Most Popular Entries

Another day of perfect weather on Kilimanjaro. We’re starting to feel lucky. A few of the team ventured out in the dark last night to capture long exposure shots of the night sky and the moonlit mountain. At dawn we were far above the clouds and in perfectly calm and clear conditions. We set out from 13,300' Karanga Camp around 9:00 AM on a moderate but steady grade. Before long we reached the end of any vegetation and came into the Alpine zone. Without tree cover, we could see all of our neighboring expeditions and all of their associated porters moving as if in some mass migration. Hundreds of people with loads on their backs and or heads, all moving steadily toward Barafu Camp (Swahili for “ice”) at 15,000'. We arrived in short order at 11:30 AM, with everybody feeling strong. Our purposely easy afternoon was spent lounging about, eating, drinking and prepping for tonight’s summit bid. Normally folks lose their appetite at altitude, but Chef Tosha prepared a fine spaghetti dinner and none of our team let it go to waste. After dinner, it was a tough thing to quit watching the beautiful sunset and fading light, but the gang retired to the tents early. We’ll be up in just a handful of hours for our alpine start and a climb to the Roof of Africa. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

RMI Guide Steve Gately checked in from camp after a successful summit and descent of Mt. Shuksan's Fisher Chimneys route. Steve reported a great route and an even better team. The team will stay overnight in camp and begin their descent back to the land of good food and cold drinks tomorrow. Congratulations to the Fisher Chimneys crew!

Thick clouds rolled into the Alaska Range overnight and when we woke up shortly before 3am, we found ourselves in the midst of a thick fog bank. It was thick enough that we even needed our headlamps to get around camp, an uncommon occurrence in Alaska this time of year. The fog bank acted like a thick warm down comforter, keeping the temperatures hovering around freezing, even at the coldest part of the night. We caught several glimpses of breaks in the clouds above and decided to venture out of camp to see if we could find some colder temperatures and more supportable snow above the valley floor. We set out through the mist, following the track that we scouted yesterday evening, and navigating the crevasse field that guards the entrance to the side valley leading up to 747 Pass. The scene was awe inspiring while we climbed the valley. As a flat light began to illuminate our surroundings, we passed the foot of huge rock faces that stretched vertically into the air above us until they disappeared into the clouds. At the head of the valley loomed the headwall and seracs that mark the top of the pass. The views would come and go with the clouds, occasionally spitting hail and almost rain on us. After climbing a little more than a 1,000' up that pass we were dismayed to find that the temperatures had not cooled and we were sinking to mid thigh in the soft isothermic snow when we climbed the steeper pitches. Around us running water ran down the cliff faces, telling us that even the snow slopes high above had not frozen overnight. With more clouds blowing in and spits of rain coming down, we knew that today wasn't our summit day as the conditions made for exceedingly slow progress and the warm temperatures and rain increased the chance for rockfall and snow sluffs above us while also weakening the snow bridges that allow us to cross the heavily-crevassed glacier. We pulled our climbing skins from our skis and descended back down our route, making a few fun turns in the soft, punchy snow and returned to camp. We spent the rest of the morning catching up on the few missed hours of sleep from our early start, reading, and keeping a general light-hearted banter going in the tent. By mid afternoon the clouds lifted a bit and we decided to stretch our legs with a little tour across to the east side of the Ruth Glacier before returning to camp for the evening. We are hoping that the clouds will continue to lift and bring in some cold temperatures to provide a good freeze for the glacier. If we get a cold night and a good freeze of the snow surface, we will make another attempt on Mt. Dickey tomorrow morning. If the weather stays warm we'll pack up camp and move back up the glacier towards Mountain House to get some ski touring in on some of the more gentle slopes in that area. RMI Guide Linden Mallory & Team

The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Mike Walter reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning around 6:30 am. The Expedition Skills Seminar - Paradise led by Leon Davis also made a successful climb to the summit today after several days of training on the mountain. Both teams began their descent around 7:30 after enjoying the sunrise and views from the crater for almost an hour. The teams will return to Camp Muir for a short break and to re-pack their gear before continuing the descent to Paradise. We look forward to seeing both teams in Ashford later today. Congratulations to today's climbers!

July 4, 2014 - 9:44 pm PT The move to Mt. McKinley's high camp is like stepping into the ring with a heavy weight larger than King Kong. Thing is, he really likes to throw things at you in one long grueling round. That round our team won. It could not have been a more perfect day to come to high camp. Now the question becomes how much strength does the team have for round two which comes in the form of Godzilla. Tomorrow we will attempt to climb to the summit, weather permitting. Wish us well. RMI Guide Adam Knoff and team signing off from high camp.

