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Coffee and Quesadillas is what rest days are all about! This is team #1 here on Aconcagua at Camp 1 (16,500’). After our carry yesterday the team definitely earned a day to acclimatize, rest, and recover after a good long day’s work. Everyone is doing just fantastic. We’re continually eating up quesadillas, drinking coffee, telling stories, and just having a good time. The weather is pretty decent a little bit of wind. It looks like there might be a bit of a change, but overall not too bad. So tomorrow our plan is to wake up early, break camp, and then move to Camp 2 at 18,000’. Everyone wants to say hello to friends and family back home and thanks for following along. We will touch base with you again and let you know how our move to a new altitude at Camp 2 on Aconcagua goes. Take care everyone! Ciao from Argentina, RMI Guide JJ Justman & Team

Hello from Mexico City, Tonight the team arrived, all with the same number of bags they left the states with and ready to go. We had a great intro dinner at a classic Centro Historico restaurant and retired to our rooms to get a good night's sleep before leaving the city tomorrow. Off to a good start down here and we'll check in from La Malinche tomorrow. RMI Guide Jake Beren

The final four just topped out on Aconcagua! 

Ben Luedtke reported that it took the team 7 hours 20 minutes to reach the summit. The winds were blowing at 35 mph and it was cold.

They will report more on their summit day when they return to High Camp.

Congratulations Team! 

The team had a very nice day here on Kilimanjaro, waking to beautiful clear skies and hiking in sunshine all day. We started with a 6:30 wake up and packing before moving into our dining tent for a nice breakfast with porridge, scrambled eggs, toast, bacon fresh fruit and even fresh dark roast Tanzanian coffee. We hit the trail around 9 am and slowly made our way up the rocky trail with incredible views of Kili above. After about five hours we reached our next camp that sits on the Shira Plateau, which is one of the three dormant volcanoes that make up Kili. A lot of wet soggy cloths and gear is now bone dry, getting us back into great shape for our next few days on the trail. All is well at 12,500'. RMI Guide Mark Tucker

On The Map

All is well here on the trek! Today we left Pheriche and hiked further up valley to Lobuche. We slowly made our way along the winding path that we share with other trekkers, porters heavily laden with loads bound for Base camp, and yaks who aren't as keen to share the trail. We made good time and enjoyed the astounding views before reaching camp for the night. In the afternoon we took a short walk to an overlook of the Khumbu glacier where we could just make out Everest Base Camp far in the distance. Everyone is currently relaxing in our tea house enjoying the warmth of the fire. There's been lots of cribbage and plenty of good conversation with our team and other trekkers on the same journey as us. RMI Guide Casey Grom

On The Map

The Four Day Summit Climbs August 13 - 16, 2013 led by RMI Guides BIlly Nugent and Lindsay Mann reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The teams delayed their start from Camp Muir due to high winds but were fortunate that the winds decreased enough to allow them to climb. They began their descent from the crater rim shortly after 9 am PT. The teams will return to Camp Muir for a short break before continuing down to Paradise. The Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz enjoyed of week of training on Mt. Rainier. They spent their final night on the mountain last night. This morning they broke camp and started down to Paradise. Congratulations to today's summit climbers! We look forward to seeing all teams at Ashford BaseCamp this afternoon.

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 RMI blog followers. I wish we had something really really exciting to report. I guess the biggest thing is the entire team smells like peppermint. You see, our Dr. Bronners soap is made with organic peppermint, good for the environment. With the winds picking up we all took showers and broke down our Cabela's shower tent. With team fresh and clean we spent the rest of the day triple checking our food and gear that we will carry up the mountain. Our route on Aconcagua will utilize three camps. So you can imagine, we need a good amount of food, fuel and personal gear. So tomorrow we begin the process of acclimatizing and caching gear higher up the mountain. On a health note, the entire team has high oxygen saturation levels, which is fantastic. We are all acclimatizing very well. The forecast is for stronger winds, which I like...you might as well get the bad weather out of the way down low. Stay tuned and we will let all of you know how our carry to 16,200 feet goes. For now, this is JJ saying ciao from 14,000'. RMI Guide JJ Justman

Summit Success!
Our entire team reached the top of South Twin Sister with big smiles and perfect weather. It was a stunning day of climbing, and everyone crushed it! We made it back late last night, safe and sound, and spirits are high.

Now we’re gearing up for our next adventure: ice climbing on the lower Coleman Deming Glacier. Conditions look promising, and we’re excited to get back out there.

— RMI Guide Ben Luedtke & Team

Sunday, May 28, 2023 - 8:50 pm PT

Hello readers,

Today we woke to descent weather for our carry. It was cold and crisp with clouds flowing here and there. We took off still in the shadows. In not too long we were in the sun with a breeze. We were one of the first people to leave camp and get to the fixed lines. They were icy but with great steps that made it feel secure. This is a steep portion of the mountain and the team gave it their all. After a several hours we were at the top of the fixed lines. There we decided to cache our gear and use the rest of our energy to get down safely. The clouds finally rolled fully in and snow began to fall. We made it back to camp surrounded by white. It has been a long hard day and we are all ready for some rest and that's exactly what we will do tomorrow.

So good night all,

RMI Guides Hannah Smith, Devin Guffey, Erika Birkeland & Team