Most Popular Entries

We enjoyed a fun and relaxing day in Puebla’s historic colonial area. We are headed for Piedra Grande hut on Orizaba this afternoon. Our first stop is at Sr. Reyes’ historic soap factory turned climber’s hostel. We will get our gear sorted and have a meal before jumping in the trucks for a bumpy, slow and often dusty ride to the alpine zone where we’ll camp for the night.

Tonight we’ll get started for this trip’s main event, the 18,491’ third tallest peak in North America. The group is rested and eager to get going.

Thanks for following along. 

RMI Guides Mike King, Henry Coppolillo, and Team

Hola Amigos! We had an early departure today leaving behind the busy and celebrating city of Quito. The team drove north, passing by the Equator and made our way to another acclimatization hike. Just outside Quito the landscape quickly turned from a giant valley into rolling hills with farms pitched on steep slopes, and small forest of eucalyptus trees as far as the eye could see. We visited a smaller mountain called Fuya Fuya where we got to stretch our legs on the steepest grassy hillside I’ve ever seen. Thankfully the weather was decent which allowed us to see some amazing views of the surrounding landscape that included a beautiful lake in the background. We are just on the outskirts of a town call Otavalo, which is known for its massive market and we are currently relaxing at the wonderful Hacienda called "La Casa Sol Lodge” [url=http://www.lacasasol.com]http://www.lacasasol.com[/url] The team is doing great after hot showers, a wonderful meal, and celebrating an Anniversary of some of our teammates. Everyone is in good spirits and looking forward to a nice tranquil night. RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Ecuadorian crew

On The Map

We said goodbye to Elbrus Base Camp and our newly made friends yesterday morning and climbed back into the 4x4 sprinter van for the drive out to Kislovodsk, but not before putting another couple of hours into the hut, finishing the roof. What's left is some trim work and flooring. It was fun to leave knowing that we had left a small mark of our passing, and had helped in some small way. The drive out was as exhilarating as the drive in, bouncing and grinding our way up the rough dirt track with the steep green slopes of the Caucasus just to the right of our wheels. Once we reached pavement everyone let out a collective breath and settled in. Once in Kislovodsk, we did what every climber does after a long expedition: took showers, shaved, and went looking for food and drink. Those comforts of town feel so much more pleasurable after being deprived of them for a little while. We made merry, celebrating one last night as a full team, and convincing the DJ at the restaurant to bring a little of home back by playing some Garth Brooks. This morning we will part ways with a few of our team members as they head for home, and the rest of us head to St. Petersburg to spend a day exploring the art, architecture and culture of another great Russian city. We'll try to send some photos! RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Mike Uchal, and team

Day three of the AMGA Rock Guide Course started a little less comfortably than we had hoped. Our course’s venue was located in the heart of central Oregon and early November often offers a mixed bag of weather. For the four of us who were camping near the park, this meant we awoke to find ourselves shivering and scraping a light layer of frost off of the inside of our tents. As mountain guides, we often deal with inclement weather, but even our familiarity with discomfort didn’t stop all the grumbling that morning as we made coffee. Luckily for us, our instructor team was equally apprehensive about climbing in freezing temperatures and had called a quick audible. The day’s goals shifted to learning rescue techniques and skills in the ‘comfort’ of a covered cooking space. After just finishing my first year with RMI, I was excited to see how our in-house rescue training would compare to the official AMGA equivalent. As the morning progressed, the instructor team grew equally excited as it became clear that much of the rescue curriculum was review, albeit, made a bit more difficult by the vertical orientation and the small working zones that the rock environment demands. Despite the cold temps and biting wind, we were able to fly through hauling techniques and knot passes. That morning’s training concretely highlighted for me how well RMI trains their guides. Because of our familiarity with many of the techniques, we were able to open the book and learn a couple new tricks and subtleties that may have otherwise been lost on a less experienced crew. Once we had mastered new slack management tricks and practiced the variety of haul systems, we changed venues and tried to warm ourselves up with some rope ascending. Ascending is one of those skills that any basic crevasse rescue course will teach you, yet even our most experienced guides were able to walk away with a new trick or two. This again speaks to the level of experience and expertise that our instructors brought to the course. The day’s training finished with a variety of skills that we will be tested on in our next course. A large part of the AMGA course curriculum is a series of examinations that aspiring guides go through to prove their proficiency. For many, these examinations can be stressful and difficult. However, this course has shown me that as long as I continue to work with the incredible fellow guides and instructors that make up the AMGA and RMI, this will be a process I am excited to continue on. With my first year at RMI finished and my first AMGA course completed, I am more enthused than ever at the prospect of continuing my education. Without a doubt, my most profound take away from this course has been how much of a pleasure it is to work with professional mountain guides. In all my time in the mountains, I’ve never found a group who equals the enthusiasm and commitment to perfecting their craft that RMI guides have. Finally, I want to echo Seth’s thanks to RMI for investing in their guides and allowing these courses to happen. I’m already looking forward to my next AMGA course and my next season with RMI! _____ Caleb Ladue just finished his first season guiding with RMI. He grew up in Vermont, where he learned to love the mountains for all that they offered, and that passion has taken him throughout the US and to the Peruvian Andes. He'll be hanging his hat in Jackson Hole this winter, and will return to Mt. Rainier in the Spring, excited to share his passion with many more climbers!

