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Posted by: Dominic Cifelli, Ben Luedtke, Michael Murray
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 18,000'
Two things sprung to mind when I was asked to do this post. First what my wife would say “another rest day, you go on vacation and you need rest days?” The other was why me - am I the best rester, is that my speciality?
This put me to think about this. Am I incapable of discussing the climbing/trekking days? Is that just too technical for me - walking uphill on a pile of gravel and sand everyday - left, right, breathe, left, right, breathe. Yeah, that is super technical so I’m never going to be out in that brigade.
However, am I the best rester, what about the rest of the bunch?
Start with the guides. They are never going to be assigned as superior resters. Job security with RMI suggests they’ll never get the rester job.
What about Norm, my tent mate? Norm never rests. Whether it’s out shooting beavers to make his wife’s world famous beaver stew, or do DIY around the house - shelves and presses to keep everything in place (he could do with some shelves in the tent!). No, not Norm.
Mikayla , hmmm? No not her either. On rest days Mikayla is off negotiating world peace and post Cold War detente with any passing Poles or Russians Mikayla is too focused on world peace.
Chris, surely an option. However, Chris is the best dressed person on the mountain. As we crawl from our tents every morning, covered in dust and stained with the remains of last night’s dinner, Chris is like James Bond - clean, sparkling. I’m positive he gets overnight Amazon deliveries of new gear. But I digress, is Chris a rester? No, Chris spends his rest time searching for the latest gadget or piece of gear. What’s the next 360 degree camera? Also Chris is an inventor and an environmental evangelist- something we didn’t know at the outset of this trip. His latest “the Oop stove” provides instant sustainable heat in your tent and solves the blue bag challenge. Also, even when I wake in the middle of the night I hear Chris doing some wind experiments. No, Chris’s rest days are his busiest days.
Finally the three lads - Andy, Jon, Ben. (Ben has been a champion sleeper since he reconnected with his sleeping bag). Whenever I ask Jon how his afternoon sleep went he replies “I had a great sleep”. So the anesthetist, the pathologist and the unsuspecting patient spend their afternoons doing some macabre fiendish high altitude medical research. It’s important that science progresses
Yeah, I guess I am the obvious choice.
So the rest day was just that. A quick 90 minute saunter up a nearby hill, that we somehow completed in 45 mins - thanks Ben L. An afternoon sharing all the excess food we carried to Camp 2. A charcuterie board, dates, granola. It was truly a rest day
Climber Myles O'Neil
New Post Alerts:
Aconcagua Expedition January 12, 2024
Posted by: Dominic Cifelli, Jack Delaney, Jess Wedel
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 9,000'
The team arrived in Mendoza with all of their gear. The first hurdle of any expedition is the logistical hoops one must jump through in order to pack and prepare. It can feel like quite a challenge to ‘feel ready’ when you step on to the gravel at the trailhead, but the team has it dialed in and we’re truly ready for the expedition ahead of us. Uspallatta, a small town a little ways outside the mountain, was our humble abode last night. We took the time to enjoy the creature comforts of the hotel after packing our bags for the journey ahead. Laying in grass, reading our respective books, and taking naps is how we spent our time after the work was done. The night wasn’t complete until the team and other hotel guests were singing and dancing in a Congo line with live music to boot. Expedition life can be so tough sometimes. Today we leave the comforts of hotels and head out on the trail for our first mountain day. We will do one more pack in the town of Penitentes and prepare our gear for the rigorous journey up the Vacas Valley to Plaza Argentina. Wish for tailwinds, scattered clouds for shade, and cool temps for the trek into Basecamp!
Thanks for following along!
RMI Guides Dominic Cifelli, Jack Delaney and Jess Wedel
Posted by: Mike Walter, Avery Parrinello, Luke Wilhelm
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 17,200'
Monday, May 31, 2021 - 10:21 pm PT
Both RMI Denali Expeditions led RMI Guides Mike Walter and Pete Van Deventer made it to High Camp today at 17, 200'. We are busy melting snow and making hot water for dinner. If the weather is good, we hope to go for the top tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Wow. Spectacular. Your patience has paid off. Good luck with your summit. Be safe and have a blast at the top of the world.
