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We set out early, eager to hike up Ruca Pichincha, ready for an adventure that would take us to 15,000 feet. The ascent was fun, despite a few headaches and light-headedness that came with the altitude—nothing unusual for our first high-altitude climb. Unfortunately, the clouds were thick for most of the hike, hiding the breathtaking views we had hoped to enjoy.
Afterward, we enjoyed some delicious traditional Ecuadorian food to fuel up, savoring the flavors while sharing stories and laughter.

RMI Guide Walt Hailes & Team

This morning, we woke up early, had our last teahouse breakfast and headed for the helicopter pad.

It was a busy day at the airport since the weather was clear. We saw planes and helicopters land, take off and finally, it was our turn.

After a 45-minute flight, we landed safely in Kathmandu.

We got together for one last team dinner tonight. Reflecting on our nearly 3 weeks in Nepal and enjoying a delicious meal at Le Sherpa.

Some of us fly home in the early hours of the day tomorrow and the rest soon after.

What a trip! Thank you for following along and we can’t wait to see our friends and family to share more about this incredible adventure when we get home.

RMI Guides Jess Wedel, Sam Marjerison and Team.

Last  night our team endured the first full night at what many would consider a serious altitude.  15,200 feet to some serious mountain people would be cause for a scoff and teenage eye roll but for us, it means lots of huffing and puffing on top of waking up with a hangover that is not alcohol induced.  We look forward to that headache later but for now we are holding fast to acclimating and training.
So after shaking out the webs we ate a good breakfast, suited up and made the 1.5-hour hike to the toe of the glacier.  The wind blew hard all night and did not let up during the day.  This made reviewing skills a bit challenging but true-to-form everyone did great. 
After returnimg to the hut we enjoyed a great lunch, some life giving cola cola and a nice power nap.  
Now we are packing for the summit climb hoping the wind will die down just a bit.  Right now it is blowing a steady 25 miles per hour making the thought of 19,000 feet a little cold.  
So wish us luck as we climb through the night tonight.   We will let you know tomorrow how it goes.

