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Today the team walked to two of our team members' villages. First we stopped at Laxmi's village. It took us 1.5 hours and we were greeted by Laxmi's daughter and family. They made us noodles, showed us a game that resembles pool and we were on our way. Next we stopped at Sangita's village, which is four hours from Laxmi. She is the last village in the valley. Her father is the chairman of the village. They greeted us with tea and a feast for dinner. We started with fresh veggies and local apples. Next they made us French fries. The main course consisted of fried blue sheep, greens, yogurt, and millet bread with local honey. It was delicious. Custom to their culture is treating their guests as gods and we sure felt like one. It's been a great day exploring more of far western Nepal. It is quite beautiful. Tomorrow we explore more, RMI Guide Hannah Smith

June 14, 2014 - 11:34 pm PT Today our team enjoyed a well earned rest day here at 11 Camp. Over a leisurely breakfast we took some time and shared the blog responses. Everyone loved hearing from friends and family back home, thanks for the love everyone! After breakfast we got down to the real business, napping and building an awesome snowman. All in all a productive day in the mountains. Tomorrow if the weather holds we'll try and move to 14 Camp. George would like to wish Elaine a Happy Birthday and Jessica a big congrats on her graduation. The team thanks them for letting us have him today. "Hi umma, sarangtie, muattelatte." RMI Guide Jake Beren

On The Map

June 7, 2014 - 6:49 pm PT ...and the players are ready! Hello from our cloudy camp at 11,000. The team had a productive morning rising to a cold clear day! We started the day with a classic mountain breakfast of instant grits with a side of pop tarts. We know it's not likely many would approve but for us it hit the spot and was the fuel we needed on a breezy, cold morning lugging our cache loads all the way to our next camp at 14,200 ft. This was our first day of more technical climbing - we've been referring to the mountain behind us as the long heavy approach. The rope teams climbed with crampons and ice axes up Motorcycle Hill around to the famous Squirrel Hill. Lore has it that one early expedition had a furry stowaway on board that jumped from a member's pack at a break on this stretch of mountain, resulting in the long-standing name "Squirrel Hill." After this section we made great time up to and around Windy Corner, which gave us a taste of some icy breezes as we crested over into the sun. The remaining stretch of glacier went quickly, and we were dropping our kit into yet another snow hole before noon. The group climbed flawlessly as we were back to our tents at 11,200' before we knew it. Now we're resting and preparing for tomorrow's move up to our fourth camp,the highest so far. Don't touch that dial, we'll be back with an update tomorrow! RMI Guides Garrett, Tyler, Bryan, and the team

On The Map

Hello blog followers for the freshly started Ecuador Skills Seminar. Adam Knoff here, I am the team's fearless leader and occasional dispatch sender. As our group assembled this morning for our first full team meeting, there were no delusions about rule number one of international travel- expect the unexpected. Half of us are still missing bags, one of our team members hasn't even arrived yet and the weather forecast for the next three days looks more unsettled than the streets of Quito. I am pleased to say despite all these immediate challenges, everyone is in good spirits and excited to face the adventures ahead. But one day at a time right? After breakfast and a nice team orientation meeting, we all piled into a comfy bus and took a roundabout tour of some of Quito's classic sites. From the old town we headed north to the Mitad del Mundo, or middle of the world, for some wacky equator tricks and small history lesson of this magical line. Now back in the hotel we are resting up for a nice family dinner tonight and our first push to altitude tomorrow. Stay Tuned. RMI Guide Adam Knoff

Greetings from Punta Arenas, This was our first full day in this southern port city and we made the most of it. After a nice breakfast we jumped right into the task at hand - final gear preparations for our flight to Antarctica. Packing for an expedition to the coldest and most remote place on earth takes a little more planning and effort than a weekend getaway. So we spread out all of our gear to check to make sure that no item was forgotten and that we resisted the temptation to throw in too many "extras". Punta Arenas is the last chance we have to buy anything, but luckily the shopping list was pretty short after the equipment check. A few more snack items for some, and we were pretty much ready for our flight. We had the afternoon to hang out at our hotel and a chance to walk around town a little and take in some of the sights. We ended the day at the La Luna restaurant for dinner. A big thank you to Larry for buying us all dinner and drinks. It was a delicious meal! We have a pre-flight briefing in the morning and we will check in once we hear about our flight plan. Best regards, RMI Guide Jeff Martin

