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The team woke up to a foot of fresh snow this morning, which led to our activity of the morning. Shoveling. Once that was out of the way, the team transitioned to game time. A variety of games and a few lucky beginners carried us through the afternoon. Some cheesecake for dessert has the team powered up hoping for better weather tomorrow. We're seeing the winds of change and feel positive about the next couple days!

RMI Guides Matias, Chase, Pete, and team

May 4, 2015, 9:46 pm PT Good evening friends & family! The first RMI Alaska Seminar of 2015 is on the SE fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. Our team spent today buffing out camp, which overlooks the airstrip, with snow block walls and a bathroom. We taught a clinic on climbing fundamentals, watched Mt. Hunter shed some large ice blocks and enjoyed a nice dinner of burritos in the cook tent. Tomorrow we will venture to the north side of Horiskey's Hump for some more training and climbing. Good night from a cold sunny glacier far far away. RMI Guide Leon Davis

On The Map

The Mt. Rainier Four Day Summit Climb led by Mark Falender reached the summit at 6:00 a.m. this morning. At 7:15 he radioed from 13,000’ on their descent reporting blue skies, a bit chilly and light winds. Congratulations! The Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons led by Seth Waterfall are traveling to the White River Campground beginning their approach to Camp 1.

This morning we woke up early, broke camp and flew off the Kahiltna Glacier. We are now enjoying a nice meal at the West Rib Pub. The group is doing fantastic and we all looking forward to a warm shower. All and all and incredible time with everyone. Thank you all for the fantastic time!!!! RMI Guide Andres Marin

Thunderstorms rolled into the Baksan Valley last night as we ate dinner, temporarily cutting the power, but again the morning broke clear, with a few scattered clouds dispersed across the sky. We packed up our bags and left our hotel, climbing onto the first tram of the morning with all of our gear for the mountain. Two tram rides and another rickety single seat chairlift later we reached the toe of the glacier. Perched along a fin of rock jutting uphill into the glacier sits the Garabashi Huts, also known as the Barrel Huts. Consisting of several massive fuel barrels retrofitted into bunk rooms and painted in the colors of the Russian flag, the collection is a bit odd looking compared to the alpine huts most of us are used to. But when the winds start to blow nothing could be more inviting up here. After setting in we headed out for a small acclimatization hike, climbing up the glacier a ways, getting ourselves back in the habit of walking on snow and giving our bodies good exposure to still higher elevations. Above us Elbrus' twin summits danced in and out of the clouds whirling around them. Returning to the huts for lunch, we watched the clouds descend down the mountain, growing ever darker and occasionally spitting rain on us as the afternoon progressed. But by early evening they once again dispersed and the skies have cleared, giving us gorgeous views across the Caucasus into Georgia, the peaks illuminated in evening light. Tomorrow we will head out on a more substantial acclimatization hike before returning to rest at the Barrels. We will check in tomorrow night.

With everyone in Mexico City, we met on the rooftop restaurant of the Majestic Hotel for our first breakfast together as a team. We discussed our strategies for acclimatization and getting up and down Ixta and Pico de Orizaba over coffee and desayuna. To start our trip we left Mexico City for the high altitude Olympic training ground turned resort of La Malintzi. Here we hiked higher until we traded timber for a misty ridgetop at 13,000 feet on the volcano La Malinche, named after Cortez`s wife and translator. We relaxed/acclimatized before heading back to our cabin for pre-dinner showers. Tonight we will rest up for our trip to Amecameca and the hut at La Jolla to start our ascent of Ixta, kept warm by our hut`s fire. Buenas Noches from Mexico, hope all are warm up north.

100% Summit Success on Mt. Baker! 

Our climbing team had originally set out to ascend Mt. Rainier, but due to unsafe route conditions above Ingraham Flats, they made the smart decision to pivot with us to Mt. Baker.

Led by RMI Guides Ray Holt and Annie Chapman, the team took on the Easton Glacier route—and it was absolutely worth it!

Every climber stood on the summit, rewarded with stunning views and the satisfaction of perseverance and adaptability. The team is now back at camp, resting, rehydrating, and preparing for tomorrow’s descent to the trailhead.

Huge congratulations to the entire team for their flexibility, determination, and summit success!

Today we left the comfort of Quito to start our travels toward the main objective of the trip, Cayambe.

While the trip is originally a Cotopaxi Express the team had to pivot to a new itinerary after Cotopaxi showed too many signs of activity for mountaineering. We're going to trust the scientists on this one and not go take a peek into the crater ourselves.

Today was another day of acclimatization. We climbed the hills outside of Otovalo to summit the second objective of the trip, Fuya Fuya. The weather treated us to cloudy, moody views that kept us the perfect temperature during our climb. While shorter in stature than Rucu Pinchincha it still serves as a great opportunity for acclimatization and sets us up well for Cayambe. Tonight, we enjoy our final night in town.

We ship off to the base of climb tomorrow. Wish us luck!

RMI Guides Dominic Cifelli, Seth Burns and Team

Sunday, May 30, 2021 - 9:36 pm PT

I woke to the sound of song birds chirping by our dining tent. That could only mean one thing, that the storm had broken and we’d likely get a nice day to move camp. We woke up at 5 am and we were walking by 8 am. The storm had put 18” of new snow down. Since there were no early risers to break trail, we took that on ourselves. The day was hot and included lots of deep snow. We pulled into 11,200’ Camp at 4 pm. Camp setup, dinner and bed was all the bandwidth we had. Tomorrow we will back carry to 9500’ to retrieve our cache of food and fuel. It’ll feel like a rest day compared the effort put forth today. Goodnight.

RMI Guide Mike King

We had a near perfect day to make our carry to Camp 1 (16,200'). Waking early to beat the heat, we bumped a load of food and equipment a few thousand feet higher on the mountain. This will allow us to move to Camp 1 with reasonable weight so that we aren't too spent by the time we get there. The team managed the carry well today and our plan is to patiently rest tomorrow and recover for our upcoming rotation up high. Another day to build our acclimatization so that when we move higher we are prepared for the effort to climb this beautiful mountain. RMI Guide Jake Beren & Team