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The weather is beautiful today and our team is about 3 hours away from Basecamp. After we arrive, we’ll use the rest of the day for training and practice. We may try for the summit as early as tomorrow. Everyone is in good health, strong and excited for the summit attempt. We are presently in a valley where it’s difficult to get a signal but we will do our best to dispatch again soon. RMI Guides Alex Van Steen & Mark Tucker

The Four Day Climb with RMI Guides Casey Grom and Ben Luedtke were on top of Mt. Rainier at 6:30 am. It was windy morning, but a good 6 hour and 15-minute climb of the Disappointment Cleaver route to reach the 14,410’ summit.  The team is on the descent and in route to Camp Muir.

Congratulations team!

Update at 2 p.m. Nepalese Time (2:13 a.m. PST) The whole team is now off the Lhotse Face and headed toward Camp 2. Time to take a deep breath and figure the big part of the climb is over. Still have the Icefall tomorrow morning but like where we are at. Yeah! RMI Guide Mark Tucker

Hello from 15,500ft on Ixta! The team did an impressive job carrying heavy loads up to our high camp today. Sunny skies and upbeat attitudes made for a great day in the mountains.

Our camp is above the clouds for now with only a light breeze. We have spectacular views of the Volcano Popocatepetl (17,800ft) to our south. Popo is an active volcano that spits out plumes of Ash from time to time which is fun to watch.

Tonight we will eat an early dinner and crawl into bed to get some shut eye before an early start to our summit attempt tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing the massive sprawl of city lights from both Mexico City and Puebla thousands of feet below.

RMI Guide Grayson Swingle

Our Mt. Shuksan seminar tagged the top of Mt. Shuksan this morning. After many days of training in the rain, the team awoke to clear skies for their climb. The previous five days were spent learning about rope travel, weather patterns, avalanche safety, snow and ice anchors, etc. RMI Guide Alan Davis reported great route conditions and a top out time of 9:30am. 

The team is back at the trailhead and will enjoy some good food and drink before starting their journey home.

Nice work climbers!

We woke at over 17,000 feet at Chimborazo High Camp for our final climb. Looking outside we were surprised to see heavy snowfall. Momentarily the guides debated if the weather would push back our start time or stop us in our tracks. After discussing, we optimistically decided to stick with the plan, start packing up and hope the snow would subside. After breakfast we looked outside elated to find a perfectly starry sky, the timing was perfect. As we climbed we encountered difficult firm route conditions and a steady 20 mile an hour breeze that wouldn’t quit. Even so, just before sunrise some of the team managed to summit. That only team to do so today. We descended a route completely empty of other climbers. Back at High Camp the team had a lovely second breakfast together and relaxed after the all night battle up Chimborazo. 

RMI Guide Avery Parrinello

Thursday, July 30, 2022 10:20 am PDT

I’m going to start with the spoiler-100% of our team made it to the summit! This was very special because of the excellent chemistry we developed on this trip. To get to the summit, we had to travel across the Autobahn-clipping in and out of over 50 pickets, climb past Zebra rocks, take in the views at Denali pass, do the 100 yard dash across the football field, tackle pig hill before finally arriving on the summit ridge all while changing layers of clothing throughout the day. The summit brought tears to many of our eyes.  It took us just under 7 hours to reach the summit from 17,000 camp. At the summit, everyone exchanged hugs and laughter. Some commemorated with flags and special notes for loved ones. We took lots of pictures and celebrated our hard effort before we descended back to camp in 3 hours and were completely exhausted. Our celebration included watching Steve, who carried a hula hoop he found in Talkeetna to the summit, break the world record for completing over 30 seconds of hula hooping at the highest elevation recorded for the activity. We all videoed the event for the record book. 

We were blessed with incredible weather; 1st rate guides-Andy, Grayson and Ben; interesting, accomplished, funny and caring team mates.

I want to also share my own personal story which motivated me to climb Denali- The highest mountain in North America. After hiking the Appalachian trail in 2018, I decided I needed a new challenge which was tackling the highest point in every state. I quickly realized this goal included Denali and Mt Rainier and that i better get working on those two mountains since I wasn’t getting any younger. Having no mountaineering experience, I did some research and decided to climb with RMI since they guided on both mountains and came with high reviews. To get some experience, I decided to take the kahiltna seminar followed by a climb of Rainier. Covid initially delayed my plans by a year but in May 2021, I completed the Kahiltna seminar only to find out a month later that I had stage 1C ovarian cancer. I had surgery in July and started 6 rounds of chemotherapy which ended in December. I wanted to have a goal to focus on during chemo, so I signed up for the June 15th climb of Denali. Knowing this was a daunting task, I went hiking everyday during the four months of chemo no matter how sick I felt. Amazingly, I continued to get stronger and fitter and climbed a 13,000 foot mountain in Colorado in November. I think I had this overwhelming desire to push myself because I didn’t want to let cancer interrupt my goals. Another part of me wanted to do something that was as close to mentally and physically demanding as combating cancer as I could find. I certainly believe climbing Denali fulfilled that objective!  Standing on the summit was thrilling but at the same time I realized the yearlong journey was the meaningful part not the single destination.