RMI Guide Adam Knoff

On The Map

For the past two winters I’ve traveled to the south side of the globe to join RMI’s teams on Cerro Aconcagua (Argentina). Despite being a skier and winter-lover through and through, each fall I find myself eagerly anticipating my trip to Argentina. Thanks to the Andes, the cuisine, and the new friends I make there each year, I’ve fallen in love with Aconcagua. Here are the top five reasons I look forward to making the long voyage south each winter: Mules: Aconcagua is a unique mountain in that it is exceptionally dry. Its base camp at 13,800’ is reached by hiking twenty-seven hot, dusty miles along the Vacas river which sits deep in a rocky and sparsely vegetated valley. We rely on mules to carry our heavy expedition equipment to Base Camp over the course of our trek. The mules, loaded with two or three 30 kilogram duffels a piece, run along the river kicking up dust with the southern flanks of Aconcagua as a backdrop. Unlike horses, which expire quickly without water, the mules can run the 27 miles to basecamp fully loaded in a single morning and make the return trip to the trailhead that same afternoon. The mules are cared for and driven by Herrieros, the predecessors of the iconic South American Gauchos. The Herrieros ride the largest and sleekest mules and wear a traditional red cap that looks like a wool beret. They tie large patterned sashes around their waists and tuck a large, leather-sheathed blade in the back. At night the sashes are used to cover the eyes of the younger or more rambunctious mules in camp while the riders sit around a fire and grill in the Argentinian style. Which leads me to another part I love about an Aconcagua expedition… Asado: A traditional grill that sits just off the ground. Slow burned hardwood provides the coals to cook large slabs of heavily salted steak. There is simply nothing better than coming down from climbing to a camp dinner of fresh steak and wine. Over our Asado dinner the last night on trail, the team has a chance to reflect and enjoy each other’s company, knowing they’re reaching the end of a successful expedition. Mendoza: This small city nestled in Argentinian wine country is our jumping off point for all Aconcagua expeditions. Mendoza draws tourists of all sorts: wine connoisseurs, climbers, fly fishers, horseback riders, and a host of others. But all of them find in Mendoza some of the best cuisine and wine South America has to offer. The rise in popularity of Argentinian wines complements a rich food culture that descends from a mélange of European and native cultures. Whatever you crave after three weeks in a tent, whether steak, authentic Italian pasta, empanadas, fusion, or just pizza, you’ll find it in Mendoza. I promise, it will be delicious. The View from Chopper Camp: So far everything I’ve mentioned about climbing Aconcagua has been about food and culture (forgive me, I love a good meal!). And while the cultural experience in Argentina is undoubtedly one of my favorite parts of the Aconcagua expedition, the view at Camp Two on Aconcagua takes my breath away every time. Sitting below the Polish Glacier on a small ridge at 18,600ft, Camp Two (or Chopper Camp) offers up the first views of the greater Andean range. From Base Camp on up, climbers see Aconcagua towering above them day and night, until suddenly we come around the final traverse into camp and the Andes stretch out as far as you can see: to the north and east toward Mendoza and west all the way into Chile. It is here, at Chopper Camp, that the expedition picks up energy: the summit is close, the final push on the horizon! The Team: As the old adage goes, it takes a village to climb a mountain, or something along those lines. Aconcagua requires a tremendous amount of teamwork every step of the way. Our broader team includes the mule drivers who make sure our equipment arrives, the porters who help a climber with an especially heavy load, the Base Camp staff who cook us our first dinners, the drivers, expedition providers, hotel staff and numerous others who work with RMI year after year to make sure climbers and guides are cared for along the way. These people become part of our team. They have become friends and mentors and I look forward to seeing them each year. And then, there is our expedition team: the three guides and ten climbers who live together, work hard building camp together each night, eat every meal together for almost three weeks, and learn more about each other in that time than most people learn in a year. This network and the chance to be part of a new climbing team, more than anything else, calls me back to Aconcagua year after year. _____
Katrina Bloemsma hails from the mountains of Colorado, but now calls the Pacific Northwest home. She guides in Washington on Mt. Rainier and the North Cascades, and further south, on Aconcagua. An avid skier and climber, Katrina can be found chasing deep snow and warm rocks when she isn't guiding.

Hello again everyone. Day 5 and we have arrived at Kilimanjaro's high camp, 15,000ft! The team once again did a great job of getting to camp in just under our 3-hour target time. It was another nice day here this morning and now we are sitting in the clouds, which will make for perfect napping temperatures. We have just finished another enjoyable lunch and have discussed the plans for our upcoming climb. Everyone seems excited and as usual, a little nervous too. Our plan is to wake up at midnight, have breakfast at 12:30 p.m., and hopefully start our climb around 1 a.m. If all goes according to plan, we should reach the summit somewhere around 7 - 9 a.m. EAT (5 - 7 a.m. PST). Wish us luck! RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

On The Map

Sunday, June 23rd, 2013 We woke up with a couple of inches of snow on the tents this morning. No storms or winds, just the friendly June kind of Denali snow. We had a very pleasant rest day. We checked in with the camp gossip and watched a few teams head up the fixed line towards 17k. Our plan is to head up to 17,000 ft and make a camp. We have really been doing a great job of sport eating and no one has had any problems with this altitude. We are all very excited because we do not drag any sleds up past this camp. RMI Summit Team 6 P.S. Lance wants Penny to know that he is keeping up with his dental hygiene. (But the rest of him has not washed in ten days! Also, Uchal says Happy 2nd Birthday Lulu!

