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The expedition officially kicked off Sunday afternoon with the arrival of Jon and Penn in Punta Arenas. After dozens of hours of flights, connections, luggage carts, and check-in counters, it was a huge relief to see all of our gear safely back in our hands here in Chile. We've spent the past two days completing the final preparation for the trip: packing and repacking our gear, chasing down the final but crucial odds and ends (fresh cheese & coffee!) that we need to feel fully outfitted, all the while keeping a careful eye toward the weather forecast for the coming days. With our bags fully packed, we checked in with our logistics partner ALE late this morning and weighed the some 300 pounds of food, supplies, climbing and ski gear into a somewhat manageable stack of duffels and ski bags. Once tagged and sorted, we sent them off to the airport to be loaded onto the plane to be ready at a moment's notice for the flight into Antarctica. It feels great to have the wheels in motion after so many months of preparation. The fickle Patagonian weather was still holding clear so with our gear in order and facing the luxury of an unstructured afternoon, we caught a ride to the base of Cerro Mirador, the local ski area that sits above town, to shake out the travel from our legs. The spindly but dense trees along the hillside provided just enough protection from the whipping wind to keep us warm as we climbed. Near the summit the vegetation thinned and the full gale of the normal afternoon Patagonian winds swept around us, shaking the towers and brightly painted chairs of the chairlift where we ended. The gusts were strong enough to push us from out stances every now and again but the views down over Punta Arenas and across the Straits of Magellan toward Tierra del Fuego - and eventually Antarctica - kept us focused. After a few minutes of gazing out across the whitecaps far below, we retreated down through the woods and made our way back to town by mid-afternoon. In the evening we joined up with Dave's team and headed over to ALE's pre-flight briefing. After running through the ins/outs of flight logistics, what to expect when disembarking on an ice runway, and how to handle passport control when heading to Antarctica, our ALE coordinator gave us the news we've been waiting for the past few days: the forecast summary and planned flight schedule. Typically the conditions and forecast are reviewed every morning and periodically throughout the day before making the decision whether to fly or not. In the next 24 hours, however, the ALE team is feeling so optimistic about the weather that they went ahead and gave us the thumbs up to fly tomorrow morning. We are crossing the Drake Passage to Antarctica so we're prepared for the best laid plans to go awry, but we're all thrilled to hopefully being on the ice by midday tomorrow. We're back at the hotel now wrapping some final loose ends and heading to bed shortly before our early departure for the airport and into the interior of Antarctica tomorrow. RMI Guide Linden Mallory & Team

Hey, this is JJ and Leah up here at High Camp 19,600' finishing up the hot drinks and breakfast for our team. It's about 4:30 in the morning, a little bit of wind today but it's looking like it's going to be a nice day to climb Aconcagua. So the team is up and at 'em, getting ready for our summit attempt. Wish us luck! And hopefully we will have some great news for you a little later on today. We'll touch base hopefully from the top of South American's highest mountain. Take care, JJ Justman

On The Map

The last Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir Team of our 2013 Rainier climbing season reached the Summit of Mt. Rainier at about 2:00pm yesterday. RMI Guides Casey Grom and Elias deAndres Martos reported a blue bird day with cold temperatures and fresh snow on the route. The team will spend the morning at Camp Muir finishing up their mountaineering skills training before heading back to RMI Basecamp this afternoon. Congratulations Team!

Our Four Day Summit Climb Teams led by RMI Guides Tyler Reid and Garrett Stevens were roped up and ready to go early this morning but the ensuing lightening storm and thunder showers kept the teams at Camp Muir. They plan on leaving Camp Muir at about 8 a.m. this morning and will make their way back to RMI Basecamp early this afternoon. Congratulations to today's teams.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013 We are getting beautiful weather day after beautiful weather day! We retrieved our cache from 10,000ft. We are now set to bring a load up to around 14,000ft. This will be great for our acclimatization since it fits into the climb high and sleep low model. The team has really been doing a great job of taking care of themselves. We are doing a lot of sport eating and drinking as we sit around camp. I am usually a hydration nag, but this crew is on top of it! Stay Classy North America! RMI Guide Mike Haugen

On The Map

Yesterday's carry to 14,000' left many members of the team knackered, so today is a very relaxing rest day in our well-appointed camp at 11,000'. A leisurely morning was the main agenda, with coffee, bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon on the breakfast menu. A pan of hash browns and cheese is on deck for the afternoon snack. The posh house, our group meeting location, kitchen, and dining room is in heavy use today, with its many panel seams radiating out from the center pole like the legs of an octopus. Under its protective canopy we've been solving the various problems of the world and making sure we stay hydrated. Team members drift in and out, while conversation and laughter drifts across camp. Fortunately the light snow we have had the past couple of days is tapering off, and the sun is working to dry out our moist sleeping bags and tents. We are conserving our energy for tomorrow's move to 14K camp, which will put us over the halfway mark and in good position for the higher reaches of the mountain. Climbing a mountain like Denali is a long process, and taking time to get to know one another is a big part of that. Today's rest is allowing the team to strengthen our group dynamic, and get to know each other more intimately. What started as a group of strangers more than a week ago is quickly morphing into a solid team of friends, ready to tackle the rest of the "Great One." But we'll leave the hard work for tomorrow, and enjoy the down time today. Stay tuned for more! Dan, Robin, Jess, James, Lori, Justin, Tyler and Garrett

