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Hello!

Today we had another great day exploring Cusco city. We started at the Temple of the Sun and then headed above the city to Sacsayhuamán! The quality of the stone work tells you the importance of a site and it was exquisite.

After, we headed back down into Cusco proper where there was a huge parade happening in the town square. Music, dancing and lots of colors! A sight to see. We got to explore one of the main cathedrals in the city square before lunch.

We had the afternoon to pack and do some last minute shopping before we hit the trail tomorrow.

We’re all headed to bed for a very early wake up and very much looking forward to starting our trek.

RMI Guide Jess and the Machu Picchu Crew

After our unsuccessful attempt climbing Radio Tower due avalanche conditions, we spent our last day hiking to the first camp on Denali. We all had the opportunity to pull sleds and go for a long glacier hike. The group enjoyed the views and exercise that took to get there. We finished our day climbing up Heartbreak Hill back to Denali Base Camp. All and all a fantastic day. Tomorrow we will be packing our camp and be flying at noon back to Talkeetna. RMI Guide Andres Marin

Our Four Day Summit Climb Team led by RMI Guide Brent Okita reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. Brent radioed early this morning and reported high clouds with hail and winds at about 25mph. The team spent about 15 minutes on the crater rim before starting their descent and are now en route to Camp Muir. Congratulations to today's teams!

The Four Day Summit Climb August 29 - 1 September led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Pete Van Deventer reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. The teams reported cold temperatures with clear skies and moderate winds during their climb. They will return to Camp Muir and continue their descent to Paradise later this afternoon. Congratulations to today's Summit Climb Teams!

Today's Mt. Rainier summit climb, led by Brent Okita and JT Schmitt, was unable to go beyond Camp Muir due to blizzard conditions. High winds were reported through the night gusting 80 mph. The team is currently on their descent from Camp Muir and will be at Rainier Basecamp early this afternoon.

June 6, 2014 - 11:30 pm PT 70 years ago there was a landing much different than ours in a far away land. We are grateful for those past sacrifices. Our landing was quite pleasant, leaving Talkeetna early and spending the morning packing up to head down the the Main Fork of the Kahiltna and make that crucial right turn towards Denali. The team did well and we made camp at the base of Ski Hill under clearing skies, alpenglow of the high mountains and a just past halt moon. Nice way to start it off. After setting up shop, the crew is hunkered down for some well earned rest and if the weather smiles on us again, we'll go higher tomorrow. RMI Guide Jake Beren

On The Map

The RMI Everest climbing team reached Pheriche today. Our last evening and morning down in the trees of Deboche went well enough and everybody was feeling strong and in good spirits this morning. We set out in bright sunshine with a big blue sky at 8:30 AM. Yesterday, in traveling the same trail to reach Pangboche we ended up in a huge yak traffic jam where a steel truss bridge had recently collapsed into the river and a detour needed to be negotiated. Today, the yaks were elsewhere and the trail was blissfully quiet. We made pretty good time, cruising along above the North bank of the Imja Khosi while steadily gaining altitude. The trees were pretty much played out a little above Pangboche at perhaps 13,500 ft and the character of the terrain changed. We took several short breaks alongside the trail and arrived by noon at Pheriche at 14,000 ft. Our tea house for the night (and tomorrow night as well) is quite popular, "modern" and spacious... a bit of a contrast from the more low key and traditional place we stayed in at Deboche. There are at least 75 other people sharing the dining hall and lodge, some are climbers and guides that we know from other mountains, some are trekkers, many are climbing sherpas. We were all happy to be sitting around a warm stove, indoors, as the clouds rolled in and it got nasty and cold in the late afternoon. It is far too many people for the capacity of the WiFi system, but we are plenty happy to be connected again at any speed. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

Feliz Navidad from Mendoza! Yesterday was a whirlwind day for our team. We woke up at high camp after a much needed night's sleep. Still tired from our push the day before, it was an effort to haul ourselves out of the sleeping bags and begin packing up - despite the call of the little luxuries found at lower altitudes. A round of coffee helped motivate us (Via tastes amazing at 19,000'+!!) and we soon had our pack loaded up and began walking downhill. Descending all the way to Base Camp put into perspective the distances and elevations we covered over the past week. It was a long walk down the sides of Aconcagua and we were more than relieved to finally hit flat ground when we stepped into Base Camp. We dropped our packs and sought out shade underneath the tents, along with some deliciously cold instant orange juice! We were fortunate to spend only a few hours at Base Camp before catching a ride in helicopter out to the trailhead. Within a few minutes we were bound for Mendoza as the sun was setting over the Andes. We reached Mendoza well after dark but town was buzzing with Christmas Eve festivities. The courtyard of a church just down from our street was filled with practitioners sharing a meal beneath strings of lights and decorations, families strolling through the main square, and palm trees wrapped in Christmas lights. After well-earned showers, we collapsed into our beds and promptly fell asleep, relishing the feel of sheets and pillows! This morning we took full advantage of the breakfast buffet before Tom and Thomas left for the airport. It was a wonderful Christmas morning and we enjoyed all of the little things like cotton t-shirts, fresh fruit, and warm sunshine. It's always a strange experience to step off of a mountain as big as Aconcagua back into the hustle of life in town, but a pleasant one. The expedition over the past few weeks was a true adventure and we're looking forward to heading home to share more stories. RMI Guide Linden Mallory

Day 2 greeted us with clear skies and beautiful views of the upper mountain. The day starts with "morning tea" delivered to our tents at 6:30 followed by a medium tub of warm washing water. The team did great getting ready and we made it out of camp right at 8 am. Today is one of the shorter legs being just under three miles all total, however we ascended a little over 2,000' getting to camp. We stopped about half way for the nice sit-down lunch that our staff had ran ahead and prepared. Clearly we are being spoiled! But this is vacation after all. It took a little over six hours to get to Camp 2. Its called Shira Camp because it sits atop the massive Shira Plateau at just over 12,200' and overlooks the Great Rift Valley below. Everyone is doing well and are looking forward to a good night's sleep. Hakuna matata! RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

On The Map

This is Gabi and the RMI Aconcagua expedition checking in from Camp 3 (19600'). This morning we started at Camp 2 with an early breakfast. We started our ascent at 10:20 am and after 3 hours and 20 minutes of hard work we arrived at our high camp. The weather this morning was awesome, no wind and warm temperatures (well, as warm as it could get at 18,000'). During the ascent clouds moved in and a cold breeze cooled us. At our arrival to Camp 3 a little bit of weather added some spice to our day. It snowed half a inch, but for a good 15 minutes it looked like it was going to keep snowing all night. Current conditions are better. It is still cloudy, but it has stopped snowing and it looks like we are going to have a clear night. Our plan is to wake up early tomorrow morning (sometime between 3 and 5 am) and we will check the weather. If the weather is as the forecast is calling, we'll have breakfast and start our summit attempt ! Everybody is very excited for tomorrow and the stokemeter is very high (8) at Camp 3! We'll be in touch tomorrow. Cheers, RMI Guide Gabriel Barral and the Aconcagua expedition