Most Popular Entries

The Mt. Rainier Four Day Summit Climb teams led by RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer and Mike King turned at the top of Disappointment Cleaver this morning. The team made the prudent decision to call Disappointment Cleaver their high point after assessing the snow pack determined the avalanche danger to be high. The team will descend back to Camp Muir before continuing their descent to Paradise later today.

Hello from the Karanga Camp at about 13,000 feet. We had a great climb to get here. Right out of camp this morning is the famous Barranco Wall. We left camp at 9 a.m., which put us in a good spot to avoid some traffic on the steep part of the climb. In a few places you use hands and footholds with some exposure below. While climbing carefully and taking advantage of many photo opportunities along the way, the team got back to more level terrain. For the next couple of hours we enjoyed views of the upper mountain and interesting terrain under foot. We arrived here at 1 p.m. and were greeted to a hot lunch of noodles and sauce. Not a scrap was left on any plate after a great day on the trail. Some cloud cover now but no rain. We are getting busy with preparing food and gear for the move to high camp tomorrow. RMI Guide Mark Tucker

On The Map

This is Seth Waterfall broadcasting from Everest Basecamp. It's been another beautiful day here. We've had a few inches of snow each of the past few night and it has spruced the mountains up nicely. Everything is coming along in our preparation for our first acclimatization rotation. Today Dave went up to Camp One to check on the conditions in the icefall. He made great time and got some really good info on how we can move through the icefall efficiently. The rest of the group went out on to the Khumbu glacier and practiced our climbing and rappelling skills. It was sunny and warm on the glacier and all of the team members were able to run several laps on the 'obstacle course' that the guides set up. This practice is designed to get us familiar with our equipment and allow us to make adjustments in a safe environment. The next step for us will be to head up to Camp One and Two in order to build up our acclilmatization. But before we do that we still have several days of adjusting to the altitude here at Basecamp. It's a long process but this is necessary in order to give all of us the best shot at the summit. Basecamp is rapidly filling up with teams from all over the world. The camp is just about full. There are only one or two teams that have not arrived. Yesterday we were delighted to see our friends Melissa Arnot and Dave Morton arrive. They are camped about a quarter mile up the glacier and they stopped by for tea after they unpacked their gear. We've had several visitors from most of the big teams. It's great to break up the day with a few visitors and share stories from the trek in. We'll check in again tomorrow.

Just writing a quick note before we start cooking dinner. The whole crew is in excellent spirits, not to mention in great physical shape, and we plan on making our summit attempt on Pico de Orizaba sometime late tonight or early tomorrow morning. We had a great training hike today to a spot well above 15,000 ft where we cached some of the technical gear we will need higher up on the glacier. The weather is starting to look a little iffy but if the patterns we've been seeing for the last week or so, we'll probably be waking up to clear skies: stars and a nearly full moon! Well, that's it from your team high in central Mexico. Wish us luck and keep your fingers crossed for good weather! Billy, Fernando, John, Ryan, Bob, Pam, and Robin.

Wednesday, June 19, 2024 - 10:19 pm PT

Such a difference to be camped at 14,000' on Denali.  Radically different views, of course, but it is also the feeling of finally being on the mountain rather than on the approach. Being above Windy Corner rather than below it. Being higher and colder. It wasn't easy, but we got here in good time today - 5.5 hours. We left 11,000' Camp at 9 AM and pulled up the now familiar hills. It was another good weather day, thankfully, and we could see way down the Alaska Range to Mt Spurr, the active volcano in the Tordrillo mts. We worked for hours to build our new home at 14,000' but finally got to relax in a new dining complex. Tomorrow we'll go back to our cache at 13,600' to bring in the food and fuel and the approach will be finished! 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Despite going to bed socked in at 14,000ft, we woke to clear skies and put on our boots in the early, cold and dark hours just after midnight. Fortunately for us, the freeze line was low the night prior, so we walked into snow just out of Piedra Grande up into the the rocky maze known as the  Labyrinth portion of the route. This made the approach to the glacier much easier than the usual condition or ball-bearing like rocks. At the toe of the glacier we were greeted with howling winds out of the west.  Based off of the plums of snow rocketing off the upper mountain, any snow that had fallen the day before was surely sublimating in the atmosphere. Nonetheless we pushed upward, armed with our crampons, ice axes, and goggles.

After a few more hours of getting blasted by the veracious winds, the team dug deep and hit the summit crater just before 8:00 am.

The team made light work of the descent and got back to high camp in good style. We quickly loaded camp into the 4X4s and hit the dusty road back to Tlachichuca where we were greeted by the friendly staff at the Reyes’ climbers hostel. We enjoyed our final delicious Mexican dinner together and toasted to stories and laughs over well deserved beverages. Tomorrow we will head back to Mexico City, homebound with new friends and memories to share!

RMI Guide Alan Davis

 

On The Map

Saturday, June 15, 2019 - 1:51 PM PT When we hit the sack after dinner last night the weather was beautiful and we expected much of the same today. But the weather threw us a curve ball and at 3 AM we woke to snow and wind. We felt like we were inside of a Ping Pong ball, and the cloud cover prevented the snow from freezing last night. So, all in all, not an ideal morning. We pumped the brakes a little and decided to postpone this morning's climb for tonight. Instead, we had a great breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, and smoked salmon to pass the morning. We're currently still in the Ping Pong ball and wet snow is still falling. Hopefully tonight's weather will treat us better and we can get a cache of supplies up to around 10,000'. We'll keep you posted. RMI Guide Mike Walter

On The Map

Tuesday, June 12, 2018 - 2:08 PM PT Good evening! What a day we had... Another alpine objective tackled! We had some snow overnight, so we dragged our feet to see what the weather would do. It warmed up enough to melt the light snow from the rocks, so we decided to aim for a rock route. By 1pm we decided to head to the "Throne" one of the biggest formations in the Pika Glacier. We climbed the "Lost Marsupial" route, a long moderate route among the clouds, above some planes that brought tourist to the glacier, and into the evening (that's what we get to enjoy climbing in Alaska, 24h of daylight) a great pasta dinner followed our arrival to camp. After dinner, we went to bed right away, as we're planning an early departure for our next objective. Stay tuned! RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos

The wind and snow conspired to make for a tough and noisy night in the tents last night. A few intrepid souls got out in the storm to dig away the encroaching drifts. Morning brought less wind, but the snow continued as the guides served breakfast in bed. It was slightly surreal to have the strong smell of forest fire smoke mixed in with heavily falling snow while camped so far from trees. Eventually the snow slowed and then stopped, but by that point, several feet of it had accumulated. The clouds stayed right in on us until about 8 in the evening. We were enjoying an open air dinner when the mist fell away, the sun came out and everything got beautiful. The team stayed out well into the evening, staring at Kahiltna Dome, Mount Foraker and Denali's West Buttress. Our prospects for going up in the morning were improved as we watched several teams come down Motorcycle Hill, plowing a trail and cutting whatever tension the otherwise suspect snow-pack was under. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn and Team

On The Map

Hi all! The skies are clear, winds calm, and it's a great day to fly to Kahiltna Base Camp. Our team is heading in first thing this morning to start moving towards our objective! We'll check in this evening from the glacier with more news of the day. All the best, and we'll keep you updated on our progress over the upcoming weeks. RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Robby Young, Josh Maggard and team