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Both the Four and Five Day Mt. Rainier Summit Climb teams tagged the top! RMI Guides Mike Haugen and Pete Van Deventer reported a sleet/snow mix and moderate winds. At 8:45 a.m. they radioed basecamp to say they are beginning their descent.

The Four Day Summit Climb Teams led by RMI Guides Mike Walter & Solveig Waterfall reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Just after 7 am the teams were approaching the top of Disappointment Cleaver on their descent. They will return to Camp Muir for a short break before continuing to Paradise later today. Congratulations to today's summit climb teams!

June 22, 2014 - 8:16 pm PT It seems bizarre to have been in deep winter this morning at 14K Camp, waiting on the snow to stop, and now in summery Talkeetna. But here we are. The snow did let up enough for us to load up some BIG packs and make our way down the mountain. We descended under a beautiful crescent moon until the typical storm conditions at 11K Camp abated and we were able to trade the GPS for some sunscreen. The lower glacier was in fine condition and the team put in another solid effort, putting us at the runway ten minutes before our first plane landed. The journey today was tough, but all were up for the challenge and now are enjoying that first shower in civilization before a meal prepared on something other than a MSR stove. It's good to be back. Thanks to a fantastic team for an amazing expedition and everyone back home who helped make it happen. We were lucky enough to get to see the view from up top and all the hard work paid off. Nice job everyone. RMI Guide Jake Beren

The Four Day Summit Climb June 17 - 20 led by Mark Falendar and J.J. Justman reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 7:00 a.m. PT. They reported gusty winds and cold temperatures but blue skies above them and great views all around. Congratulations to today's Summit Climb Teams!

The snow school day of our seminar was a great success! Our team came in with a lot of previous mountaineering experience, with most climbers having summitted Mt. Rainier via the Disappointment Cleaver route in the past. As a result, we were able to quickly refresh basic techniques and then get more in depth about movement on steep snow and ice, building snow anchors and crevasse rescue. A high pressure system is moving in just in time for our climb, and the afternoon was beautiful at Paradise! 

On Sunday, we enjoyed a beautiful day of weather during our climb to high camp on the Kautz Glacier route. The sun was warm, but a persistent breeze kept us relatively comfortable, even under heavy packs.  We arrived at the Upper Castle in great style and set up camp. Our spot has running water and warm rocks. We’re all smiles. 

Yesterday, the team enjoyed another day of training, working on crevasse rescue techniques and ice climbing near camp.  This morning the team reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 8 am with the entire team.  They will return to camp for their final night on the mountain and descend to the trailhead tomorrow.  Their program will conclude with a celebration at Rainier BaseCamp tomorrow afternoon.

Nice work team!

PC: Tom Skoog and Seth Burns

The Expedition Skill Seminar - Emmons June 8 - 13 team reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning via the Emmons Glacier led by RMI Guide Bryan Mazaika. After two days of training the team drove to White River Camp Ground and started their ascent. The team will return to Camp Schurman for their final night on the mountain. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp tomorrow afternoon for the conclusion of their program. Congratulations to the Emmons team!

RMI Guide Zeb Blais led the Five Day Summit Climb June 4 - 8 to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The Four Day Summit Climb June 5 - 8 was led by Mike Haugen. Both teams reached the summit early this morning. They were beginning their descent from the crater rim around 7 am. Zeb reported pleasant weather with winds from the west. The teams will return to Camp Muir for a short time before continuing their descent to Paradise and returning to Ashford. Congratulations to today's climbers!

May 29, 2015 - 9:34 pm PT Good day- We are dispatching from a crowded Camp 1 this evening. We had a pleasant four hour walk today under cloudy skies on the main flow of the Kahiltna. We had a strong performance from the team and we plan to bump our camp up to 9,800' tomorrow morning. It looks like some weather is coming in so we might get some snow tonight. Here's to hoping we don't and we will talk to you all from Camp 2! RMI Guide Leon Davis

Late Thursday afternoon we made final preparations to our climbing kit and sat inside the Tambopaxi dining room watching a light rain fall across the plains surrounding Cotopaxi. We had an early dinner and retired to our bunk rooms at dusk for a few hours of rest before the evening summit departure. At 10:00 pm we woke and ate a light breakfast in the dark dining room before loading our gear into Victor's bus and taking it up the rocky road to the base of the Refugio. We hiked in relative silence through a misty cloud to the glacier, put on our crampons and roped up. A little new snow had fallen but the climbing route was still visible and we began our climb at 16,300'. Hour after hour we climbed the unrelenting steep slopes, pausing for breaks where we could find a relatively flat place. At 8:00 am we surpassed the final steeps and stood atop the 19,348' volcano. It was a taxing climb for the team with many altitude records achieved and much to be proud of. Tonight we enjoyed each others company over dinner and drinks at La Cienega and in the morning we will sleep in and explore this beautiful and historic Hosteria before returning to Quito for the anniversary fiesta of its founding. Good night from a very tired and happy Ecuador team. RMI Guides Leon Davis & Casey Grom

On The Map

Hello everyone on the RMI Blog. I hope you're paying attention. We have a great news to report. Team Mexico is on the Orizaba summit right now. We had just a beautiful day climbing. It took us just under eight hours to get up here. Sun is all out. Clouds below. We've got a beautiful view. We actually can see Popo, La Malinche, as well as Ixta. We of course climbed La Malinche and Ixta, so we have just beautiful views of those mountains we were on just a couple of days ago. And now we capped it off, and it couldn't have been better, on a beautiful day on Orizaba, the third highest peak in North America. Everyone says hello to friends and family. They are all excited, all happy, gaining some strength for the way down. It was a tough climb but they all did really well. This is Elias and JJ here with Team Mexico. We'll check in with you when we get down to Senor Reyes' tomorrow. RMI Guide JJ Justman