of days of traveling for the team and we had a mellow evening, finding dinner in a small restaurant down the street from the hotel. This far north, it is still daylight at 10:30pm as we turn in for the evening. We are excited to be here and looking forward to exploring Moscow tomorrow, visiting the city's most famous sites - from Red Square to St. Basil's Cathedral to the Kremlin. We will check in tomorrow after our city tour. RMI Guide Linden Mallory

Hello! I finally get another chance to get a word or two in. Today was a rest day and we tried to do just that. . . rest as much as we could. We did a short hike in the morning that took us to the ridge line above us. There we could see three of the 8,000 meter peaks: Makalu, Cho Oyo, and Lotse. We also saw our first glimpse of Island Peak. It looks very steep, high, and cold. Our hike took us to 14,500ft, which is higher than any peak in the continental United States. So, it was an exciting moment for us. Later in the day we attended an information session presented by the Himalayan rescue association on the effects of altitude on the body. Besides learning about AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness), HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema) and HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema), we learned about HAFE (High Altitude Flatulence Expulsion). The latter one is very real to us as John has been suffering from it for days. Actually, I have been doing the suffering since I have been walking behind him on the trail. John claims the food is to blame for his HAFE. So, I will share a bit about our eating experiences thus far. The tea-houses offer a similar menu for the most part. For lunch or dinner, the typical choices are some sort of rice (fried, steamed, or curry), some sort of noodles ( fried or with a tomato sauce), some sort of potatoes (boiled or fried), soup, or dal baht. Dal baht is a Nepalese meal of rice and a sort of lentil soup that is poured over the rice. It appears that the Sherpas traveling with us eat dal baht at every meal. Occasionally, the tea-house will have chicken. When that is the case, we order a special treat called chicken chile. It is a spicy chicken dish that is delicious. All of the food is very good, but the menu lacks diversity. The dessert is especially interesting and I have come to like it very much. They offer Snickers or Mars pie, which is just a deep fried Snickers or Mars (Milky Way) candy bar. Sometimes they also have a deep-fried Bounty (Mounds), which is my favorite. Mmmm, delicious. --Kim P.S. A big shout-out to Mrs. Hartman's 3-5 classroom.

On The Map

Hi Everybody, This is Billy checking in for Dave and Seth and the rest of the crew. We are back at our high camp safe and sound after a spectacular summit day. We stood on top of Vinson Massif this afternoon and everyone is back in camp getting some rest after a nice big dinner. We will give you a call and check in after we head out to base camp tomorrow. Caio, RMI Guide Billy Nugent

We had a great sunny day today and we took advantage of it by carrying a cache of gear to approximately 16,700' on the West Buttress proper, just below a prominent rock called Washburn's Thumb. In order to get there we climbed up the head wall on the north side of camp and ascended approximately 800' of steep, 50 degree ice with the help of fixed ropes and mechanical ascenders. The views were phenomenal. And everyone did very well with their first experience on the fixed ropes. We were out for eight hours today (ascending, descending, digging a hole for our cache, and relaxing up high on the ridge), and everyone is a little tuckered out from the long day and high altitude. That's to be expected, though. We'll take at least a full rest day to recover. Now we're in position to wait for a good weather window to move to high camp and go for the summit. It looks like the next few days will be pretty windy up high, so we'll be in a holding pattern until the weather improves. In the meantime we will be resting, eating, and mentally preparing for the strenuous climbing ahead of us. Also, I spoke with RMI Guide Billy Nugent via radio tonight. Apparently they are having technical difficulties and are unable to send email dispatches (their sat phone still works for communication though). They are camped at 9600' and doing well. They plan to move to to Camp 3 (11,200') tomorrow. RMI Guide Mike Walter

Monday, May 24, 2021 - 11:13 pm PT

We made it in to base camp last night. We landed at our new home in the Alaska range around 7pm and got to work building camp. It took us about two hours to get settled in, and then we had a late dinner consisting of Talkeetna’s finest Mountain High Pizza Pie. It’s hardly ever a bad call to fly on to the glacier with four large pizzas.