Waiting out a rain delay was a good decision at the start of our program. A 6 1/2-hour hike yesterday brought us to camp in warm and dry weather. This morning 100% of our team reached the summit of Mt. Shuksan via the southeast ridge of the summit pyramid! After a short rest at camp, our crew climbed down through the Fisher Chimneys, back to the Lake Ann Trail and to the trailhead. Congratulations to the Mt. Shuksan - Fisher Chimneys team! RMI Guide Mike Walter

Today the team visited the famous 2 million year old Ngorongoro Crater. A steep walled caldera that is home to The Big 5. We only saw 4 today and are hoping to see the last (leopard) tomorrow. It's quite surreal riding around in our Toyota Land Cruisers looking at all these beautiful animals in their natural habitat. On the way back to our lodge we stopped off at a working Maasai village to take a look at their semi-nomadic lifestyle. Everyone is having a great time! RMI Guide Casey Grom

Casey Grom and Gabriel Barral led their Mt. Rainier summit climb teams to the summit this morning. The guides reported light winds and mostly clear skies. Both teams began their descent from the crater rim at 8:00 a.m. Mike Walter left this morning for the Five-Day Emmons Climb. Mike and his team will spend four days on the mountain as they summit from the Schurman/Emmons Route. The Expedition Skills Seminar - Paradise began their climb yesterday. The team had a great day yesterday adjusting to the heavy loads of multi-day packs. They arrived at Camp One in great shape and did a general mountaineering school before dinner. We will be moving to Camp Two at 9,000 feet today. All is well on the Paradise Glacier.

We did it! Everyone made it to the top (and safely back down) of Pico de Orizaba  - what a day! We climbed for the third time this trip in perfectly calm, bright conditions and then got to watch a storm build from a single wisp of a cloud.

100% on top for all three very difficult mountains is not normal. I wish I could say it’s good guiding but the reality is it’s the character and determination of this crew.

It’s not been smooth sailing, have I see the biggest blister in my guiding career? Yes. Have we depleted the Imodium reserves? Also yes. Did we have not 1 but two pairs of boots break apart in seemingly unfixable ways? Why yes, yes we did. (shout out to duct tape and voile straps)

But it speaks to the resilience of every person on this team. I see in each of these team members an understanding of what it’s like to go to the depths of pain and suffering and move in it and through it with grace. 

As we talked about at the beginning everyone on this trip has a connection to the American Lung Association - we climbed every step for the loved ones we’ve lost, for the hope of something and some cure someday. And in the midst of it all - pain and suffering - we found hope and a belief in ourselves that we could make it through - just one more step, just to the next break. Moment by moment we live in the mountains and in our lives - keeping hope alive for what’s to come no matter how we feel in the now.

Thank you to each of you at home that donated and supported these 8 team members to believe in something bigger than themselves (a world with clean air, a world where there is a cure for all lung diseases) and to have the chance to do something hard along the way.

And thank you to mis Chivos (I know you all are reading this!!) it’s been a trip of a lifetime getting to know each of you, your incredible stories, your compassion and care for each other (and every animal we came across), your willingness to let loose and laugh on playgrounds and your trust in Josh, Allan and I to push you and challenge you in all ways in the mountains.

With so much gratitude,

RMI Guide Jess Wedel

June 5, 2014 - 1:44 am PT We're all safely back in camp, horizontal and happy at 17,200' on Mt. McKinley. And to no small degree exhausted. It was a perfect day: sunny and calm with never more than a 5-10 mph wind. But mostly calm. A lot of other climbers were taking advantage of the good weather too, but traffic was nicely spread out. Tomorrow is another big day as we descend to 11,200' camp to retrieve our cache and get on to a night time schedule. All for now. It's cold and I too am ready to get horizontal. Goodnight from RMI Guide Brent Okita

On The Map

Hey, this is Dave Hahn calling from Antarctica. We made our flight through the night. We left Punta Arenas around 11:40 p.m. and flew down through the dark, until reaching the daylight of Antarctica. We landed at about 4:15 this morning at Union Glacier. Beautiful landing and we are in Union Glacier Camp. We haven't gone out to Vinson, it's probably not gonna happen today. But we are keeping our fingers crossed for tomorrow. We've got our tents up and we are sleeping in to recover from the night of flying. But all is well, and we'll get you a regular dispatch when possible. RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map