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The team turned around just above the Cleaver yesterday due to difficult walking conditions and challenging weather, which proved too demanding for the group. Eric and his team departed Camp Muir this morning at 7:40 a.m. and are en route back to Paradise.

Everyone is safe, in good spirits, and coming away with valuable mountain experience.

Saturday, June 22, 2019 2:34 PM PT We're taking a planned rest day today to better acclimate and get strong for our forays on the upper mountain. The day began clear and we enjoyed a leisurely brunch as the sun warmed our cook tent. Now, in the afternoon, clouds have risen and there are a few snow flakes falling. Everyone has retreated to their tents for some rest, reading, and relaxation. We will review and practice the technical skills needed to ascend the fixed ropes, which run from ~15,200' - 16,000'. We plan to head up there tomorrow to take a cache of supplies up high before returning to our comfortable 14k Camp. We'll let you know how it goes. RMI Guide Mike Walter

On The Map

Hello from Talkeetna, Alaska! The RMI Alaska Mountaineering Seminar is underway here, and so far it's nothing but blue skies, sunshine, smiles and excitement. The team all arrived yesterday in Anchorage, and despite one delayed flight we were all able to rendezvous with our shuttle and make tracks north. A short shopping stop in Wasilla let us get all the final little treats that we'll want to eat on the glacier for the next week or so, and then we finished the drive to this quaint little town at the end of the road. After a good night's rest, the team met this morning for breakfast at the fabled Roadhouse, followed by a stop at the ranger station to complete all our paperwork. We headed over to the hangar to finalize our packing and preparation, and then it was off to the races with training. Tent craft and now rope work, with the team learning a lot of new skills that we'll use over the course of our program. We're scheduled to fly onto the Kahiltna Glacier this afternoon, so once we get the final weights of all our gear, we'll suit up and head into a very different world! We'll trade the trees and grass for snow and ice, but that's what we've all come to do. Keep it tuned in for more updates, and thanks for reading! RMI Guides Leon Davis, Garrett Stevens, Bridget Belliveau, and the expedition team

After yesterday's summit push we were content to lie in the tent a bit longer this morning at High Camp before finally stirring. We brewed up some coffee, that while no match for a good espresso, was a very pleasant touch to the cold but otherwise clear morning, and then set about breaking camp. With all of our gear loaded into our packs, we began descending from High Camp. We reached the top of the fixed lines and spent the next hour working our way down the massive face, carefully transitioning past anchor points until the Branscomb Glacier, once a small ribbon of white below lay underfoot. The descent was uneventful and smooth - just as one would hope when descending an exposed face like that - and another half hour of crossing brought us into Low Camp where Dave Hahn and the other RMI Team were enjoying a rest day. Dave and JJ were kind enough to brew us up a hot drink and we traded was stories from our trips while we repacked our backpacks and sleds with the gear we had left at Low Camp. With our mugs empty and our packs and sleds full, we wished Dave's team good luck and warm temperatures on their summit bid and set off down the glacier toward Base Camp. The gradual downhill pitch of the Branscomb and cold hard snow made for a fast descent on skis and we caught ourselves hooting and hollering at times as we cruised down the glacier (which, for anyone familiar with the pain of hauling a fully laden pack and sled down a glacier at the end of an expedition, is highly unusual). By early evening we had navigated the final crevasse field of the Branscomb and were pulling into Base Camp, relieve to be dropping our packs for the last time. After almost a week of moving up and down the mountain we have gotten quite good at setting up camp and within a few minutes we had our tents pitched and our camp shoes on. Tonight we treated ourselves to a special post summit dinner: cheeseburgers which we flew in with us from South America and have kept frozen for this very evening. To top it off, the rangers at Base Camp shared a few beers with us for our meal. Burgers and beer at foot of the Vinson Massif - we truly couldn't have asked for anything more. Tomorrow we will look at the flight schedule and weather forecasts to see what our options are for beginning the trek home. We are still a long ways from anywhere and the challenges of getting ourselves out of the middle of Antarctica are not inconsequential. Nevertheless, we're happy to be down here and hoping for more good luck on the next leg of our journey. RMI Guide Linden Mallory & Team

On The Map

The Four Day Summit Climb Teams led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Elias de Andres Martos reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Casey radioed that the team had a long hard day getting to the summit with several inches of new snow on the mountain requiring them to break trail. The teams reached the crater rim around 8:30 am and was going to spend a short amount of time on top before starting their descent. They will return to Camp Muir for a short break before continuing down to Paradise. Congratulations to today's Summit Climb Teams!

Hello everyone, this is Elias and the Alpamayo Climbing team Thursday the 24th. It is 9:45 local time and we are calling from Camp 2. Guess what? We just summited this morning. We didn't have a chance to call from the summit, it's a pretty gnarly ridge, pretty exposed and there were some winds. We were a six person team, all the climbers Tony, Kenzie, Parker and Peter made it up. So pulling the sat phone out was a little bit out of the question. But we are psyched. We had an awesome climb. These guys were super strong and climbed really, really quick and efficient. Like I said we are back at camp, safe and sound. We are looking forward to starting our descent. The plan is now to take a couple hours rest here and pack it up and initiate our descent to base camp where our cook, Emile, we hopefully be waiting with a nice meal, really well earned. That is pretty much it for now. As an antidote, we would like to share that, we had a chance, to high five reknown Swiss climber Ueli Steck who was climbing here in the Cordillera Blanca and happened to climb Alpamayo today. It was pretty nice to see him climb next to us and, of course, smoked us on the way up. But hey, he's a different league, and we feel pretty satisfied with the job done. We were the first one's out of camp, the first one's on the summit and the first one's down back to camp. We are reporting incredible weather, incredible views and everybody is psyched. And if you stay tuned we will be checking in tonight when we arrive back at Base Camp, out of the glacier and ready to return to Huaraz tomorrow. That's it from me right now and thanks to all of you who have been following us. We will check in tonight when we are out of the mountains. RMI Guides Elias de Andres Martos

Hello this is the Peru climbing team. Elias speaking, Robby next to me, and the climbers are taking a break at 5,000 meters. We were supposed to have called from the summit, but heavy winds and trying to get down delayed the phone call. But we have finished our last rappel. It was a pretty interesting one- a free-hanging rappel over bergschrund. We are taking a break just to anticipate the remaining ground, which is a pretty easy travel to Camp 1, from where we will be picking up our gear and heading out to base camp. We are pretty excited about that, but we still have a couple hours to go on the glacier. We just wanted to let you know everything went well with the last of our climbs, the most challenging one, Tocllaraju, 6,023 meters. We rocked it; we are pretty tired but psyched. The route has been as challenging as any of the two guys that are here who have climbed it, have ever seen it. We are happy with the work done. We will let you know more when we can post tomorrow when we arrive in Huaraz, where we can post some pictures. Thank you for all of the support to all of you who have been following our blog. The next post will be from Huaraz tomorrow. That's it for now, 2 pm on Thursday. Tocllaraju! The Peru Seminar will be over soon. RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos

RMI Guides JJ Justman and Levi Kepsel led their Emmons Seminar team through a mountaineering school at Paradise today. It was a beautiful day as shown in JJ's video of photos.

Our attempt on Mt. Francis was great. We were making good time up the southeast ridge until conditions got really icy. We climbed a pitch of ice and then we made a group decision of turning back down. The views, as well as the learning experience, were incredible. Now we are all back in camp enjoying a hot cup of tea. Today we did our last seminar review and will be starting to pack for tomorrow's flight back to Talkeetna. Looking forward to a shower and a big salad. RMI Guide Andres Marin

On The Map

Hello from the RMI Alaska Mountaineering Seminar – Alpine Team! The weather cooperated yesterday and we had the opportunity to fly into Basecamp. Everybody was impressed by the great views. Flying into the Alaska Range is remarkable. Once in Basecamp we got busy setting up our camp, making dinner, and finally crawling into our tents after a long day. Today we will be staying relatively close to camp doing some technical training. Its going to be a fun day!!!! RMI Guide Andres Marin

On The Map