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Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Today the whole team stood at 17,160 feet on the summit of Ixtaccíhiuatl. It was a near perfect day with sunshine and no wind. 

Even with great weather it was a hard-fought summit on Ixtaccihuatl today. Everyone fighting through a host of maladies trying to hold them back - blisters, rumbling tummies, headaches and more. It will be no surprise to family and friends at home that every single person on this crew has serious GRIT!

One of the most special moments was the sunrise just as we were topping out onto the ridge - right before the final push to the top. It had been a particularly steep and icy stretch getting there. Just when we were all thinking we didn’t know if we could do it - we topped out to the golden glow of dawn. We sat and took it in for a few minutes, the boost we all needed to keep on.

Thirty minutes later, we were all standing on the summit together in perfect daylight.

After a long descent back to our camp, we packed up and continued downhill to the base. We were greeted by the awesome Servimont team with lunch and cheers!

After a little more packing (we’re expert packers now), we loaded the van and took off for real beds and showers in Puebla! As we were driving, the sun set outside our windows over Ixta and it was a perfect end to the day.

As we drove in the van, I heard conversations recalling the huge day and frequent “that was the hardest thing I’ve ever done” which is saying a lot coming from this experienced team.

Tomorrow we’ll have a well-earned rest day exploring the charming and historical city of Puebla. 

RMI Guides Jess Wedel, Josh Geiser and Los Chivos

Friday, June 18, 2021 - 10:18 pm PT

The team tried to summit today, and as usual we performed like a well oiled machine. Unfortunately we weren’t able to make it to the top due to adverse and unexpected obstacles that again, the team handled exquisitely. We put in a track up to Denali pass and hope to make it up again in the coming days.

RMI Guide JT Schmitt

June 27, 2014 - 11:11 pm PT At 8 PM this evening we were blessed with the first glimmer of sun in two and a half days. This isn't completely out of the ordinary for this neck of the woods but more surprising, even to me with eight Denali expeditions, was the amount of snow that fell during that sunless stretch. Four feet would about do this storm justice but when you are living in a nylon house that can collapse under a moderate burial of drifting snow it felt more like ten feet. This morning at breakfast while in the posh house, a one pole pyramid cook tent set up to fit the entire team, shook and sagged under the constant loading of falling flakes, Jay Lampas asked if this snow storm qualified as "epic" yet? I didn't want to sound too fragile and make him believe this was the "storm of the century" but I did have to concede that four feet in two days was a touch "epic". Of course the main worry of the team is how this massive blanketing will effect our upward progress. I didn't have an exact answer but I do know we will be sitting still on Saturday no matter how brilliant the weather because of the avalanche hazard that awaits above us. Safety is always the number one priority so we will move to 14,000 feet only when we know it is safe to do so. Hopefully our dwindling lunch food and Cosmo magazines can hold us out until we can get to the cache of food we left at Windy Corner. We are all looking forward to a night with no 2 am wake up calls for shoveling duty. Maybe full dreams will be of the upper mountain. All the best from McKinley Team Knoff.

On The Map

The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer braved the winds to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. After a short rest on the summit, the team began their descent shortly before 8 am. They will return to Camp Muir to refuel before descending to Paradise later today. We look forward to their arrival in Ashford this afternoon. Congratulations climbers! RMI Guide Eric Frank and the Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons continue to spend their days training. Today the team moves from their camp on the Inter Glacier to Camp Schurman in preparation for their summit attempt.

Jambo! We have descended past high camp and are on our way to our last camp, Mweka. The summit was beautiful with zero wind and sunny skies. We topped out on Stella Point at sunrise and reached Uruhu Peak one hour later. As we descended a cloud layer built over the mountain and we're currently getting snowed on. We're all looking forward to a nice rest. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

Whew. Heavy loads today! Despite the burden the crew enjoyed a second great day in the Alaska Range under blue skies and warm temperatures. Today's walk was a long haul but the crew did great on our first physical portion of the expedition. We've settled into a new camp at the base of Ski Hill which is approximately 7,800'. Not much else to report other than tired legs and full bellies as we snug up for the night after a great meal. Hasta mañana. RMI Guide Billy Nugent and the gang

On The Map

This is Adam calling from Kahiltna Basecamp. We’re back and everyone is safe and sound, but our adventure isn’t over yet. Weather permitting we will fly off today, but at this point of the trip we defer to the expertise of the Alaskan bush pilot. The weather here is cloudy, with fog banks creeping in and out of base camp. The pilots must have perfect visibility in order to safely land here, so all we can do is sit and wait. It’s funny how much the weather dictates all movement on Mt McKinley; airplanes and climbers both! Yesterday was my 36th birthday and what a great place to celebrate life! Though everyone is looking forward to reuniting with family and friends, our climb of the Upper West Rib and reaching the summit of Mt McKinley is something we’ll always remember with pride. If the planes get in, this will be our final dispatch. Otherwise, I’ll keep you posted on how we’re entertaining ourselves and dreaming of things we all take for granted in civilization! RMI Guide Adam Knoff

On The Map

Hi dear readers!

It was our first day joining up with the Inca trail and what a day it was! Up, up, up we went from 9,800 feet all the way to nearly 14,000 feet at Dead Woman’s Pass. Step by step we walked together. Everyone did awesome and the views were spectacular. The sun was beating down on us for most of the day but just before the pass we got some reprieve as clouds moved it and cooled down the temperatures. Then we descended into our next camp, Pacaymayo, which means “hidden river”. It’s a beautiful and remote camp with views looking into the valley and no one around for miles.

We were greeted by our incredible support team with smiles and cheers! Every day we arrive to camp with our tents already set up and water ready for drinking. We couldn’t do this without them!

RMI Guide Jess Wedel and the Machu Picchu team

Monday, January 17, 2022 - 6:21 am PT

The last few members of the team are arriving back at the refugio after a successful summit of Cayambe!  It was a clear morning, but quite windy above 17,000’.  We will descend to Guachala today for some much needed rest before moving south towards Cotopaxi tomorrow.

Sunday, January 16, 2022 - 9:18 pm PT

On Sunday, we had an excellent day reviewing basic mountaineering skills on the glacier plus starting some advanced skills in the hut.  Currently we are 20 minutes into the climb and it is a clear, calm night.  Let’s hope it stays that way!

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

The storm that moved in so deliberately yesterday evening seemed to pause this morning.  At 6AM it was calm at 14k although we could hear big winds up on the crest of the West Buttress.  Cloud was all around us, but it wasn’t doing a lot.  We ate a slow breakfast and watched the weather.  Having no other appointments or engagements, we decided to walk uphill to attempt our carry of supplies.  The goal would be 16,200 ft, the top of the fixed lines.  We were underway by 9 AM, by which time it was snowing lightly.  Since we had two hours of straightforward uphill trudging before the start of the more complicated climbing, we figured we would give the weather a chance to improve.  It did not.  We turned around at 15,300 ft with the winds seemingly on the increase up above and snow beginning to fall heavily.  It only took thirty minutes to reach camp again. 

Winds began to hammer our camp by early afternoon and so we built big walls of snow-bricks to protect tents.  Thankfully, the fury was short lived and not all that furious.  We got a break by late afternoon, which certainly made dinner a bit easier to enjoy in the cook tent. The storm is still with us at 9 PM, ripping the upper reaches of Denali, but sparing 14 Camp for the time being. 

We’ll give our carry another try tomorrow should we get the chance.

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team