Even though this mountain has a reputation for fierce weather, we have been enjoying gorgeous days during the last week. The team had another sunny, windless day on our move to 14k today. We arrived, after four plus hours of walking, to a deserted camp sight fixed with 4 great tent platforms and a nice mountain business station. While we'll have a little bit of buffing out to do to bring camp to our 5 star standards, it's still nice to just walk right into ready-made platforms. The team climbed strong today, and is currently resting after getting settled in to the tents. Tomorrow will be dedicated to the art of mountain chilling, and hopefully the small snow squall that just recently moved over camp will clear out and give us the up close and personal views of Denali's west face. The group seems to be acclimating well and should be set for the upcoming carry and move to 17k camp in the next few days. Have a great rest of the weekend! RMI Guide Tyler Jones

On The Map

Despite weather forecasts calling for high winds, we woke to clear skies, cool temps, and dissipating winds. By mid-morning, the weather looked good enough to do our carry. Our loads where light today as we only had to move three days worth of food, as well as a small amount of personal gear up hill to camp 3. The group climbed in style, arriving at our 19,600 ft camp in about 3.5 hours. The descent went quickly, and the group is back in camp resting, re-hydrating, and preparing for our last rest day before the summit push. The stoke meter boosted to 8 today with our beautiful weather and successful carry. We'll check in tomorrow with tales of rest day shenanigans. RMI Guide Gabriel Barral and the Aconcagua Team

Dobre Veycher, After a long couple days of travel we arrived in St. Petersburg this afternoon. Compared to the throngs of summer travelers filling the terminals back home in the U.S., the airport here in St. Petersburg was comparatively calm and within a half hour of landing we were strolling into the afternoon sun with all of our equipment. The drive into St. Petersburg is a fascinating mix of eras and cultures, with the clean lines of the European inspired city mixed with neon Cryillic street signs, statues and archways celebrating the USSR, and giant billboards advertising the latest in electronics and hair care products. Plunging northward deeper into the heart of the city the wide boulevards gradually constrict and soon the buildings push in on both sides of the streets, occasionally intersected by the canals that help drain the city. With the warm temperatures of summer we saw several locals out on jet skis in the canals, navigating between the barges and tour boats at full speed, leaving bewildered visitors and boat captains in their wakes. After reaching the hotel, we dropped our bags in the rooms and then snuck out for a quick dinner at a trendy little cafe around the corner. On our way out we met up with the RMI Team led by Casey Grom, returning from a successful climb of Elbrus. They reported fantastic conditions on the mountain and great climbing up high. With the sun setting out to the west over the North Sea we are turning in for the evening. Tomorrow we will spend the day visiting St. Petersburg and getting settled into the new time zone before heading south to Elbrus and the Caucasus the following day.

The Four Day Climb June 19 0 22 led by RMI Guides Joe Hoch & Joe Crawford climbed strong to the top of Disappointment Cleaver, but above there zero visibility, strong winds and very cold temperatures turned us around. The team is now back at Camp Muir and will continue the descent to Paradise later this morning.

RMI Guide Joe Hoch

Thursday, June 10, 2021 - 6:09 pm PT

Good evening,

The sun made its way past the curtains flickering in the room. Knowing the sun was partly out was a good sign for flying today. As we made our way to the hangar, we got the call telling us to get our butts in gear. It was time to load the planes. Street shoes were traded in for boots, jeans traded for climbing pants. The air was filled with the roar of the planes and also nerves and excitment knowing that we were about to start our expeditions. Great views and a smooth ride brought us to the Kahiltna Base Camp. Just as we were so excited to fly onto the glacier, other teams stood ready and excited to fly off. We will be them in a few weeks. The rest of the day was spent setting up camp and refreshing skills. We will wake early tomorrow morning to make our way to the next camp.

Let the fun begin,

RMI Guide Hannah Smith