Most Popular Entries

I once heard the founder of RMI (Lou Whittaker) tell a group "that climbing mountains is like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer, it only feels good when you stop." And I'm pretty sure that our team actually believes this after today. Climbing in Ecuador is much different than back in the states. There is no weather forecast to help, no route condition updates, and no reliable rescue if you get in over your head. You pretty much stick your head out the door and decide whether or not you'll make an attempt or not. As you have most likely read in the last few dispatches its been pretty windy all week. Today was no different except that it was our summit day. It howled all night and even seemed to shake the 2,000 square-foot building we've been staying in. Some of us slept and others did not and around 10:30 pm Adam, Jamie and myself put some water on the stove and crossed our fingers that things would get better. After breakfast, hot cocoa and coffee we finished the last of our packing and headed out into the night. It was windy right outta the gates. The wind was blowing between 30 and 40 mph with higher gust. It was worse right next to the hut and subsided once we got a short distance away. Luckily for us the first hour and a half we were slightly protected by the rock buttress we had to climb around/over. It by no means made it any easier, but it did allow us to reach the glacier safely. We took a short break put on the majority of our gear (all those things we just had to have finally were really needed) and started up the mountain. We were able to climb for about 2.5 hours before we found shelter from the wind in a small rock outcrop. It became very clear that the wind and weather were not improving as we had hoped. Right above the outcrop the winds seemed to be getting much stronger. We decided to forge ahead and see if it was really as bad as it sounded. Sure enough a few feet above the outcrop we were in the thick of it, the wind was fierce and everyone was fight to just stay on their feet. We attempted to move forward but it was quite clear that was not a realistic option. Adam and I estimated the winds to be between 50 to 70 mph and gust were outright ridiculous. We quickly descended to the outcrop and decided that the risk was too great and everyone was happily in agreement. The team safely descend as the weather continued to deteriorate all the way back to the hut. We took a short nap, packed up and retreated to our comfy hacienda and hot showers. Everyone is doing well and happy to be out of the weather. RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

Very strong winds prevented our Four Day Summit Climb team led by JJ Justman from making their summit attempt today. Camp Muir had reported wind gusts of 105 mph during the night. The teams will be having breakfast, warm drinks and plan to pack up and descend to Paradise at 9 a.m. PST. Congratulations on a safe climb!

Hey everyone, Peter here and just checking in. We are back down at high camp. We had a very windy summit. I'm not sure if our call got out. We tried to communicate from on top. It was very cold, very windy. But we had a great successful climb today with everyone reaching the summit and we even took some time to get some great production. There should be some stills heading your way now. Some images from our climb today. Super cold. Super windy. But we're all very happy to be back down at high camp where there's just a slight breeze. And it's about 8:30 right now, the sun is still very high in the sky. Tomorrow we will break camp and see if we can make it back to base camp. We had an awesome summit day. It was beautiful. It definitely pressed us. And we're all going to sleep tonight pretty darn happy. So, that's it for now and we’ll talk soon.

At 6:00 am Nepal time, RMI's second team of climbers reached the highest point on earth! All four climbers, and five sherpas made the summit despite deteriorating weather. Congratulations to Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall, Melissa Arnot and Kent Harvey on the summit of Mount Everest.

RMI Guide Casey Grom led the Four-Day Climb from May 30 to June 2, reaching the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning.
Casey reported breezy and cold conditions, but the team was rewarded with a rare and stunning view of the northern lights. The group climbed well, with six of the eight climbers successfully reaching the summit.

At approximately 7:15 a.m., the team began their descent from the crater rim, and is making their way back to Camp Muir. After a brief rest and repack, they’ll continue the final 4.5 miles down to Paradise. The team is expected to return to Rainier BaseCamp later this afternoon.

Great job, team!

PC: Layne Peters

Monday, July 3, 2023 - 9:05 pm PT

It has been a windy snowy 24 hrs at 11,000ft.  Not very pleasant to be outside of the tents for long. We are biding our time, waiting to make a break for it.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Today we visited the famous Ngorongoro Crater. The crater is roughly 100 square miles and is known for its abundance of animals that call the crater home, some estimates are as high as 30,000 mammals. 

