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Thursday, June 14, 2018 - 12:04 AM PT Good evening again from the little Swiss! Another day, another summit! Or summits I should say... the group split and the 2 rope teams headed in opposite directions, towards the east and west ends of the upper Pika Glacier. On one side, a team surmounted the Munchkin. On the other, the South Face of the Middle Troll, a towering rock formation that, with its splitter granite cracks and balancing boulders, provides delicate yet rewarding climbing and the most radical of the views. The weather has been perfect, and we're now going to bed tired, but accomplished and with a full stomach after a quite good pesto pasta dinner! RMI Guides Elias de Andres Martos & Chase Nelson

First summit of the trip! We may or may not have had a slight mechanical advantage on the approach this morning (chairlift) to Volcan Lonquimay. We were teased with beautiful views of the mountain, although the wind was clearly howling up high. The visibility started to deteriorate as we climbed high above the ski area. We transitioned from skins to boot crampons where the broad terrain gives way to a semi-sharp ridge, and we climbed up and up into the clouds. The wind came in waves with periods of eerie calm in between. We climbed until we could climb no further, enjoyed some nice celebratory summit time, and clicked into our skis. The upper mountain required careful turns in the limited visibility, but 3,000’ lower we were able to finally open it up and just ski. The lifts were still spinning after our huge descent, so we snuck in a few extra laps at the ski area before heading for the lodge for chocolate caliente and cervezas. Lonquimay! RMI Guide Tyler Reid

Our team has gathered in Arusha, Tanzania and we are sorting our gear, weighing our mountain duffels and getting ready to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro! We also took a little time for golfing and goofing around. We need to get away from this lap of luxury we find ourselves in and start climbing, we are eating way to much. Tomorrow we will wake early, enjoy our last restaurant meal for a while and then take a drive to the Machame Gate. Here we will register our team with the Kilimanjaro National Park, don our packs and begin our climb toward the Roof of Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro. RMI Guide Mark Tucker

Good morning from Huaraz! The team is on its day one of the expedition. After meeting in Lima, we took the mandatory 8 hour ride to Huaraz and checked into the hotel. We met with Peter, our outfitter and best asset in Peru, and headed for a much needed dinner. Early bed time to overcome the many hours of international (and domestic) travel and we´re now ready for breakfast. The plan for today? A 2 to 3 hour walk in the vicinity of town, a thorough gear check and pack for tomorrow's departure to Cashapampa, the trail head for Alpamayo. Best regards, RMI Guide Elias deAndres Martos & Team

Hello everyone, Teams all here! Excited and I'm sure a little tired after such long flights and the big change in time zones. We kept things pretty simple with just a brief round of introductions and dinner. Tomorrow we'll stretch our legs and explore the city. RMI Guide Casey Grom and Crew

Friday, June 28th, 2013 As planned, we fired up the stoves shortly after our 1 AM wake up. The plan in getting up so early, was to be moving during the coldest part of the day when we could hope that the glacial surface would be frozen solid. That would make sled hauling and walking in general a lot easier than pulling through slush, but more importantly, a freeze would make things safer, bridging the crevasses we'd need to cross. It was apparent this morning, as we ate breakfast and took down tents, that we weren't going to get a hard freeze. Temperatures hadn't dipped low enough, and there was cloud overhead that seemed to act as a warm, damp blanket, insulating the glacier and messing with our plans. But things had firmed up a little anyway, and by 4:15 AM when we hit the trail, snowshoes were doing the job in preventing "post-holing". Rigging up properly for such travel is far more complicated when sleds are in the mix, so the fact that it took some time to get organized was not unexpected. That extra time paid off when we were able to move good and steady without any gear glitches or malfunctions. The first hour took us down about 500 feet in elevation to the main Kahiltna Glacier where we turned North. We began to meet a few rope teams on their way out and it was great to meet an old friend or two in passing and to hear of their adventures on the mountain. Our second and third hour-long pulls took us past Mount Francis (hiding in cloud) and the junction with the East Fork of the Kahiltna. By the fourth and fifth sections of the climb we passed the Kahiltna Peaks and made it to the NE Fork junction... about where we wanted to be at the base of Ski Hill. By this point we were thankful to have cloud cover giving us relief from the sun as we built camp and crawled into tents for an afternoon snooze. After a quiet and easy afternoon in the tents, we met for dinner in the deluxe POSH dining complex dug by Zeb, Erik and Mike King. We turned in early once again anticipating another early start tomorrow. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Our Four Day Summit Climb Team led by Adam Knoff reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. There was a cloud cap with a bit of wind on top, but as the team started their descent the cap was beginning to dissipate and the weather was getting clear. The team is en route to Camp Muir and expected back to Ashford Basecamp this afternoon. Congratulations to today's team!

Jambo from the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge, After enjoying a hot shower, our celebration dinner and a good night's sleep we departed the Dik Dik Hotel for our first day of game viewing in Tanzania's National Parks. We left at 9 a.m. and made a quick stop at a local grocery store for drinks and snacks. We stopped in a town called Mesquito River where we purchased some local bananas before entered Lake Manyara National Park and spending four hours following the herds of elephant and giraffe. The cloud cover made for a nice temperature for us and the animals and we were excited to see warthog, dik dik ,superb starling, hippo, baboon, blue monkey, bush buck, impala, cape buffalo, zebra and wildebeast. We continued our caravan to the Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge located on the crater rim. We arrived in time to see the sunset across the plains of Africa and are enjoying the views from our big picture windows looking down into the crater. We have a full day of game viewing in the Ngorongoro Crater on tap for tomorrow. We have planned for an early morning start with hopes of seeing the sunrise over Tanzania as we descend onto the crater floor. We are keeping our eyes out for the elusive rhino. Everyone is doing well and enjoying our continued adventure. It should be a great sunrise! RMI Guide Mark Tucker

The Any Mountain Five Day Climb led by RMI Guides Jess Wedel, Rosie Hust, Stella Johnson, and Margo Kerr reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The team spent about an hour on the summit enjoying the breezy weather before beginning their descent to Camp Muir. The team will spend one more night at Camp Muir before making their descent to Paradise tomorrow.

Congratulations climbers!

PC: Jess Wedel

Wednesday, November 2, 2022 - 7:10 pm PT

Today was mostly a travel day. We woke up, ate breakfast, and packed out of the hotel at a leisurely pace and headed to the Otavalo market to enjoy some local wears. This market is bustling on Thursdays and Saturdays, but seeing its Wednesday, we enjoyed a nice, quiet peruse through its pathways. A few food stops and a couple hours of driving later, we're moved into the hut at the base of Cayambe, gearing up to start our climb. Tomorrow we review and practice our glacier travel skills to prepare for our summit bid.

RMI Guide Seth Burns