On The Map

Hey everyone, this is Peter Whittaker calling in from Vinson Base Camp. It's about 7 PM and I'm on the runway here. We have a Twin Otter just touching down right now behind me, you're going to hear it. It just flew from Union Glacier and is coming in to pick up Ed and Cindy and Dave and Ben to take them from Vinson Base Camp back to Union Glacier. The rest of us are going to stay here and start the ski portion of our trip. [It's] beautiful today, it actually warmed up a little bit, probably somewhere around 0. This plane is a Twin Otter, we'll see if Jake can push a picture out of it. It's just taxiing in right now and is going to pull up next to us. These guys are going to load on get back to Union Glacier and, hopefully, get back to Punta Arenas with the Ilyushin this evening as well. I'm going to keep talking here, just a little bit longer as this thing taxis in. The Twin Otter is capable of holding twenty people and a bunch of bags. It's pretty impressive to watch these things land on the glacier here. [Pause] And he is just starting pull around over here. We will probably end this call and maybe try again right when he takes off to get you guys a little bit of the experience of standing on a glacier with a Twin Otter on skis revving up to take off. [Break] Hello, it's Peter again and I'm next to the Twin Otter and it's just about ready to fire up. We're going to listen to a little bit of the audio from Vinson Base Camp here at 7,000'. Four team members, Ed and Cindy and Dave and Ben are loaded on the plane and waving out the windows at me right now as this Twin Otter fires up to fly from Vinson Base back to Union Glacier. The rest of the team, myself and Jake, Kent, Seth, and Caroline are going to stay here and ski. The plan is to ski for a couple of days here on the glacier and then head back about a hundred miles to Union Glacier looking for a peak that hasn't been climbed or skied before. We're going to be dropped there and spend three or four days doing first ascents and first ski descents. Okay, I'm going to shut up here and we'll listen to this Twin Otter here as it powers up as it heads off the glacier here back to Union Glacier where hopefully these guys can be picked up by the Ilyushin very soon. [Break] Okay, one more try, the Twin Otter taking off. Here it comes. [Engine Noise] Bye bye plane.

We are checking in from Azau at the base of Elbrus after settling in at our hotel. All is well, and we're adjusting to the time zone changes. Our plan is to do a short hike tomorrow to prepare for the climb. The trail begins at 7,000' on a gravel road then travels through forest and a high alpine environment before turning into a climbers trail. We continue through a rocky area which requires some scrambling and complete our hike at 11,500'. We'll then work our way back to Azau where we'll spend the rest of the afternoon organizing our gear for our climb.

Hello, this is Linden calling, today is April 6th. It was a beautiful morning at Base Camp and after breakfast we started our descent through the Khumbu Glacier back into the morraine and on to Gorak Shep. From there we climbed a little peak called Kala Patar and enjoyed fantastic views of Everest and the Khumbu Glacier. After sitting up there for a while taking in the scenery we began the descent to Gorak Shepa and continued back down the valley to Lobuche. There we met up with the RMI Everest Climbing Team and shared a cup of tea. We continued on to Pheriche where we will spend the night. Today was a long day and we traveled quite a distance through glaciers and moraine, climbing up to 18,500' and back down to 17,000'. We are all excited to be heading toward Island Peak and we are looking forward to reaching base camp in a few days.

