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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

Thursday June, 12, 2025 9:21pm PDT

Our final rest day in the books. We let the sun warm our tents before we finally crawled out to share a meal of hashbrowns and eggs. After a relaxed and slow morning, we then spent the day basking in the sun like lizards, seeing what other climbers were offering up, and getting our gear ready for the summit push - which would be starting tomorrow.

We are all very excited and looking forward to moving to 17,000’ camp tomorrow.

RMI Guide Nikki Champion & Team

Perfect weather today! Not terribly cold at 6:15 AM today in the shadow of Kilimanjaro.  Clear skies above and the sea of clouds far below. 

We were eating another of Tosha’s fine breakfasts by 7 AM and walking behind Philbet by 8 AM.  The terrain rose gradually as we headed straight East toward Kibo.  We began breaking a bunch more altitude records for our climbers as the morning progressed.  We topped out for the day at 15,200 ft at the Lava Tower, right up against the massive ramparts of Kibo.  Our excellent staff had a picnic lunch all set up for us there and so we lounged for some time in the intense sunshine.  Then we began dropping altitude as we made our way into the Barranco Valley.  Lava tower had taken us into alpine desert zones with little vegetation, but over the two hours of our descent, we came back into a relatively lush zone full of endemic Lobelias and Senecios. 

At 3 PM we came into our new home at 13,000 ft.  This allowed plenty of time for an easy afternoon of resting and recuperating.  We’ve still got an excellent dinner and some star gazing to look forward to… and a big day of climbing tomorrow. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Saturday, July 1, 2023 1:12 AM PDT

Right on schedule, the clouds cleared out and the wind dropped down. First nice day we've had, actually. We used it well. The team made the jump to 17,200' feet. It was tough climbing and the packs got even bigger and heavier when we stopped at 16,200' feet to add yesterday's loads. But we got 'r done. The views were amazing, considering that the team really hadn't seen much of our surroundings yet. We have a forecast of fine weather tomorrow. Perhaps we go up.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

All is well here on the trek!

Today we left Pheriche and hiked further up valley to Lobuche, we slowly made our way along the winding path that we share with other trekkers, porters heavily laden with loads bound for Base camp, and yaks who aren't as keen to share the trail. We made good time and enjoyed the astounding views before reaching camp for the night.

Everyone is currently relaxing in our tea house enjoying the warmth of yak dung fire. There's been plenty of good conversation with our team and other trekkers on the same journey as us.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

After a week of technical alpine mountaineering training on the upper slopes of Mt. Rainier the Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz team reached the Summit! The team climbed through the Kautz Ice Chute, a well-known, and classic route on the mountain.  The team spent time on the summit and are now descending on the Disappointment Cleaver route and will pass through Camp Muir on their way down.

Congratulations to the Kautz Team!