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A big hola from Mendoza! The team is assembled in this summery land, all bags ready to go and all our paperwork complete with crossed t's and dotted lower case j's. Now all that remains is to start this Aconcagua adventure by loading up and heading into the mountains. Tonight we will have our last meal at a proper table for a few days and start our walk in tomorrow. Wish us luck! RMI Guides Jake Beren, Mike King and Steve Gately

Seth here. We're all checked in for our flights to St. Petersburg. Today is our transfer day so there's not much to report. Everyone met up for coffee in the morning and the group had a down day while Pete and I cleaned and dried the tents and other gear. We'll be taking a red-eye to St. Pete's tonight and then we'll start touring the city tomorrow afternoon. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

The Four Day Summit Climb July 16 - 19 led by RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer and the Expedition Skills Seminar -Paradise led by Garrett Stevens were unable to summit this morning. A snow bridge over a crevasse collapsed this morning preventing the groups from continuing their ascent. This collapse happened at approximately 13,600’. All climbers are continuing down safely. The teams will return to Camp Muir to re-pack and take a short break before continuing down to Paradise. We look forward to seeing the groups at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.

Jambo! We are back in Arusha getting our last minute shopping in. Today's game viewing in Tarangire was excellent. We started with several close ups of elephant families and then, right before we exited the park, we came upon a pride of lions that was stalking a herd of wildebeests. The lions made several runs at the wildebeests but did not make any kills. It was still really cool to see the big cats in action though. After we finish shopping we will head back to the Dik Dik to clean up and then it's off to the airport for our flights home. It's been a great trip and today was the icing on the cake. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

The Four Day Summit Climb August 15 - 18 led by RMI Guide Leon Davis reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning! The teams reported cool temperatures, light winds and a great day on the mountain. They were beginning their descent from the crater rim at 7:45 a.m. PT. The teams will return to Camp Muir and then continue their descent to Paradise this afternoon. RMI Guide Casey Grom led the Five Day Emmons Glacier Climb to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. All of the team members reached the summit. The team will descend to Camp Schurman for their final night on the mountain. Congratulations to today's climbers!

Hello from New Shira Camp, We have just had a great day. Everybody slept well last night and we awoke to blue skies and a view of Kilimanjaro above us. Tea was served to us in the tents and followed by a bucket of warm washing water. We packed up camp in good time and hit the trail at 8:30 a.m.. The first stretch out of camp is fairly steep but we got immediately into a solid pace and climbed right up the first 1,000 feet of the day. A short stretch later and we were on top at a beautiful viewpoint. It is here that the actual size of the mountain can be seen for the first time since we started the trek nearly 6,000 feet below. Since the weather was perfect, we stopped an hour later for a long lunch break and ate until were stuffed. The elevation gain for the day was done this morning, so after lunch we only had to climb a few hundred vertical feet to gain the Shira Plateau. Then a short descent and we arrived in camp. We just finished our afternoon snack and are hanging out in the dining tent sharing stories of past travels and adventures. The whole team did great today and are all psyched for tomorrow's push to almost 15,000 feet. We would also like to give a big shout out to Sean. You are missed. Tomorrow we will check in from Barranco Camp. RMI Guide Jeff Martin and team

On The Map

Rest Day First off, my apologies at not getting a dispatch off last night. After downloading images to my netbook, I encountered some issues with both charging the computer and a corrupt driver for the satellite phone. Fortunately, I brought a backup laptop with me; unfortunately, that laptop had been left at Vinson Basecamp. So, last night from 10:30 PM until 2:30 AM, I had a nice journey back down to Basecamp to swap out laptops, pick up some additional gear, and head back to Low Camp. Not what I had in mind, but being out during the "night" was a great time, albeit a long one! __ Rest days are always nice. This morning we awoke leisurely, mainly because here at Low Camp we're in the shade from 3:00 AM until 11:30 AM while the sun is behind Vinson. As a result, the temperatures drop from reasonable and pleasant to painfully cold during those hours. It's best to stay inside. Seth and Caroline - after making another great breakfast - left to make an additional carry from Vinson Basecamp to Low Camp of some additional food and equipment. Meanwhile, the rest of us went about our day. Peter and Ben began with ice sculptures, carving a great First Ascent "A" out of the ice. Kent and I moved up the glacier to do some shooting with Ed. The highlight of the day was our journey up to a nearby Col which was part of the original route used by the 1966 first ascent team on Vinson. It was the common route until about 15 years ago. From Low Camp, a short, 30 minute walk leads to the Col, and immediately a stunning landscape is laid out ahead. An ocean of white, pockmarked by black-rock peaks, and bounded on one side by the giants of Shinn, Epperly, and Tyree. It is a stunning sight to behold, and one more of what will be many happy memories of this special land. - Jake Norton

This morning we left for our summit attempt on Cotopaxi at 1:15 am. A starry night and a light breeze greeted us as we ascended the slopes above the climbers' hut. The weather stayed beautiful, and our team climbed strong. At 7:30 all of us stood on the 19,347 foot summit of Cotopaxi-six hours and fifteen minutes after starting. Climbing conditions were great, and summit views were vast; from southeast to northeast we could see all ten of the 5000+ meter volcanoes of Ecuador: Sangay, El Altar, Tungurahua, Chimborazo, Carihuairazu, Iliniza north and south, Cayambe, and Antisana-and Cotopaxi was under our feet! After a half hour of rest and photos on the summit, we began our descent. The climbing conditions remained excellent and we arrived back at the climbers' hut by 10:00. We spent an hour or so at the hut, resting and rehydrating, before hiking 15 minutes down to our waiting vehicle. We are now at the Hacienda La Cienega, enjoying hot showers and delicious food. Congratulations to Robin, Sean, and Sherman on their successful ascent of Cotopaxi!

