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Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 9:03 pm PT

Top Ten Things Happening at 14,000' Camp right now:
10. Snow on the inside of the tent and blue skies outside the tent
9. Running out of snacks and entertainment (but we’re good on toilet paper)
8. Secret Aardvark
7. Buzz Lightyear sightings around camp
6. Walking laps and laps on the 14k Main Street
5. Walking out to the Edge of the World, which overlooks the Valley of Death, to take precarious photos*
4. Texas dice and Wizard
3. Welcoming the next RMI team coming up from 11,000' camp
2. New flavors of bowlines—on a bight, snap, etc.
1. SPAM

RMI Climber Nate Brunner
*While roped in

Friday, June 13, 2025 9:24pm PDT

Déjà-vu: both for climbing Ski Hill and blogging about climbing Ski Hill. So here we are again. Same same, yet also different. I put in my headphones and cue up the Hadestown OCR. “Road to Hell” begins playing.

We awoke at 2:30am. So close to the arctic circle, Denali never gets dark in June. But the movement of the sun across the skies nevertheless plays a big role in our schedule each day, as the temps - and thus snow conditions - change readily with its absence or appearance.

Today’s itinerary is to move part of our food and gear up the mountain, dig a hole in the snow - our “cache” - dump our food and gear, cover it back up, and head back down to our camp. In a few days, we will hike back to our cache from our next camp and retrieve it. This allows us to move our 22 days of supplies up the mountain in stages while we acclimate to the altitude by following a “climb high, sleep low” methodology. So, we load approximately 16 days of our food and any gear we won’t need until the upper mountain into our sleds and head up Ski Hill to Kalhitna Pass just after 4am. Ski Hill is the first significant elevation gain of our climb. Even having climbed it - twice - before, it’s surprising how interminable it seems. It’s a cold morning. With the sun still below the horizon, there’s enough light to walk by, but none to spare for warming us. Any warmth is self-generated. After several hours of marching uphill, we arrive at the base of Kalhitna pass and relieve ourselves of our burdens. The sun peeks over the ridge, and before long our shivering will become sweating as we race back downhill, unencumbered by load or slope. Matt + Kim “Don’t Slow Down” plays in my headphones.

Climber Sophia Bishop & Team

It rained for a good chunk of the night, but things were not too bad when we got underway at 8:20 am this morning. It is always tough to leave Phakding with all the flowers in bloom. But we had a mission: enter Sagarmatha National Park and get up to Namche. Before we reached the park entrance, it began to rain on us, but it never got too bad. Just a little soggy. We took a deluxe lunch break in the village of Monjo, and things dried up a little while we were inside. Then we got busy with the big Namche hill. We have already gone uphill plenty in these two days, but the Namche Hill is different. About 2.5 hours of steady climbing. The team crushed it though and we were pulling into the amphitheater-like town of Namche at about 4:15. Now we are getting used to life at 11,400 ft -a task made far easier by the comfort of Camp De Base, our “tea house” for the next two nights. 
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

On The Map

Early this morning, under the guidance of RMI Expeditions’ guides Brent Okita and Bailey Servais, a determined team of climbers reached the summit of Mt. Rainier. Their journey began in the dark hours of the morning, ascending through a dense marine layer that blanketed the lower elevations. As they climbed higher, the clouds gave way to clear skies and sweeping views.

Despite some wind at the summit, the team enjoyed, taking in the panoramic vistas from Washington’s highest peak.

The climbers are now making their descent back to Camp Muir, where they’ll regroup and rest before continuing down to Paradise. From there, they’ll return to Ashford, WA, where celebrations await.

Congratulations to all the climbers and guides on this unforgettable achievement!

PC: Layne Peters

Saturday, November 30, 2024 - 5:48 pm PT

Today is rest day in Camp 2. I don’t know what Dom’s blog said about yesterday’s ‘hike’ to Camp 2, but it was hellish. Endless fixed lines, rising almost perpendicularly - a little exaggerated - and me demonstrating the art of the ascender to all. We literally died when we reached Camp 2. So today was Lazarus day - the day to bring the team back from the dead. We slept, or rested, ‘til about noon. Chris had a quick blood transfusion to overcome the odor poisoning he suffered in our tent last night.  Then it was hydration, eat, and construct our best version of the mess tent. Dom has taken over design, as he was quite put out by the excellent design the rest of the team executed in Base camp without his input or supervision, while he tunneled looking for the origin of man, or more accurately Dave Hahn. Dom is quite fussy about his cooking space, the worktop height, easy access to the spice rack - it’s a bit like Gordon Ramsey! In fairness he is an ace with the ice-saw.
We had a quick stroll to the most fantastic viewing point.  Looking down on the dot of Camp 1 in the valley below, and the most incredible view of Mt Shin, and the pinnacle ridge leading to Tyree. However it is way too cold to linger, someone said -25F.  Antartica brings a whole new definition to the word cold.  Hopefully Lazarus day works and we’ll be fit to give Vinson a shot tomorrow.

- RMI Climber Myles

The team started their summit day with an early alpine start, leaving the Cayambe shelter just before midnight. Scrambling up to the glacier under headlamp, and an almost full moon, the morning remained very calm and pleasantly cool. 

After nearly two hours of approach, the team transitioned into crampons and full glacier kits, roping up and embarking up the ridge with their guides. Cayambe remains in a very dry state, leaving very icy and firm walking conditions for much of the climb. 

Furthermore, winds picked up higher up on the mountain, exposing the team to colder more challenging climbing conditions. At around 18k feet, the sun began to rise, giving way to some relief for the final stretches of the climb. 

After roughly 7 hours of climbing, the team topped out at nearly 19k feet. The summit was relatively calm with low winds, allowing the team to hangout and celebrate for nearly 40 mins. 

The descent back to the shelter was altogether speedy despite the effects of altitude being obvious to many of the group. After a brief rest and a late breakfast, the team packed up and departed to Tumbaco for a much-needed upcoming rest day before heading to Antisana. 

RMI Guide Mike Bennett & Team

The conclusion of a climbing trip is always a bittersweet affair. We're looking forward to getting back home to loved ones, yet we're sad to end a great adventure with some new friends. 

Our last day saw the group split up with Mike and Heidi flying out from an airstrip near our lodge in the park and the Corcorans needing to beat feet for an early flight home. Plenty of animals were seen on this half-day safari, with Mike and Heidi seeing another leopard! Our day rooms at our nice hotel back in Arusha were key for us to be washed and rested for our long flights home. 

As I reflect on this trip from the modern Schiltpol Airport in Amsterdam I'm reminded why we do this stuff. Cool adventures, physical challenges of the type 2 fun variety, and most importantly, climbing (and safari-ing) with a special group of folks that I look forward to doing stuff within the future. 

Thanks for reading these posts. See you in the mountains! 

RMI Guide Brent Okita