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We were treated to another wonderfully calm, clear ... and cold night last night at Camp 1. The almost full moon hung huge in the western sky, just above the edges of the Horocones Glacier below us when we poked our heads out of the tents this morning. We dragged our feet a bit getting out of the tents but once the sun reached us we warmed right up and soon had our packs loaded and were heading up the trail. The climbing today was perfect, not too warm and hardly a breeze. Our acclimatization at Camp 1 was noticeable as we moved smoothly across the difficult sections of trail where the bedrock is covered by a thin veneer of gravel and loose stones. The time and the altitude ticked by with us hardly noticing until we found ourselves weaving between the large boulders that mark the entrance to Camp 2 at 18,330'. No afternoon clouds were forming in the west and the weather was perfect so we took our time setting up camp, soaking in the views, sipping on water, and erecting large rock walls around our tents in case the do winds pick up. The rest of the afternoon passed with little action other than relaxing in camp and getting used to the new elevations. The approach of the longest day of the year down here (tomorrow!) means that even approaching 8 o'clock in the evening the sun still hangs high in the sky right now and is keeping the tents pleasantly warm. We are all definite feeling the new jump in altitude up here - everything takes just a bit more effort - but are all feeling good. It is exciting to be moving higher on the mountain and suddenly the summit doesn't look, or feel, as far away now. We are planning on taking a stroll above Camp tomorrow but largely using it as a rest day to adjust to the new elevations and recover a bit from the days we've had since leaving Base Camp. We'll check in tomorrow afternoon. RMI Guide Linden Mallory

On our first day of safari we headed south to Lake Manyara, which is know for its colorful flamingos and tree climbing lions. It wasn't long before we spotted our first of many elephants to come. In fact we stopped just short of a mother and her baby and watched them cross between our two safari vehicles. It was surreal to see them so close and feel as if we could almost touch them, while they barely noticed us. We then headed off to our normal lunch spot but had to find another place as several lions had beaten us there. We think we counted 5 all together, two young males and a few females, but it was a little tough to tell as they were trying to stay cool in the bush. After a nice hot meal provide by our traveling chef Michael, we headed off to see other animals and a quick visit to the hippo pond. Along the way we spotted a huge Monitor (giant lizard) in a creek and spotted many zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, bush bucks, and a few warthogs too. All in all it was a pretty rewarding first day on safari. We are spending the night overlooking the lake in a nice tented camp called Kirurumu. Everyone is doing great and excited for what tomorrow might bring. RMI Guide Casey Grom and Crew

The group woke for the third morning under the shadows of Ameghino and our objective, Cerro Aconcagua. The skies were a brilliant blue, and excitement ran high in the group over breakfast as everyone prepared for the day's carry to Camp 1 (16,350'). Group loads of food were doled out, and the group took up the slow, but steady pace that will be our mantra for the rest of the climb. It took us 4 1/2 hours to reach Camp 1. We took a nice 45 minute rest there and then we headed down to basecamp arriving by 5:00 pm. The descent took us less than half of our ascent time. Route conditions between basecamp and Camp 1 were very nice compared with what I have experienced in the last 10 years. Tomorrow we will take one more rest day with the relative comforts of basecamp, before our move to Camp 1. We've received some of the posts left on the blog, and we are all grateful for your well-wishes. Signing off, Gabriel Barral and the RMI Aconcagua expedition

Today we started our day at 6:30 feeling good and refreshed after a much needed night's sleep. We had breakfast, then enjoyed some goodbye songs and dance from our amazing African crew of porters, cooks, and local guides numbering 37 to our team of seven. We finished the little celebration by handing out their well deserved tips and then hit the trail one last time.

It took just under three hours to reach the park gate where the team had lunch then hopped aboard our awaiting bus for the ride back to the lodge.

Finally we are all safe and sound, cleaner, and smelling fresh after an exciting seven-day journey up and down Kilimanjaro.

