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Hello from the Sulphide Glacier on Mount Shuksan! The team and I are at camp, located at 6,000' on the Sulphide Glacier. We had a mix of rain, sun, mist and fog on our hike to camp today. It's currently overcast but no precipitation while we get ready to eat dinner. The hike took us 6 1/2 hours to get here and everyone is doing well. Tomorrow's itinerary includes practicing some mountaineering skills to prepare for the upcoming summit bid. RMI Guide Mike Walter

Namaste Everyone The team woke to beautifully clear skies again and views of Everest right out our dining room window. We’ve settled into our daily routine of getting up and packing our duffel bags before meeting in the dining room for breakfast and plenty of Starbucks coffee thanks to RMI sending it with us. After breakfast we step outside to get a better sense of the temperature before adjusting our layers for the hike. Once on the trail we do our best to maintain a steady pace, with stops every hour or so to stay hydrated and take in the views. There’s plenty of other hikers and yak trains headed in both directions to negotiate as well. Today we hiked for a little over 5 hours including breaks and a light lunch to get to our next tea house in Pheriche, which sits at about 14,000'. Everyone did great and enjoyed the stunning views of Ama Dablam, one of the most iconic peaks along the route to Base Camp. RMI Guide Casey Grom & the 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

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

The good news, there is a TV at Paine Grande that has the ability to give us some creature comforts like the Super Bowl! 

The bad news, it was broken. 

After some much needed rest the team got up early for what can be a long day. From Refugio to Refugio, it's not too long, but this is our first of two side hikes on the trip. Today, was up the French Valley. What can only be described as Alpine Jurassic Park is up there awaiting. Grand vistas, hanging glaciers, dozens of waterfalls pouring down the cliff side. Breathtaking views of Fortaleza, a towering peak to the east. Unfortunately though, today was the rainiest one yet. And so we battled the deluge, and waterfall on top of the trail to get to those views that were then only teased.  We at least got some glimpses and how could we complain. The historically rainy mountains down here had been good to us so far. 

We took what we could get, scarfed down a quick bite to eat and headed back down to where we took the fork up the French Valley and headed off to our second to last Refugio of the trip. Frances Camp. 

We warmed up our hands and bodies with some tea and cards and are now tucked in the sleeping bags we dreamt about in the downpour. 

RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli

Technically, today was a rest day…

but we still got up early and went hiking.  It would have been hard not to get out of bed with a stunning sunrise lighting up Kwangde - the giant and jagged peak across the valley to our west.  We hiked up a steep hill (everything out of Namche is steep) to Syangboche and then traversed through yak pastures until we reached a tea house at 12,400 ft for our first views of Ama Dablam and Lhotse.  There were some clouds playing through the area that prevented our seeing Everest.  We sat outside, drank tea, and watched.  At one point we could see Everest’s South Summit, but the true summit never quite cleared for us.  We packed up and headed back down into Namche to rest and browse through the many shops for the afternoon. 

Tomorrow we’ll push a little higher in our move to Thame.

Best Regards

Dave

Wednesday, August 9, 2023 - 9:16 am PT

The drive to the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater brings you to well over 6,000', and on this day clouds obscured the views until we had descended most of the way to the crater floor. But this didn't get in the way of seeing the animals we had come to see. 

This area is truly one of the greatest wildlife habitats of the world. And we weren't disappointed today. There wasn't much we didn't see, and we got up close and personal with many animals. Well, from the safety of our Landcruiser. 

Lions, of course, were the highlight of the day and we were lucky enough to get multiple sightings. The list of animals we saw covers most of what you'd see in a National Geographic special, but the sheer numbers of animals continues to impress. Thousands, and this is not even prime season, according to our wonderful safari guide/drivers Chacha and Jacob.

We ended the day visiting a Maasai village where we were entertained with some dancing, a fire starting demo, view of their traditional living space - the boma - and their school. Yes, it was all a little staged, but it was also nice to know that we were helping support the village financially.

We're now enjoying the comforts of this wonderful lodge after a long day. Doesn't get any better! 

Tomorrow, Tarangire National Park. Can't wait! 

RMI Guide Brent Okita Lion PC: Mike Tully

Thursday, June 17, 2021 1:33 pm PT

This morning we woke up to a foot of new snow and the winds have been blowing 30 mph all day, which is slightly unpleasant but what we expected. There is a lot of strategy in expedition climbing, and this plan is part of that. We got up to 17,000' camp yesterday knowing it would not be possible today, and now we are in position to take advantage of tomorrow’s supposed high pressure.

Send good thoughts our way for good weather tomorrow!

RMI Guides JT, Alan, Kirra and the RMI team.

Last time I posted I was at Camp 1 on Manaslu. That first trek up went well, and I established a High Camp 1 at 5,900 m. I also explored and familiarized myself with the ice fall traverse to Camp 2. A forecasted storm had me descend back to BC over the weekend. The intensity of the wet weather seems to be lightening up and this week's forecast calls for a five day spell of clearing weather. I'm about to shoulder my pack and head back up to High Camp 1. My goal for this week is to push as high onto the upper mountain as possible. I'd be lying if I said the summit wasn't on my mind, although with only one night acclimatizing at Camp 1 it's a long shot. RMI Guide Alex Barber

Hello, this is RMI Guide Jake Beren calling to check in from our Mexico's Volcanoes program. We are happy to report that we reached the summit of Orizaba today at 9:00 a.m. local time. Our team did a great job on the climb. We are headed back to Tlachichuca to celebrate and enjoy our last night in Mexico. Tomorrow we will return to Mexico City for our outbound flights.