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Good things come to those who wait. At 20 minutes to midnight yesterday, with the Southern Cross shining down on Punta Arenas, we left the continent. We were shoehorned into the cavernous cargo compartment of the Ilyushin 76 airplane, along with about fifty other passengers, a pickup truck and a mountain of gear and supplies. The flight took about four and a half hours and was almost completely lacking in any noticeable turbulence. We passed time by reading, listening to music and simply snoozing. With about thirty minutes to go, everybody began layering up, tying boots, and pulling on hats and face masks. With perhaps 15 minutes to go, the flight crew turned on a new feature, a big screen TV with the outside view from the nose of the plane. It was absolutely spectacular, like a clip from "Frozen Planet" or "Planet Earth". Surreal beauty, until we felt the wheels under our seats touching the ice surface in the picture. Then it became real as the engines roared to slow the plane. After the perfect landing, we marched out into the middle of Antarctica. After some photo-ops and handshakes, we shuffled over to a warming hut and then into a modified van for a ride across the glacier on giant tires. It wasn't to be as far as getting straight out to Vinson Basecamp. Weather there wasn't suitable for a Twin-Otter flight, so after an early morning welcome meal, we built our tents and crashed for a few hours. The weather slowly deteriorated during the day, with cloud building up and light snow falling. That didn't stop us from spending a few hours out in late afternoon to review rope techniques. We rounded out the first day with an excellent dinner and an evening spent chatting with various adventurers on exotic missions on ice. Best Regards RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

Tuesday, May 30, 2023 - 8:26 am PT

We finally got everything to come together. It was calm and quiet in the morning and we got out of camp early, ahead of everyone else. The Autobahn had filled in and took some work and time to put a track in, across to Denali Pass. It was shady and cold, but the team worked well. At Denali Pass, we stepped into the sun and also a touch of wind - just a light breeze. It kept things cold and we continued to work up. At points we would lose the wind and it would suddenly turn so hot, then back to cold. We played that game to the Football Field, and then up the summit ridge. By midafternoon we were standing on the summit of Denali! The summit was pretty warm and we got some photos before turning against traffic and the rest of the mountain. We retraced our steps to camp and fell into bed, happy to have the first part of the mission accomplished. Now we will set our sights lower on getting to thicker air and the airstrip.

Congrats to all the climbers!

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer

Summit! Today we had a wonderful albeit long day climbing to the summit of Kilimanjaro. The team woke at 11pm as we planned to thankfully clear skies after a cloudy evening that had us wondering the lay ahead. We had a quick breakfast of porridge, tea and coffee before hitting the trail at 12am. We climbed in hour increments with 10-15 breaks in between, which we've been doing every day thus far. The weather was really nice, although it was a little cold which kept us bundled up for most of the day. It was one of the busiest days I’ve seen on Kili with more than 200 climbers, but the team timed everything just right and took great care of themselves. The climb took about 7hrs to reach the top, and thankfully the sun had risen shortly before to help warm us and boost morale after climbing through the night. Once there, we hugged each other, enjoyed the view and took plenty of pictures of the sign that adorns the “Roof of Africa”. It was a true test of endurance for most of the crew, and I'm really proud of everyone. We safely descended back to high camp, had a quick lunch, repacked and continued further down the mountain to our final camp on the mountain, where we are about to have dinner and then head to bed for some well deserved sleep. Everyone is really looking forward to hot showers tomorrow to say the least. RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili summit crew

On The Map

The Mount Rainier Four Day and Five Day Summit Climbs, led by Seth Waterfall and Casey Grom, reached the summit this morning with clear skies, warm temperaturess and winds ranging from 5-20 mph. Both teams began their descent from the crater rim at 7:15 a.m. Congratulations to today's climbers! RMI Guides Seth Waterfall and Casey Grom

Hi RMI family. Our Kilimanjaro team has landed in Tanzania. It is always a long day flying so we have settled into our luxurious hotel. On the agenda is having a great meal, resting and relaxing. Stay tuned for more... RMI Guide JJ Justman

RMI Guide JJ Justman and 100% of his Mt. Elbrus team reached the summit this morning! Everyone is back, safe and sound, at the Garabashi Hut. The team sent a video as well as a photo from their successful summit.

On The Map

Hello everyone, this is Team Mexico. JJ Justman and Adam Knoff as guides. We are at high camp on the mountain of Ixtaccihuatl. This is our first real mountaineering challenge of the trip and we are sitting comfortably at 14,500 feet. We are taking a different route than the normal route that other teams generally take because the mountain this year is so dry. We have a great view of the upper mountain from where we are sitting and have a new route picked out that keeps us on ridge lines to keep us safe from rockfalls. We're very excited for tomorrow's summit bid and will keep you posted on how that all unfolds. Stay tuned for more action tomorrow. Hasta manana. RMI Guide Adam Knoff

On The Map

Hey there, it's, Billy calling just wanted to give you guys an update and let you know where the crew is. After our summit day we descended from 17 down to the 14 camp and ended up spending the night there. Then got an early this morning and made the march all the way to base camp. Right now, everybody is sitting pretty at Kahiltna base. We have set up the tents. It is kind of socked in and cloudy so we are just hoping for planes at some point tomorrow morning. Forecast is kind of iffy so,we’ll see. We may be sitting here for a couple of days. But everyone is down safe and sound. So, will call and check in again one more time when we get back to town and off the mountain. RMI Guide Billy Nugent

Yesterday we had a lovely day resting at Plaza Argentina and catching up on some sleep, sorting gear and generally preparing to go higher on the mountain. Though "resting," we were doing the work of building a solid base of acclimatization for later in the expedition. Without giving our bodies a chance to recover, we would seriously hinder our shot at the upper mountain. Today, well rested, we will carry a load up to Camp 1 at over 16,000 feet to prepare for our tenure higher up. Hasta la vista everyone. RMI Guide Jake Beren

On The Map

When we woke early this morning we weren't sure what the day had in store for us. The cloud deck dropped during breakfast and no one could really tell if it was raining or snowing. We returned to the tents to wait for a trend to emerge and in about an hour made the call to try to leave basecamp for higher pastures. We had perfect conditions to make our way to the base of Ski Hill and set up camp at the confluence of the Main and Northeast Forks of the Kahiltna Glaciers. As soon as camp was buffed out, it started to snow and we are enjoying a little siesta before dinner. If the weather is cooperative we will move higher tomorrow to get within striking distance of 11 Camp and the upper mountain. Hope all is well down South! RMI Guide Jake Beren

On The Map