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June 20, 2014 - 10:16 pm PT Hello, this is Jake calling from the summit of Denali with our crew. Everyone did a wonderful job today and I'm super proud of how everyone kept it together. We had a little flurry of conditions in the morning and then had just about the most beautiful day you could imagine on top. Thanks to everybody back home for the support. And now we are gonna get down to the business of getting down, so we will call when we get back to camp and look forward to seeing everybody soon, alright. Bye. June 21, 2014 - 2:54 am PT Hello, this is Leon, Katie and Jake just calling in to let everybody know that most of us are asleep back at camp. The rest of us who are not will be shortly. A beautiful climb and we will touch base on our way out of here. Good night. RMI Guide Jake Beren

On The Map

This morning was the first in a while that we weren't getting up early, desperate for conditions to be favorable. We got the stoves started around nine, which sounds late and lazy, except in these parts, the sun doesn't get around the mountain until 9:30. It was socked in and cloudy for our breakfast, and then snowing again, but without any wind. We were set to do our "back carry" -dropping down to pick up our cache from the other day, but we'd also been in touch with Pete VanDeventer and knew his team was descending and would pop out of the clouds any minute. It made sense to greet his gang and to exchange notes at 14,200 before going to get our carry done. It was fun to see their team, flush with success and excited to nearly be done with their climb. In the early afternoon, although it was still snowing, we set off into the murk to find our 13,600 ft cache. The cache was undisturbed, which was a relief. Guess we'd buried it all too deeply for the Ravens. It took just over an hour to make it back up to camp with the cargo. People retreated to their tents for a snooze while a few of us built a new kitchen-dining complex. The clouds began to drop and the sun got shining brightly for dinner and the few remaining hours of the day -it ducks behind the West Buttress at 9 PM and the temperature seems to drop about fifty degrees in a few minutes at that point. But we were treated to great views of Mounts Foraker and Hunter sticking out from the solid base of clouds spread below us. The forecasts still call for snow, but luckily they aren't always right in just how much snow we'll get and at which elevation it will fall. A calm day tomorrow for our carry to 16,200 ft would be greatly appreciated. Best Regards RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

RMI Guides Jason Thompson and Tyler Reid and their Four Day Summit Climb Teams reached the Summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The teams reported great climbing conditions, with clear skies, calm winds. They spent some time on the summit and are now en route to Camp Muir. Eric Frank and the Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz Team Reached the top of Mt. Rainier at 12:15pm PST today. The team enjoyed putting their newly acquired skills to the test on the route and have started their descent. This is the first summit via the Kautz route for an RMI team this season! Congratulations to today's teams!

We made the jump! Camp One was old news and folks were sick of the same old scenery, so we decided to move to Camp Two at 18,000' today. We had beautiful climbing conditions: a light breeze and sunshine, and arrived at camp to find it mostly empty. We got our pick of tent sites before several groups rolled in after us. Because RMI Guide JJ Justman's team was kind enough to leave us a cache of food and fuel at Camp 3, we have decided not to carry tomorrow, but to rest instead. That sets us up to potentially move to Camp 3 on Friday, and potentially summit on Saturday. There are a lot of ifs in that sentence, and we have to remain flexible up here, but we have our fingers crossed. We'll keep you updated. Cheers, RMI Guides Pete, Leon, Mike, and the crew

On The Map

We're all checked in at the Hotel Colonial in Puebla. If you're counting, that's less than 10 hours after standing on the summit of Ixta! We got up this morning at 2:30AM under clear skies and no moon. The view of the city lights from Amecameca to Mexico City was really cool. The guys made quick work of getting ready and we started just after 3:30. The talus field leading up to the Ayaloco glacier was our first challenge but my guiding partner Alejandro stepped up with local knowledge on the ever-shifting route. He plotted the course to the toe of the glacier without issue. After a quick transition to crampons we dispatched with the climb up the Ayaloco. Once we crested the ridge the wind whipped up and it was parka time for most of us. Our only hold up of the day came after we had put the crampons back in the pack to walk the 'Arista del Sol'. We hit an unexpected section of ice a few hundred feet below the summit plateau and had to transition back to the spikes. Other than that it was smooth sailing for us right to the summit. The wind calmed to a light breeze for our pictures up top and we found a sheltered spot for a nice long break just below the summit. The way down to high camp was completed in three stretches and to my surprise there was very little grumbling as we down climbed the talus. Kudos boys. Having made such good time on the climb we were able to enjoy some extra breaks on the walk down from high camp. The icing on the cake was when we were met by our super-driver, Rogelio, with tortas, chips, sodas and cervesas back at the trail head. He tortas were good but they're just the tip of the iceberg for we are in Puebla, home of many delicious foods. The team is waiting for me, it's dinner time! RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

Hello, this is Dave Hahn checking in from 7,200' on Mt. McKinley. Sure enough, we lucked out yesterday morning and flew onto the mountain first thing. By 10 AM, our K2 Aviation pilots, Randy and Tony, had the team unloading the big red ski-equipped Otters at 7200 ft on the Kahiltna Glacier. There was plenty to do for the duration of the day in establishing a camp and reviewing glacier travel techniques. We did take breaks from our labors in order to gaze up at the gargantuan flanks of the surrounding mountains. Denali itself even made a few appearances, shaking off low clouds from time to time and attempting to give us the big stare-down from long distance. Our intention was to get to sleep early and to wake at 1 AM in the hopes of traveling through the heavily crevassed sections of the Kahiltna while the snow surface was frozen up solid. But due to low clouds rolling in, the surface never came close to freezing. In fact, throughout the night there were persistent rain and wet snow showers that convinced us to postpone our travel plans for a day. So today we are resting and casually sorting gear at basecamp. There is only one other team in base today, camped a few hundred feet away and presumably sharing our hopes for better weather tonight. We've got a mountain to climb. RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

Team members Casey, Seth, Michael and Scott have returned to Basecamp after a night at Camp 2. Dave and Leif spent the night at Camp 4 after the summit climb, they are now at Camp 2 (ABC). Dave and Leif arrived at Basecamp today and reunited with the team. Now that everyone is here we will begin to pack up and then start their trek to Lukla. The Sherpa team has been breaking down the higher camps and will be carrying things down to basecamp today. We will be taking down the Comms tent today and getting ready to depart for Kathmandu. Thanks for following our expedition. Until next time...

