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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

Friday, June 21st, 2013 Ahhhh a day of rest. We did not even move in our tents until the sun hit them at 9:30. We had a morning of slowly cooking pancakes for the group. We believe pancakes are the perfect acclimatization food. We volunteered to be guinea pigs for a medical experiment having to do with high altitude. The test involved having a series of heart rate and oxygen saturation measurements taken and then walk around a track for 6 minutes to see how those measurements change. It was not a competition, but let's just say our group crushed it! If the weather is nice tomorrow, our plan is to move some gear up to 17,000' Camp. On Denali, 60% of the time the weather is good all the time! RMI Guide Mike Haugen and RMI Summit Team 6

On The Map

Thursday, June 13, 2013 Today we are all contributing to the blog. Have had big winds once again and are fixing our kitchen tent and building more walls - getting a little stir crazy! Hope you all enjoy the words from each of us! Hi to my family, I love you all hope to give grandpa a hi five soon! Kiss to Bean. Love, Ty Hello to all my family and friends! Kisses to Amy, a big scratching behind the ears to Barley, Blue, and Miles. Thanks for all the positive wishes! -g Wendy, Taylor and Nathan. Love and miss you. I hope you feel my hugs and kisses at bedtime. Be home soon. Love Dad Dear Michelle, I love you and miss you and the girls so very much. Please give all of my love to A-Bear and K-Bear, and tell them daddy will be home soon. Also, pass along my love to my mom, dad, Clubbie and Chevy. Love, Justin. To my Hubby, I hope you're flying high this week and passing all your tests. I really really miss you right now. Give my love and lots of treats to the girls :) Until i get home i'll leave you with reflections of a week at 14,200. To quote the crew from BBT"It was a snowy nightmare from whence there's no return." Tiamo mi amore-Jess To my family and friends, thanks for all of the support, love and prayers. I am "living the dream" at 14K. The DeLorme transceiver is no longer working, thus no updates there. I love you, Matt! You are my light. I love you Mom, Dad, Bud and all my family. Stump, there was a C-17 overhead yesterday--your handiwork? ;) Dad, sadly there is no Denali branch of Subway, but I'm sure you can petition corporate headquarters as one of their most valuable customers. :) Bernard and Judy, the boots are fantastic and keeping my feet warm, thank you! I love you all and miss you all so much. -Robin Friends, family, countrymen, lend me your ear! The Denali wind gods have saddled us at 14000. The team is at the mercy of Mother Nature and patience is the name of the game. It also means my work schedule is a bit hosed. Team PCET don't count on me coming in next week! Poof - ha! To all loved ones we are sitting strong and doing well. Hope to see you soon. James. Hello to my dear family Mom Dad Sue Ryan Mia Ron Jodi Dannie Casey Nell Meg Ivy Maggie and awesome friends from frosty Denali! Thanks for all the comments and positive vibes sent! Love you and miss you!! All is good here - hoping our "out chilling" will soon end and we can move up the mtn in the am. Hope all is well with all you! Have I told you that I love and miss you? :) I do! Lori

On The Map

Hello from Tanzania! This is Seth along with the Kilimanjaro Team. Everyone has arrived on schedule and we have just enjoyed our first evening at the Dik Dik Hotel. The hotel staff is really great and the food they serve here is top notch, which was very welcoming after our long travels. Tomorrow we will take the first step towards the mountain by prepping our gear and packing. After that we all plan to head into the city of Arusha to experience the market there. We'll check in again tomorrow. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

After many days of going without much of a stop, we took a good rest day today. It started off wonderfully, with Caroline cooking up a good batch of bacon and powdered eggs - darn good down here in Antarctica. After that, there was much gear sorting, drying gloves and socks and other items in tents under the warm sun. And, for Ed, Cindy, David, and Ben, packing in anticipation of a Twin Otter coming to ferry them down to Union Glacier this afternoon. At 5:00, we finally heard the low-pitch whine of propellers coming over Vinson, and caught sight of the Otter flying in after picking up two scientists on the other side of the peak. A powdery landing on the glacier, and two Ski-Doo's were offloaded to make room for our team. Before long, the Otter was in flight again; Ed, Cindy, David, and Ben are back now at Union Glacier, awaiting an Ilyushin flight on to Punta Arenas. Peter, Seth, Caroline, Kent, and I are settling in, eager to begin the next phase of our Antarctic journey: ski. Tomorrow, we'll sniff around VBC a bit, ski some lines, get a feel for the snow, and scour our maps for less-tracked terrain for the days to come. Much fun awaits... -Jake Norton

Thursday, June 22, 2023 - 8:27pm

Yes! After experiencing days of snow and wind delay, the team was blessed with a sufficient weather window to depart the 11,000’ Camp and resume climbing. The objective for today was to cache food stores for future retrieval once the 14,000’ Camp is established. Morale was high as the team stepped off smartly after consuming an amazing breakfast of toasted bagels topped with cream cheese and bacon.

A smooth pace was set up on the significant incline of Motorcycle Hill.  The snow was not too deep for crampons. At the top, the team turned right and proceeded up Squirrel Hill, admiring the beauty of Father and Son Walland, the impressively sharp drop off of Peters Glacier.  Intermittent gusty winds had already exposed some patches down to the blue ice beneath, but our crampons, ice axes, and ropes kept everyone safe and secure. Next came the crossing of the Polo Fields where the snow was quite deep and powdery. Our guides elected to cache a bit short of Windy Corner today. Everyone unloaded the group and personal food for burial in the snow.

