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Today we woke up in the dark around 3 a.m. and ate a quick breakfast of hot rice porridge and coffee. Several team members took a rest day while the guides and Leif did a carrry through the ice fall to Camp One. As Casey, Seth and I had not been thru the ice fall this season (and this being my first trip to Everest!) we felt a preview of the route would be helpful. Loaded with a light pack including items to cache which would be needed for higher up on the mountain, we started out in the dark and joined the massive line of Sherpa. The route is kicked in well and and the ladders were minimal with several ten foot crevasse crossings being the largest span. A little over halfway thru the ice fall, the sun broke over the mountain and we were greeted with clear blue bird skies. We arrived at Camp One (just over 20,000 ft.) at 7:30 in the morning and congratulated each other on a trip well done. Our Sherpa team did a great job with camp site selection and we drank, ate and cached our gear. A little after 8 a.m. we started back down the ice fall hopping crevasses, crossing ladders and doing two short rappels. We arrived back at Basecamp (17,500 ft.) just after 10 a.m. during the heat of the day and sat outside enjoying the warmth while rehydrating and gazing up at the ice fall.

The Four Day Climb teams led by RMI Guides Seth Burns and Sam Hoffman reached Ingraham Flats, 11,200', this morning on their summit attempt.  Due to unstable snow conditions the teams decided to call this their high point today and returned safely to Camp Muir.  Climbers are packing up their gear and enjoying a bit more time on the mountain before starting their descent to Paradise. They will return to Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon. 

It’s a miracle!!!

Rain and snow clouds. But this team stuck with it. 

100% on top

Everyone doing well and headed back to high camp. 

All team members safely down to high camp and doing well. 

Everyone is tired, which feels about right. 

Packing up, then a huge lunch, then we’ll make our way down to some thick air at Mweka camp. 

It’s also raining again! 

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the summiteers

We made it to the top of Europe this morning! The weather forecast turned out to be horribly wrong, but in our favor. What was supposed to be a pretty marginal day turned into one of the best weather days we’ve seen this whole trip. After we hit the top of Mt. Elbrus, we boogied back down to camp, packed up our things, and moved back down into town. We’ll have our celebration dinner down here tonight, after some well earned showers. Everyone sends their best! RMI Guide JM Gorum

On The Map

With Sergio's 4x4 driving skills playing a crucial role, yesterday our Hyundai van plowed through the 20 cm blanket of new snow over the road to Las Araucarias, a ski area at the base of Volcan Llaima. It felt like full blown winter leaving the parking lot - snow falling from the sky... We decided to take the optimistic approach and see if we could potentially climb out of the clouds. After an hour or so we were at the top of the ski area, with no reference points above. We were able to fit five of us in a tiny unused lift shack, and I did what I usually so when times are uncertain: put on some reggae. With my iPhone as the sound system and Chronixx filling the air, it was the ideal "out-chill the situation" maintenance break. Properly fueled and motivated, we ascended into the whiteness above. Hours later we found ourselves in the parking lot, this time Sergio's Hyundai as the sound system, Protoje filling the air, cervezas in hand, smiles on our faces... Llaima (and the weather) said no yesterday, but what a positive day in the mountains it was. Yesterday evening we drove to another mountain, the Hyundai taking us up and up and up a steep lava rock road in 4LO, into a mysterious and remote mountain jungle. Out of the mist appeared Sollipulli Lodge, a place that inspires your childlike imagination. "Eco lodge" is probably the best term to describe this place - each room is its own incredible yurt-like pod situated on a lagoon, with other beautiful alternative structures connected by boardwalks. Mountain jungle living, combined with incredible comfort, and incredibly gracious hosts - the father and son duo Christian and Robert. Sollipulli is a volcano with an expansive crater that similar to Crater Lake in Oregon and was once much taller before collapsing inward on itself. This morning we had a beautiful ascent to the summit, using a variety of ski mountaineering skills along the way. The weather was in and out, but eventually we found ourselves back in the "viento blanco" - low visibility, annoyingly windy, snowing... I learned a new tactic on Sollipulli for terrain reference in whiteout conditions. When you're in the lead, it can be hard to know what sort of terrain you are on, or about to walk into, and guides will use various tricks in these conditions to ensure they're not leading the group off a cornice or into a crevasse. These are low tech solutions like throwing snowballs, casting a piece of cord tied to your ski pole like a fishing rod...or bringing along a pack of three golden retrievers who follow you all the way to the summit, clearly loving every minute of it, while also providing valuable terrain reference. These Sollipulli dogs were amazing, and also very competent in the winter alpine environment. Our Sollipulli descent ended in a wood-fired hot tub next to a crystal clear river, an ideal place to relax in the late afternoon rain. RMI Guide Tyler Reid

