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Tuesday, June 20, 2023 - 11:52 pm PT

The word of the day is casual. We woke up casually. We ate brunch super casually. It started around 9:45 and ended around 12:30pm. We casually devoured breakfast burritos fortified by wild Alaskan game sausage provided by the legendary Bleys. Food comas quickly afflicted much of the crew. Everyone casually waddled to their tents for the afternoon to indulge in naps and further snacking. Some folks managed to stay conscious enough to read books and watch TV or movies. Eventually the dinner bell was rung and the tents casually began to rustle with life. Dinner tonight is a repeat of a classic - ramen but this time with the addition of some newly acquired Korean spice paste. It added some much needed flavor as our ability to taste is deadened at this altitude. Another weather day has passed uneventfully, but each day we wait we get more clarity about the weather for our potential summit window. Anticipation is slowly growing amongst the team as the day to begin our summit push gets closer.

RMI Guide Jack Delaney and the Bond Girls

Wednesday, June 16, 2021 - 8:29 pm PT

We made it to High Camp, 17,200' on Denali. It’s a little blustery but other than that all is good here. Keeping our fingers crossed for good weather tomorrow!

RMI Guide JT Schmitt and the RMI team

The Four Day Summit Climb and the Five Day Summit Climb reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The guides reported moderate winds and cloudy conditions. The teams were departing the summit around 7:30 a.m. and are returning to Camp Muir to refuel before continuing downhill to Paradise. We’ll see them back in Ashford this afternoon. Congratulations to today's teams!

Mark Tucker checking in from Camp 2, Kilimanjaro, the Shira Camp. Well over 12,000'. You can see your breath tonight, a little bit chilly. What a great day. Perfect climbing conditions. We received a little sprinkling yesterday so the dust has been settled. We had a little cloud cover so it made quite comfortable climbing up to camp today. Then it started to rain just a little bit when we arrived so we are already in the tents. We were fortunate enough that the mountain popped out right at sunset tonight. We have now seen the peak. Everybody is quite thrilled with that. Lots of pictures as you can well imagine. The team is doing very well. Everybody's healthy and we've been moving nice and smooth and we're all developing these great techniques for the summit to come. We have a clear night and we'll talk to you tomorrow after a pretty good-size day. We're all looking for it. RMI Guide Mark Tucker

On The Map

Hey everybody, it's Billy checking in for the entire crew. We woke up this morning to beautiful blue sky and calm winds and finally the storm broke for us. So we packed up our stuff and left Chopper Camp. We just moved in here at Camp Cholera and looks like this weather is gonna be holding for us through the evening and tomorrow and that makes tonight our summit attempt so will be getting up pretty early in the morning tomorrow and if all goes according to plan, we’ll be standing on top of the Americas, the summit of Aconcagua. We will give you guys a phone call and check in tomorrow at the end of the day and let you know how things went. Wish us luck. Talk later. Ciao. RMI Guide Billy Nugent

Sometimes things work well, efficiently, smooth as silk. And, sometimes, well, one hits a few speed bumps. We're in the speed bump zone. Yesterday, we had high hopes that the weather would clear tomorrow, allowing the Ilyushin - with its new fuel pump - to cross the Drake Passage and drop onto the blue-ice runway to shuttle us all back to Punta. But, weather is indeed a fickle element, and generally prefers to surprise rather than be predictable. To the surprise of some 100 people here now at Union - clients and staff alike - the forecast today is for 4 more days of bad weather, unflyable. So, we're stuck. It snowed all day today, with a low, grey ceiling of cloud, and will most likely do it again tomorrow. Some people have been waiting for a flight out for 2 weeks. ALE is doing everything they can, but the weather is out of even their control. So, we sit. We wait. We play cards, we laugh, we go out for a climb, a ski, something to pass the time and keep our minds off loved ones and family far, far away. It could be worse, much worse, so there are no complaints. We all appreciate you're tuning in these last few weeks and following along with our little adventure. I thought I'd leave you now with one of my favorite quotes from a hero of mine, and a figure of Eddie Bauer history and lore: Dr. Charlie Houston. Leader of the 1953 American expedition to K2, Houston and team had an epic op the peak. The barely survived, and one member, Art Gilkey, sadly perished on the peak. Later, Houston reflected on the climb in his book, "K2: The Savage Mountain", and wrote thus of climbing: "Why climb mountains? The answer cannot be simple. It is compounded of such elements as the great beauty of clear, cold air, of colors beyond the ordinary, of the lure of unknown regions beyond the rim of experience. The pleasure of physical fitness, the pride of conquering a steep and difficult rock, the thrill of danger controlled by skill…How can I phrase what seems to me the most important reason of all? It is the chance to be briefly free of the small concerns of our common lives, to strip off non-essentials, to come down to the core of life itself. On great mountains, all purpose is concentrated on the single job at hand. Yet the summit is but a token of success. And the attempt is worthy in itself. It is for these reasons that we climb. And in climbing, we find something greater than accomplishment." Again, thank you all for following along. Happy adventures, and a deep Namaste from the far south.