On The Map

Monday, May 27, 2013 We are resting today! Nothing much to report but a trip to the 6,000' drop into the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna known as the "Edge of the World" where we took some photos. Otherwise we relaxed and enjoyed the perfect weather on our first full day rest of the entire expedition. The team is doing well and excited for the big push ahead! We are hoping to move to high camp tomorrow and make a summit attempt soon thereafter! Ciao from 14k, RMI Guide Billy Nugent Sunday, May 26, 2013 We had a big day today and per the norm our team crushed it. We set out from 14 camp around 10:30 this morning hoping to get a cache of food, fuel, and gear in place for our high camp at 17,200'. Most teams are content caching somewhere along the ridgeline of the West Buttress and picking up the needed supplies on their way by during the move to 17 camp. Our crew was strong enough to climb all the way up the buttress and place our cache right in the middle of high camp. This will play to our advantage on the move day, enabling us to travel with lighter loads thus conserving energy for our summit push. The day ended up being one of our longest and hardest yet at around 8.5 hours round trip but will serve as good training for the harder and longer days to come. Anyway, we are back in camp relaxing in the evening sun and looking forward to tomorrow's well-earned rest day. All for now, Billy

On The Map

Greetings from beautiful Kahiltna Base Camp! Despite breezy conditions this morning the guys at K2 Aviation were able to get us on the glacier later this morning. We spent the rest of the afternoon setting up a simple camp and getting everything ready to head out on the route early tomorrow morning. The views on the flight in were spectacular as always but this time especially so because there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The team has been hanging out and soaking in the immensity of our new environs. We'll check in tomorrow from our next camp around 7,800' or so. Ciao for now, RMI Guide Billy Nugent

On The Map

South Col & Camp 2

May 25, 2010 - 1:47 a.m. PST / 2:30 p.m. UTC 26,500 ft./21,000 ft Mark Tucker at Basecamp: It continues to be a nice day and the team is doing well. Upon reaching the Sol Col (26,500') three team members have decided to call it a day. They will spend the afternoon resting and rehydrating before making an early departure tomorrow morning. The rest of the team has decided to continue their descent to sleep in the thick air of Camp Two at 21,000'. We expect to see everyone at Basecamp tomorrow.

South Col

May 24, 2010 - 11:15 p.m. PST / May 25, 2010 12:00 p.m. UTC 26,500 ft.

Mark Tucker at Basecamp: Everybody is at the South Col with all fingers and toes. At these kinds of altitudes, it is just about impossible to keep hydrated. Breathing pure, non-humidified oxygen, along with a limited supply of fluids in your pack, let alone finding time to consume it...you get the picture. It's all about recovery. First thing you want to do is collapse in the nearest tent, but you need to take care of yourself, the further behind you get the tougher to catch up. We have two support Sherpa at the Col, so all members are greeted with a cup of juice upon arrival. These first couple of hours will be critical if our guys will make the push down to C2 or spend another night at the Col. We have plenty of oxygen at the Col to support another night, but the lower the better. By 2:00 pm they will decide to stay or go. We will let ya know...

1:00 p.m. PDT/ 1:45 a.m. Nepal Time Hi, this is Michael Brown calling from the South Col of Mount Everest. It's a very blustery snowy night and we've made a decision to wait another day so we'll be here 24 hours more. Been monitoring the weather and it looks like we might have a little bit more wind tomorrow; but, possibly less snow because at the moment it's snowing and there's clouds all the way over the summit. Chances are we would be climbing all the way up in the snow and back down again in the snow so not really a very pleasant day for climbing. Give it 24 hours and hopefully we have a better result tomorrow. Thanks for standing by and we'll stay in touch, we'll keep calling and letting you know what's happening. Take care. 12:25 p.m. PDT/ 1:10 a.m. Nepal Time Our group has continued to evaluate the weather and has now decided to postpone their summit attempt until tomorrow. Spirits remain high and everyone is hoping that the weather looks better tomorrow. 10:15 a.m. PDT/ 11:00 p.m. Nepal Time We just heard from our team at Camp Four. They have been watching the weather and have decided to hold tight for a little while and hope for clearer skies. We will let you know when they depart Camp Four. 6:10 a.m.PDT/ 6:55 p.m. Nepal Time A quick update from Mark Tucker at Basecamp says that the summit team is currently at Camp 4. Everyone is doing well. They have had dinner and hot drinks and are heading for their tents for some sleep before they begin their summit attempt. We wish them good luck!