Stayed tuned, Safari starts tomorrow!

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kilimanjaro crew

Hello world, We woke up to crystal clear skies last night, which hasn’t been the norm this season here in the Cordillera Blanca. But this beautiful night so happened to coincide with our climb of Pisco...just our luck! It was a really long day to say the least. It’s a tricky walk for the first several hours just to reach the glacier; up and over the moraine, across a boulder covered rock glacier, and up steep trail and slabs, all done in the dark. The stars were out which made for some wonderful views at breaks. A few more hours of dark while ascending snow and ice and the we finally saw some sun...which proved to be one of those classic Cordillera Blanca sunrises that are hard to describe. Just spectacular! A few more hours and we found ourselves just under 19,000’, on the summit of Pisco. We were above a thick cloud deck and the highest peaks of the Range were penetrating the clouds all around us. It was a special moment for this team who put in a lot of hard work and dedication into their climbing adventure in Peru. We stayed on top and soaked it all in for almost an hour before we walked down into the clouds for a long retreat back to Base Camp. All in all, 12.5 hours, Base Camp to Summit to Base Camp. We took the afternoon to get super tranquilo, as tomorrow, our journey back to civilization begins. RMI Guide Robby Young, Alfie, William and Team ‘Fuerte’

Due to wind and snow overnight the Four Day Climb teams led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Hannah Smith were unable to make a summit attempt this morning. The teams were safely tucked in at Camp Muir. Dave reported snow drifts of 12+ inches. The teams will return to Paradise later this morning.

Hi from High Camp on Mt. Elbrus. The weather forecast is looking pretty good for a summit bid tonight! We'll be up around midnight, shooting for a 1:00 AM departure. Today was pretty relaxing with a late breakfast followed by some avalanche transceiver training. Once that was complete we went for a short hike before lunch. After lunch we took a break and then prepped our gear for the summit push. If everything goes as planned we should be on the summit between 6 and 7 AM our time. Hopefully I'll be calling from the top for my next check in. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

Holá amigos! We awoke to clear skies and moderate winds again as we had a leisurely morning preparing for our move to Camp 2 (18,000ft). The team did great navigating gusty winds and heavy packs to push into Camp 2 in phenomenal style. With camp all established, we'll enjoy a short siesta before firing stoves, eating dinner and looking forward to a rest day tomorrow! All the best from Aconcagua. RMI Guide Steve Gately

On The Map

We explored the sixth largest national park in Tanzania today. Tarangire is a year-round, dependable water-source for thousands of elephants. We saw families big and small of pachyderms, but also wildebeest, zebra, giraffe, gazelles and antelope. The birders in the team wee kept quite busy ID-ing "new" flappers. We roamed the savanna for hours with each former climber standing half out the open back of a land-cruiser, looking hard for the next stunning wildlife display. The land we explored is essentially a wide-open baobab forest cut by a number of rivers. Up one of those giant baobabs we spied a cat... upon closer inspection that cat -a large civet- turned out to be dead. This got us looking a bit closer at the other branches of the humongous tree, where finally we discovered a sleeping leopard. We tried to imagine the strength and skill that had gone into this leopard making a kill and then dragging his kill in his teeth while climbing twenty feet vertically up the wall-like trunk of a tree. He'd stashed the kill in a fork well off the ground to keep scavengers from bothering it while he... Or she... Took a well deserved nap. At the end of the day, we exited the park and made a short drive to Kikoti Camp... A comfortable lodge just east of the park boundary. We watched Maasai tribesmen start a fire without matches and then perform a welcome dance for us. We joined in, eventually, in trying to jump higher. We'll get a little more chance to see wildlife in the morning on the way back through the park. Hard to believe that we'll begin our final day together. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

RMI Guides JJ Justman, Seth Waterfall and the Elbrus Northside team begin their journey in Moscow with a city tour before leaving for the mountains tomorrow.