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Namaste everyone.
This morning we left our tea house in Phakding and headed up the valley toward Namche Bazaar, which is the central village in this famous valley. We hit the trail just before 8 am along with a few other trekkers. Everyone did really well on the hike, and no one seemed to mind pausing often for the endless mules and Zopkyo’s (cross between a Yak and a cow) carrying loads headed up valley and basecamp as we made our way up the trail. It was moderately busy on the route with trekkers and porters alike, but thankfully the traffic seemed to flow pretty smoothly.
The team crossed a number of high suspension bridges without a problem, and thankfully it was a little breezy which made our hike up the Namche hill pleasant. Overall it was a really enjoyable day as we climbed up to just over 11,300' where Namche sits.
We also were fortunate enough to glimpse Mount Everest far off in the distance on our hike today!!!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Base Camp crew
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Everest Base Camp Trek, March 9, 2025
Monday, June 26, 2023 - 9:44 pm PT
As expected, the weather was still a little "off" today, with lots of cloud and some wind up high, but it was definitely improving. We took it easy this morning but got in a training session in the afternoon, reviewing techniques we hope to employ tomorrow when we go for a carry, attempting to put supplies at 16,200 ft. This evening, some of the high cloud finally cleared out and the team got to see mountains Hunter and Foraker along with a magnificent view straight up at Denali.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Saturday, June 22nd, 2013
Movin' on up! We woke up early and set out to cache some gear up high. Even though the sun was not on us, we thought it was warm for 14k camp. We were wrong. As we set out towards the fixed ropes that allow us to climb the steep face up to 16,000 ft safely, a cold wind picked up and made us cold...like
Denali cold! I think we needed it because we were getting a bit spoiled. Once we gained the ridge, we were out of the wind and in the sun and immediately life was better.
We decided to make a cache a around 16,600' under a prominent rock feature called Washburn's Thumb. We cached some food and fuel for when we head up to our last camp at 17,000' in a couple of days.
I was really impressed at how everyone did at the altitude and on the fixed lines. Go team!
Rest day tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike Haugen and the RMI Summit Team 6
On The Map
Well rested from our recent international flights, our team went for our first acclimatization climb today, summiting Rucu Pichincha. Rucu is a volcano that is located just outside of the city of Quito, and the gondola-assisted approach allowed us to enjoy some very high altitude today. The summit sits at 15,413', and was a personal altitude record for many members of our climbing team; we should break that record a few more times during our stay here in
Ecuador.
After riding the gondola, the climb consisted of a relatively moderate ascent on good trails to a small Col just shy of the true summit. From the Col, we scrambled for about 15 minutes up 3rd class volcanic rock to the summit. Clouds obscured our views from the top, but added to the ambiance of our team's first Andean summit. Other than some high clouds, the weather was great for our climb today. The temperatures were quite comfortable for climbing, and we had great views of Quito from nearly 6,000' above.
Our team climbed very strong today, without exception, and it is obvious that everyone has been dedicated to their training programs in the past few months. The climbers on this team have a ton of experience in the mountains, from Rainier to Aconcagua, and it definitely shows.
Tomorrow our crew will pack up in the morning and leave Quito, traveling north to our next acclimatization hike of Fuya Fuya, en route to our first major climbing objective, Cayambe.
At the risk of sounding redundant, these climbers are strong and well-prepared for this trip. Sure, we all feel the affects of altitude at this point, but that is expected. The team's collective dedication to climbing and training is allowing us to fully enjoy our experience here in Ecuador.
Thanks for checking in, and we'll provide an update after our next climb. But for now, the well-oiled climbing machine is on track.
Hasta la proxima cumbre,
RMI Guide Mike Walter & team
The RMI Four- and Five-Day
Mount Rainier summit climbs reached the summit this morning by 7:30 a.m. The weather was surprisingly cold, moderate winds and a cloud deck at 8,000'. At 8:35 a.m. the teams began their descent from the crater rim and will make their way to Camp Muir, Paradise and then their celebration awaits at Rainier Basecamp.
RMI Guides
JJ Justman and
Elias de Andres Martos
When the alarm clock went off last night we were already intermittently awake, listening to the winds blowing up the Ruth Gorge and pelting our tent with snow. Sure enough, when we poked our heads out of the tent it was hard to see more than a dozen yards through the snow in the beams of our headlamps. We knew that again today wasn't a summit day so we crawled back into our sleeping bags for a few more hours of sleep.
