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Our team woke to a beautiful morning after our first night at 15,300' Refugio Cayambe. Inspiring views of the glaciers and rugged landscape made our day of mountaineering skills amazing. The team is strong and we're all looking forward to a great summit day. We're hoping for good weather and climbing conditions as we make our summit push tonight. RMI Guide Jake Beren

The first day of Safari delivered. We changed over from a team of disciplined mountain climbers to a gang of slacker tourists. Lake Manyara National Park had plenty for us to see and our driver/guide/naturalist Johnson made sure we saw it all. Elephants, big and small, were everywhere. They came quite close to our Land Cruiser. A tower of giraffes by the lakeshore was a bonus. A pair of mingling pythons surprised us. Monkeys, baboons, hippos and mongooses came to the party. We finished out the afternoon and made it up to the ultra comfortable Plantation Lodge for sunset and a fine dining experience. 

--RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Tuesday, May 16, 2023 - 7:40 PM PT

Our life inside the snow globe continued today but got more comfortable as we dug in more completely. We dug our cooktent down further this morning so that standing puts us level with ground. Down that deep the wind cease to matter as much and we have sealed ourselves into a quite cozy spot. We moved through breakfast before retreating to the tents for the majority of the day. We made a lot of progress on our reading lists and did a fair bit of napping and eating to pass the time. We are hopeful that the trend will improve tomorrow and allow us to jump back down to 9,600 to retrieve our cache. Then we will have more exciting news to report, but for now, we are warm, fed, and happy, patiently waiting for the mountain to say we may pass.

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer

RMI Guide Walter Hailes checked in this morning from Camp Muir. The Muir Seminar team is back from their summit bid. Due to unstable snow conditions, the teams turned after Ingraham Flats. The team had a mix of weather during their week-long seminar- some spectacular views and also some stormy weather of high winds and blowing snow. They learned a lot of mountaineering skills to take home with them after a week on Mount Rainier.

Hey everyone, this is Team Mexico, and believe it or not! Well, you should believe because I tell what this team is you rocking and rollin'! Hey team on the summit of Ixta what do you say? "Whaoo!" Yeah, I tell you what, that says it all. The team did just a fantastic job. We are on top of Ixta 17,300+ feet! It's a beautiful day, the sun us shining, there are some low lying clouds out in the distance. You can see Orizaba which is our next objective, but the team had a good a good day to get here on top, they did a great job. We are doing a little hydrating, and taking some hero shots on the summit by the crosses here on top, and that is about it! So, Elias, myself and Ulises, our guide here in Mexico all say hello to everyone back home. Hey gang, just give a big shout out to anyone and everyone you want to say hi to back home. (Shouts & Cheers from team) RMI Guide JJ Justman

The Four Day Summit Climb Led by RMI Guide Dave Hahn reached 11,800’ feet today before encountering firm and icy conditions on the route which forced them to turn around. Dave Hahn reported clear skies and beautiful weather. The team is currently descending from Ingraham Flats and will be back at RMI Basecamp in the early afternoon. Congratulations to today's teams!

Hi there. We're having a great day on Kilimanjaro. The weather is perfect and everyone is doing great. We went up to the Lava Tower (elev. 14,900') and now we're dropping down to camp (12,800'). Here's a pic from the trail! RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

Saturday, May 22, 2021 - 9:47 pm PT

We woke up this morning to a foot of fluffy, light snow. After digging out our tents and eating breakfast we saw the snow subsiding. Just as we got our hopes up for moving camp the winds started to pick up. It quickly became apparent this was not our day. Reading materials are running low, but spirits are high!

RMI Guide Mike Walter

May 31, 2014 - 11:21 pm PT The weather cooperated, sort of, for our big day climbing the infamous fixed lines to 16,200'. These are ropes fixed in place on a steep part of our route that offer security to our team as we climb it. As seen from camp this headwall is particularly impressive, and intimidating. The winds had calmed down completely by the time we got up, and the day was looking good. However by the time we actually started walking clouds had rolled in obscuring our views and the route. But the sun could be seen through this layer giving us confidence that we'd climb out of it. And we did. The headwall itself was challenging, but our training yesterday helped immeasurably. We all made it to 16,200' where we cached the supplies we carried up and took a well-deserved break. Our descent was slow on the icy terrain, but we managed it fairly well. By the time we got back to camp, the team was deservedly happy to have climbed this much anticipated part of the route. And now it's bed time. We're all looking forward to sleeping in and being lazy tomorrow. All for now from 14,200', RMI Guides Brent, Leah and Nick