June 29, 2015 5:20 pm PST Hey there, it's Billy checking in from Camp 5 on Denali at over 17,000 ft. Our crew made the move today. We got up super early this morning and made great time moving up the West Buttress. We're settled in now at High Camp. We spent some time, improving one of the campsites and building some walls. And now everybody's snug up in their sleeping bag hanging out in their tents. We're sort of chilling and filling with food and water. We are hoping for a good patch of weather in the next few days so we can maybe take a crack at the summit. Yeah, that's all for now. Everyone is psyched and doing extremely well. We will check in again tomorrow and let you know what happens. RMI Guide Billy Nugent

On The Map

June 26, 2014 - 6:37 pm PT The entire team woke up at 2 am to a winter wonderland. With wind blowing and snow stacking the team had to wake up, strap on their boots and grab our shovels. What was a nice camp with all tents visible to each other some 30 feet distance, is now a maze of deep trenches leading blindly to six-foot deep pits, each holding a team member's house. Approximately 40 inches of snow fell by morning in camp, completely covering our posh tent. Currently the snow continues to fall. A call on the satellite phone to the rangers at advanced base camp at 14,000 ft told us that five feet of snow had fallen there. Some loose snow avalanches were observed on south facing slopes around camp-- a reminder that winter is still upon us on Denali. We have had mixed results with the accuracy of the weather forecast, however in the extended outlook a high pressure system may be headed our way later this weekend and early next week. It is times like these that test the will and patience of any Denali climber. Thank God for Lindsay's Cosmopolitan magazine. RMI Guides Adam Knoff, Lindsay Mann and Andy Hildebrand

On The Map

June 6, 2014 - 8:37 pm PT Today we woke to a grand flurry of climbers packing and moving up to the fourteen thousand camp. For us though, it was a day of rest and we crawled out of our sleeping bags after the sun warmed the air in the tents. We ate another great breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, and bacon, firing our spirits for a day of organizing our gear for tomorrow's carry up to the 14,200ft camp. We'll once again be separated from a few of our goodie bags and the gear we will use on the upper mountain. We had a great review of advanced crampon technique, ice axe use, and general efficiency skills needed for our continued success at altitude as we move higher up. The real climbing starts from here, and we'll don our crampons and ice axe for climbing steeper, more technical terrain and entering the more challenging altitudes. With this day of rest, light activity and acclimatization our carry should be no sweat for our crew. Send some more nice weather our way and we'll let you know when our cache has landed at its next destination! Cheers, RMI Guides Tyler, Garrett, Bryan, and the crew

On The Map

Buenas Tardes! The team is all here and excited to kick off the Mexico's Volcanoes trip. Everyone arrived today and we had our first team meeting in the evening. Some of the group went on to bed while the rest of us went out for a delicious Mexican dinner. We made an early night of it since tomorrow we hit the ground running and head for our first destination, La Malinche. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

Jambo! We had a great first day and night on Kilimanjaro. We awoke this morning to perfect climbing conditions. After our team breakfast we packed our bags and set out for our next camp on the Shira Plateau. We ascended to 12,000' traveling through the "Giant Heather" zone to our camp over looking the majestic Great Rift Valley. Before reaching camp the afternoon rains began so we grabbed our rain gear and continued on. With our dining tent and all our sleeping tents set up by our great mountain staff when the team reached camp, we have remained dry throughout the afternoon and evening. We will have a nice team dinner before retiring to our tents for the evening. The weather already looks like it is starting to clear so we'll hope for clear skies by morning when we set out on the trial again. We will check in again soon! RMI Guide Mark Tucker