A couple of days ago we hit an important benchmark, and had a successful day for the team. It was just as we did the previous morning we set out, only this time we actually left Basecamp. Everybody else did too...I've never seen quite so many in the Khumbu Icefall. Since it was effectively "closed" yesterday, the traffic of two days was wedged into one. I was very excited for the great job that Erica was doing - but I'll admit that the crowding and congestion in dangerous places was something I was continually uncomfortable with. I suppose it was business as usual in the busy season - but as I said - I hadn't seen things quite so bad before. From small teams that seemed unacclimatized and unskilled blocking the route, to massive Sherpa teams of 30 and 40 coming down all at once. Sure, there were plenty of the usual encounters with friends. I was happy to see Apa Sherpa gunning for his world record 19th Everest summit. There were Peter Whittaker, Ed Viesturs, Jake Norton and John Griber, who we hadn't seen for the better part of a week. And as usual it was fun to run into Vern Tejas, Scott Woolums and a sampling of the great cast of characters that Everest attracts every spring. Mostly though, I kept my concentration on my small tight team of Erica, Seth, Kent and Ang Kaji. Our training and patience paid off. Even with the numerous hold-ups, we pulled into Camp 1 at 10 a.m., having spent a respectable and reasonable 4 hours and 45 minutes in the big jumble. I was especially proud to find that we had enough reserve energy to blast quickly through the dangerous avalanche zone near the top of the Icefall and the start of the Western Cwm. It was a great feeling to be in the Cwm itself - back on the glacier surface instead of continually being under large, heavy and unstable things. By that point, we'd found the sunshine and warmth and it was clear that we had passed our first big test on the road to the summit. And how! At Camp 1 we climbed into the tents to escape the big reflector oven heat of the Cwm at midday. It took a few hours of running stoves to melt enough snow for the water we badly needed - but then we had not much else to do - just rest, relax, acclimate! The following day our Sherpa team had the real acclimatization of the day. Lam Babu and Tendi were part of a cooperative team of Sherpas from different expeditions that set out for the arduous and important task of setting fixed ropes on the Lhotse face. They succeeded in a big way, fixing not one but two parallel lines to 24,000 ft. This will allow safer flow of traffic on the steep blue ice of the Lhotse face. Lam Babu and Tendi also sited the First Ascent Camp 3 location - an important milestone where flat spaces big enough for a tent are few and far between. The alternative - hours of chopping with an ice axe on a 40 degree slope - is best avoided. We saw the tiny dots inching up the Lhotse face from Camp 1 at the other end of the Western Cwm. Our day was easy-and a relief after a windy and mean night. We were hit repeatedly with cannon blasts of wind rocketing down the 3,000 ft. face of Everest's west shoulder. The wind was noisy - and a strain - threatening to flatten our tents and uproot us from our moorings. Kent Harvey came out of his tent, smiling about the good sleep he'd gotten - but Seth and Ang Kaji didn't get a wink, Erica was somewhere in the middle, as was I. Even so, we took advantage when the wind quit in the morning-brewing up coffee and then stretching our legs with an hour-long walk up the Cwm. We knew we wanted to be back in camp before the sun made work in the Cwm unbearable. It was good to see Gerry Moffatt and Melissa Arnot getting an early start down from ABC. They were bound for Basecamp and showers and comforts that our team isn't really missing yet. We kept in radio contact with Peter Whittaker and Linden Mallory down in Basecamp throughout the day. Today we fired the stoves at 5 a.m. and left Camp 1 by 7:30 a.m., bound for ABC (Camp II). The route from C1 goes seemingly right under the summit of Nuptse. I know that isn't actually possible, but it is physically difficult to bend one's neck back far enough to take in the 5,000 ft. of vertical relief straight up to the summit. We crossed a half dozen easy ladders over crevasses, and then got on "easy" terrain, clomping up the glacier in our crampons. Our biggest challenge seemed to be getting out of the way of the many friendly Sherpa on the route. The guys going up had come all the way from Basecamp under heavy loads, the guys going down had already emptied their loads at ABC, and so were moving fast down to Basecamp and smiling a lot. Erica moved along as if she'd been to ABC a number of times. At such points I have a tough time reminding myself that she is seventeen - and an even tougher time remembering what I was capable of when I was seventeen (not this - but sometimes waking up on time and perhaps dressing correctly). Erica is not the only 17-year-old on Everest this year. In fact, two "Johnnys" were both camped within 100 meters of us last night -one with Damian Benegas and one who is working with Scott Woolums. And they both appear to be doing great. But I'm pretty sure that Erica is the first 17-year-old that I walked into ABC with. Erica, Seth, Kent, Ang Kaji, and I hit camp at 10:30 a.m., and celebrated with round after round of Tang toasts. We're here for 2 nights and I'll tell you all about the place tomorrow.

Objective #2: Complete!

Jackson and Derek crushed Mt. Baker’s Easton Glacier with confidence and style. From a smooth ascent to a breathtaking sunrise at the summit, they made the climb look easy. Now off the mountain and ready to celebrate a week of wins and unforgettable memories.