On The Map

No sooner had I proclaimed a "season of no snow" than it got busy snowing. About three or four inches our first night at Lobuche and then another two inches yesterday afternoon. Both days were sunny to start and then gave way to big dark cumulus clouds with thunder and lightning to finish. The snow hasn't made the walking any more difficult for those of us with ski poles, boots and gaiters. The ultra-bright new snow surface, combined with intense high-altitude sunshine, can be hard on uncovered skin or eyeballs, but all of us are taking great care in those departments. New snow down in these parts doesn't necessarily mean that the upper reaches of the big peaks are getting it, but one can hope. There isn't much question in my mind that the normal Nepalese route to the top of Mount Everest is easier and safer with ample snow cover. Particularly if it will be a busy and "crowded" season as this one shows every sign of being, then it will be best to have the loose rock covered with snow and frozen firmly in place. We can worry about such things more in a month or so. For now though, I won't mind if it snows each afternoon. These last days on the trail have been extremely busy and congested, not quite like Interstate 5 through Seattle, but busy as heck with foot traffic nonetheless. Much of the Khumbu Valley is focused -in these weeks- on the Everest business, and as we come within a day or two of the mountain, all of that "traffic" becomes concentrated on a single segment of trail. Our expedition is one of perhaps thirty trying to move tons of gear by porter and yak-train to the head of the valley right now. Additionally, numerous and large trekking groups along with Everest climbing teams are all on the same trail and in the same few teahouses now. That isn't all a bad thing. Last night, the dining room of our Lobuche teahouse felt something like a school reunion for me, what with Scottish David Hamilton -the leader of the Adventure Consultants team- showing up. I'd last seen him in December in Antarctica. Ang Dorje, who has been living with his family in Eastern Washington and building wind turbine towers since I last saw him on Everest, was in the room. So was Austrian Walter Laserer, who was skiing around the upper reaches of Alaska's Kahiltna Glacier when I bumped into him in July. There was Lobsang, who'd led a trek I was on in the year 2000. Passang, who'd led the Hillary Step and been key to my tagging the top in October of 2006, was over standing by the stove. Yesterday, I accompanied Ed Dohring on a round-trip hike from Lobuche to Basecamp. His GPS calculated that we moved over 11 miles in the process, and we did it in pretty good time, considering that we stopped nearly every 200 feet for me to say hi to another friend or acquaintance from the mountains. It can be a lot of fun, but at times it can be overwhelming to meet casually and between yak horns and tails for a moment with a climber or Sherpa that I've shared life-shaping expeditions with. Ed Dohring is now on his way home, as was planned all along. We finished his trip with that exploration of Basecamp, which is already quite impressive with tents popping up in every direction. While there, we sat outside eating plates of rice (our Sherpa team already has things up and running and ready for the team's arrival tomorrow) and gazing up at the jumble of the Khumbu Icefall. We could see the Icefall Doctors pushing the route of ladders and rope in the upper "popcorn" section, perhaps a third of the way through the Icefall. We dropped back down to Lobuche in the swirling snows and rejoined the team for a last night together. Ed and Erica said goodbye to each other this morning, as he left for Namche and we left for Gorak Shep. A gorak is a big black bird that lives up high, a lot like a raven. Gorak Shep then translates to "dead raven," which doesn't truly do the place justice. Or maybe it does. Not much of a "town" up here in this large, sandy, dusty flat spot on the lateral moraines of the Khumbu. The place is important to trekkers, as it is the jumping off point for the short hike up Kalapathar. KP -at around 18,500 ft- is the lowest part of a ridge which merges into steep and sharp Pumori, and when one finishes hiking all of that ridge that can be hiked without specialized tools, one can get a big and famous view of Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse. Or... one can go to an internet cafe... at 17,000 feet and 25 rupees per minute... the web is in the Shep. Our team is spending a final night on the trek. Tomorrow we'll go into Everest Basecamp and begin focusing more on the climb.