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Jambo! Kaboom went the thunder, down came the rain. Thank goodness we were in our very comfortable rooms at the Dik Dik hotel. After breakfast our vehicles were loaded and ready, we climbed aboard and began the drive to Kilimanjaro's Machame gate (5,900') where our climb began. We had perfect conditions for the climb today. With the beginning of the climb located in the rainforest it can be a tough start with high heat and humidity. Not for this group of lucky folk, light clouds, mild temps is what we had to deal with. Happy is this guide with the performance of his team today, everyone is looking strong and feeling great. We are now at the Machame camp, the first of many. Lots to do, dispatch with ya all tomorrow. Cheers, RMI Guide Mark Tucker

On The Map

Plenty of anticipation in the RMI Everest camp today. Casey and Chad took Scott and Rob up partway through the Icefall early this morning on their practice run. Michael, Leif, Wendy, Seth and myself took things easy with a rest day. Our Sherpa team had the day off as well. Everybody is getting set to move up the hill. Leif, Michael and I will get an early start into the Khumbu tomorrow and intend to be at Camp One for the next three nights. Tendi will head up to Camp Two (ABC) with the Sherpa team, while the rest of the team have plans for C1 in the next few days. Mark Tucker helped the team pack food and gear for this first "rotation" up the hill. The day followed what seems to be a regular pattern now with clear and calm skies in the morning giving way to cloud and light snow in the afternoon. It pays to get showers and washing done early, which we did today. We are used to seeing a steady trickle of visitors and friends from neighboring expeditions and it is normal to try to coax the more gullible of these into some high stakes card game. We still run out of the tents to check on any great noise and today were rewarded with close-up views of a great avalanche off 25,000 ft Nuptse, just across the glacier.

Namaste, Mark Tucker sending you this update from Basecamp. Our Sherpa team had great weather for their trip to Camp Two with a big hunk of supplies for the teams nest at that 21,500 ft camp. They started out at 4:00 am this morning and returned to basecamp for lunch, these guys are tough. The climbing team had a great day with a number of them getting their first taste of the Icefall's terrain and ladders. They went up the lower part, out of objective danger and perfected the techniques required for what will be there job for the upcoming weeks. Another group went to the top of Kala Pattar, a nearby trekking peak, at over 18,000 ft summiting without supplemental oxygen. I spent a bunch of calories with about 60 people from many of the teams working on making a helicopter pad out of a glacier. Chopping ice, throwing rocks and moving boulders at 17,500 ft is a great test to see just how acclimatized you are. Tomorrow Jeff Martin will head down valley starting his journey home to Ashford, WA. Jeff, more than anyone, has made this expedition become what it is, a top notch program, and a team to be proud of. This being my eleventh Everest Expedition I can say with great insight that the effort he has put in the planning and execution of this enterprise is superb. I forced him out onto the lower glacier for a few holes of wiffel golf this evening, it being our Masters Tournament, he opened a can of you know what on me, next time maybe I will whip him. The team wishes him safe travels and a big THANK YOU! Cheers

We paused for a rest today. It turned out that our hard work of the past few days had acted to bring back a chest cold that poor John thought he was done with. While he didn't seem greatly incapacitated by it, we decided that it was the sort of thing that would get worse by going higher and colder. We chose instead to get John lower and warmer. Namgya and I brought him down to bascamp where ALE's staff graciously agreed to look after him until we get down from our summit bid. Meanwhile, Leif, Sashko, Tim and Brent rested and rehydrated at low camp, enjoying a lunch of quesadillas and aji sauce. Namgya and I cruised back up in a businesslike 2 hrs, rejoining the gang in time for a late dinner in the strong sunshine. It was still brilliantly clear except for some sculpted wave clouds forming and fading on the high peaks. The word from up above was that it was cold and windy. Even so, Scott made the summit with his climbers. Vern and Willie chose to rest their teams at high camp for the day. We are hoping for a drop in winds tomorrow and a green light for moving up.

Our team woke to winds high enough to hold you still and push you around. We pushed to first break at Ingraham Flats where we decided that would be our high point. A lot of steep terrain above would not have been fun to be on in any amount of wind. Everyone has been enjoying a bit more rest before making our way back down to Paradise later this morning. 

On a bright side, a fox was spotted in camp. It appeared to be healthy and quite quick at running across glaciers. 