When we woke up around 5:30 the conditions hadn't improved much so we set about making breakfast and breaking camp at a leisurely pace, hoping that the clouds would lift a bit before we were done. Unfortunately, that never happened and with our packs and sleds fully loaded with our gear, we set off back up the
Ruth Glacier into the fog, snow and wind. The return to Mountain House went smoothly, although the views were lacking a bit. We spent most of the time walking through the Gorge navigating by compass, GPS, and a bit of sheer reckoning. By the time we entered the Amphitheater and rounded the north side of Mt. Barille, the clouds began to lift enough for us to get a look around and we even caught glimpses of some sunshine as we made the final ascent to the landing strip at Mountain House.
Once at Mountain House we set up our camp and then took advantage of the clearing in the weather to go for a short ski tour above camp before the clouds settled back in. We are back in camp now and cooking up dinner. Tomorrow morning if the clouds lift we'll get another short ski in above camp before we catch our ride in a ski plane back to Talkeetna. Keep your fingers crossed that the clouds lift enough for the plane to get in and get us!
RMI Guide Linden Mallory & Team
Today was another perfect day, weatherwise. We were up at 9:15 AM when the nightly chill of the lower Branscomb Glacier eased. Then it was time for breakfast and packing... our normal ritual. We were on our way just after 1 PM as planned. Our packs were heavy but the team is strong. We made decent time up to the cache from yesterday, and in fact we continued to make good time once we added those big sled loads. From the time we turned North, hard up against the gigantic western face of
Vinson, we found excellent firm snow conditions. Great for walking, great for dragging sleds. We reached low camp at 6:30 PM and set to work, chiseling a camp into the hard surface. It took the entire gang of five to get a dining/cooking pit dug, but we got it done and had our POSH tent in place for a late but sunny supper. Now it is just after midnight and the sun is making the tents good and toasty. We will have it that way until at least 3 AM but then the sun will run into Vinson and we won't feel its warmth again until 11 AM when it emerges on the other side of the mountain.
We hope to complete a carry up the fixed lines tomorrow with a plan to spend tomorrow night in Low Camp again.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Checking in from
Kisklovodsk! We managed to get out of Mt. Elbrus Base Camp today even though the roads were a bit slippery. The weather had a bit more in store for us as we all awoke to thunder and rain early this morning. After breakfast we waited out the soggy conditions and with just a bit of delay we loaded the 4x4's and made the trip back to town. After a well deserved shower we met up for a great dinner. The next stop for us is St. Petersburg which should be great!
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Another beautiful day and another strong effort from our crew! We took advantage of more amazing weather and single-carried all of our gear and supplies up
Ski Hill to set up shop at Camp 2, which sits at about 9,600' on the upper reaches of the Kahiltna Glacier. Our guys clearly trained hard and the long hours on the stairmaster paid dividends today hauling massive loads. We rolled into camp around 4:30 which made for a leisurely afternoon getting situated and taking in the amazing views. After a hot dinner of tortellini alfredo, we all crawled into the tents and are currently waiting for the bitter cold to set in once the sun dips behind Kahiltna Dome.
That's all for now, we'll check in again tomorrow!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
The Four Day Summit Climb August 13 - 16 led by RMI Guide Brent Okita was approaching the crater rim of Mt. Rainier at 6:50 a.m. They reported a beautiful day on Mt. Rainier with light breeze and fairly warm temperatures. The team will spend some time on top before beginning their descent to Camp Muir and continuing down to Paradise.
The Expedition Skills Seminar - August 12 - 17 led by RMI Guide Billy Nugent called from the Mt. Rainier summit at 10:00 a.m. His team reached the summit in what he described as "practically t-shirt weather!" They were crossing the crater to Columbia Crest, the true summit, before they begin their descent back to camp. The team will spend the rest of the day on the mountain before descending tomorrow.
Congratulations to today's teams!
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Hey Dustin And Dave,
Hopefully those clear skies come down by you guys and your team!!!
Farmer Dave
Posted by: Dave Kestel on 6/28/2023 at 3:39 am
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