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The RMI Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir led by Casey Grom and Elias de Andres Martos reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning with 100% of their team! The team reported great climbing conditions and clear skies. The are currently back at Camp Muir where they will spend another night on the mountain and complete their skills training before making their way back to Ashford Basecamp on Friday afternoon. Congratulations to Today's Team!

This is Dave Hahn calling from Mount Everest. We had a great day today. The team rigged up for glacier travel and we went out in the Khumbu Glacier close to base camp with our crampons and ice axes. We went exploring up and down pinnacles and ridges of ice and just had a good hike in the glacier for a couple hours today. A nice day in the morning. And then in the afternoon and evening, it got a little more cloudy and started to snow a little bit in the evening. Everybody is doing really well. Tomorrow we are hoping to go and work out on some ladders and some fixed ropes in the Icefall on the lower glacier. So a practice day tomorrow. All is well. All for now. RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Buenas Noches from Quito! Today was a great day by all accounts. We hit the trail early today, catching a ride to the teleferico for the first can up the mountain. A quick ride and we were perched well above Quito, looking down from 13,500 feet above the sea. As we readied ourselves for our hike, Cotopaxi even graced us with an appearance. Solid start to a day. Walking towards Rucu Pinchincha we spent a few hours ascending to 15,500 feet. The team did a fantastic job today, brushing up on some skills and generally impressing Ben and I. A great day of acclimatizing is never complete without a cup of coffee for the ride down to town, so we obliged happily. After an afternoon rest it was dinner time and we enjoyed our best meal so far, carbo loading like champs in fine style and waddling home to rest up for our trip to the Illinizas tomorrow. Off to a great start over here. RMI Guides Jake Beren & Ben Liken

On The Map

First, my condolences to both Green Bay and Seattle. For more uplifting news, the team moved to Camp Two at 18200 feet. As usual, everyone is feeling great. The sun is shining now, however, the clouds are moving in. I wouldn't doubt we get some more snow. Yesterday the mountain had a fresh blanket of snow, which made for beautiful climbing today. For now, we are all getting settled into our new home for the next couple of days. Stay tuned because we are literally a hop, skip and a jump from the summit. If we get the weather we will move to high camp in a few days! RMI Guide JJ Justman & Team

On The Map

There was a wind blowing in the night at high camp. It was just a few miles per hour, but it was steady and we'd been exceedingly lucky in not having any wind for four days up high, so it was a worry. But a needless worry, since by morning it was gone. We ate, we packed and by ten in the morning we were walking downhill with great big packs. Everybody was thinking about getting those big packs down the steep fixed ropes... the last real obstacle to our safety, but we caught those ropes and slopes in perfect condition. They were still in shadow and the tracks of teams that had descended several days earlier were still in perfect condition and useful as stairs. We made it to our old digs at low camp in just a few hours, packed and repacked there and then plodded down the Branscomb Glacier toward Basecamp. Cresting the final hill, we saw two Twin Otter airplanes sitting patiently and waiting to take us away. This was a pleasant surprise as we hadn't really discussed an exit strategy yet with ALE, our logistics company. At Basecamp by four in the afternoon, we shuffled duffels and boarded the planes. Some of us were treated to a magnificent scenic flight as the pilot performed a mountain reconnaissance for future climbs on our way back to Union Glacier. The Twin spiraled around one Matterhorn after another and dove through tight v-shaped passes. A smooth landing at Union got us in just in time for dinner. A wonderful dinner, whilst sitting in chairs, with backs. True luxury. We caught up with fellow climbers from the mountain (who we hadn't seen for days) and with the wonderful staff at ALE. Life is considerably warmer and easier at Union Glacier, and the team is excited about being a step closer to home, but we're all still buzzing over the mountain that we lived on for the last nine days. And climbed. Best Regards RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Paradise July 28 - 2 August led by RMI Guides Henry Coppolillo, Joey Manship and Will Ambler reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today.  The team met last Friday for their first day of training, equipment checks and orientation.  With full packs they ascended to their first camp on Saturday. They have spent the last four nights on the mountain, moving camps expedition style and practicing glacier travel, ice axes arrest, cramponing, crevasse rescue techniques while gradually ascending.  Yesterday they jumped up to Camp Muir and launched their summit attempt with an alpine start today.  After reaching the summit, the team descended to Camp Muir.  Once at Camp they will repack gear and continue down to Paradise.

Congratulations to today's Paradise Seminar crew!

Dave Hahn calling in from Mount Everest. All is well. We had a pretty nice weather day here. Not terribly cold and pretty clear for most of the day. The whole group is doing fine. Everybody is healthy, everybody had a good first night at 17 and a half thousand feet, and to help with that acclimatization today, was just an easy day. Catching up, resting, drinking water and taking it easy. Neat to be up here at the foot of the Khumbu Icefall, with giant mountains towering all around us. So far we have pretty much got base camp to ourselves. There's not a whole lot of other groups yet. They will be coming in in the next few days or in the next week or so. Things are good here, and we'll let you know what's going on tomorrow. Bye now. RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Good evening from Pangboche. It has been a couple of days since our last post, but electricity and internet have been unreliable above Namche. We arrived today to the village where the trail splits between the Ama Dablam and Everest Base Camps' trails. We came here after a short hike from Deboche, where we arrived yesterday after our rest day at Namche. The clearing skies we have encountered as we have climbed higher have provided the first great opportunities for time lapse pictures of both sunrise and sunset over Ama and the Everest-Lotse-Nuptse group. Our plan is to hike up to Pheriche tomorrow where we'll continue to acclimatize taking at least one rest day. We are on schedule for full moon at Kala Patar. We see lots of down traffic as the season comes to a close but we continue up in pursue of the crisp skies of the early winter for the time lapse pictures we're after. We'll try to report again from Pheriche. Best regards from the Himalaya! RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos

On The Map

Hi, this is Seth. We're all back down at basecamp. It was a bummer to walk down today without the summit but that's the way it goes sometimes. Everyone was in good spirits even though we didn't top out. The weather has just not cooperated with us for a summit bid. We were never able to reach high camp and that forced us to try to go for the top from Camp 1. Even then the winds pushed us back after just a few hours. Like I said, that's the way it goes sometimes. The important thing is that we've all descended safe and sound. We have some great stories that is for sure. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

We had teams summit via three different routes on Mt. Rainier this morning: Dave Hahn and Jason Thompson led teams via the Disappointment Cleaver Route, Pete Van Deventer via the Kautz Glacier Route, and Garrett Stevens on the Emmons Glacier Route. They reported chilly conditions, winds about 15 mph and sunny skies. All teams had left the crater rim by 7:50 a.m. Congratulations to today's teams!