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Well, we've made our move on up to camp at 14k on a scorching hot day with our second trip around (not-so) Windy Corner. We rolled in around 4:15 pm where Mike Walter and his crew were kind enough to leave us a great looking camp to move into. This left us with significantly less work building walls and digging platforms, lucky us! Thanks Mike! Clouds have moved in this evening and it has started to snow a bit but we are already fed, settled in, and for the most part crashed out. It was a tough day especially with the heat but the gang persevered. 'til tomorrow, RMI Guide Billy Nugent

On The Map

We had high hopes as we left Camp Muir for our summit attempt. But as we crossed the Cowlitz Glacier, a misty rain started, which turned into a stout blizzard at Ingraham Flats. 

The team climbed well through the weather, but we started losing the fight to stay dry. We returned to Camp Muir safely.

We will be leaving Camp Muir around 9:30 am for our final walk down to Paradise.

RMI Guide Joe Hoch

PC: Joe Hoch

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Dustin Wittmier began on Sunday May 9th with the team meeting at Rainier BaseCamp for a full day orientation.  With gear checked, sorted and packed they departed Paradise on Monday morning en route to Camp Muir.  For the last two days they have based out of Camp Muir working on mountaineering techniques to prepare them for a summit climb of Mt. Rainier and more.  Today they got their chance to test their skills climbing to the summit of Mt. Rainier.   Just before 8 am PT, RMI Guide Dave Hahn radioed that the teams were ten minutes from the crater rim.  He reported perfect conditions with light and variable winds, and an overall nice and sunny day.  After they enjoy some time in the crater and get all the photo ops, the group will start their descent and return to Camp Muir for their final night on the mountain.  Tomorrow the teams will descend to Paradise and return to Rainier BaseCamp.  The weather has been great all week and we hope they enjoyed their time on the mountain.

Congratulations to today Seminar teams!

Hi, this is Leon calling from Boston Basin Camp. We had a beautiful day getting here and just enjoying an evening after dinner. All is well. Tomorrow we are having a training day and planning to head up and climb Sharkfin Tower. Tomorrow's weather looks great so we are psyched. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow. Bye. RMI Guide Leon Davis

The thick rain clouds that have been covering the region for the last several days began to dissipate overnight. Leaving our hotel this morning, the sky above was a patchy mix of clouds and blue sky. We loaded our mountain gear into our van and made the ten minute drive up the valley to the tiny village of Azau. In Azau we hauled our gear from the van and through the base terminal of the tram station. A few minutes later the red cabin dropped down from the station above and we piled our team and gear into the tram. We made two tram rides, going from the green valley floor to the top station, sitting on a rocky morraine along the edges of Elbrus' glaciers. To get our gear the final 700' we took turns loading our duffels, packs, and climbers onto a little single seater chairlift. Despite the slow moving chairs it was still a tricky transfer to put on and pull off the bags from the chairs as they swung by. Nevertheless, it was a smooth process and by midday we were settled into out bunks in the Garabashi Huts, a series of old diesel tanks that have been converted into bunk rooms. Despite the long cylindrical shape, they are quite comfortable inside, especially when the hail and rain starts up outside. After a great lunch of borsch, meats, cheeses, and French toast we set off on an acclimatization hike. The clouds once again settled onto the mountain, although with no moisture in them. We climbed for a couple of hours, ascending the glacier right above the hut and getting used to hiking in climbing boots and traveling on snow. After reaching just over 13,000' we turned around and descended back to the hut. We are resting in the huts now before dinner. Everyone climbed well today, making the transition from low elevation trails to the high altitude snows well. After close to a week of traveling to reach this mountain, we are happy to be here and comfortable in the huts. Tomorrow we are planning on making our final acclimatization hike up to Pastuhkova Rocks at 15,000' before resting on Friday. We will check-in when we return from the hike. RMI Guide Linden Mallory

On The Map

We made our carry to high camp at 19,600' today. The mornings continue to be clear, calm and provide spectacular views of the Central Andes. The afternoon blizzards with scorching heat and thunder snow continue as if set by a Swiss watchmaker.

We will rest tomorrow and see what the winds do. The consensus of longtime local guides is this amount of snow, lack of wind and heat is unique when compared to the last 15-20 years.

RMI Guide Mike King and Team

Wednesday, June 12, 2013 Hi All! We are hanging out in beautiful Talkeetna, Alaska. We had a gorgeous day for organizing and packing our gear. the sun is shining and the mountain is visible in the distance. The team met up in Anchorage yesterday and have been slowly molding into Summit Assassin RMI Team 6! They really are a great crew! Our gear is all bagged, weighed, and tagged. We got the word that we are all supposed to fly to basecamp around 9 tomorrow morning so we are all scrambling to get in those last correspondences and last minute tasks before the morning. We are all set for an incredible expedition. Off to bed for an early start- RMI Guide Mike Haugen

It's a beautiful day here at Everest Bascamp (EBC)! By that I mean its not snowing or windy, yet. We're taking full advantage by eating our fill, relaxing and doing some laundry. It's all part of the prep for our next rotation up on the mountain. The past week at Advanced Basecamp (ABC) was a great foundation for our acclimatization and the best part was getting on the Lhotse Face. After all these weeks of prep it was great to feel like we were on a mountain as opposed to being down amongst the mountains. Our next trip up will be more of a test to see how our conditioning is holding up. But for now we're resting. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

The Four Day Summit Climb August 24 - 27 led by RMI Guides Shaun Sears and Eric Frank were unable to summit today. High winds kept the teams from leaving Camp Muir as scheduled. The Camp Muir Telemetry shows an average wind speed between 55 - 80 mph. over night. The teams did climb to Ingraham Flats later in the morning. The wind was still blowing approximately 40 mph and they began their descent from this high point just before 8 am. The teams returned to Camp Muir to repack and rest before starting their descent to Paradise shortly after 10 am. RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer and the Expedition Skills Seminar - Paradise checked in this morning from the Paradise Glacier. The team will be breaking camp and moving to Camp Muir. They plan to do some additional training around Muir today and will be making their summit attempt tomorrow morning.

We're back at the hotel!!! We awoke early this morning and everyone was psyched to get on the trail. The thought of a hot shower and a cold beer was all it took to motivate the group. After a wrap up ceremony with our crew we dispatched with the last few thousand feet of Kilimanjaro in 2.5 hours. Our truck met us at the national park gate and delivered us to the Dik Dik hotel. Everyone is now prepping for a celebration dinner. Safari starts tomorrow! RMI Guide Seth Waterfall