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Well, it's a cloudy day on the trail but the group is hanging tough. We're having lunch at the Lava Tower (15'000'). That means we are setting new altitude records for just about every one. Tonight we will camp at Barranco where some of the giant plants that are unique to Kilimanjaro are concentrated. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

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Christmas came early today, but instead of reindeer we mounted mules and forded the mighty Vacas river at dawn. Then we made our way up the Relinchos valley, gaining the most elevation of the trip so far. The team did great moving up this Tatooine like landscape underneath ten thousand feet of mighty Aconcagua visual splendor. It was a beautiful walk and and excellent way to spend the holiday. Knowing we've got a rest day coming up doesn't hurt either! Pulling into Basecamp we were greeted by the familiar faces of friends from Christmas' past, Ana and Griselda our hostesses with the mostesses who made an excellent dinner to celebrate our arrival. After a spectacular sunset the team has turned in for a well earned night of rest. Merry Christmas and Happy Festivas from all of us here in the Andes! RMI Guides Jake Beren, Mike King & Steve Gately

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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

Both summit climb groups led by Dave Hahn and Billy Nugent were leaving the top of the summit at 7:35 a.m. They had a beautiful climb this morning with sunny and clear skies, and moderate wind. They are back to Camp Muir and will descend to Paradise early afternoon.

After sleeping soundly last night we were greeted to grey skies hanging low over Moscow this morning. Despite international attention for the heat suffocating Moscow this summer, we found ourselves walking down the street buttoning up our jackets against the chill. Leaving the hotel we walked a few minutes to the north, crossing the broad sweeping bridge over the Moscow River and directly into Alexander's Gardens - a long park that runs along the Kremlin Wall. It was a quiet morning in Moscow with few people in the Gardens. We reached the end of the Gardens and crossed underneath Resurrection Gate into Red Square. The giant expanse of cobblestones between the Kremlin and the former Soviet State Department Store turned high-end shopping center is arresting, the place of so many momentous events in recent history. Today large scaffolding was erected on the Square in preparation for an upcoming holiday, the modern metal tubing standing awkwardly amongst the old stone buildings surrounding. Due to an event celebrating the recent discovery of an unknown fresco above an entrance to the Kremlin visitation to Lenin's tomb was closed so instead we crossed to the Bolshoy Theater where renovations were recently completed before stopping for coffee on Tverskaya Prospekt, Moscow's Broadway. We met our Russian guide, an energetic and knowledgeable local named Nina, around 10:30 and as the ominous skies began to spit rain we dove underground into Moscow's famous subways. We spent the better part of two hours bouncing from one station to the next, admiring the stunning murals, frescos, stained glass panels, mosaics, and statues that decorate the stations. It is truly incredible to see the work, attention to detail, and pride that went into these stations and they are an under recognized gem of Moscow. Emerging into the downpour that developed as we zipped across the city far below it's streets, we crossed underneath the imposing red walls of the Kremlin and into the seat of Russian and Soviet power. A living history of the city itself, with buildings of every era, the Kremlin is a sprawling compound of office buildings and churches, each laced with bits of history. We spent several hours in the Kremlin admiring the churches and watching the Saturday parade of soldiers and cavalry before retreating to a nearby underground shopping complex to escape the rain and cold. With the day drawing to a close and with tired feet to show for our hours spent visiting about Moscow, we returned to our hotel to catch some rest and get our gear ready for the morning. We have an early departure tomorrow to make our morning flight south to Mineralnye Vody, our gateway to Elbrus and the Caucasus. We will spend tomorrow night in the town of Kislovodsk before reaching Base Camp the following day. We will check in tomorrow night from the south of Russia.

Hey, this is Andy with RMI we had a successful beautiful summit today on Huayna Potosi, not a cloud in the sky! 100%! Everyone is looking forward to showers and a meal tonight in La Paz. Everyone's doing great and we'll check in with you guys later!

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

Hola from Ecuador. We had great weather today as our team went on our first acclimatization hike, summiting Rucu Pichincha, a volcano that forms part of the western perimeter of Quito's valley. To start our hike, we took a gondola from Quito up to an altitude of around 13,500'. Then a well-maintained trail with stunning views led us out onto a ridge toward Rucu Pichincha. An easy rock scramble later and we were on top, at 15,700'. Our climbing was very strong today, making quick work of the altitude. We had good views of volcanoes Cotopaxi, the Ilinizas, Pasachoa, and Ruminuai the south, and Cayambe and Cotacachi to the north. We will leave Quito tomorrow morning, heading north towards Cayambe. But, before we get to Cayambe, we'll take another acclimatization hike tomorrow on Fuya Fuya, and then visit the market in Otavalo the next day. We'll keep you posted! RMI Guide Mike Walter

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May 28, 2014 - 10:33 pm PT Evaluating the weather at 6:20 this morning from the vestibule of our tent I saw a somewhat similar scene to what I saw yesterday. With one exception. A little lightness shining through the clouds to the north. Faint in the early morning light, but there it was. So with that small glimmer of hope that the weather might cooperate for us today, we set the wheels in motion. Stoves were fired up and the call to wake up made. Still uncertain if the weather would improve enough, we held off packing up the tents until last. But finally the clouds parted enough to give us the confidence to head to 14,200' camp. We could see the sun about 1,000' above the clouds we were in. Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn't want to make it too easy and threw some gusty winds our way on Squirrel Hill. It seemed like the weather might be changing, but everyone was climbing well so we persevered and by the time we got above that hill, things had mellowed out. Even Windy Corner wasn't too bad. We eventually made it to camp at 14,200' where the sun was out and it was warm and pleasant. To make things even nicer, we were greeted by the RMI group ahead of us who were camped there. Led by Pete Van Deventer, the whole team came out to lend us a hand getting camp set up. Everybody had great appetites at dinner, a good sign given that we had just moved 3,000' to our higher camp. It was a tired, but very happy team that put down bowl after bowl of Ramen tonight. We're all ecstatic to be here tonight, and I couldn't be prouder of how the team climbed today. Well, it's about time that I hit the sack as well. Goodnight! RMI Guides Brent, Leah and Nick

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Hello everyone. We're still here. Just went through Loboche which is a little short on cell service, wifi and I even had trouble getting my sat phone to work. The last couple of days have been really nice and strangely it seems to be getting warmer as we get higher. We hiked to Gorak Shep today and wanted to climb up Kala Patar but the evening swirling clouds have us waiting till tomorrow. We are literarily a stones through from the Khumbu glacier and only about two hours from Mt. Everest Base Camp. Everyone seems to be doing well and we are so excite for Base camp! RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

On The Map