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Yesterday, April 4th, I descended back to Annapurna Base Camp from Camp 2. In total I spent one night at C1 and two nights at C2. The route into C2 was, at times, waist deep powder snow and it's even deeper above. So for now Camp 3 is inaccessible. Less afternoon snow storms and more sunny days to consolidate the sugar snow will be required before I can push higher. Unfortunately, the forecast for the next couple of days is for heavy falls (20-30") of snow above 18,000 ft. After that, it looks like we might have a clearing trend. I've attached four pictures. The first shows the route from BC to Camp 1 (note the two climbers at the base of the route). The second photo shows the route from C1 to C2 and then the route continuing from C2 to C3, the third is my tent and equipment at C2, and the fourth is a view up the mountain from C2. This is a awe inspiring and beautiful mountain! Today in Base camp a herd of wild sheep stopped by and there are rumors of some type of bobcat roaming around as well. For now I'm sitting out stormy weather and looking for my next window to get back onto the mountain. RMI Guide Alex Barber

Successful summit of Ixta! The team is resting in Puebla after our successful summit of Ixta today. We started off today just before 2:00AM from our high camp with perfect climbing weather, a clear warm night. Battling loose scree, rock and hard snow our team made the summit just before the break of day. Watching the morning light slowly pour over the landscape around us we snapped our last pics and began our descent. Snowy ridges and rocky slopes brought us back to high camp. After a well deserved rest we broke camp and made our way to the trail head where we were greeted with cotton cloths and a celebratory feast of sandwiches, beer, chips, and soda. Soon we were back in our van bumping along the dirt road and dozing off one by one all the way to Puebla. Congratulations to our team and thanks everyone for following! RMI Guide Geoff Schellens & Team

Hey everyone, Peter Whittaker here with the First Ascent and RMI team in Antarctica checking in. We had a great day today. We actually moved from Basecamp up to Camp 1 on the Branscomb Glacier. Five and a half miles and it took us about 5 ½ hours, and we gained 2,000 feet. So we're up at 9000 feet now, just over 9, at Camp 1. We had beautiful weather today with very little wind kept conditions nice and the whole team moved up smartly. Seth and Caroline got out before us on skis, and hauled up a load into camp, set up tents and had a hot brewing for us when we got in. It was awesome. And so we're here now. It's about 9 o'clock at night. It is January 6th and Seth wanted to be sure and wish Solveig a “happy birthday.” Our plan for tomorrow is to… most of us are gonna hang out up here, a couple of us are gonna head back down, and do a back carry, grab loads from base camp. The rest of our food and fuel to bring it up to [Camp] 1 and then will be self sufficient here from Camp 1 to move on up to [Camp] 2 and then eventually the summit. The weather's been just fantastic so far, and we're hoping that it does hold. The team’s well, everyone is enjoying themselves, and we just wanted to share with you our latest. We will talk to you soon, over and out.

The Five Day climb June 5 - 9 led by RMI Guide Dave Hahn reached the summit at 5 am today.  It's a beatiful blue-bird day. They enjoyed an hour in the summit crater before starting their descent from the crater rim at 6 am. The team is currently on their descent to Camp Muir. Once back at camp they will take a short break to repack their gear and then continue the final 4,500' descent to Paradise. 

Nice work team!

Greeting from the Khumbu,

The team woke to clear skies for our walk to Namche. We filled our bellies with coffee and breakfast and hit the trail. After about two minutes of walking with pulled off the trail for a bakery pitstop. Herman's Bakery in Phakding makes a variety of delicious baked goods that make great trail snacks. Packs full of pastries we hit the trail for real this time. The trek to Namche gains 3,000' but with all the ups and downs it feels like much more. Walking these stairs is much more beautiful and engaging than the Stairmaster at home. We crossed high and long suspension bridges that have a slight bounce to them as you make your way across. A final big push up and we are greeted by a town in a bowl on the side of the mountains. Namche is vast and bustling with eager trekkers. It is a great place to have a rest day. The team made great work getting here and is looking forward to exploring all that is Namche. Tomorrow we will sleep in with a casual breakfast than go on a small hike followed by well-deserved resting. 

