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Namaste everyone,

We are still bopping along here in the Khumbu. The team left Pheriche at 8am in beautifully clear skies and made our way back down valley to the lovely, humid and what felt like warm Namche bazaar.

It was a lot of downhill, uphill, downhill, uphill and even a little side hilling to get here. But the team was rewarded with hot showers and dinner at the best restaurant in town, called Eat Smart!

Full bellies and tired legs have us all headed to bed early.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

Hello everyone back home. All is well here in the Khumbu! After so much time together bonding the team has decided to stick together and finish this trek the same way we started, together. Island Peak will have to wait till next time! We left Pheriche and hiked downhill passing what seemed like a endless line of trekkers, climbers, porters, and yaks loaded with gear for Everest. It was a beautiful but long day, and we have arrived in Namche after eight hours on our feet. Clear weather allowed us more amazing views and the chance for one more view of Everest before descending down to camp. The warm thicker air feels great and the team has just finished a nice dinner at our tea house "Camp De Base". Tonight we are having the world championship of cribbage! RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

On The Map

Today we enjoyed the luxury of waking to the sun on the tents, avoiding the early morning cold. Once up and fed, we took a fantastic walk to THE EDGE OF THE WORLD. Perfect views of the lower Kahiltna Glacier 7,000 feet below our perch and we all took turns peeking over the edge and snapping a few photos. Don't worry friends and family, we were on belay the whole time. For the afternoon we rested and welcomed the RMI 4 team after their stylish send on Denali yesterday. Nice job everyone! Then it was back to work, setting up a fixed line practice and trying as many variations as possible to prepare for the cache tomorrow. Now it's dinner time, catch y'all tomorrow. RMI Guide Jake Beren

On The Map

The Mt. Shuksan - Sulphide Glacier August 2 - 5 team reached the summit of Mt. Shuksan today led by RMI Guides Hannah Smith, Henry Coppolillo and Seth Burns.

Hannah reported that the team was having a great day on the mountain with very few climbers on the route and fairly clear skies.  The team will return to camp for their final night on the mountain and walk out to the trailhead tomorrow to conclude their programs.

Congratulations to today's climbers!

Summit! The Five Day Summit Climb led by Pete Van Deventer and the Four Day Summit Climb led by Brent Okita reached the top of Mt. Rainier early this morning. At 6:40 a.m. Brent radioed Camp Muir to say they were descending out of the summit crater. He reported great weather for the climb. We look forward to congratulating them in Ashford this afternoon!

Another early start and another straightforward move up in perfect conditions. We got up at 3 AM and ate breakfast in the cool shadows blanketing our 7800 ft camp. On our second day of climbing, it was already becoming routine to knock down the tents and get packs and sleds squared away for travel. We were roped up and moving up Ski Hill by 5:45. The hills were big and the loads were as well, but we slowed the pace and worked our way up. Again, we found the surface frozen hard and easy for sledding and walking without sinking in. Distances weren't terribly significant and it only took us three and a half hours to reach the top of the hills at around 9500 ft. We built a camp and dove into the tents just as the sun started heating the giant reflector oven of the upper Kahiltna Glacier. Afternoon was spent in slumber, or in reading, or in watching iPod movies, or in snacking and drinking water. Some did it all. We sat in our "POSH" dining tent chatting for a few hours at dinner. At 8 PM we tuned in our radio to catch the mountain specific weather forecast (which calls for a little bit of snow at our elevation tonight). Far more entertaining was our conversation with the other RMI teams on the mountain. We were excited for Mike Walter's summit and safe return to high camp and to hear that Adam Knoff and his gang are good to go for moving to 17,000 ft tomorrow. If our good luck holds, we'll cruise on up to 11,000 ft tomorrow with our strong and steady team. Best Regards RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

