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RMI Guides Dominic Cifelli & Jack Delaney led their Four Day Climb May 10 - 13 to Ingraham Flats this morning. Route conditions prevented the climbers from going further, they were able to take advantage of the nice weather to do a bit of training before returning to Camp Muir.  The teams have packed up and are descending to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them back in Ashford this afternoon.

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz reached the summit of Mt. Rainier via the Kautz route today. The seminar team has spent this last week on the mountain training on snow and ice climbing techniques as well as crevasse rescue. They have enjoyed lectures from their guides, and demonstrations and practice in the techniques of American mountaineering. They are heading back to their camp where they will spend the night on the glacier before returning to RMI Basecamp tomorrow. Congratulations to today's team!

The final Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir of the 2015 climbing season is wrapping up their final day on Mt. Rainier. Yesterday, the Seminar led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Billy Nugent made a summit attempt. The teams reached 13,300' before increasing winds and deteriorating weather conditions prompted their descent. Today the teams are descending from Camp Muir to wrap up their week of climbing and training. We look forward to welcoming all of the climbers at Rainier BaseCamp in Ashford this afternoon.

Namaste Everyone All is well here on the trek! Yesterday we left Pheriche and hiked further up valley to Lobuche, we slowly made our way along the winding path that we share with other trekkers, porters heavily laden with loads bound for Base Camp, and yaks who aren't as keen to share the trail. We made good time and enjoyed the astounding views before reaching our lodge for the night. In the afternoon we took a short walk to a overlook of the Khumbu glacier where we could just make out base camp far in the distance. Today we hit the trail around 8:30 and reached our last and final camp, called Gorak Shep, before we head into Base Camp tomorrow. After arriving we had a light lunch and the headed up to Kala Patar which is the high point on this trek at 18,300'. At the top of Kala Patar we could easily see Everest Base Camp and had amazing views of Everest as the weather was relatively nice. Everyone is currently relaxing in our tea house enjoying the warmth of the fire. There's been lots of cribbage and plenty of good conversation with our team and other trekkers on the same journey as us. Looking forward to Base camp. RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

On The Map

Hello again! We are contacting you from a very windy Camp 1 today after we moved supplies up hill to 18,000ft. The team did well with the weight and altitude as we got our first grand views of the Andes range. We could see many glaciated peaks to the north and the intimidating Polish Glacier on Aconcagua proper. Soon after our descent back to camp another cloud cap formed on the upper mountain which made for a chilly evening. But now we are bundled up in the tents for a solid 13 hours rest before breakfast. Hope these winds calm down so we can sleep for some of that time! Oye! RMI Guide Walter Hailes

On The Map

RMI Guide Casey Grom radioed from the summit of Mt. Rainier at 7:33 am with his Four Day Summit Climb Team along with the Five Day Summit Climb led by Lindsay Fixmer. The Four and Five Day Summit Climb teams reported great conditions on the mountains and a beautiful day with barely any winds. The teams were going to start their descent just before 8 am and will return to Camp Muir and then continue to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp later this afternoon. Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!

A little snow early but a beautiful evening now. All climbers and most Sherpa are here at Basecamp, eating, resting and taking showers. We had a meeting with the other teams about the final fixing of the route and helicopter landings. Tomorrow we hope the fixing team will go as high as the Balcony then to the summit the next day, keep your fingers crossed for good weather. We have been having some helicopter landings at Basecamp that are non-emergency, we are trying to develop a plan for usage in a responsible manner. A new breed of helicopter is now being used that is much more powerful than in the past, so the safety margin has been increased. The community here is working on a win, win for commercial and rescue operations.

Last night we stayed in Ecuador's oldest hacienda, Guachala. After a good night's sleep, we traveled north to Otavalo. Currently we're enjoying a few hours in the world famous market, shopping for souvenirs and experiencing the indigenous culture. After lunch we'll drive up to the climbers' hut on Cayambe. The weather is beautiful right now, with a light breeze keeping it cool. With any luck, we'll awake around midnight and summit Cayambe a little after sunrise. Then we're back to Quito for a final celebration dinner together before everyone heads back to the states. I'll touch base tomorrow to let you know how our climb went.

We had a great acclimatization hike today at the Ecological Reserve Pasachoa, an ancient volcano which now hosts a cloud forest ecosystem. We hiked up to 12,300', and everyone did great. The weather was nice today, and it was great to stretch our legs and work our lungs a little bit. The altitude of this hike will serve us well, as tomorrow we're off to the climbing refugio at the Ilinizas, where we'll hopefully gain an altitude of over 15,000'. Then we're off to a Hacienda on the flanks of our first climbing destination, Cotopaxi. This evening we enjoyed fine Ecuadorian cuisine on before leaving Quito; adventurous palates even tried the Ecuadorian delicacy of fried guinea pig (cuy) and the locally fermented corn drink called chicha. We're all enjoying the culture of Ecuador and the conveniences of Quito. But we're also very anxious to head for the mountains and leave the city behind. Tomorrow we'll do just that. We'll keep you up to date on our adventures.

Hello from about 14,000' on Pico de Orizaba! We are all well amidst a winter wonderland...the low pressure system that chilled us on Ixta is still with us. Currently there is about 6 inches of snow at our camp with poor visibility and intermittent snowfall. The forecast is for improving weather, so our team is anticipating a fair weather climb, we shall see! For now, we are building our quiver of climbing skills with a great knot lesson. "a not neat knot need not be knotted!" We give thanks for the great, safe, and determined driving of Victor and Ulysses...driving on 4x4 roads in a snow storm is hard enough, not to mention while shuttling climbers to 14,000'! Another excellent gourmet meal is enjoyed as we wait for improving weather!