Goodnight all back home,

RMI Guides Hannah Smith, Abby Westling, and Team 

Sunday, June 30, 2019 - 10:26 PM PT Storms were forecasted for today... 90% chance of snow. But when we looked at the world at 4:30 this morning, things were just pretty, clear and calm. So we got up and ate breakfast. After breakfast it was still just fine in our neighborhood, so at 7 AM we set off to do a carry onto the West Buttress. The track was well packed and so we made great progress in the shadows, moving up a series of gradually steepening hills until we were at the "headwall" and the ropes fixed in place up it. The start was a little sporty since there was a small vertical wall to scale in order to get past the bergschrund (a particular kind of crevasse at the top margin of a glacier). But with the aid of the rope and some sharp crampons, we each clawed our way up and over the lip to begin the merely steep and never ending slope above. But it did end as we pulled onto the ridge crest at 16,200 ft which turned out to be the perfect place for a rest break at 10 AM. Then we began climbing the ridge itself with spectacular-and still largely clear- views and the cleanest pink and white granite to clamber around and over. One more short section of fixed line took us up the steep flanks of Washburn’s Thumb at 16,800 ft and then it was relatively easy -but exciting- ridge walking with the Peters Glacier far below on the left and Genet Basin 3000 ft down on the right. By this point there were starting to be a few clouds and some wind gusts, but with the mild temperatures the wind wasn’t much of a concern. We cruised into 17,200 Camp at 12:15 and had a brief reunion with Mike Haugen’s team encamped there and waiting for the weather up top to be workable (it wasn’t today... too windy). With the idea of getting lower down before the storm moved in, we cached our supplies and skedaddled down the ridge. We were almost back in camp at 3PM when the clouds formed fantastic waves and tendrils all around the upper mountain. It began to snow heavily just after our six o’clock dinner of tortellini and soup... fulfilling the 90% prophecy. But we got our carry in. Rest is in order for tomorrow. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

Thursday, May 30, 2019 - 8:03 PM PT Today we had a more relaxing morning than the past few alpine starts. High camp was cold and breezy, and we enjoyed breakfast in the comfort of our sleeping bags. Blowing snow was evident on the upper mountain, reminding us how fortuitous we were to have a good weather window in which to summit. We let the air warm up a bit and the winds abate and then we packed up camp and descended the West Buttress and the fixed ropes on the Headwall. We're now down in the relative warmth and comfort of the 14,200' camp. The air feels a lot thicker here now than when we left it a few days ago. The plan is to get a good night's sleep and continue our descent tomorrow. The weather forecast is calling for a front to move in tonight bringing snow into Sunday. So we'll play it by ear with where/ when we descend, knowing that planes may not be able to fly into the Kahiltna airstrip until Sunday. We're all content and getting good rest for our long descent down the Kahiltna. RMI Guide Mike Walter

On The Map

The team let a out a collective sigh of relief today as we left the big city of La Paz for the quiet Bolivian country side. A few hours of driving, a ferry ride and five miles of scenic hiking brought us to a harbor on the Bolivian/Peruvian border. The views in all directions are incredible here. The contrast of the terraced golden field with the deep blue hue of the lake make a gorgeous contrast. After trekking uphill we arrived at our eco lodge and settled into our rooms. A dinner of quinoa soup and trout next to a crackling fire closed out our night. We all look forward to exploring the island tomorrow. RMI Guide Eric Frank

Hey everybody, this is Casey Grom checking in from the Ecuador Volcanoes Expedition. We are up here at just over 17,000 feet at our high camp on Chimborazo. We had a pretty nice day to hike up here. Was a little bit of clouds, which was nice to have it cool for our hike. The team had a great time and we hired a couple of porters to help expedite our arrival to camp, which was great. We just wrapped up a nice dinner of hot soup and watched the sun go down up here, which was incredibly beautiful. We're crawling into our tents and do our best for a little bit of sleep until we get up. Similar to our game plan as we had on Cayambe. We are going to try to get up at 11 and try to start climbing around midnight. So that will be our game plan for us. We will do our best tomorrow to give a call once we are back down off the mountain. I'm sure it's going to be a long, busy, hard day for everybody. We'll update you guys tomorrow once we are off the mountain. Thanks. RMI Guide Casey Grom

Hi there this is Seth checking in from the Houston airport. The team awoke in Tlachichuca this morning after lots of slumbering last night. Everyone was pretty tired after a whirlwind couple of days. After checking out of the Hotel Colonial in Puebla we drove to Tlachichuca, packed our bags and headed up to high camp. Once there we had time for an afternoon stroll and then it was off to bed. Just a few hours later we made a 1am start for the summit. Although a few of the climbers decided that it was best that they stayed at the hut while the bulk of the group went up. Orizaba is an 'in your face' kind of climb and it's steep right out of the gate. After a couple of hours of trail and scree we reached The Labyrinth. This section can be trickery but for us it was straight forward. Steep ice and snow was the order of the day. Geoff, Alejandro and I anticipated this and had carried extra ropes to 'fix' the steep section. This took a little bit of time and we appreciated everyone's patience as we tried to make the climb as safe as possible. Once we made our way through that section we began the long march up the Jamapa glacier. Everyone was pretty tuckered out when we finally topped out 7 hours and 15 minutes after starting. There wasn't a puff of wind while we were at the summit and the sun was shining. It was the nicest day I've ever had on that mountain. Everyone had climbed strong and doubled down on the descent. We climbed down the glacier and then Geoff and Alejandro guided the climbers down The Labyrinth while I pulled the ropes. We returned to high camp just over 11 hours after starting out. Now we're all disbanded and heading to our respective homes. It was a great experience and quite the uphill adventure! RMI Guide Seth Waterfall