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Aconcagua: Carry to Camp 2

January 16, 2011

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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua

Elevation: 16,200'

Weather forecast was right. Winds picked up last night and didn't slow down until 8 am this morning. We estimate that the wind speed was a steady 30 mph and gusts of 50 mph. The good news is that besides a few cut guidelines, our tents stayed in place with no damage. Nobody slept that much so this morning our stoke score descended a few points. Once the wind slowed down we had a late breakfast and packed for the carry to Camp 2. The first hour and a half we walked uphill on a steep trail up the col Aconcagua-Ameghino (17,500'). Once we got to the west side of the col we were exposed to the cold wind that was still blowing on that side of the mountain. It took us 2 more hours to reach Camp 2. The descent to Camp 1 was very quick, just 1:10hrs. Stokemeter

As I write this Garrett is cooking dinner, which smells great, so our stoke score will get to 8 points! Hot drinks are ready so we will be sending a new dispatch tomorrow during our well deserved rest day at Camp 1. Gabi and the RMI Aconcagua expedition

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Mt. Rainier: Four Day Climb Teams with Wittmier & Bennett Reach Summit

August 20, 2025

Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Mike Bennett, Avery Stolte, Layne Peters, Tate Hughes, Nina Bridges, Julian Kral, David Rathbun

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier

Elevation: 14,410'

The Four Day Climb August 17 - 20 led by RMI Guides Dustin Wittmier and Mike Bennett reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The teams delayed their departure from Camp Muir a bit due to the colder tempertures, with a 2 am departure, they reached the summit around 8 am. They enjoyed some time on the summit before turning around and retracing their steps. Once back at Camp Muir the team will repack and continue their descent to Paradise.

Nice work team!

Mexico’s Volcanoes: Wedel & Team Enjoy Rest Day in Puebla

February 28, 2025

Posted by: Jess Wedel, Josh Geiser

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico

Elevation: 7,000'

Thursday, February 27, 2025

Hola friends and family!

We have a rest day in Puebla - yay! The day started without any alarms and that was something we were all excited about. Everyone leisurely made their way to breakfast sometime after 9:00 am.

We all sat there together reminiscing on the trip so far - our good luck with weather, the challenge of both climbs, how many dogs we’ve accidentally fallen in love with, etc.

We kept refilling our coffees and green juice; sipping and chatting for nearly two hours. It was a lovely and relaxed time.

But that’s where the relaxing ended for this crew as they opted for a more “active” rest day. Everyone took off to enjoy as much of the city as possible and lead by Vanessa (who had done all her Puebla research) they saw over nine different sights and interesting spots in town. From art galleries to Mezcal tasting to historical sites, they never stopped walking.

It was so fun at dinner to hear about what treasures people found and how we all spent our day.

We quickly marched back to the hotel for some last minute packing before we have an early start tomorrow to Pico de Orizaba.

RMI Guides Jess Wedel, Josh Geiser and Los Chivos

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Ecuador Volcanoes: RMI Guide Mike Bennett Recaps Summit Day on Cayambe

January 29, 2024

Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Mike Bennett

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador

Elevation: 18,997'

The team started their summit day with an early alpine start, leaving the Cayambe shelter just before midnight. Scrambling up to the glacier under headlamp, and an almost full moon, the morning remained very calm and pleasantly cool.

After nearly two hours of approach, the team transitioned into crampons and full glacier kits, roping up and embarking up the ridge with their guides. Cayambe remains in a very dry state, leaving very icy and firm walking conditions for much of the climb.

Furthermore, winds picked up higher up on the mountain, exposing the team to colder more challenging climbing conditions. At around 18k feet, the sun began to rise, giving way to some relief for the final stretches of the climb.

After roughly 7 hours of climbing, the team topped out at nearly 19k feet. The summit was relatively calm with low winds, allowing the team to hangout and celebrate for nearly 40 mins.

The descent back to the shelter was altogether speedy despite the effects of altitude being obvious to many of the group. After a brief rest and a late breakfast, the team packed up and departed to Tumbaco for a much-needed upcoming rest day before heading to Antisana.

RMI Guide Mike Bennett & Team

Gokyo Trek: Hahn and Team Enjoy a Rest Day in Lungdhen

October 10, 2023

Posted by: Dave Hahn

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Gokyo Trek

Our easiest day, by far. We still got up with the sun and enjoyed our coffee…but then we tapered off. Actually, we went for a fine stroll after breakfast. North, toward Tibet and the Nangpa La -the ancient trade route. But we only went 90 minutes in that direction. Just enough to stretch our legs, enhance our acclimatization and count the yaks. The clouds came in early today and so we picked up the pace a bit for the walk back to our tea house.

As planned, the rest of the day was just kicking back. We snacked, we read, we rehydrated, we knitted and we napped. Tomorrow is a big day, up and over the Renjo La.

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

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Mt. Rainier: July 17th Team Reaches Summit!

July 17, 2021

Posted by: Casey Grom

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier

Elevation: 14,410'

The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Casey Grom reached the summit of Mt. Rainier around 6:45 a.m. today. The team was able to spend some time on the summit enjoying the views before beginning their descent back to Camp Muir. The team will pack up and refuel before continuing their descent. We look forward to seeing them in Ashford later this afternoon.

Way to climb, team!

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Kilimanjaro: Excitement Abounds in Ngorongoro Crater for Tucker & Team!