RMI Guide Hannah Smith

Alright, we are rested and have pressed the reset button. A rest day in Puebla is always well deserved for a group that has been tromping around in the mountains and enduring long bus rides. Rest day activities included all the standard stuff: museums, sampling local coffees, the bouldering gym, walking around the historic city center and a nice team dinner.

We are now on the bus, headed for Tlachichuca and it's a nice morning. Everyone is hopeful that the weather will be better than on Ixta, where we were slammed by rain and wind associated with the category 2 Hurricane Lidia, the eye of which passed just to our north. That was certainly an experience. We're looking for something less dramatic on Orizaba. Stay tuned for an update tomorrow afternoon!

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

After a few delayed flights and minor complications, all members of the Mongolia climbing team have arrived and are getting settled here in Ulaanbataar, Mongolia. We are all a bit jet-lagged but this morning after a quick breakfast meeting, we struck out to see the sights and sounds of city. The Sukhbaatar Square, the National History Museum, first Buddhist temple and Russian Friendship Monument filled our morning. After a quick pit stop for lunch, we journeyed outside of the city to witness the Nadaam festival. Nadaam is the Mongolian celebration of their three main sports: wrestling, archery, and horsemanship. We were treated to front row seats for all three competitions. After the archery competition, they even invited us to try pulling the bows and shooting a few arrows. Suffice to say, they make it look a lot easier then it was for us. A traditional Mongolian dinner rounded out the day and we are in bed early to prepare for morning flight to Olgii on the other side of the country. RMI Guide Eric Frank

Wednesday, June 26, 2019 - 11:21 PM PT Our workable weather continued today. Crisp, cool and mostly clear conditions prevailed as we set out above 11,000 camp at 7:15 this morning. Motorcycle Hill was first up, but didn’t take us all that long, just forty five minutes of “duck foot” cramponing up a steep snow slope with a handful of well-bridged crevasses. Next up was Squirrel Hill, a little traversing and some more duck footing, which brought us up to the Polo Field at the west end of the West Buttress. By this point, we were finally out of the valleys... looking up at surrounding mountains has been fun, but now looking out and down at the world from 12 and 13,000 ft is novel and beautiful. Windy Corner wasn’t windy. We took a pleasant rest break there in the mid morning sunshine. Then we put our helmets on and climbed around the corner. A new world opened up to us as we could now see the upper West Buttress and the bulk of Denali’s South Peak up close and personal. At 13,500 ft, we’d reached our target for the day -about four hours above 11 camp. We dug a deep hole in the snow to cache food and gear out of the reach of crafty clever ravens. Enjoying the sunshine and calm conditions, we lingered for about an hour before starting our descent. The track was in fine condition, so walking/climbing down went smoothly and easily. We strolled into 11,000 near two in the afternoon, which as we’ve discovered, is a darn good time for a nap. Clouds came and went throughout the afternoon and evening, there were some light showers, but nothing of great significance from our perspective. We’ll rest tomorrow to solidify acclimatization before making the big jump up to 14 camp. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn and Team

We flew out of Union Glacier at 3:30 AM the day after Christmas, arriving in Punta Arenas at 8 in the morning. Under ordinary circumstances, we’d have slept the day away and celebrated in the evening with a big dinner. But we’d enjoyed a fair number of big dinners at Union and my gang had families and lives to get back to. We showered in town and repacked, had a nice lunch and then headed for the airport again. Sure enough, we started saying goodbye to each other in airplane aisles and security lines and before long, the five of us were flying in different directions. We shared plenty on this expedition, and although we were ultimately in different places, I’m positive that we were still sharing exhaustion at the end of 36 hours of constant travel. There was plenty of relief at being done, but there were also a thousand new memories of challenges met, storms and delays endured and of five steady companions who got through it all while still laughing and smiling and loving Antarctica. Thanks for following our adventure. RMI Guide Dave Hahn

This is Mike checking in from the lower flanks of Ixta. Today we had a casual breakfast and a two plus hour drive to the National Park where our first climbing objective is. We are at a hut looking out on the snow covered peaks of Ixta and Popo. There has been lots of rain this week which means good climbing conditions. The Team has been taking in the scenic countryside in between some short walks to acclimate. We have our gear checked and are getting ready for a delicious dinner before turning in for the night. Tomorrow we head to High Camp to get ready for a summit bid. Fingers crossed for good weather and calm winds. RMI Guide Mike King

On The Map