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After three nights spent at Camp I, the time to descend came early this morning. The lively winds helped to motivate us out of camp when the sun hit our tents. Walking down through the icefall after being up for a few days is always interesting, and amazing how fast things have changed. Everyone made their way through the ever-changing river of ice efficiently. Base Camp always feels so much sweeter after a few nights up high. We arrived under clear skies and unpacked into the solitude of our own tents; our home away from home. Everyone is doing really well, and after a few days of rest at Base Camp, we will all certainly be feeling even better as we prepare for our second rotation onto the upper slopes of the mountain. RMI Guide Melissa Arnot

On The Map

RMI Guide JJ Justman began guiding for RMI in 1998 and his climbing and guiding resume includes a long list of notable peaks from all corners of the world. We recently caught up with JJ to hear about his guiding career and his latest pursuits. RMI: Where have you been climbing this winter? JJ: This winter I have been climbing in a few of my favorite places. I first went down to Argentina to lead another expedition on South America's highest peak, Aconcagua. It was nice to stand on top at 22,841 feet and it was my 14th summit. Unfortunately I was only able to do one expedition there. Usually, I like to climb Aconcagua twice. Instead in February I returned to the States and led a Winter Expedition Skills Seminar on Mount Rainier. We had a great team of climbers and in the beginning the weather was fantastic. We made it up to Camp Muir on a beautiful day but in typical fashion, winter crept back in and it was nasty as ever. This may seem like a downer when on a climb but it's actually a lot of fun to be in that kind of weather. You end up learning a lot about how to survive in bad conditions. That winter expedition ended on a Friday and the next day I flew to Mexico to guide the Mexican Volcanoes Ixta and Orizaba, another favorite climb of mine. It had been awhile since I had been down to Mexico and I simply forgot not only how fun the climbing is but how amazing the food is. You don't know Mexican food until you've been to Puebla. RMI: You’ve been guiding for the better part of two decades, what are a couple of highlights from your guiding career? JJ: Boy, that is a great question. I have many highlights. The first is having guided on Rainier since 1998 pretty much day in and day out for the summer season. I have 188 summits but what I love is having shared those summits with literally over a thousand people. I love climbing Rainier so much for that reason. You are always climbing with new folks, many of whom are mountaineering for the first time. Another highlight has been my Himalayan career. I've climbed on 6 of the 14 8000 meter peaks. I did not summit on all of them. On the contrary. However, I've guided and led safe and successful expeditions in some rather inhospitable environments. Simply experiencing those landscapes is something that cannot be explained, you have to literally do it and see it for yourself to understand its beauty. Out of all the Himalayan expeditions I have done, Dhaulagiri, which is the seventh highest in the world stands out for me. It was 2002, my first Himalayan 8000 meter peak. It is a mountain not many people attempt and our small climbing team was the only expedition there that year. Talk about cool! It felt like we were the original explorers in that region to discover and attempt climbing the mountain. It was steep, the weather was relentlessly horrible and we tried to summit on three separate occasions. And every time the weather screamed at us "No". Regardless, we made it up just shy of the summit and our team was one of the greatest teams I have climbed with. A well knit group. I could go on and on but I'll stop it there. Those are a few of my highlights. RMI: How has guiding changed for you over the years? JJ: Guiding for me is like any other industry. Things change. Things evolve. For me, I have taken the attitude of being a life-long learner. Every year there are new tips, new tricks, new methods about short roping, anchors, crevasse rescue, and emergency medicine. I enjoy learning new ways to do things and most of the time I am learning these things from younger guides who are going through their own official education in guiding. I don't want to be the "old guy" who is stuck in the past thinking "my way is the best way". There is always something to learn. I've also been fortunate to be mentored by some of the best mountain guides in the world. And I find the most important skill a guide can have and often the most difficult to learn is the "soft skills" of communication. Great guides have great empathy. Personally I learned this on my summit of Everest in 2004. Coming back down off the summit I was utterly exhausted! And I remember thinking, "this is what my clients on Rainier feel like after making the summit!" I climb Rainier so much I am used to it but for someone who has never done it, well, they get exhausted. A good guide can empathize with their fellow climbers because we have all been there, we have all felt that uncomfortable pain of exhaustion. It's a bitter sweet aspect of standing on top of big mountains, whether it is Rainier, Denali, Aconcagua, or Everest. RMI: You create some great short videos from your climbs, how did you get interested in creating those? JJ: I became interested in making videos of my climbs because of the dispatches I used to do for my Himalayan climbs: it was fun to share photos and videos of the climbs. Families and friends of the climbers enjoyed seeing their loved ones and the environment they were in. On Rainier, one of the things guides would hear is about how people wish they would have taken more photos. Of course the main objective is to summit and climbers have enough to focus on. So I shoot video throughout the climb and then do a quick down and dirty edit and post the video for anyone to see on a Facebook Page called "The Guiding Life". For me, shooting video on a climb is just part of the job. My camera is connected to my ski pole so all I have to do is push a button so it doesn't distract from my main responsibilities of guiding. And people have really enjoyed and appreciated being able to see themselves in action on the mountain. RMI: What do you enjoy most about being a mountain guide? JJ: What I enjoy most about being a mountain guide is taking people into one of the most beautiful environments in the world. When you look at a mountain from down below like 99% of people do, they think it is beautiful. Spectacular even. However, when you stand up on that mountain looking down below, it is a completely different world. And it is amazing. Again, it is something you don't understand until you see it with your own eyes. In order to stand on any mountain's summit a person has to be tough. You must break through that mental barrier that says "I don't know if I can do this." Keeping climbers safe in an environment that can be dangerous and coaching them through tough situations to accomplish great things is what I love about guiding. For some folks climbing Rainier is the most unbelievable thing they have ever done. For some others they get the climbing bug and have to go higher. No matter what, I love sharing the raw power of just being in the mountains. Experiencing one of the most beautiful places you can be. RMI: You’ve done over 15 Expeditions to Aconcagua, what advice do you have for climbers looking to climb South America’s highest mountain? JJ: To date, I have done 16 expeditions to Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America. For many climbers, Aconcagua is the first real "expedition style" climb they do. So there is a little bit of learning you have to do, some subtle differences from a typical climb. One of the biggest obstacles people face is boredom. Expedition climbs like Aconcagua are all about patience. You have to have patience. You have to acclimatize properly, which means on days you are feeling great, you may have to rest and just take it easy. Weather will always come in and you will have to wait out a storm. You have to be patient. Again, it is the mental game that gets most people on climbs. You have to be tough. Tough beats Strong every time. And if you are tough and hang in there you will be rewarded with the most amazing view South America has to offer. RMI: What does your upcoming climbing season look like? JJ: My upcoming climbing season for 2012 is another whirlwind but I wouldn't have it any other way. I will be on Mount Rainier from beginning to end, May through September. However, I am excited to have a two week stint where I will be going back to Russia to guide Mount Elbrus. I am really looking forward to that climb because it is with some folks I have climbed with a lot all over the world. I missed that point when talking about what I enjoy most about guiding. I love developing friendships where over the years I get to share in more and more climbing experiences with the same people. After my tour in Russia and on Rainier I will be leading a Mexico's Volcanoes trip in October before I head back to Argentina in late November where I will be leading two expeditions on Aconcagua, one starting December 3 and the other starting January 2. It's still early in the game but there is already talk of the Himalayas, a place I always want to return to.