We accomplished our move up from basecamp in fine style today. Within the first thirty minutes on the track, we burst out of a low cloud layer into brilliant sunshine and the bluest of skies. All seemed to be feeling strong and as our loads were lighter than on yesterday's carry, we cranked up the pace a notch. We cruised in to camp in just over 4 hrs. Namgya Sherpa led a rope with Tim Amos and Leif Whittaker. I tied in with John Kelly, Brent Huntsman and Sashko Kedev. I enjoyed chatting with Namgya at our rest breaks. He has climbed Everest 9 times along with ascents of Cho Oyu, Dhalagiri and Shishipangma. When I thought about those numbers a bit, I realized something peculiar about the approximately 25 climbers that make up Vinson's current population. I've got eleven, Willie Benegas and Vern Tejas have about nine Everest summits each, together with a healthy handful by guides Scott Wollums, Michael Horst and David Hamilton... Throw in a few more for the clients on our teams who have been up (like Sashko on our team) and the grand total must be up near sixty. But none of that will be very comforting if we can't manage to climb Vinson in the coming days. Luckily for us, Namgya has already been up Vinson three times this season and knows the way. He is from the eastern part of Nepal, near Kangchenjunga, but these days lives part of each year in Kathmandu, part in Cambridge, England and part in Antarctica. The other teams on the mountain have spread out a bit, with some now at high camp, some having carried high and with ourselves bringing up the rear. Fine with us, that way. Today was a classic antarctic climbing day. The air temperature probably didn't pass 5 degrees F, but with intense sun reflected off extremely clean white snows, the apparent temperature was downright Carribean. We were treated to splendid views of the big and steep mountains to the north which are seldom climbed. Shinn, Epperly and Gardiner are massive and formidable and don't exactly beckon to those of moderate skill (we couldn't see Tyree today, but it is even more massive and more formidable and does even less beckoning). We enjoyed a fine dinner in our new home and turned in, tying everything down in case of storm... such a thing is difficult to imagine just now as there isn't a hint of wind and the midnight sun continues to blaze away in the summer sky. It will get intensely cold in a few hours when the sun ducks behind Vinson... But as I say, who wants to think about that now?

Although some of us were a bit worn out from the late-night flights, we rallied together for a whirlwind tour of Quito. Our first stop was the Equator, where we attempted (often unsuccessfully) to balance eggs and marveled at the Coriolis effect, which shifted just 10 feet from the equator.

Next, we ventured into the historic old city, filled with presidential mansions, grand city squares, ancient churches, and bustling crowds. It was a blast taking in the sights while chatting with our teammates. Exploring and challenging ourselves in the mountains is always a highlight, but the true magic of these trips lies in the people we meet and the friendships we forge along the way. We are off to a great start on that front.

After the tour, we headed back to the hotel for a quick gear check, followed by plenty of time to nap, explore the city further, and enjoy an early dinner. The goal was to rest up and catch up on sleep before the real challenges ahead.

RMI Guide Walter Hailes

Saturday, July 20, 2013 - 9:20 p.m. PT RMI Guide Mark Tucker checking in, I guess they call it Uhuru Peak, the tallest point in Africa. Here we are! Pretty good conditions. The team did fantastic. I am happy to report 100% on top! Yes, everyone is doing well. A few beautiful clouds above Mt. Kilimanjaro and clouds below, a beautiful sunrise. We are having a gas, everyone is doing well. A couple more photos and we are going to start the descent. We are going to head down into the rain forest. That will be the goal. Thanks for everybody’s support back home. We will check in again soon.

On The Map

Hello from Moscow, Today our Mt. Elbrus June 30th team enjoyed a fantastic tour of the Kremlin. There is a lot to see and we want to give you a glimpse into this historically and culturally rich place. We hope you enjoy the video. RMI Guide JJ Justman