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It's us again,

Today we slept in and had a casual breakfast before gearing up to retrieve our cache of gear at 13,500'. It was a quick walk downhill. Clouds came and went, and the sun poked out to warm us as we repacked our packs to head back to camp. By the time we were close to camp, the temperatures dropped, and snow began to fall. The afternoon got away from us and before we knew it was dinner time. Ramen filled our bodies, along with hot drinks, and the clouds cleared off for a view of both Hunter and Foraker. The winds are calm compared to last night.

Tomorrow we shall be lazy and enjoy a rest day hopefully with some more good views. Teams are gearing up for moves to high camp. Soon enough it will be our time. For now, we will be patient and enjoy 14,000’ Camp.

Goodnight, all,

RMI Guides Hannah, Devin, Erika, and Team

May 31, 2014 - 11:23 pm PT The weather slowly cleared over the course of today. We woke to heavy snowfall, but calm winds, and the snow slowly eased through the day, clearing enough by the time we headed to the tents this evening to show blue sky over the West Buttress. The anticipation and excitement in the cook tent this evening was obvious, as we do plan to try to make the next jump tomorrow, climbing to 17k camp tomorrow. If all goes well, the next few days will be big, and will go by in a whirlwind. We'll keep you all updated on our progress, and wish us luck! RMI Guides Pete, Robby, Josh, and team

On The Map

Hello from 6200'! We spent the day in Ashford yesterday organizing gear and getting our ski kits dialed in. The road to Paradise was delayed in opening due to the 13" of new snow overnight! We kept ourselves busy this morning tour planning and exercising our map and compass skills, while enjoying coffee and patiently waiting for the plows to finish their job. The late arrival was worth it, and we made good time to our campsite here in the Upper slopes of the Paradise Valley. After building a bomber camp we went out for a cocktail hour ski back down the valley a few hundred feet. We are all cozy here in camp and looking forward to clear skies and more training tomorrow! Cheers, RMI Guides Solveig Waterfall, Bryan Hendrick, and the team!

Today marked the passing of yet another rest day. We hung out at Camp 2 along with many others; Katrina counted more than 67 tents in camp today. We sat the day out watching all sorts of crazy weather over the course of the day: Intense sun/heat, chilly breezes, pelting graupel and hail, puking snow, and continual thunder and lightning all afternoon... Pretty exciting. It seems the horde of other climbers have a very similar strategy to us. Our team is well-rested and ready to move up to Plaza Cólera (our high Camp 3) in what looks to be marginal weather tomorrow putting us in position to take a crack at the summit in better weather on Saturday. A strong wind event is forecasted to begin ramping up with moderate winds on Sunday and over 60 mph winds forecasted for Monday. Hopefully we can nail it but it certainly has been a bit of a chess match with the mountain and the weather. Wish us luck as we roll out on our summit push over the next two days, RMI Guides Billy, Walt, Katrina, and the Whole Gang!

Hello again everyone, Day 4 started much like yesterday, luckily for us, with clouds below and clear skies above. Looming above camp was our first major obstacle of the climb, the 1,000' high Barranco wall, the only real technical part of this climb. Looking straight at it one would think its nearly unclimbable but thankfully for us there is a faint climbers trail that bobs and weaves it way via a series of ledges and steps safely to the top. Everyone did fantastic and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and were amazed watching the porters navigate this terrain with their loads still balanced on their heads. Once on top of the wall we took a nice break to enjoy the views and snap a few pictures. The rest of the trail was mostly a traverse with spectacular views of the last few glaciers that cover the southern side of Kilimanjaro. We arrived in camp right around noon and had a quick lunch then retired to our tents for a little rest. All is well! RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

On The Map

The Four Day Summit Climbs led by Brent Okita and Gabriel Barral were forced to turn the climbs today at approximately 11,800' due to gusty winds and poor visibility. The teams checked in from Camp Muir shortly after 7 a.m. and reported windy conditions. There is a cloud cap on the mountain this morning that has descended to the top of Disappointment Cleaver at approximately 12,300'. The teams will be starting their descent from Camp Muir to Paradise later this morning.

Hello from Quito. We had a great day of climbing today, beginning with an alpine start at midnight. The weather was overcast, breezy, and very humid for the first hour or so of our climb. But, as luck would have it, the clouds dissipated, the wind ceased, and the temperature was perfect for climbing. We climbed swiftly up the glaciated slopes of Cayambe, and arrived at the large summit Bergschrund just before 7 a.m. Without an obvious ramp or snowbridge to cross, we decided that we had had a great climb on a beautiful morning, and that we had reached our summit at 18,700', just 200' shy of the top of Cayambe. We did enjoy a nice long break up top, with great views of the volcanoes and Quito to the south, Columbia to the north, and the rainforest to the east! After descending, we quickly packed up and headed back to Quito for a shower and some good food. We will be headed back to the states tomorrow. Thanks for checking in on our progress!

This is Casey and team checking in from ABC, Camp Two. Today the team awoke early, had a quick breakfast and headed out the door at 4:00 am. The team did a great job climbing all the way through the icefall, past Camp One, and arrived safely at Camp Two. The weather was quite nice today with all the members feeling good and in high spirits. Our goal for this rotation is for all the climbers to reach and possibly sleep at Camp Three. If weather continues to cooperate the first wave will push up to Camp Three tomorrow.

We bailed out of high camp this morning without too much difficulty. It stayed calm and wasn't even all that cold as we got up, but then snow clouds formed up and blotted out the sun and we felt the true temperatures. We got moving downward at 11:15 AM. The fixed-rope section was strenuous with our heavy packs but conditions were good and so we made fine progress. We were on the last hill overlooking basecamp at 4 PM when we saw and heard a Twin Otter flying out of VBC. This was a good thing, but it was also a little surprising as there was a good deal of cloud and fog hanging around the lower glacier. When we marched in to camp, it was great to see John and the other climbers again. We were told that the Twin Otter crew was intent on flying out to Vinson two more times in the evening and that we were slated for the second of those flights... But as that would be four or five hours off in good conditions -and conditions were deteriorating, we simply built camp again (we are getting fast) and had a pleasant dinner. Sure enough, it socked in and there were no more flights, but we didn't mind much. We are happy to be down safe and happy that the biggest part of our hard work is finished. We'll see what tomorrow brings but now things are largely out of our control.

The Expedition Skills Seminar Team, led by RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier, reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today via the Emmons Glacier.

Over the past week, the team has been training on the upper slopes of Mt. Rainier, honing a variety of advanced alpine techniques. Today, they put those skills to the test and successfully climbed to the top of the mountain.

The team will spend one more night at Camp Schurman before descending and returning to Rainier Basecamp tomorrow afternoon.

Congratulations to the entire team on a successful summit!