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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.

Both RMI Forbidden Peak teams reached the summit yesterday! After a leisurely breakfast, they hiked out to the trailhead, sorted gear and bid farewell. A glorious four-day program in the North Cascades! RMI Guides Jake Beren and Eric Frank

Wednesday, June 27, 2024 - 9:58 pm PT

Still in a holding pattern at 17,000 ft. There were obvious strong winds blowing on our climbing route first thing today. We watched and waited for calming.  It did die down a little at midday -too late for climbing- but then the winds roared back to life in the afternoon.  We napped, read and generally passed the time.  We can walk about a hundred feet from camp to a tremendous view of half of Alaska. The team is hanging in and hoping for a shot.

Best,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Thursday, July 1, 2021 - 3:07 pm PT

We enjoyed a long, restful night of sleep at 14,000' Camp, with (relatively) warm temperatures. The agenda for today includes drying out boots in the sun, charging batteries with solar panels, resting, reading, and eating.

It's sunny and warm here in camp, but there's a nasty lenticular cloud on the summit, indicating high winds aloft. The latest weather forecast is calling for a storm affecting the mountain an lasting into Saturday. We're all set to weather the weather. And our hope is to get a good, three day window in which to have a summit bid. We'll be in touch again tomorrow with the latest. Now back to reading...

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Just a quick note that the Bolivia team is back in La Paz on a rest day. We had an amazing climb on Huayna Potosi yesterday, and look forward to leaving for Sajama tomorrow morning. Today we are relaxing, buying souvenirs and reorganizing from the last week of constant travel. RMI Guide Eric Frank

The snow began falling about the time we got into our sleeping bags last night. It didn't quit. When we poked heads out for a look-see around 3:30 AM, it was still piling up pretty good, and so there wasn't any consideration given for going ahead with the icefall plan for the day. Back to bed and wait and see, was the plan. It had snowed about a foot by breakfast. The gang assembled and we spent the day biding our time. We didn't have great conditions for walking with powder snow over uneven rock and ice. The clouds and flurries hung in all day. We could hear and occasionally see puja ceremonies going on at the camps around us. All-in-all it was a quiet day of waiting. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

The Mount Rainier Summit Climbs led by Casey Grom and Lindsay Mann are on the summit! They reported clear skies above, cloud deck at 7,000’, and light winds. Since they just crested the crater rim at 7:00 a.m., they are enjoying the views and crossing over to the true summit, Columbia Crest, before beginning their descent.

Lying in the tent, legs sore but oddly relaxed, it seems hard to believe that we climbed Aconcagua today. This morning we launched before dawn, making our way higher and higher into the troposphere as the rising sun cast a shadow of our mountain deep into the Andes. Everyone on the team got a chance to test their limits today and I'm proud of everyone's effort. It takes a few weeks to get to where you can try to stand on top and everyone's hard work really paid off with a safe day in the mountains. Good work team and thanks to all the wonderful people back home for their support. RMI Guide Jake Beren

On The Map

Just as we hoped, we awoke to a beautiful morning here at high camp. After a quick breakfast we started climbing just after 4am. The waning moon cast enough of a glow we could follow the trail without lights for certain portions and the southern cross hung above Aconcagua's summit pyramid. We climbed well through the darkness, reaching ~20,500' just as the glow in the eastern sky finally erupted into sunrise. The brief sun was welcome as we passed into the shadows on the western side of the summit massif. Daybreak also brought some consistent winds which chilled us to the bone, despite the multiple layers of down and gore tex we wore while climbed. We soon passed the forsaken Independencia Hut, now not much more that a few 2x4s echoing the shape of an A frame and crested the aptly named Windy Ridge at 21,000'. From here we began traversing the giant scree slope with bowling ball sized rocks sitting right at the angle of repose known as the Gran Acarero. The path started gently but soon began climbing steeply through the loose stones, occasionally covered in stretches of icy snow that required crampons to cross. The climbing became very challenging, steep loose rocks and ice patches slowed our progress and after several hours our legs began to tire. By midday we reached 21,700' at the base of the final couloir to the summit ridge. It was getting later in the day than we hoped and the challenging terrain behind us took more energy than we planned. We decided to call that our high point, a bit dismayed but still thrilled to have reached 21,700', a good stretch higher than any point in North America. After catching our breaths and enjoying the views, we retraced our path back to high camp, arriving in the early evening. We're tired, but certainly not disappointed as the expedition provided everything we'd hoped. After a much deserved nights rest we will descend back to Base Camp tomorrow. RMI Guide Linden Mallory

Our Four Day Summit Climb Teams led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Solveig Waterfall reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 6:45am this morning. The teams reported 35 mph winds, and good route conditions. They will spend some time on the summit before starting their descent back to Camp Muir. Congratulations to today's teams!