On The Map

When you think about mountain climbing, it can generally conjure up images of folks heading up and out in the predawn hours, headlamps shining as they make their way higher. While we'll get to experience that later in the trip, today's mission was to get our luggage staged at chopper camp, roughly 18,000' on Aconcagua. We woke to more clear blue skies and absolutely still air. This rare combination on Aconcagua is something to savor, which we did as we departed camp at the civilized hour of 9 am and made our way up and over Ameghino Col and around towards Camp 2. In very short order the team pulled into camp with our kits, got the gear stashed, and headed back to the comfort of our tents at Camp 1. We are currently sitting inside, trying to avoid the intense UV that is beating down out there. This afternoon is the start of a nice long rest period for us, as we will be chilling here for the remainder of today and all of tomorrow. We'll check back in later! RMI Guide Garrett Stevens

On The Map

Hello from St. Petersburg, What a whirlwind of a day, going from Elbrus and the northern Caucasus to the edge of the North Sea! We slept soundly last night, enjoying the luxury of a simple bed after so many nights on our inflatable pads. In the morning we gathered for breakfast, eager to see what our efforts at placing an order the night before produced. Our drawings and hand gesturing of a couple of fried eggs and toast missed their mark because we ended up with hard boiled eggs, french fries, and 19 chicken breasts. It was not exactly what we expected but delicious nonetheless. The rest of the morning was spent packing up and exploring the maze of aisles and stalls of the Kislovodsk central market where honey, pickled tomatoes, and electronics are all sold alongside each other. Afterwards we loaded up our gear and headed back to the airport where we caught an afternoon flight north across Russia to St. Petersburg. The change in landscape was striking, leaving from a small airport in an overlooked corner of Russia and arriving in St. Petersburg where Russian and European influences have merged, creating a beautiful city on the banks of the Neva River. We reached the hotel well into the evening and immediately walked down the canal running just in front to a small cafe where we sat down to another fantastic meal. Tomorrow is the last day of our adventures in Russia. We will explore some of St. Petersburg's famous sites before our celebration dinner and evening boat ride through the city's many canals. We will check-in with our last dispatch tomorrow.

Greetings from Russia, Today the team left the comforts of town and headed up hill to our new home on Elbrus for the next few days. We started our day with a ride in an enclosed ski lift, switched to a gondola, and then finished it off with a single chair lift. This unique transportation system delivered us to 12,000' where we will spend the next few days getting ready for our climb. Our new home is in a series of giant barrels. They are quite nice, especially on days like today where there is a slight blizzard outside. After our arrival we headed out into the inclement weather for another acclimatization hike. After a few hours of battling the wind and snow we headed back home, had dinner (dill free thankfully) and are currently cozy in our heated barrels. The team is doing great and we will check in again tomorrow.

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Jambo Everyone 

We are still here on Kilimanjaro! 

After a good nights rest and a full breakfast with plenty of coffee the team set off uphill for day two. We only hiked for a short while before the rain sadly returned, but we continued to persevere as we did yesterday. It was a pretty wet day so we took our time to stay safe and arrived in camp a little over 5 hours of being on the move. The team is doing well and in good spirits and very much looking forward to some much needed sunshine. 

We have enjoyed some delicious warm meals and joyous conversations in our dinning tent which has helped keep the morale high. 

If anyone back home is play “the rain in Africa” by Toto. Please turn it off!

RMI Guide Casey and crew

Hello again everyone

The team had a really nice day here on Kilimanjaro today, waking to mostly clear skies with a nice view of the upper mountain and hiking in just a light cloud layer which help keep us cool.

We started the day waking at 6:30 to start packing up before moving into our dinning tent for a nice breakfast with porridge, fried eggs, toast, avocado and even some fresh fruit, and most importantly plenty of hot chocolate and coffee. 

We hit the trail shortly after 7:30am to get a jump on some of the traffic and slowly made our way up the rocky trail with good views of Kilimanjaro above. The trail climbs up a ridge and eventually out of the trees and allows for some truly spectacular views of the valley below. The team hiked for a little more than 4 hours before reaching out next camp that sits on Shira Plateau, which is an ancient lava flow littered with obsidian.

The afternoon was spent relaxing around camp and enjoying nice conversation with the team.

Everyone is doing very well and looking forward to another good nights rest.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew

On The Map