We hit the road early with hopes of catching a few of the big cats before the heat of the day. 
There were many sightings today of hyenas, zebras, wildebeest, Cape buffalo, ostrich, and countless other birds. We managed to see several lions, including 2 up very close. Apparently it was date night, and things got a little exciting.

We also saw two Black Rhino not too far in the distance, which have become very rare due to poaching.  

We wrapped up the day with a visit to a Maasai village not far from the crater rim. The Maasai people are a semi-nomadic tribe that exist almost entirely off of their cattle. The team spent time asking questions and enjoyed being shown around their small and simple village. 

We have just finished another wonderful meal here at the Plantation Lodge 

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

It was another pre-dawn start... not quite as early or arduous as our Kilimanjaro summit day though. We piled into the Landcruisers and rolled out of Plantation Lodge at 6:30 AM bound for Ngorongoro Crater. The clouds were already low and thick and we were gaining altitude -so by the time we hit the rim of the giant collapsed volcano, we were in fog and murk. Michael and Francis didn’t have any trouble bringing the 4X4’s along the rough dirt road, giving the team the quintessential “African Massage” as we bounced along. Visibility had improved by the time we dropped into the crater with the critters. We began -as we had yesterday- focusing on individual animals, until the scale of this new place became apparent and we started counting herds rather than heads. Zebras caught our attention initially, since they were swarming the road. But Cape Buffalo, Wildebeest and gazelles became commonplace and routine within minutes as we saw them by the thousand. Early on we happened on a big pride of lions resting in the grass. There were two big males and perhaps 15 females and youngsters of various ages. Those included three tiny lion cubs that continually climbed over and under their mom, giving out little yelps and meows. The lions would sit up from time to time looking intently at hartebeest and zebra who were trying to figure out how close was too close in their morning walk to water. We moved on to cross the crater and visit hippos and a million new birds. Our picnic lunch was alongside a bunch more hippos in another corner of the crater. By this point, the clouds were clearing and the day was warming up. Our goal following lunch was to find Rhinos. We scoured the hills at the margins of the crater, we trained binoculars on a hundred distant grey rocks and logs and suspect shadows under trees. But the Rhinos didn’t come out to play. We contented ourselves with finding two mature bull elephants with enormous tusks. In late afternoon, our guides put the cruisers in four wheel drive and took us up and out of the crater. We made it back to the Plantation in plenty of time for sundown in the lap of luxury. Best Regards RMI Guide Dave Hahn

It's been awhile here at Annapurna Base Camp waiting out the bad weather. Today dawned clear and warm which sent the mountain into an impressive cycle of purging excessive snow as shown in the photo below. The forecast is showing a period of reasonably stable weather. The next few days will be clear but windy. As the winds subside on the 22nd the snow returns the 24th. Currently my plan is to head directly to Camp 2 tomorrow with two Sherpa mountain guides. We're going to attempt to break the route in all the way to Camp 4 over the next three days. The western climbers associated with these Sherpas will be following us up one day behind, eyeing the 23rd for a possible summit attempt. I'm skeptical that the 23rd will remain stable and/or that the conditions (deep snow) will allow a summit. Either way, I need more time spent up high, see the route past C2 (see photos below). And also, I just feel the need to stretch my legs and do some climbing after this long wait at BC. RMI Guide Alex Barber

Hello - We are checking in live from the huts on Mt. Elbrus at a grand altitude of 12,001 feet. We have settled into our cozy home with gear and clothing splayed out all over! The team took a hike up to 13,104 feet today and we returned for a great lunch made by our Executive Chef Masha. I'm not lying when I say we had caviar...we did. We are slowly adjusting to the new altitude. After doing this adventure year after year after year I firmly believe the reason why our teams do so well is our relaxed itinerary. Everyone is doing great and we are soaking in the beautiful mountain views. RMI Guide JJ Justman

On The Map