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The Five Day Climb July 6 - 10 led by RMI Guides Casey Grom & Walter Hailes reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. Skies are clear and temperatures are warm with a light breeze. The teams are making their way back to Camp Muir.  Once back at camp they will pack up and continue their descent to Paradise. We look forward to see thing back at Rainier BaseCamp later this afternoon.

Congratulations to today's Five Day Climb teams!

The Expedition Skill Seminar - Emmons team May 31 - 5 June led by RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli endured some epic wet weather during their six day training and climbing program. After two days of technical training and climbing school the team headed to the White River Entrance of Mt. Rainier donned their packs and climbed to the lower Emmons Glacier.  The team spent two days in rainy and snow weather before descending to the trailhead and returning to Ashford.  On Wednesday the team spent another day training to complete their program.

Here's hoping for better weather next time!

Monday, May 27, 2024 - 11:30 PM PT

Our descent is well underway. We woke up a bit leisurely this morning and let things get a bit warmer, then packed our belongings and started down the West Buttress. Before long we were in the relative warmth of 14,000', wearing much less than all the 14,000' Camp dwellers themselves. Something about coming down from somewhere that's been - 25 to change perspective. We packed more belongings at 14 Camp, and started down towards 11,000'. We had a plan to see how low we could get. We made it to 11,000' Camp in great time, so the team decided to take a minute to brew up some more water, then keep going to the base of Ski Hill, our first camp of the expedition. We are there now, where things feel truly balmy. We're going to take a quick snooze, then wake up early and walk the last bit to Kahiltna Base Camp, where we hope planes will be flying first thing!

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer

Hello all, Life is great here in Huaraz! Hotel Andino is one the my all time favorite places to wake up due to the incredible sunrise views and the delicious breakfast buffet, both of which our team indulged in this morning. After our leisurely start, we spent some time checking over our climbing gear in advance of our upcoming trips into the mountains. We also took the opportunity in the afternoon to stimulate some acclimatization by going for a hike above town to ‘Puca Ventana’, or Red Window. The views of Huaraz from this high plateau are spectacular! And after two days of sedentary travel, getting outside and working the legs and lungs was just what this team needed. Cafe Andino did the trick for a big post-hike lunch and we were off to enjoy the city for the rest of our afternoon. Living our best lives down here in Huaraz. Tomorrow, we’ll take our hiking legs a little bit higher to Lake Churup at an altitude over 14,000’. We’ll send pics! RMI Guide Robby Young and Team Porch Life

The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Chris Ebeling reached 12,600' today before deteriorating weather and snow conditions forced their decision to turn back. The teams will return to Camp Muir and then continue their descent to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.

RMI Guides Geoff Schellens and Zeb Blais called down this morning at 7:30 am from the summit of Mt. Rainier. They reported 10 - 15 mph winds, cold conditions, and high team morale. Their plan is to spend about 30 minutes on the summit before beginning their descent back to Camp Muir.

This morning we packed up our gear and left Quito, heading south along the "Avenue of the Volcanoes". After driving through the small pueblo of Chaupi, we followed a dirt road that took us towards the goal of our second acclimatization hike: the climbing hut (refugio) on the mountains known as the Ilinizas. The hike was very enjoyable, and the weather was comfortable for hiking. Clouds and some wind came in up towards the top of our hike, accompanied by some frozen precipitation, which made the hut a welcome sight. We rested in the hut for about 45 minutes, enjoying hot tea, before heading back to the trailhead. We are spending the night at the relaxing hacienda Chilcabamba, on the flanks on Cotopaxi. Tomorrow we will head up to the climbing hut on Cotopaxi, and prepare for the climb.

It is 1:30 AM, the sun is still shining brightly out and I've just crawled in the tent. It has been a long day -in lots of good ways. Once the sun runs into the western rib of Vinson at around 3 AM, we don't get it again until 11:30. That is the downside of being so close in to the massive west wall of Vinson, but there are upsides. We get an incredible view of this 2,000 meter face of rock and snow with its three immense ice strreams tumbling downward in the slowest of motion. We climbed the northern end of the wall today, carrying a load of supplies up a thousnd meters or so to high camp. A snowstorm had been forecast, but instead we got nothing but intense sun and a giant blue sky. It was literally the perect day for climbing in Antarctica. Most of our day was spent working up a long section of fixed rope. Before we'd gone very far up the steep snow we were treated to unlimited views out to the west. Ice, ice and more ice... Way out to the horizon where it usually gets tough to tell the divide between Earth and sky. It took us six and a half hours to get up to high camp, which we reached at 8 pm (we don't do early starts in such a cold place when camp is in shadow) and we were back down at low camp again by 10:30. Dinner was a welcome chance to sit around and talk over the roar of our stoves. It does take hours to melt all of the snow we require for water after such a long day out. Tomorrow we may move up to high camp, or we may rest for a day... It depends on how strong the gang looks at our 11:30 breakfast, and on whether that snowstorm finds us.

Today is our fortieth day in Base Camp. Everyone is still hanging in there, mentally. Mostly due to our huge store of snacks and games. I won't lie though, living in a tent for this long is a tough prospect, even for seasoned mountain guides. Soon enough we'll be heading back up on the mountain for our summit bid. Erica, Dave and I are getting pretty excited for it. Our last rotation on the mountain presented some challenges but we're all healthy and in good spirits. After a few more days of rest we should be all set to go for it. For now it's all about resting, hydrating and eating here at BC. The trick is to get a good rest without letting the legs stiffen-up too much. We do this by going for little hikes around camp. It always ends up as a tea-fest though as whenever you go by a friend's camp they invariably invite you in for a cup and a snack. Today camp has finally started to thin out. The weather is starting to look good for summit bids and every morning a few more teams have headed up. This works to our strategy as we are trying to summit after the main push of climbers. This is so that we avoid big traffic jams on summit day. It's all a timing game for us now. So until we leave for the summit it's going to be an endless stream of candy bars, Scrabble, card games, potato chips, iPods and sleeping. Not necessarily in that order. Soon enough we'll be heading back up, leaving the luxuries of Base Camp behind. It won't be too tough for me. I really can't wait to get a shot at the summit. All we need is a bit of good luck and some nice weather.

Wednesday, November 27, 2024 - 8:05 pm PT

Anja‘s Blog:

With the calm sound of snow falling on our tents in the ear we cosily fell asleep after a satisfying first day on Vinson basecamp. Todays morning surprises us with a pristine snow-covered landscape, the sun glimpsing at us once in a while. What a Privilege to be here and be able to observe all These changing Moody of nature in a breathtakingly beautiful scenery! But for now, there is no time for further contemplation: work must be done- we will be going up the glacier towards camp 1 to cache.

The sun pleased us the whole day: without wind we were sometimes even sweating on our way up. As we had a good pace, we overtook two teams! In the end Dominic extended our caching to one more leg : we brought our heavy packs and sleds close to Camp 1 ( uphill walking time 4.5 h, 750 elevation gain). On our way back to basecamp we almost ran: we were very happy to reach "Home sweet Home“ after two hours. Suppen was extraordinary, because from the stock we found 3 m deep in the glacier ( that is an extra Story, not for now) . We are now going to bed with a happy smile on our faces- and with the lullaby, Shackelton loved so much: "Guten Abend, gute Nacht…“ (unfortunately, we could not take an audio …)

Good night to all our beloved ones from Team Vinson 2024