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The Mt. Rainier Four-Day climb led by RMI guides, Steve Gately and Emma Lyddan, turned around near 13,000’ this morning. After a cold morning and a light dusting of flurries, the team made the decision to turn back. The climbers are currently on their descent and will be back to celebrate their hard-work this afternoon in Ashford.

The team enjoyed a well deserved rest day at Basecamp. We spent the time napping, reading, and preparing gear for tomorrow.  Optimism and hope flowed out of our dining tent this evening as we were finally able to see the climbing route above us. We feel recovered and ready for what lies above. 

RMI Guides James, Luke, David & Team

With support from the Eddie Bauer - RMI Guide Grant, RMI Guide Geoff Schellens took part in an American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) Ice Instructor Course this winter near Ouray, Colorado. Afterward, Geoff sat down and shared some stories from the course. Ice climbing is a unique discipline of climbing, which poses specific challenges for the climber: ice fall, rock fall, specific equipment needs, over heating, becoming too cold, and avalanche hazards, just to name a few. Guiding ice climbing requires quite a bit of preparation, awareness, and technique to mitigate these challenges. On the third day of my five-day AMGA Ice Instructor Course, we had planned to take two groups to Eureka, Colorado, to climb long multi-pitch ice routes. Avalanches from large snow bowls above threaten many of these routes, like the classic Stairway to Heaven. On this cold, crisp morning we encountered six inches of new snow, and after driving up to Red Mountain Pass we decided that the avalanche risk was too high and opted to go with our back up plan: climbing at Dexter Falls. Dexter is just north of Ouray, Colorado, and offers excellent multi-pitch ice routes that are exposed to less avalanche hazard. Climbing Dexter Falls with two teams of three climbers posed new guiding challenges. Namely, avoiding knocking ice onto the climbers below. We chose to climb with both teams parallel to each other to protect against this. Parallel rope technique requires that the lead climber is thoughtful about where both following climbers will be ascending. The goal to keep them on slightly separate routes, allowing any loose ice to fall without risking injury to either climber. The climbing was fun and we topped out having done it in a safe manner. Climbing ice in Ouray, Colorado, or anywhere for that matter, is easy and enjoyable after acquiring a relatively straightforward skill set. I hope you enjoy the photos! ____ Geoff Schellens is a senior guide for RMI Expeditions, leading trips in Argentina, the North Cascades, Alaska, and Colorado. Geoff is currently climbing Dhaulagiri, an 8,000 meter peak in the Himalayas. See more of Geoff’s mountain photography on his website The Exposed Edge.

The Four Day Climb July 15 - 18 led by RMI Guides Win Whittaker and Mike Uchal were unable to climb today. The group is warm and dry at Camp Muir and will begin their descent around 9 AM. The above photo is from the team above Paradise on July 16 for their Mountaineering Day School.

The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Ben Ammon reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. It was a cool morning until the sun came up. Ben reported a cloudless sky with very light winds. The team is in route back to Camp Muir and will return to Paradise in the early afternoon. 

Congratulations Team! 

With the summer climbing around here over and the leaves starting to change colors in Ashford we are taking a look back at this season's climbs. Check out this newspaper article about climber David Cox's 4 Day climb of Mt. Rainier. David reached the summit on July 27th with RMI Guides Mike Walter, Andy Bond, and Cody Doolan. Congratulations David, nice climbing and thanks for sharing the article!

Tuesday, May 31, 2022 - 10:08 pm PT

We woke up to a beautiful morning at 14,000' Camp and decided to move to 17,000'! The team did well and the forecast looks good for tomorrow. Stay tuned to see what we get up to tomorrow!

RMI Guides JT, Jackson, Matias and the RMI team

RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Melissa Arnot reached Everest Base Camp a few days ago and the expedition is underway! Keep an eye on the RMI Blog over the coming weeks for updates on their climb. In the meantime, check out this video from Outside Magazine where Dave describes his preparation for climbing Mt. Everest.

We did it!!!

All team members are safely back to high camp after standing on the “Roof of Africa”. 

The team did a great job climbing and stayed positive, even though it was tough at times. It was slightly chilly, and the route was busier than we would have liked. However, our early departure saved us from the more than 100+ climbers all stuffed together. We even had the summit to ourselves for a little while!

We spent about 30 minutes on the summit celebrating, taking photos and even made a few phone calls to loved ones back home.

We are headed down the mountain to our final camp in the thick warm air at 10,000’ where we’ll have dinner then head off to bed for some well-deserved sleep.

Casey and a happy Kili team!

We are kicking off our Everest climb for Spring 2012. We've already been overseas for a little more than three weeks now and at 17,500 ft Everest Base Camp for about a week. We've benefited immensely from the work put into the building of this comfortable and efficient camp by RMI's Jeff Martin, basecamp manager Mark Tucker and the entire Sherpa staff. The climbing team feels confident that they've now shaken off the "trekker germs" collected during our 11 day push up the Khumbu Valley. Everyone seems well acclimated and we've successfully stretched our legs and lungs on the hills around camp and the approaches to the Khumbu Icefall. On April 16th, we held a Puja ceremony, seeking the blessing of the gods before putting ourselves in danger on the mountain. The Puja was deemed a great success and our Sherpa team has consequently completed two missions through the Icefall, going as far as the site which will become our Advanced Base Camp (or Camp II) at a little over 21,000 ft. Reaching that camp will be one of the goals of our climbing team in these next few days, but we don't intend to sleep that high just yet. First things first… if all goes well, we want to get an early start tomorrow morning, say around 5 AM, and then to climb through the Icefall to spend three nights at Camp I (just under 20,000 ft in the Western Cwm). Our Sherpa team tells us they are satisfied with the present state of the ever-changing Icefall Route. As usual, we'll need to climb steep glacial ice, cross ladder bridges over deep crevasses, pass efficiently under avalanche threats and generally keep moving well when the going gets tough. We figure that this first push should take us around 4 to 4.5 hours. The climbers have spent most of today sorting gear, packing food and getting packs neat and orderly. We even showered and put on semi-fresh clothing. Now we'll launch our first "rotation" on the mountain toward an eventual summit push. Each rotation should take us higher on the hill, encountering different challenges and hazards… but also progressively bigger and more spectacular views of the world. Descending back down to basecamp for smart rest and recuperation between rotations will take on added importance as we get farther along with the game. It is a big season on Mount Everest with perhaps 40 other teams encamped around us at the base of the mountain. We've each been happy to bump into friends and fellow climbing guides around camp and plans are being laid for communal meals and gaming sessions to fill the downtime. The weather has been "normal" enough with each day starting cold and sparkling clear, but then clouding up by noon and dropping a little snow by late afternoon or early evening. Our views of Everest's summit pyramid have revealed a dry and increasingly rocky profile to the upper mountain. Either the winter didn't produce significant volumes of snow up high, or -as is more likely- the jet stream winds have been working overtime to scour the peak. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map