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On the third day of our expedition we woke early and climbed reluctantly from the warmth of our sleeping bags. Today, we would leave the Vacas valley and climb steadily over 3000 feet through the Relinchos valley to Plaza Argentina, and home for the next three days. The increase in elevation brought some much needed relief from the heat as the temperature dropped with every foot gained. The team traveled together in good spirits under blue skies and marveled at the scale of their surroundings. Early in the afternoon, tired and dust covered, we found ourselves in the small city that is Aconcagua Basecamp. After three days of wandering through the high desert of the Andes, the team welcomed the comforts of the camp with open arms. Tomorrow we have a well earned rest day to lounge and do a bit of packing to prepare for the upper mountain. The team is in good spirits, and despite being tired from the three day trek, are eager to move higher up the mountain. We can only hope the good weather continues and that the mountain allows us the opportunity to climb. 

RMI Guide Nick Scott

Namaste everyone. This morning we left our tea house in Phakding and headed up this stunning valley toward Namche Bazaar, which is the largest village in this famous valley. We hit the trail around 8:30 along with quite a few other trekkers. Everyone did really well on the hike, and no one seemed to mind pausing often for the endless mules and Zokes (cross between a Yak and a cow) carrying loads headed up valley and to basecamp as we made our way down, but mostly up, this rocky trail. It was reasonably busy on the route with trekkers and climbers, but the traffic seem to flow pretty smoothly. The team crossed a number of high suspension bridges without a problem, but I did notice no one stopped in the middle to take photos. Overall it was a really enjoyable day as we climbed up to just over 11,200' where Namche sits. It was sunny and beautiful all day and we even managed to spot mighty Everest off in the distance. RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

On The Map

We will spend the day taking showers in our Cabelas shower tent, ordering pizzas and perfecting the art of chillaxing. Finally, the sun is out in full effect so we are also charging phones and iPads. Tonight will be a marathon session of The Wire. Today's rest really isn't needed. Our team is doing great! However, at this altitude we can recover back to 110% before we move to Camp 1 at 16,600' tomorrow. Stay tuned and please keep posting comments! The team appreciates it. RMI Guide JJ Justman

On The Map

Hello all. It was a beautiful day here on Kilimanjaro today. Clear skies and relatively warm weather made for an enjoyable day. The team easily climbed the 1,000-foot high and intimidating Barranco Wall on our way to camp today. We made our way via a series of broken ledges and small steps and we were in awe of how easily the porters climbed this wall while still balancing their loads on their heads. We are currently resting at Karanga Camp, which sits above the great Karanga Valley and has views of the towns far below. Everyone is doing well and we are in good spirits! RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

On The Map

Congratulations to the Four Day Summit Climb team led by Adam Knoff! They reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning! The team left Camp Muir with clear and pleasant weather. As the climb progressed a front moved in and the team experienced some light snowfall and 10 mph winds. They spent some time on the summit and began their descent at 9:15 a.m.

After three long days of climbing we are back at 14 Camp with the summit of Mt. McKinley under our belts. We couldn't believe our luck when we woke up at 17 Camp to absolutely beautiful weather so we set out on our summit bid mid morning, having waited a bit for the sun to warm everything up. Nevertheless, it was still cold as we climbed the long traverse out of camp to Denali Pass at 18,500'. At the Pass a light but cold wind was blowing, so we kept our break short before continuing upwards. As soon as we climbed a few hundred vertical feet above the pass we escaped the wind that was funneling through there and it became great climbing. We made our way upwards, passing a few rock outcroppings before cresting into a broadd plateau called the Football Field (19,500') that sits below the final push to the summit. The weather remained perfect and the team strong so we set out, climbing the slopes to the summit ridge and then traversing the wildly corniced ridgeline to the summit. A moderate wind was blowing out of the southeast, which we had been protected from up till that point, but as we climbed along the ridge it blew plumes of powder snow around us - making for cold going. Finally we skirted the last cornice and climbed the final feet to the summit. It was beautiful from the top, with views in all directions. After celebrating and soaking in thhe moment for a bit, we turned around and descended back to hig camp. The winds picked up as we descended but otherwise everyone climbed well, making it back to camp in the late evening. This morning the wind continued to blow down through Denali Pass and into camp - not a great day to go for the top. We packed up camp and descended back down the West Buttress and down the fixed lines. It was smooth going but our legs felt the summit day yesterday, so we were all pleased to reach 14 Camp and take our packs off. Now are sights are set on getting back to Base Camp so we can fly back to Talkeetna and then head home. We are spending the night here at 14 Camp before descending back to our first camp at 7800' at the head of the lower Kahiltna Glacier tomorrow. We plan to set up camp there for the evening and then wake up in the middle of the night to cross the lower glacier when things are nice and frozen and the snow bridges across the crevasses are strongest, hopefully arriving at Base Camp Sunday morning and flying out later that day. We'll need the weather to continue to cooperate but we're all feeling optimistic. We'll check in tomorrow from 7,800'. Linden