We are back down in the lap of luxury...aka Everest Basecamp. Our final round of preparation is finished; next time up will be for all the summit marbles. The last couple of days at ABC were somewhat surreal. Yesterday morning, I came out of the tent at 6 AM fully expecting to still be in the middle of the storm we'd been enjoying for days. The forecasts had called for the same bit of jet stream to be snaking back and forth over the range, with continued potential for big snowfall. But as I looked up at the Lhotse Face, trying to decide whether we'd go for our planned sleepover at Camp III, the storm was nowhere to be seen. Certainly, the absence of this big snow and wind event was a good thing...but I was confused nonetheless. Was it a trap? Was it the well-known "sucker hole" phenomenon, wherein a break in the clouds lures climbers (also known as suckers) up to some place where they will be more vulnerable when the real storm rolls back in? I wanted my climbers-Seth, Erica and Kent-to get the exercise and confidence that would come with another attack on the Lhotse Face, and ideally, I wanted them to have a night up there near 24,000 ft. But if we were merely in a lull in the storm, and we cranked on up to Camp III well, then I could all too easily envision a little too much experience being gained, holding on all night as a hurricane tried to separate us from the wall and perhaps some good frostbite experience the following morning as we tried rapping down frozen ropes in a gale. So to get back to the point I stood there at ABC yesterday morning, looking at exactly the calm conditions I'd been hoping for all night, and I chickened out. Seth was poking his head out of his tent and watching me chew on all of this in the shadows. He seemed to understand and agree with my concerns...we hadn't actually planned to do this CIII sleeping rotation without support and because no Sherpas had been able to get up from BC through the storm of the past day, we would essentially be undertaking the push with just Ang Kaji's help. Kaji is very capable, but the workload included an unknown (but most likely significant) amount of digging to get a storm-ravaged Camp III back in condition for our stay. "Sleeping" at Camp III is already an experience in misery...it is debatable as to whether humans actually acclimate to 24,000 ft. (as opposed to just dying cell by cell and becoming accustomed to that)...but I've always felt that it was useful to get the first shock of such an uncomfortable night out of the way before any summit bid. But add a few other shocks to that practice night and people can get so badly worked ok that they are not in any way, shape or form ready for the summit push the following week. SO by the time that Kent stuck his head out of his tent, I'd firmly decided that we would NOT attempt Camp III on this calm and pretty morning. Over breakfast, I explained that we'd just go for another hike to the base of the Lhotse Face. Since I was prone to frustration over how nice the weather seemed and how little we were taking "advantage" of the day I tried rationalizing for my partners so that they might avoid such glum and unproductive thoughts themselves. Perhaps it wasn't a "lull" in a storm at all perhaps it was the beginning of the big shift toward better weather that everybody had been waiting for. And without a run up the Lhotse Face, we had still managed to cobble together a pretty decent acclimatization round at ABC while nearly all other teams were sitting down valley, fretting over forecasts. Ang Kaji, Seth, Erica and I were all still healthy, we had all of ABC to ourselves (each team had basically left just one caretaker/cook per camp), and yesterday turned out to be nothing short of a stunningly nice, calm, warm day with an awesome sunset not really the kind of stuff to get frustrated over. This morning we came on down toward BC. Carefully, since there hadn't been much traffic and the route through the Western Cwm was disguised by a few inches of new snow. Crevasses were lurking and just begging to be revealed by a misstep of my size 14.5 boots in the new powder. Then we came to the first Sherpas working up from BC and they got the benefit of our tracks while we enjoyed theirs. Ed Viesturs and Peter Whittaker weren't far behind with our first summit team. They'd come up through the Icefall and reported that a big chunk of the route had fallen out with a collapse near the glacier's center. I wasn't too concerned for our proposed descent since Peter's team had alerted the Icefall Doctors to the problem. We took a rest at old Camp I with summit-bound Melissa and Gerry, along with most of our Sherpa team. Looking around at the remaining tents belonging to other teams, I was amazed at how destructive the storm had been. Poles were broken, whole tents were uprooted and displaced, tents were half buried and squashed Camp I was a widespread mess. So I was pleased to find our First Ascent tent, intact and well anchored apparently ready for the next storm. We bid our teammates good luck, donned our climbing helmets and dove down into the Khumbu Icefall. Sure enough, when we reached the collapse in the middle, Icefall Doc Ang Nima from Dingboche was already swinging his trusty hammer and fixing new rope with a partner. They'd cobbled together a fine detour that we took full advantage of. As usual, it was sobering to see the expanse of glacier (two acres?) that had simply caved in, but I was satisfied with the timing of the event. The glacier is welcome to do whatever it wants in the dead of night...just settle down for morning, please. My gang settled into Basecamp by about 11 a.m., about the same time that our teammates were getting to their new home at ABC...we'd pulled a neat switch. I'm sure that Peter, Ed, Melissa, Gerry, Jake, and John Griber were anxious as anything to get up there and get on with their climb, while we were pleased as punch to head for the showers and thick camp mattresses of BC again.