Hi from St. Petersburg, We finished our adventures in Russia by exploring the wonderful city of St. Petersburg. We began the morning by walking along the Mokya Canal, one of the city's many canals, to St. Isaac's Cathedral. Then we climbed the 211 steps to the rotunda where we were afforded fantastic views of the city's skyline, from the spires of the Admiralty and the original churches of the city to the cranes of the busy port city. Afterwards, we ventured across the historic center to the Church of the Savior of Spilled Blood, whose magnificent mosaic frescos are built around the very cobblestones upon which Tsar Alexander II was murdered. We wrapped up our city tour at the Hermitage Museum. Containing over three million pieces of artwork, the museum's size is daunting. But the building's incredible beauty, with its ornately decorated rooms, is enough motivation to explore all of its halls. After a delicious dinner at a traditional Russian restaurant we ended our day by boarding a canal boat and navigating the city's waterways as the setting sun lit up the sky in a fiery red. It has been a memorable two weeks of adventures in Russia, from the cobblestones of Red Square to the snowy reaches of Elbrus, Europe's highest point, to the canals of St. Petersburg, we have had a trip to remember. Tomorrow we board our flights bound for home and look forward to sharing our stories with you in person.

I probably shouldn't have accepted the toast from Dave Hahn...after all, red wine with antibiotics to treat a deep-seated chest infection is perhaps not doctor recommended. But, how could I pass it up? It was nearly 10 years ago that Dave and I and three others - Conrad Anker, Andy Politz, and Tap Richards - stood on a lonely patch of rock at nearly 27,000 feet on Everest's North Face, each in stunned silence, for lying at our feet were the remains of a legend, a hero, a mystery: George Leigh Mallory. He and his climbing companion, Andrew Irvine, had disappeared 75 years before, virtually without a trace, some 800 feet below the summit. Yup, this is definitely an anniversary worth toasting, antibiotics or not. That day was, and is now, the most poignant day in my climbing career, far surpassing the fleeting moments I've spent on top of the world, or on top of other peaks around the world. Far removed from personal achievement, our discovery of Mallory was a collision with history, a step back in time, and a humbling, welcome reminder that our goals and accomplishments, successes and failures in the mountains - and in life - are predicated on the efforts of remarkable people who came before. We are, as I wrote in Issue 1000 of Trail & Timberline Magazine, standing on the shoulders of giants. Indeed, as I sit in my basecamp tent reflecting on May 1, 1999, I can't help but think about my predecessors on this side of the mountain...May 1, 1963, when Jim Whittaker and Nawang Gombu (clad in Eddie Bauer down) struggled through deep snow and blasting winds to stand on the summit of Everest, Jim becoming the first American to reach the top. (Two years later, Gombu would reach the summit again on an Indian expedition, becoming the first person to reach the summit twice.) Whittaker and Gombu's ascent was made no less impressive by the tracks that came before: Hillary and Tenzin in 1953, the Swiss in 1956 and the oft-forgotten Swiss expedition of 1952, which put Raymond Lambert and Tenzin Norgay within 800 feet of the summit. And, of course, their tracks were only made possible by the reconnaissance expeditions of '50 and '51. And, those, in turn, were enabled by the efforts of the pioneering Everesters of the pre-World War II expeditions of 1938, '36, '35, '33, '24, '22, and 1921. None of those would have happened without Sir Martin Conway, the Duke of Abruzzi, Fanny Bullock Workman, General Bruce, Sir Francis Younghusband, John Noel, and countless others who pushed the limits years before. And...the tracks go back through the ages, each generation standing on the shoulders of the giants who came before. To some, that may be demoralizing...to them, the idea that someone had climbed the route before takes something essential away from the enterprise today. For me, however, it is far from demoralizing, and rather is invigorating. To look around me high in the Western Cwm, and see hidden in the layers of snow the footsteps of Hillary and Tenzin, the toil of Whittaker and Gombu, the inspiration of those who came before...well, it inspires me to push on against the demon of the day, against the gnawing forces of inertia, lethargy, and the want of comfort, rest, food, and air. Seeing the giants in these hills, the things they accomplished and all they endured, pushes me onward, upward, and forward. May 1, 1999, was an amazing day, a direct interaction with one of the many giants on whose shoulders we all stand. Tonight, perhaps another toast...

Hello all,

Another chill day on Aconcagua for the team. Since we had the time we had a fun breakfast of pancakes with white chocolate chips (the grocery was out of milk chocolate chips). After enjoying are delightful breakfast we stretched our legs on the first stretch of our hike tomorrow. It was good to fill the lungs and get the blood going and to get eyes on tomorrow's terrain. We spent most of the afternoon resting, enjoying the scenery, starring at the mountain and sorting gear for our move. Everyone is ready for our next move. This move is significant because once we leave this camp we are go go go for the next five days. The team is ready and looking strong. So here is our last Goodnight from Guanacos Camp. Next chat is from our high camp.

RMI Guides Hannah, Ben, Dan and Team