Hello again everyone. All is still well here in the Khumbu as the team members made our way back into Namche. It was a busy day on the trail with climbers, trekkers, yaks, and porters all bound uphill to basecamp. We slowly made our way through the maze of traffic and enjoyed one last good view of Everest. Along the way we ran into several old friends from my past trips and stopped to wish everyone good luck. Tomorrow we'll be moving out early on our final leg of the journey back to Lukla. So please keep you fingers crossed we have good weather and can make our flight back to Kathmandu the following morning. RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

Hello from Mweka Camp on Kilimanjaro! Horizontal in the tent is the place to be. We had a nice 15 hour stroll today and reached the summit of Kilimanjaro. We must be crazy huh? The reward in the end makes it all worth it and then some. We descended to Mweka Camp, 10,000', to our final camp and last night on the mountain. We shared another fine dinner and enjoyed each other's company until folks were starting to fall asleep in their chairs. Other than some sore muscles, the whole team is doing great. The climb went so well that I better warn all of you back home that this crew is ready for more. In the morning we will take a short 3 hour to the Mweka gate where our ride will be waiting to transfer us back to the Dik Dik resort. It is just starting to rain on the tent right now, but we are tucked in warm and dry until morning. RMI Guide Mark Tucker & Team

Saturday, June 15th, 2013 Big day here on Denali. A big congrats to Tyler Jones, Garrett Stevens and crew for a job well done going to the top! We didn't lounge around ourselves and made an early bid for our cache at Washburn's Thumb. The team handled the fixes lines very well and we made great time up to 16,400 feet under perfect climbing conditions. It was a great day to enjoy the views and we relaxed up high before hitting the sauna on our way down. It was HOT and we were sure glad to be on our way back to camp by the time the temperatures peaked. Naps followed our work day and we are tentatively optimistic that we will be able to move higher tomorrow and get in position to put all the hard work and experience to the test in the next few days. Keep some fingers crossed for us friends, we're gonna need some good weather for a few days. Over and out. RMI Guide Jake Beren

On The Map

Greetings from Tanzania, The team has gathered at the Dik Dik Hotel in Tanzania. Sometimes the toughest part about starting a trip like this is getting out of town and sitting on a plane for such long time periods. Now that those things are behind us we can begin to focus on our adventure. We enjoyed a beautiful day at the Dik Dik Hotel mostly napping, resting and eating then had to do a little work to get ready for our climb of Kilimanjaro. We went through a thorough gear check and discussed how to pack our bag and packs for the mountain. A team meeting to discuss our plans for the next few days and coordinating with our mountain staff to assure all our gear is packed, weighed and ready to go. This is the first trip to Africa for all of our team members and they are fired up for the climb which begins tomorrow. We have planned for an early breakfast and then will make the 90 minute drive to the Machame Gate, our entrance to Kilimanjaro National Park. We start our climb with a 6 to 7 hour hike to our first mountain camp, Machame Camp. We will send updates throughout our climb and hope you will follow along. Everyone is excited to get started! Uusiku mwema (good night), RMI Guide Mark Tucker