Congratulations to the Four Day Climb July 22 - 25 on reaching the summit of Mt. Rainier today!  Clear skies accompanied these teams led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Devin Wilkinson, to the summit early this morning.  After enjoying some time on top they begain their descent from the crater rim aroun 6:15 am.  These climbers will continue their descent to Paradise today and conclude their adventure with a celebration at Rainier BaseCamp.

Nice work team!

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

Hey this is Seth calling from el Pico de Orizaba, third tallest peak in North America and tallest in Mexico. We had a long but beautiful climb, great weather and we are hanging out in great conditions on the summit. We'll check in again when we get back to Piedra Grande. That's it. That's all. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

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

June 6 - 4:50 PT

Another beautiful morning for a rest day. Woke up with the sun to a filling meal of breakfast burritos. Weather is looking more optimistic, so we are taking today to rest, prep and pack with the hopes of moving to high camp tomorrow. Otherwise, a generally quiet day at 14 camp.

Hope to check in from 17,000' feet tomorrow!

RMI Guide Nikki Champion

The weather came around today, but not quite in time for us to make good use of it.  The skies had cleared of cloud but at noon there was still wind whipping snow off the high ridges and peaks.  We didn’t want to chance having to battle such a wind for the final hours into high camp and for the time needed to build that camp.  So we got ready, but we waited for improvement.  The winds did diminish but not convincingly enough for us to pull the trigger.  The teams around us did go for it and seem to have done just fine, although now, at 9:45 PM there is still wind visible in the high camp area.  We’re going to put our efforts into these next two days, Saturday and Sunday, for which the forecast is fine.  We have the place to ourselves… not entirely by design, but the quiet is nice.

We’ll set alarms tonight for 4:44 AM… not for an alpine start to the climbing -which would be quite cold- but to catch the solar eclipse.  At the time of totality, Mt Vinson will be squarely between us and a view of the sun, but perhaps we’ll see stars -a rarity in an Antarctic summer (like never).

Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Tuesday, August 9, 2022 - 6:00 pm PT

Greetings from south of the equator! Sorry for the delayed dispatch but life down here moves at a different pace and we've been enjoying it. The last few days have actually been a whirlwind of cultural sites, colorful markets and adorable fluffy alpacas. After the team flew into Cusco we got dinner and went to bed early to recover from the long travel day down to Peru.

The next day we met our local guides Chris and Javier. We went and explored the Sacred Valley outside of Cusco visiting the amazing Pisac Market and enjoyed some delicioso traditional empanadas. The second half of the day was spent wandering the ancient Inca site of Ollantaytambo. The size and perfection of the stone walls were hard to comprehend even when standing right in front of them! Some of the most impressive stone masonry the world has ever seen!

Today we continued to immerse ourselves in Incan culture by visiting the Qorikancha. This Inca temple of the sun was partially destroyed and a Spanish church built on top of it. Next we drove up to see the lovely Saqsawaman! Yes it's pronounced like it looks. This site has the largest stones of any Inca site, with one that is estimated to weigh 122 tons! The next stop was a traditional weaving market that had all 4 types of Andean camels, llama, alpaca, vicuña, and guanaco! They were adorable, very soft to pet and their wool makes beautiful garments. The final stop was the Catedral del Cusco, it was full of baroque style art and decorations. 

Tonight we pack for the beginning of the Salkantay Trek that we will begin at 4am tomorrow! It's a long drive to the start of the hike but spirits are high and we can't wait to get on the trail!

Buenas noches!

RMI Guides Mike King, Jack Delaney and the team

Thursday, June 9, 2022 9:42pm PT

RMI Guide Nikki Champion let us know that their Denali Team was 100% on the summit! They are back at camp resting and will give us full details of their climb soon! 

Congratulations Team!