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We are all weighed for the big fight and now just relaxing a bit before taking off. Early reports from Basecamp have us in a little bit of a holding pattern due to some snowfall. The skies are currently clearing up now and we hope to be en route to the AK range soon enough. Wish us luck! RMI Guide Jake Beren & Team

Monday, July 15th, 2013 It was still very calm at 14K camp this morning, but it was obvious that the next storm system was moving in. So we moved out. At 9:15 we pulled out of Genet Basin and dragged our sleds to Windy Corner. The going was easy as others had plowed a nice trough through the recent snows. There has to be some advantage to being the very last team to come off the mountain. We made it around the corner, down the Polo Field, across Squirrel Hill and down Motorcycle in about two hours. At 11,000' we dug up our cache of food, snowshoes, and miscellaneous gear and took about an hour to reorganize. Then it was down to the main Kahiltna Glacier in excellent condition for travel. It only took us two hours to make the bottom of Ski Hill. By that point, however, glacier surface conditions were getting soggy and slushy -as expected. So we built camp to wait for the cool of night before going the last few miles to the airstrip. We need the freeze to firm up about a thousand snow bridges over crevasses between here and Basecamp. It is a relief to be low again. Our first time in over two weeks to be taking in so much oxygen with each breath. And we aren't even remotely cold after conditioning to the frigid heights of Denali. There is a downside, of course... there are smells again. The one in the guide tent has been described as "hot garbage." Perhaps we will make it to Talkeetna and showers tomorrow morning. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

Hi everyone! The team today awoke to conditions that are not ideal to climb in. With all the new snow it just has not settled enough to allow safe climbing. So to enjoy and have a full mountain experience the team went up to Muir Peak to watch the sun rise. It's my favorite part of climbing. The photos simply do not do it justice. We are safe and we are happy and we are still laughing and having fun! RMI Guide JJ Justman & Team

Thursday, November 28, 2024 - 8:18 pm PT

Vinson Thanksgiving

It’s 1AM here the time of day is such a backdrop in Antarctica. The sun circles overhead and the only setting we get is when it hides behind one of the many unbelievable peaks surrounding us.
Our Thanksgiving wasn’t quite the same this year, we traded turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes for frozen milky ways, rock hard Swedish fish, quesadillas and steak with mashed potatoes (microwaveable pouches from back home).
And we moved!

We traveled from Vinson Basecamp to Camp 1 with a light breeze at times and snow that made for good sled pulling. Views beneath the West face of Vinson, Shin, and Tyree have us gobsmacked every time we look up. Which admittedly I wish was more. We’ll sleep here tonight in the hopes of moving to high camp tomorrow but we will see what the weather has in store. Wish us luck!!!

- RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli
 

The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer and Leif Bergstrom made it to the top of Disappointment Cleaver today. Route conditions and warm weather made it unsafe for our larger team to continue onto the upper mountain.  The Team is back at Camp Muir and will be descending to Paradise soon.

Congratulations Team! 

Progress on these big expeditions always feels good and after spending much time at Camp 1, being able to link up two days of forward momentum sure has the team excited and feeling good. Today was our "carry" to Camp 3 (19,600ft). The team did excellent managing the new altitude. We made it up in great time dropped off a few items for our summit attempt and made it back down to Camp 2 just as some clouds were rolling in. Tomorrow we rest and prepare for our move to Camp 3! RMI Guide Steve Gately

On The Map

Casey Grom checked in after the team climbed up to Cathedral Gap on their rest day of the Five Day Summit Climb. The weather was beautiful! The team was preparing for their summit bid in the morning. Check out the photos Casey sent after returning to Camp Muir.

After our third consecutive day of walking we've finally arrived at Aconcagua Basecamp in beautiful Plaza Argentina (13,800'). After a nice snack we settled in to camp by setting up our tents and then enjoying a wonderful steak dinner courtesy of the great Grajales staff. Leon and I also pulled a little surprise of our own with some Cabernet for the team to celebrate our arrival. Who says that you can't eat great while mountaineering? Anyway, tomorrow calls for a needed rest day as we can all certainly feel the effects of our new altitude... Ciao from base camp, RMI Guide Billy Nugent

Howdy everyone back home.

All is well in Tanzania. We’ve had great weather and the team is humming along really well.

We hit the trail just after 8 am and hiked for an hour before taking our usual 15 minute break, then back on the trail for another hour and so on. In total today we hiked for just over 7 hours before reaching Barranco camp. Our gracious Kilimanjaro porters and staff have been working very hard and we arrived once again to a camp set up and ready for us.

Along the way we passed around the famous Lava Tower reaching just over 15,000ft setting new altitude records for many. We also passed by many of the giant groundsels and towering Senecio trees that made us feel as if we were in some crazy Dr. Zuess story.

The team is in good spirits and doing great.

RMI Guide Casey and the Kili crew

Saturday, May 14, 2022 - 10:21 pm PT

Today was full of highs and lows, ups and downs, success and failures, proud moments and embarrassing ones. It started with warm sunshine hitting our camp by 7am, and we soon after headed up towards 747 Pass. After some glacial navigation and steep climbs we crested the saddle. We quickly gained the west ridge of Mt. Dickey and began ascending upwards. After a couple hundred feet it became apparent that the snow pack had changed dramatically. After seeing some red flags and investigating further, it was concluded that we shouldn’t continue. Considering the terrain and remoteness of the climb meant we had little margin for error and the unstable conditions pushed us past our safety margin. The entire team was disappointed but only momentarily as we all decided the summit was not worth it and the view from up high was down right spectacular. We had a safe and enjoyable descent back to camp where we ate snacks, told stories and laughed a great deal. Tomorrow we shall start migrating back to the airstrip for our departure on Monday.

RMI Guide Avery Parrinello