Everyone (and their baggage) arrived on time in Anchorage yesterday, and we headed north to the small town of Talkeetna. We had a relaxing evening, eating dinner as a group at the famous West Rib Pub, talking about the trip, and getting to know each other. This morning we met at the the Talkeetna Roadhouse for a group breakfast to formalize our plans for packing and preparing for our upcoming expedition. Talkeetna is a small and unique town; situated on the south side of Denali National Park, it is the staging point for hundreds of climbers who venture into the Alaska Range. Town is still sleepy this time of year, just coming out of its winter hibernation; the streets are quiet, few airplanes are in the air, and patches of snow are still in the yards. When we return in a few weeks, Talkeetna will be in full swing; tourists and climbers will be walking through the streets, the air will be filled with the buzz of single engine aircraft (and mosquitoes), and all of the trees and lawns will be green. Most of the day today was spent at the hangar of our bush pilots, K2 Aviation, packing our gear and going over all of our equipment. While we all have spent months planning this trip, today was still a very busy day making sure we had the right gear for the trip, inspecting our tents and stoves, and double and triple checking everything. We also met with a National Park Service climbing ranger for a formal orientation to Denali, which included a slide show of our climbing route. We plan to fly into Kahiltna Base Camp tomorrow (weather permitting) to start our adventure. We will be in touch with detailed dispatches throughout the trip. Everyone says hello to our friends and loved ones back home. Here’s to a safe and successful trip! RMI Guide Mike Walter

It was a beautiful night at Camp 1 last night, without a light for miles the stars were simply stunning, covering the dark sky so thoroughly the whole expanse seemed to glow. Beneath it all, we slept soundly - tired from the day of climbing. When we awoke we had a leisurely breakfast, enjoying the morning sun and watching the clouds form, dissolve, and reform on the summit far above. Despite the pleasant weather at Camp 1, the weather up high looked unsettled again with clouds racing over the summit. We commented again on how fortunate we were to sneak in a successful summit. Packing up all of our gear, we shouldered hefty packs and began our descent to Base Camp. It took a few minutes to get the legs loosened up but once we navigated back down through the scree and boulder fields we were again moving well. Taking a slightly more easterly trail on the descent from that which we came up, we visited a series of rock formations known as the Mushroom Rocks - towers of eroded rocks sporting broad flat tops, very reminiscent of landscapes found in the American West. Continuing on, we rejoined our original trail and descended back into a carpet of green and yellow as the alpine grasses and small shrubs are turning colors with the approach of fall. At last, with tired feet we arrived at Base Camp, happy to drop the packs. Several of the Russian soldiers, temporarily stationed here since the helicopter crash up on the mountain, came over to congratulate us and convinced a few of the more courageous team members to take a dunk with them in the springs next to camp, which they informed us bubbles up at a scalding 2 degrees Celsius (~36F). We are planning to return to Kislovodsk tomorrow, a day earlier than anticipated, to seek out some hot showers, clean clothes, and fresh food. Although the climb of Elbrus is behind us, a long journey still awaits us as we make our way back out of the Caucasus and to St. Petersburg on the shores of the Gulf of Finland. We are eager to set off on the next leg of our adventure.

100% of our team reached the summit of Ixtaccihuatl this morning!

Everyone’s training and perseverance paid off. Not everyday do the mountains provide us with the right conditions but today the mountain granted us safe passage to the summit and back. 

Not only were we able to climb, our early start was rewarded with a beautiful sunrise and clear views of a magnificent Popocatépetl erupting just across from us. 

After a long day of climbing we travel to Puebla for showers, a comfortable bed, and of course, mole.

RMI Guide Abby Westling

After so many days of preparation and travel and anticipation, what a thrill it was to finally be walking uphill.  We left our comfortable hotel at 8 AM in a bus headed east.  We’d reached the Kilimanjaro National Park entrance by 10 AM and after a further hour of getting organized and registered with the park, we were off.  It was raining lightly when we left our hotel, but it was merely cloudy and damp when we got walking through the big trees at the start of the Machame route. Moss was thriving and hanging from every branch and tree trunk and the trail was a little greasy under foot.  Before long, we were steadily gaining altitude.  The bus had taken us to 6000 ft and our goal for the day, Machame Camp, sat at 10,000 ft, so it was always going to be a tough workout.  It was certainly tougher for our staff as they raced uphill with far heavier loads than we were carrying.  We took short breaks every 90 minutes or so in order to eat and drink and by a little after 4 PM, the trees were getting smaller, the clouds were thinning and magically, our camp appeared… right where we’d hoped to find it.   The crew had built us a wonderful home and we simply needed to move in.  We sat in our dining tent for an afternoon snack and then, just before dinner, the clouds cleared enough to give our first magical views of Kibo -Kilimanjaro’s central peak- shining in the last rays of the sun nine thousand feet above us.   Dinner was excellent and by 8 PM we were crawling into our tents and heading for bed… pleasantly tired and ready for a night with perhaps a little less jet lag. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team