Posted by: Bruce on 6/1/2021 at 12:10 pm
We are soooooo excited for all of you, but especially BEN! We hear the view from the top is pretty spectacular and we can’t wait to hear all about it! God bless! Pat and Althea
Posted by: Althea Daley on 6/1/2021 at 10:32 am
Congratulations! Can’t wait to hear about your adventure. Always.
Posted by: Beth on 9/4/2013 at 5:59 pm
On The Map
You are ” not in Kansas anymore”! Great sights behind and ahead for you!!
Posted by: Frances on 8/12/2013 at 4:53 pm
Only about 4000” to go! If that atlas is correct, that is. Good luck, MA
Posted by: Mary Ann on 8/12/2013 at 2:45 pm
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Hate to brag, but our days just keep getting better. Tarangire National Park is delivering. We are still in the park -by the way- in a tent camp miles and miles away from the park entrance. There are no fences between our tents and the animals we were lucky enough to see all day long. Supposedly, the lions haven’t figured out how a zipper works yet, so we’ve got that going for us.
We saw good lions today, but they were the sleepy kind. Five lionesses taking naps in a riverbed. We saw distant and sleepy cheetahs -two of them- but they were too far away and too sleepy for photography. Just when we were thinking that was a little unfair, we got to see a mother cheetah feeding a gazelle to two of her pups… up close. It was stunning. Our team enjoyed giraffes up close. We particularly liked elephant families frolicking in mud. The team got used to seeing massive baobab trees, easily sixty feet around and possibly thousands of years old. A high point of the day, for certain, was when Johnson took us along an immense swamp shoreline at the golden hour when the light was magical before sundown. None of us could believe how many animals and birds we were seeing and how few humans. We’d given all the other cars the slip and Africa was beautiful all around us. It is our final night of Safari… we still haven’t seen a leopard but we are certainly open to a little luck for the morning commute.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
New Post Alerts:
Kilimanjaro Climb and Safari August 5, 2025
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dustin Wittmier, Sam Marjerison, Michael Murray
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 7,800'
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.
Hello again everyone
The team had a good nights rest last night and today just a short 2.5hr hike up to 15’000ft to our high camp. It started out looking like we might have some sun, then luickly clouded up. Thankfully we arrived at camp right before a little squall blew through bring snow/hail.
The team has just wrapped up lunch and discussed in great detail the plan for tomorrow’s climb. Everyone knows what we’ll be wearing, what will be in the pack, as well as the schedule.
Our game plan will be to wake at 11pm and have a quick breakfast at 11:30, then hopefully hit the trail right at midnight. The team has been doing great thus far and I’m expecting us to reach the summit in 7 to 8hrs if things go according to plan.
I’m also going to bring our Satellite phone to hopefully make a few calls from the summit. One lucky trivia winner will get 2. This winner is a big fan of gymnastics!
So everyone back home please keep your phones handy and if you receive a call from a strange number please answer. We are 8+hrs ahead of the east coast time zone.
Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili Crew
Hey Team. Conrad and I were there 2 yrs ago!! My birthday!!!
Casey and Crew!!! The absolute best!!!!!
God speed See all 5 on safari!!!!
We saw 4!!! Ouch. Missed the leopard!!!
Go get him/her!!
Enjoy. Monumental!!!
Posted by: Stanley Golovac on 1/28/2020 at 3:41 pm
I cannot even believe my own, amazing mother just called me from the summit of Kilimanjaro to tell me that they made it and that she loves me. I teared up a little bit just realizing that they set this goal so long ago and now they’re finally accomplishing it.
I am so proud of you mom and you too Sheldon. I love you both very much.
Love, Sienna :)
Posted by: Sienna Brane on 1/25/2020 at 7:58 pm
Myles you seem to be the only team member that knows the importance of a good rest day. Mikayla does like to practice her Russian; who knows maybe world peace can be negotiated on the top of a mountain.
I’m excited for each days blog as you get closer to the summit! Ever onward, ever higher!
Posted by: Michelle DeMers on 1/27/2024 at 5:55 am
That was a fun post to read. I think I have your new team name after seeing this set of pictures. “The Blue Man Group.” (Sorry Mikayla, I did want to excuse you, so that probably doesn’t work). Arc’teryx is drone dropping new gear daily. You all are so close. Time to dig deep. One foot in front of the other and just envision how good it is going to feel at the top resting while celebrating with hugs and fist-bumps.
Posted by: Ed DaPra on 1/26/2024 at 6:20 pm
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