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The Five Day Climb July 4 - 8 led by RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer & Ben Luedtke reached the summit of Mt. Rainier with 100% of their teams.  The teams enjoyed clear skies and warm temperatures and lots of great photo opportunities.

Nice work everyone and congratulations!

PC: Ben Luedtke & Pete Van Deventer

Howdy all,

After a somewhat fitful nights sleep accompanied by the barking of our new dog friend and the whineying of mules, the team awoke to some slightly threatening skies. Luckily we had the reprieve of our dome tent to allow for an easy morning breakfast and coffee. As if the coffee wasn't enough to wake us up we began the morning crossing the Vacas River to enter into the Relinchos Valley. The mules were hot on our tail as we began our gradual ascent to Plaza de Argentina Basecamp. Once gaining a high platuea we received our second view of Ameghino and Aconcagua. The stoke rose with the elevation. We were greeted warmly to Plaza de Argentina with some tasty and warm lentil soup, juice, dulce de leche and fresh fruit. The afternoon was spent taking in the panoramic views and lots of relaxing. After another delicious meal and some fine Mendoza malbec, the team, full, happy and tired, retreated to their tents. That's it for now, tune in next time!

RMI Guides Hannah, Ben, Dan and the team

Tuesday, May 28, 2019 - 6:09 PM PT We woke up early this morning. 5am to be exact. 14K Camp is full of eager climbers waiting, likely everybody else, for their shot at the summit. The problem with extended bad weather is that climbers stack up in the queue. Like a dam during spring runoff, eventually you have to open the flood gates to release the back up to prevent the dam from over flowing. Well, our theoretical opening of the flood gates manifests as a decent weather window for climbing. We braved the cold, got packed up, ate a quick breakfast and were on the move by 7:15am. Over two hours before the sun normally hits camp. About halfway up the fixed lines we started to receive a little filtered sun and fingers and toes began to finally thaw out. A quick glance back down the terrain we had just climbed confirmed our need for an early departure. The flood gates had opened. 50-75 people streamed out of camp in a solid single-file line. We felt pretty good about being so far ahead of the human onslaught. The West Buttress itself is easily the most aesthetic portion of the entire ascent. The buttress offers steep climbing, wild exposure and views of the Alaska Range and it's expansive blanket of tundra that unfolds to the East. The weather stayed quite pleasant for us as we ascended the ridge that would eventually lead us to our high camp at 17,000ft. Soon enough steep terrain and exposure led to the gentle slopes of the Upper Peters Glacier. We sauntered our way into camp. There is already a small village of erected tents hunkered down in a scoop of snow sculpted by the wind. We opted to travel a bit further and build camp where no one has yet. We've gotten quite efficient at the process and within a short time were all hunkered in warm sleeping bags as out of the elements. The weather at the moment is a bit cloudy with light snow showers and light winds. Not completely unpleasant but not perfect either. Tomorrow we will try and climb to the summit of Denali assuming that weather and conditions allow. The team is poised and ready, all we need now is to be allowed safe passage. We will wake up early again tomorrow morning, stick our heads out of the tent and hope we like what we see! Thanks for following along! RMI Guide Steve Gately

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 Expedition Skills Seminar - Winter reached 12,300 feet on Mt. Rainier before being dead-ended by a crevasse. Despite the crevasse, the team has been enjoying excellent weather on the upper mountain. The team will descend back to Camp Muir for the night where they will continue their skills training.

Hello again everyone. We're finally back in the cell and wifi zone! I'm not sure if the last few sat phone calls went through but here's a quick recap: Thursday night it snowed for a few hours before we woke for our Island Peak summit climb. Thankfully it was only a few inches and the weather cleared before we started climbing. However, it was just enough to obscure the trail and make our going a little slippery, not dangerous, just very slow and tiring. We climbed up a steep slope into a tricky rock gulley that led to the start of the glacier where we strapped on our crampons and pulled out our ice axes. The start of the glacier was very broken and again required our full attention and lots of stamina, then eased off before the final steep headwall. The last few hundred feet had us ascending fixed rope to the summit and was exhausting due to the thin air. We took a few photos and started rapelling back down to the glacier. All in all it took us eight hours to reach the summit and another five to get back to camp. Three of our six climbers were able to battle to the top and the others gave us as much support as they could. Today we hiked all the way back to Tengboche and are currently relaxing in a tea house and are very excited about hot showers tomorrow in Namche. RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

Mountain Guides can be a superstitious bunch. So as we did a little bit of training including rope travel, self arrest and cramponing in our second day of gorgeous weather. My superstitious side is coming out. Tomorrow is our summit day on Elbrus and we are knocking on wood that the weather stays beautiful. But if I may ask all of you (because this worked for me before), please leave a comment on this post wishing our team luck. The more posts we get from you the better the weather will be. And that means great photos and video to share with all of you when we get safely down. RMI Guide JJ Justman

The Four Day Summit Climb August 27 - 30 led by RMI Guide Seth Waterfall reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today! The teams were approaching the crater rim just after 7:00 a.m. PT. They reported clear skies above 7,500' with light winds. The teams will spend some time on top before starting their descent back to Camp Muir. They will return to Paradise later this afternoon. Congratulations to today's Summit Climb!

The Five Day climb led by RMI Guides Dominic Cifelli and George Hedreen successfully reached the summit early this morning via the Disappointment Cleaver route. Dominic reported moderate winds and firm route conditions, contributing to a smooth and efficient ascent.

Following their successful summit, the team returned to Camp Muir, where they will spend one final night before descending to Basecamp tomorrow.

Congratulations Team!

This mornings skies were a welcome sight after a few days of white. Clear skies also brought colder temps for us at Kahiltna Base Camp. It was not long before the clouds rolled back in but that did not stop the team from having some fun. We ventured to a crevasse field and gave folks a chance to see the inside of a the icy maw and climb out. Lots of laughs and pictures today around those cracks. Later in the afternoon we received word from K2 that they were launching the fleet to drop a team off and that we should be ready within the hour. That was a frantic hour indeed but the team got it done in short order. As soon as the dust settled we found out that the planes turned back so we set up a new camp downtown on the airstrip. Forecast is calling for more snow the next few days so we will see what the future holds. RMI Guide Leon Davis