July 25, 2019

Posted by: Mark Tucker

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro

Today we visited the famous Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area. The crater is roughly 100 square miles and is home for more than 25,000 animals that reside here year round. We stared seeing the 25,000 with the not too elusive herd animals. We saw seemingly hundreds and then thousands before we knew it! Soon enough the world of big cats became the focus. A couple of nice sightings of large meat eaters got the team's attention. Many hyenas, jackals, ostrich, plus countless other huge birds brought us to our spot by a hippo lake for lunch. Just after lunch we observed a small pride of lion trying to take down two different Cape buffalo. The second one ended up against our Land Cruiser. And in the battle our vehicle was charged and dented by the bullet proof horned skull of the Cape buffalo. A mark of bush life not many wear. While our vehicle bears the scars of this battle, we were unscathed. We are back at the fantastic Plantation Lodge for the night. Tomorrow we will venture to Tarangire National Park for more game viewing. RMI Guide Mark Tucker and team

Alpamayo: Team Summits with 100%

July 24, 2014

Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Peru Seminar

Elevation: 17,880'

Hello everyone, this is Elias and the Alpamayo Climbing team Thursday the 24th. It is 9:45 local time and we are calling from Camp 2. Guess what? We just summited this morning. We didn't have a chance to call from the summit, it's a pretty gnarly ridge, pretty exposed and there were some winds. We were a six person team, all the climbers Tony, Kenzie, Parker and Peter made it up. So pulling the sat phone out was a little bit out of the question. But we are psyched. We had an awesome climb. These guys were super strong and climbed really, really quick and efficient. Like I said we are back at camp, safe and sound. We are looking forward to starting our descent. The plan is now to take a couple hours rest here and pack it up and initiate our descent to base camp where our cook, Emile, we hopefully be waiting with a nice meal, really well earned. That is pretty much it for now. As an antidote, we would like to share that, we had a chance, to high five reknown Swiss climber Ueli Steck who was climbing here in the Cordillera Blanca and happened to climb Alpamayo today. It was pretty nice to see him climb next to us and, of course, smoked us on the way up. But hey, he's a different league, and we feel pretty satisfied with the job done. We were the first one's out of camp, the first one's on the summit and the first one's down back to camp. We are reporting incredible weather, incredible views and everybody is psyched. And if you stay tuned we will be checking in tonight when we arrive back at Base Camp, out of the glacier and ready to return to Huaraz tomorrow. That's it from me right now and thanks to all of you who have been following us. We will check in tonight when we are out of the mountains. RMI Guides Elias de Andres Martos

RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos checks in after reaching the summit of Alpamayo.

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Kilimanjaro: Martin & Team Reach Shira Plateau

February 12, 2014

Posted by: Jeff Martin

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro

Elevation: 12,200'

Hello from Shira Camp, It rained a little last night, but when we woke up this morning, the sun was trying to shine through the cloud cover. While the sun never completely came out, we had a dry day with perfect temperatures. The weather even cooperated so that we could have a nice lunch stop along the way to our camp. We got out of camp early today in hopes of getting a little head start and be in front of the other climbers and porters. But we weren't the only group trying this strategy, and we ended up having a fair amount of trail traffic getting up the first climb out of camp. It's a narrow trail, so we just took our time and enjoyed the views around us. On the section after lunch, we got to see quite a few flowers starting to bloom, thanks to the recent rains. Usually this is a pretty dry portion of the trail as we traverse west towards the Shira Plateau, but today there were numerous little streams which were all flowing with water. The mountain above us is still covered in the dusting of snow from a few days ago. It is really beautiful and is giving us lots of great pictures.Today was a short day of hiking and we made it to camp with plenty of time to enjoy the Shira Plateau. Of course we had popcorn and other snacks waiting for us when we arrived. And we spent a big chunk of the afternoon snacking, drinking tea, and sharing some stories. A perfect reward for the 2500' we climbed today. Tomorrow, we are going to set a bunch of new altitude records when we go to 14,900', at the base of Lava Tower. Stay tuned for our next dispatch from Barranco Camp. Best regards, RMI Guide Jeff Martin and Team

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Kilimanjaro: Martin & Team Spend the Day Preparing for the Climb

February 10, 2014

Posted by: Jeff Martin

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro

Jambo from the Dik Dik, We are still one bag down, but otherwise this group is ready to leave early tomorrow morning. We did spend the day going through all the details about our climb and what we might expect along the way as ascend the mountain over the next seven days. Next we focused on gear and equipment, discussing the difference between nice to have and need to have, as well as what to pack in our mountain duffel and what is carried in our day packs. This group did an excellent job in bringing all the right gear so we did not have to spend too much time doing the equipment checks and weighing our mountain duffels. It was raining most of the day, so rather than go out for an afternoon hike, we stayed indoors, with time well spent recovering from the eleven hour time zone difference, and sending out those last few emails before leaving behind the last of the wi-fi connectivity that we will have for the next week. We sat down for our four-course dinner, and had a special treat tonight. Two of our climbers are celebrating birthdays. The staff prepared a wonderful cake for this occasion and rolled it in on a cart after dinner with all the candles lit up and everybody singing. Our two climbers were definitely surprised. We have set our alarms for an early wake up, and hope to be driving towards Kilimanjaro National Park by 7:30 am. Tomorrow, we'll check in from our first camp on the mountain, Machame Camp. Best regards, RMI Guide Jeff Martin

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