Mary-Beth and Team

RMI Guides Pepper Dee & James Bealer led their teams of Mt. Baker - Easton Glacier climbers to the summit this morning. All team members climbed strong and reached the summit! The teams will return to camp for their final night on the mountain.  Tomorrow they will descend to the trail head and conclude their Mt. Baker adventure.

Way to go team!

The last few days have been filled with training, climbing and socializing around our Base Camp. A few observations: 1. Everest Base Camp has now swelled to about 350 people, with all the corresponding tents and equipment. It is massive, and it takes up acres and acres of space on top of a moving glacier. In addition, Everest BC is visited each day by organized groups of trekkers who hike up from Lukla to see the place (and the show). The glacier is not flat, but is a series of small undulations in the moving ice (which is mostly covered with rocks). Yesterday during a training run we climbed a portion of the way up the Khumbu Icefall and, from close to 18,000 feet, we got to see the entire camp. What a sight! 2. Socializing. Last night our group invited over the Base Camp doctors for dinner. The head physician has been running the Base Camp medical clinic for 9 years, so she was well known to Dave Hahn (who, again, seems to know everyone). The Base Camp doctors are incredibly knowledgeable about high altitude illnesses, and their presence in camp has no doubt saved many lives. They are here to treat everyone, including climbers, climbing Sherpas, porters, and trekkers (and anyone else). The ten of us had a great meal, and then played speed scrabble (which encouraged the use of slang words), and then Apples to Apples. As an aside, we all learned some interesting slang words from the different nationalities (Scotland, Nepal, etc.). Sara McGahan even threw in some slang used by 10th graders. I know that I learned quite a bit. 3. It is up to a group of incredibly courageous and talented Sherpas to fix line up Mt. Everest each year through one of the most dangerous parts of the climb - the Khumbu Icefall. These folks - called "Icefall Doctors" - are employed directly by the national park and are paid out of the fees the climbers pay to access the mountain. The Khumbu Icefall is the section of Mt. Everest that is between Basecamp and Camp I, and it is extremely dangerous because it is ever shifting as the glacier slowly moves ahead and tumbles down the mountain, and also because it is susceptible to avalanches from surrounding peaks. When shifting or an avalanche takes place, massive amounts of solid ice moves (and you don't want to be anywhere in the neighborhood when it happens). The Icefall Doctors also place ladders across huge crevasses and rope up steep sections of the Icefall, which is used by climbers to pull themselves up the mountain, but, as importantly, to "clip into" for safety. There would be literally no way for a climber of my capability to climb this mountain without the Icefall Doctors. They are amazing people. 4. In the incredibly capable hands of our lead guide Dave Hahn, Sara and I have been climbing around Base Camp in order to do two things: 1) continue to acclimatize, and 2) work on the skills that we need to move quickly up the mountain. One of the greatest dangers that we face on Everest is avalanches, and speed is one of our best ways to minimize our danger. We are working hard to be able to move quickly and safely though the icefall. We need to be able to breathe (this always helps!) and to have a comfort level on ladders and fixed line. Dave has spent days with us helping us with these skills, and we will be continuing to work on them in the days ahead. Only then will we venture up to higher places on the mountain. 5. Fun. One of the reasons that trekkers and climbers alike come to Base Camp is that it is a fun place. Every day people come by to socialize with us. Mark Tucker (our Base Camp manager) is always ready with some kind of game. Mark and I teamed up to win a horse shoe throwing contest, and the other night we had a poker tournament (Texas hold em) with guides from other groups. We have also played golf on the frozen ponds on the icefall, with yours truly hitting a hole in one, much to the chagrin of Mr. Tucker (it earned me 50 rupees - ha!). So, there is always something going on, with people coming and going, and it is one of my favorite things about climbing. The people are adventurous, interesting, international, and fun loving - the best people in the world in my opinion. So, thanks for following our blog. We are working hard and will have more to report in the days ahead. Bill M.

Saturday June 11 - 11:59am PT

The last few days have been a blur.

Yesterday we had a hard but a rewarding summit day. The autobahn was mild, but the summit ridge greeted us with high winds, and blowing snow. Despite the mountains best efforts, our entire team made it to the summit and safely back to 17k camp for a late dinner.

Even though we all wanted to sleep in following the summit - we woke up around 9:30am, had a quick hot breakfast, and tore down camp to begin the long process of descending back to the airstrip.

RMI Guide Nikki Champion and Team