The reverse route going downhill was surprisingly quick and in no time the team was back in camp.  Hopes are high that we will have an opportunity to move up to 14,000’ Camp tomorrow and continue our acclimatization for the higher altitudes yet to come. It was a great day!

RMI Climber Rick Sturckow & Team

Waking up early this morning after our celebratory dinner last night could have been harder had we not had our safari to look forward to. Day one had us visiting Lake Manyara National Park, home of the elusive tree climbing lion. Well, no lion was seen ready to pounce upon our Landcruiser, but we enjoyed a spectacular first day. Even before getting off the highway we had giraffes and zebras run across the road right in front of us, miles from the park. Once in the park our drivers, Godson and Fabian, proved to be inexhaustible sources of information on everything from the flora and fauna of the region to the culture of the Maasai. And they have such sharp eyes! We were treated to wildlife sightings around every bend in the road, it seemed. The cute, curious, intelligent baboons were everywhere and some of the first animals encountered, but shortly after that we saw elephants, water buck, wildebeest, zebras, water buffalo, hippopotamus, impala, monkeys, and probably a dozen varieties of birds. Liz jokingly commented that she only climbed the mountain to do the safari, and that she really wanted to see an elephant. Well, her wishes came true as we saw perhaps a dozen elephants, some quite close up! Watching a hippo snap its monstrous jaw down (with a reportedly 6 ton force) was another highlight. But perhaps the ever present baboons provided the most amusement as they seemed to like to hang right by the roadside, so up close and personal sightings were common and way too entertaining. And now we're settled in to the Plantation Lodge, an over the top lodge converted from an old coffee plantation that is luxury and swankiness redefined. At least in my eyes. Dinner can best be described as 'haute cuisine' and a wine cellar and bar lie in a subterranean set of rooms one can peer into from a circular window set in the floor of the dining room above. Crazy! Ok, after our 'kick ass' day summiting Kili, we deserve this! Bon appetite. RMI Guide Brent Okita

It has been a whirlwind few hours for the team, but we are all safe and sound in Mendoza, about to enjoy the comfort of a hot shower, actual bed and a celebratory meal. These things are certainly fine, but it will be tough to beat the meat cooked by our friends the herreros under the stars. I guess we'll just have to take it as it comes. It sure has been a great trip with an awesome team. Thanks to the squad and everyone's people back home for letting them out for the holidays! RMI Guides Jake Beren, Leon Davis & Zeb Blais

Bill and Sara sure don't seem much affected by the altitude. They both came in to breakfast cheerful, well-rested and ready to get on with a fun "rest-day" schedule. It was a spotless bluesky morning and so we took advantage by going for a hike out the back door. Back door hikes in Pheriche can get one to incredible vistas in not very much time at all. We gained about two and a half thousand feet and marvled at the scenery. Cho Oyu (sixth highest mountain in the world), Makalu (fifth highest), and Lhotse (fourth highest) were expectedly grand, but so were Ama Dablam, Baruntse, Island Peak, Taowoche, Kang Tega, and Thamserku. We bumped into a number of friendly trekkers and we spied at least a half dozen hawk/eagle/vultures riding the thermals above us. All in all, it was a fine acclimatization hike and we were back down at the Himalayan Hotel for lunch. Our afternoon should be a relaxing one and an educational one as well. We will be attending the Himalayan Rescue Association's altitude lecture this afternoon... giving Sara good material for her high school science project and giving each of us a little more understanding of the challenges we'll face in the coming months. The HRA clinic here in Pheriche has always welcomed and enlightened our teams. Best, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

We launched for the north side of Volcan Llaima with overnight gear, optimism, and our fuel tanks filled to the brim with carne. Our send off from Malalcahuello was the asado of all asados: Chilean grass fed beef, homemade sausages, and lamb slow cooked over a wood fired grill masterfully by Sergio (our Chilean outfitter and owner of the lodge in Malalcahuello). The wind was steady and the views nonexistent as we toured up an expansive lava field that just five years ago was flowing red. Above the monkey puzzle trees the wind was whipping, and feeling energetic we opted for the storm camping experience. We carved tent platforms into the leeward side of a small rock outcrop and proceeded to build Alaska style wind walls around our camp. The next morning was frigid. The sun came out and as we packed up our gear for the summit ascent, we had the feeling that everything was lining up. Almost. The nice springlike snow surface we'd skinned up the day before was now a skating rink. Our ski crampons, even under full body weight, were not biting into the ice. This was not the type of frozen snow that softens throughout the day. About 600 vertical feet above camp it became apparent that the snow wasn't getting any better. Getting on the face above us - which Katy and I had learned the year before is deceptively enormous and quite steep at the top, was out of the question. Just climbing the 3,700' would require pitching out full rope lengths and building 40+ anchors. We ripped our skins and skied east coast style "packed powder" (very loud turns) 1,000' down to a small sub peak to the east. Views across the way of Sierra Nevada rising above the beautiful Lago Conguillio (a huge lake) began to the open up. We cramponed to the summit of our mini peak, skied down, and as we contoured back to camp, the decision not to go higher on Llaima was further reinforced. The winds ramped up, and visibility dropped to ping-pong ball status. We packed up camp and skied down out of the clouds. El Niño has had some influence on every one of our ski outings on this trip, whether providing powder turns in September, a deep snowpack and fantastic coverage... or a moist wind that turns a big beautiful face into a sheet of ice. We've had a blast every day of this trip, whether standing on summits, or touring in stormy weather. Overused statement of the trip, uttered multiple times at the end of every ski day: "Well that was an adventure." This is a truly amazing place to have skis on your feet. RMI Guide Tyler Reid