This morning we had a leisurely start, waiting until the sun hit our tents around 8am. We drank some coffee and ate some toasty bagels, and then we got to work. Today was a skills focused day. We worked on footwork, rope travel, knots, and anchors. We didn’t venture too far out of camp, but we did do a little tour of the new neighborhood. Along the way we scoped out some crevasses that should work nicely for practicing rescue in the next few days.

We’re turning in now, tomorrow we’re going to get up a little earlier and put our newly practiced skills to use on a smaller climb close to camp. We’ll let you know how it goes.

RMI Guides JM Gorum

After two days of rest at 16,400 feet we woke up this morning to strong winds. So strong in fact we had to do some midnight tent repairs. We saddled up our packs and leaned into the wind. The team is now at Camp 2 settled in their tents at 18000 feet. Everyone is great and we are happy for a new view overlooking the Andes. Unfortunately, one of our climbers wasn't feeling well at Camp 1 and had to descend. He returned to Mendoza and has been checked out by local doctors. We are glad to hear from him this morning that he has been released to fly home. We hope to see him in the mountains again soon. RMI Guide JJ Justman and Team

On The Map

Hello, this is Jake with the RMI Mexico team. Everybody made up to high camp today doing well and climbing in good style. We have now set up camp, hung out, relaxed for a little bit and we're doing a little snow school review with Dan and Fernando before dinner. So all is well up here and we will be checking in tomorrow. Wish us luck. If this weather holds, then we're gonna go for the top tonight so we'll be checking in hopefully from up there. Alright. Bye. RMI Guide Jake Beren

On The Map

Hello everybody back home. This is Casey Grom checking in from the Ecuador’s Volcanoes Expedition. Just letting you know that everyone doing quite well up here at the hut at Cayambe. We woke up to a beautifully clear morning and were able to see most of the volcano through the valley here. We had a nice leisurely breakfast then we hiked for just over an hour to access the lower part of the glacier here on Cayambe. We reviewed some of our climbing techniques that we will need for tomorrow’s upcoming summit climb. Everyone seems to be doing great. We made it back to the hut. We just finished up a nice lunch. Folks are taking some naps. Looking forward to an early dinner tonight and getting a most likely midnight start for our summit time tomorrow. We will do our best to call from the summit to let everybody know how things are going. At very least we will call tomorrow when we return from our hopefully successful climb. Once again, everyone is doing great and we will check in tomorrow. Thanks. RMI Guide Casey Grom

Hi! Hello!

After early (too early, some may say) alarms, we loaded our bags on the van and left the comforts of Cusco behind. We drove on winding mountain roads as the sun came up behind us and after nearly four hours, we made it to Sorayampampa. We met our Peruvian guides - Carlos & Elbin, as well as our chef, cooks and the mule wranglers. The team that makes it possible for us to have this experience!

After getting everything packed up, we officially started on the Salkantay trail. Up the valley we went, with the 20,000+ foot Salkantay peak towering above us.It feels so good to finally be on the trail - we just finished a delicious dinner and even though it’s 7:30pm, we’re all tucked in our tents and sleeping bags. 

It’s the highest and coldest place we’ll sleep on this whole trip but everyone is doing great.

RMI Guide Jess Wedel and the Salkantay team

PC: Jess Wedel

Sunday, July 2, 2023

While it hasn’t been unlike Denali to act up at inopportune times. Today was a low blow. We descended from High Camp today under mostly clear skies and on top of tired legs. We were awarded new views from the West Buttress that were previously shrouded and the team descended fast and well.

At 14,000' Camp we took a good break and then kept the train going. Clouds were billowing, wind was picking up, and snow was falling as we passed Windy Corner, which once again held true to its name. A storm was coming. We’re in that storm right now, hoping for it to abate and to get off the mountain we’ve called home for the past 19 days.

We’re hopeful, but not too optimistic we’ll be able to walk to the airstrip tomorrow.

Wish us luck. 

RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli