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May 23–28 Expedition Skills Seminar – Emmons: Summit Success!
The Emmons Seminar team, led by RMI Guide Sam Hoffman, successfully reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today via the Emmons Glacier route. Over the past several days, the team has been hard at work training and refining their mountaineering skills.

Early this morning, they made an alpine start from Camp Schurman and reached the crater rim around 8:15 AM. After enjoying their time on the summit, the team will descend back to Camp Schurman, where they will spend the night. Tomorrow, they’ll make their final descent to the trailhead and return to Rainier BaseCamp by late afternoon.

Congratulations to the entire Emmons team on a strong and successful climb!

The Mt. Rainier Four-Day climb led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Sam Hoffman turned around at 11,500 this morning due to deteriorating weather. They are currently enjoying a sunny Camp Muir morning. They will recollect themselves at Camp Muir before their descent back to Basecamp in Ashford this afternoon. Nice work team!

We awoke early today and left behind the comforts of our beautiful lodge and have headed to the mountain towards the start of the climb. Starting shortly before 8am we drove along the rural country side for about an hour and half to reach the park entrance. Most of the area surrounding Kilimanjaro has been cultivated and primarily used for coffee production and for a variety of other agriculture needs, but there are still some areas that have been untouched and resemble more of a savannah that Tanzania is known for. The base of Kilimanjaro is more forested and resembles a jungle or cloud forest. Traditionally it supports a large part of the banana production for this area.

Once at the gate we had all of our gear weighed and divided into loads for our porters to carry before hitting the trail. Once everything was in order we started our climb slowly making our way up the winding trail. The team hiked for a little over five hours to reach our camp for the night. Everyone did great and enjoyed finally getting some much needed exercise.

Unfortunately there was some more rain, but thankfully not as much as last weeks climb had to deal with. 

After settling in the team was served a nice warm meal and then headed off to bed for a nice full night of rest.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the # 2 Kili crew.

June 17, 2023 10:50 PM PT

It was snowing again at 4 AM when we hoped to get up for climbing. We checked it repeatedly in the following hours but didn't feel good about what we saw.

Eventually, the snow quit, but by then we'd have been pushing up three hours of hill in the hottest part of the day. We decided to call it a rest day instead.

It ended up sunny and hot in the tents and we napped, read and snacked our way through the day.  We'll try again tomorrow.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

The team was smiling right from the start today.  Excited to have had such a wonderful summit day, and energized by a full night’s sleep at the relatively low altitude of 10,000 ft.  We finished with a morning in the rain forest.  Thankfully it wasn’t raining as we carefully picked our way down the steep and muddy track for 4,000 vertical feet.  We were entertained and amazed by the many porters running down the same track at high speed with heavy loads.  As we made our way through the giant camphor trees, we saw a few shy monkeys and hyraxes.  Above and beyond expectations since our wildlife safari doesn’t officially begin until tomorrow.  At the gate, we signed out with Kilimanjaro National Park and then went a short distance to have a last lunch with our mountain staff.  They sang, we danced and expressed our deep gratitude for the help and friendship they extended.  And then we said goodbye and boarded our bus for the rough ride back to Rivertrees -our hotel in Usariver.  We’d earned showers and clean clothes, a celebration dinner and a night in a bed.  But the trip isn’t at all over.  Safari starts in the morning. 

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RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Today was eventful. We have now all been up for 24 hours and are feeling the effects. Our day actually started last night with a 10pm wakeup to attempt Antisana. By 11pm the team was on the move, although lightning in the relatively short distance and clouds in the vicinity were worth keeping an eye on. As we climbed higher, intermittent clouds were upon us, with even a light drizzle from time to time. Looking in all directions, clouds surrounded the mountain and gave an eerie sense. Compounding these difficulties was also the very dry condition of the glacier. Navigating the dry glacier at night required the utmost attention to efficient footwork. In the end, there were too many factors working against us and we made the decision to turn around just above 17000'.

Every member of the team began the climb and made a valiant effort. While it is disappointing to turn around, the more we climb the more we understand that it is all part of the experience. By now, we have a team that truly enjoys spending time together and works together as a unit in the mountains. That means as much to me as standing on any summit could. To celebrate our new friendships and an overall successful time in Ecuador, we went to a nice group dinner. Jaime, our lead Ecuadorian guide, joined and we all enjoyed recounting freshly minted memories from this journey. As we depart, it is bitter sweet. It may be some time before any of us cross paths again, but we are all excited to reunite with family back home in the coming days (except me - follow the Ecuador Seminar blog!).

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

Today we visited the famous Ngorongoro Crater, and considered by many to be the 8th natural  wonder of the world. The crater is what remains of a once massive volcano that erupted and collapsed onto itself, leaving behind a giant caldera that's almost exactly 100 square miles.

We were able to see several lions and it was exciting to be close to those big cats! As we made our way around the crater we saw tons of other wildlife, zebras, Cape buffalo, wildebeest, Giselles, countless raptors and many other large birds. It was quite a day to say the least, and I'm certain one that won't be forgotten by anyone.

Before heading home we made a quick stop by to visit a Maasai village. The Maasai are a semi nomadic ethnic group that live a very simple life in remote areas of Tanzania.

We finished the evening here at the plantation lodge and are looking forward to what tomorrow may bring as we head to Tarangire National Park.

RMI Guide Casey and the Safari crew