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At 12,500' you're above the trees and clouds, in the highland desert zone, and are looking at Kibo, the summit of Kilimanjaro, all day. As we headed east towards our next camp, we enjoyed easy walking on the low angled Shira Plateau. A nice contrast to yesterday's steeper terrain. A little over three hours later we arrived at Lava Tower, a conspicuous landmark at 15,200'. Our staff met us with hot soup, tea, sandwiches and snacks, all laid out on a blanket for our enjoyment. Imagine, a picnic in the warm sunshine at 15,000'! Pretty cool. Following lunch it was all downhill to camp by the Barranco Wall. Easy enough walking to be able to appreciate the change in ecosystems as we began to see dendrosenecios, lobelias and giant groundsels, some of the flora that makes Kilimanjaro so special. Everyone's doing great after this big day and we're all excited about getting on the Barranco Wall tomorrow morning. A later start to allow the porters in camp to get ahead of us on the Wall will be appreciated, even by this early rising crew. Oh, and lest I forget. Dinner tonight: butternut squash soup, garlic pepper zucchini, chicken and sausage paella, and pineapple spears drowning in chocolate fondue. Eat your heart out. Resting well, RMI Guide Brent Okita

On The Map

Hi this is Seth. We are up on the Shira Plateau headed to camp. Its been an excellent day on the trail. The weather has been fantastic and we are looking forward to a hot lunch in camp. Tomorrow we will head to the Barranco Valley. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

We had a great day for making our way to Camp Muir yesterday. Blue skies and just enough wind to keep us from over heating. Everyone did well! Camp Muir will be home through Friday. The next few days we'll be training around Camp Muir. It's going to be a fantastic week! RMI Guide Brent Okita

Our team is back in Quito, safe and sound after a successful and challenging Cotopaxi summit today. The weather looked perfect when we woke before midnight but that didn't last long, as a storm began to brew as we were climbing. Most of the climb, we were in the clouds with light precipitation and moderate winds. It never got bad enough to turn around; instead, it just made our climbing harder. We didn't need any help making the route harder, as we encountered ladders spanning crevasses, steep slopes, and open crevasses, in addition to the extreme altitude that is always present on Cotopaxi. All in all, we had a fun and safe climb. We were climbing for more than 12 hours, so we're all bushed. Hopefully showers and a quick nap will rejuvenate everyone so that we can enjoy our celebration dinner tonight in Quito. It's been great spending the past 10 days in Ecuador with our team. We enjoyed a ton of different activities, both cultural and adventurous. Thanks team, for being an integral part of a great trip. Hasta la próxima montaña, Adios. ...stay tuned for the Cotopaxi Express trip's blog, starting this weekend! RMI Guide Mike Walter

On The Map

RMI Guides Walter Hailes & Nicole DePetris checked in from the summit of Cotopaxi this morning.  It was a cold day with not many views but the route was good and the entire team reached the summit.

Nice work everyone!

Hello all,

We woke for our last morning at Everest Base Camp. Clouds obscured our views of the surrounding peaks as snow danced down. We ate our breakfast and said goodbye to two team members who aren't participating in the climb. Instead they took a helicopter back to Lukla. The six remaining team members rallied to Lobuche for lunch and then made their way up to high camp on Lobuche peak. The trail was snowy and snow began falling from the sky. It was a wintery ascent to camp with some slippery spots. If anyone did want to go down, it was much easier to continue up than to go down. But the team did great and handled the conditions well. We are now curled up in our sleeping bags waiting for dinner. The snow is still falling and the temps are not warm. We shall see what we get tonight for our summit bid. It's already been a great trip and a summit of Lobuche would be a cherry on top. 

Wish us warmth, strength, and good weather!

RMI Guides Hannah, Abby, and Team

Sunday, June 23, 2019 - 8:50 PM PT What a beautiful day! We are so thankful that the weather has been amazing so far. We will definitely not be fooled into thinking that the mountain won't throw some weather our way soon! We had a long day bringing a bunch of food, fuel, CMC's, and extra warm clothing up to our next camp at 14,000'. The climbing was great and the crew had a good time. It was nice to be able to see Denali again since our view is obstructed at our camp at 11k. We all earned our afternoon naps before a hearty dinner of Tasty Bites Indian food with rice. We are all excited to move up to 14k tomorrow... if the weather is nice to us! RMI Guide Mike Haugen & Team Siete

On The Map

May 20, 2014 - 8:29 pm PT We are closing in on Talkeetna enjoying the unseasonably warm weather, being driven by our shuttle driver Louisa. It's nice to finally be all together and underway after so much anticipation and preparation. No lost luggage or late planes. Now all we need to accomplish is to unload our gear at the hanger, check into our wonderfully quirky hotel run by our friends Pam and Al, before heading out for a bite and a beer or two. If first impressions mean anything, I think were going to have a good time on this expedition. Cheers! RMI Guide Brent Okita

Well after some long travel days getting to Mexico City the whole team met tonight, thus our adventure is underway! We are all excited to be here and get going. After introductions and a trip briefing we all went to La Opera, a beautiful restaurant in historic Mexico City. Enchiladas con salsa verde were fantastic. Now for some packing and prep for tomorrow and a good night sleep. I can already tell this is a great climbing team. That's all for now. RMI Guide Geoff Schellens

The alarm was set for 11:30 PM at 8000 ft on the Kahiltna Glacier. The rain began at 10:00 PM and continued on and off until 11:20. Rain wouldn't be considered a good thing if you were laying in your sleeping bag hoping that the glacial surface would freeze up in the night to permit safe and easy passage to the Southeast Fork and a possible airplane pickup. So at the appointed wakeup time, we had a soggy glacier, groggy climbers and a murky vision of the world. Although it is still light for twenty four hours in this part of Alaska in mid-July, it isn't very light between about midnight and four. But we made the decision, along with Rob Gowler's AMS group camped nearby, to make a break for the airstrip before the storm got worse. We were on the move by 2:00 AM and stumbling along on snowshoes in the gloom. Surprisingly, it rained no more. It was slow going at first, hitting big crevasses broadside, without being able to see them ahead of time and take evasive action. But conditions improved as we got further down glacier... there had been a great deal of new snow (bridging crevasses) the sky overhead was clearing and the snow surface was consequently freezing, and it was getting lighter. It was a great help to be backed up in route-finding by Rob and the AMS team. Together, as the last climbers on the mountain, we worked through the early morning hours. By seven, we'd solved all significant problems and found ourselves at the foot of "heartbreak hill". We climbed the Southeast Fork to the airstrip and called in the ski-planes. Conditions overhead were good, but it took a few hours until our planes could even get into the range. The bigger storm was still coming in, but all passes into the mountains were already clogged with cloud. We considered ourselves lucky to be flown out in the afternoon. What followed was a whirlwind of drying/sorting gear, connecting with the outer world again and showers and shaves. We enjoyed a fabulous West Rib victory dinner celebration, a summit certificate awards ceremony and copious amounts of laughter over our shared experiences of the past three weeks. Day 20... Trip done... all we could possibly have hoped for in defining a fine expedition. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn