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Hi everybody back home... We just finished our first official day on our Cotopaxi and Cayambe program. The team met up this morning for a quick breakfast at our hotel in the Mariscal district of Quito before setting out on a tour of the city. At over 9,000', Quito is the second highest capital city in the world behind only La Paz in Bolivia. Makes for great acclimatizing while still hanging out in town! We visited a bunch colonial churches, homes, and cathedrals in the colonial district of Quito known as the Old Town. Actually a UNESCO world heritage site, Quito's Old Town has many buildings dating back to the early 1500's. In the afternoon we lunched at a typical fritada restaurant and then headed out towards the geographical equator. At the "Mitad del Mundo" there's a small museum where a local guide showed us experiments with Coriolis forces on and near the actual equator in addition to some taxidermy of exotic species from the Amazon. Almost a tiny natural history museum meets Ripley's Believe It or Not, there were preserved specimens of terrifying spiders, boa constrictors, anacondas, barbed fish that will swim up your urethra (crazy), and a legit human shrunken head! After our city tour and a brief team meeting we capped off the day with the first of many team dinners to come. Now we're back at the hotel watching Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom on late night TV. Awesome. All for now, RMI Guide Billy Nugent

Another rest day here at Basecamp... Not much to report other than that the team is enjoying a beautiful day resting up after a longer day yesterday. The R & R down here at base is definitely going to pay dividends as we climb higher and higher. Tomorrow, if the good weather continues, will see our departure from base onto the upper mountain for good... Talk tomorrow after our move to Camp 1! RMI Guide Billy Nugent

Today we spent the day visiting Tarangire National Park, home to more elephants per square mile than any place on earth. We saw hundreds of elephants and finished off the Big 5 with two leopard sightings. Plus we even managed to spot a cheetah relaxing in the shade of a small tree. We are spending the night in a tented camp called Kikoti tonight. Three days safari has been a great way to recoup from the climb and bring our wonderful African adventure to a close. Everyone has had a great time and are looking forward to getting back home and sharing some of the stories and photos. The team flies home tomorrow. Thanks for following, RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

Friday, May 19, 2023 7:50pm PDT

Day two complete!

We woke to beautiful weather for our walk uphill to cache our gear. Camp was busy early in the morning with teams packing to move or carry. The team made fast work packing, and we were walking roped up only two hours after waking. Firm snow helped the sleds pull easily. The temperatures warmed fast and before we knew it was toasty out. So far, we have not experienced the Denali cold. I’m sure it is coming but right now we might as well be in the southern states.

Once we dug our hole deep enough that no ravens could get to our food, we headed back to camp.  It got a bit dire for a second with the overwhelming heat, but everyone made it in good style. A well-deserved down time was enjoyed before we rallied for dinner. During our rest we were greeted by a little bird that landed on my food, I think that is a good sign. Burritos filled our bellies, and we discussed tomorrow's plan.

As we lay in our tents resting for tomorrow a light snow makes a pitter patter on our tents. Fingers crossed it stays light and we can move to 11k camp tomorrow.

RMI Guides Hannah, Devin, Erika, and Team

Friday, June 14, 2019 - 3:35 PM PT RMI's June 11th Denali expedition is officially under way. After an orientation with the National Park Service that focused on safety and environmental stewardship, as well as information about the West Buttress climbing route, we spent the rest of the day packing supplies for this three week expedition. We flew into Basecamp on the Kahiltna Glacier yesterday and promptly hid from the scorching sun as we crawled into our tents. We waited until the snow surface to freeze before we went anywhere which entailed an alpine start at 3 am. The glacier was in great shape and we traveled smoothly without the need of snowshoes for flotation. Here, at Camp 1, at the Base o Ski Hill (7800') we repeated the process of hiding from the sun. Tomorrow we will again take advantage of colder temps and firmer snow and get an alpine start to shuttle supplies up to somewhere around 10,000'. We'll keep you posted as to how it goes. RMI Guide Mike Walter

On The Map

RMI Guide Zeb Blais and the Five Day Summit Climb August 2 - 6 team reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Zeb reported a little cold and a little windy on their climb this morning but overall very nice weather. The team ascended to Camp Muir on August 4th after spending a day and a 1/2 training on the lower slopes of Mt. Rainier. They spent two nights at Camp Muir resting and preparing for their summit climb. We are glad they had a beautiful day today for their summit climb. Congratulations to the team!

The Four Day Summit Climb Teams led by RMI Guides Steve Gately and Kel Rossiter reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 6:30 AM PST. The team climbed above the clouds and were rewarded with clear skies, cool temperatures and winds of 20 mph. The Team is on their descent and en route back to Camp Muir. Congratulations to today's team!

Our time in La Paz was short, as we awoke to another beautiful day here in Bolivia and made the three-hour drive to Lake Titicaca to take in the scenery and get acclimated to the 13,000’ altitude. We walked amongst old Incan ruins and small farming villages surrounding the lake. The Bolivian Andes mountains on one side and Perú off in the distance across the lake to the north. Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world. We took the opportunity to take a couple of ferry rides across the lake to different islands including driving through Copacabana. To get to our final destination for the night on Isla del Sol “Island of the Sun” we took a short boat shuttle to our eco lodge overlooking the lake and surrounding mountains. The views are incredible as we got to watch the sunset light up the mountains across the lake. As we head to bed the near full moon is glistening on the water. We look forward to another day tomorrow walking around the island and all that it has to offer. RMI Guide Andy Bond

June 23, 2016 - 10:07 P.M. PDT At 3 A.M. Mount Foraker was bathed in streaks of pink light and not a breath of wind moved through 11 Camp as we packed our packs to move up the mountain. We climbed efficiently up Motorcycle Hill and Squirrel Hill, around a not so Windy Corner, and pulled into 14 Camp just as the heat of the day began. We found an empty fortress of expertly chopped snow blocks and after a few hours of renovation, moved into our new home. Our whole team ate and hydrated like champions. In high spirits we're snuggling up for the night under benign skies. Tomorrow will be a rest day - haircuts, Game of Thrones, Uno, and lots of sunscreen await us. Love from El Siete

On The Map

Summit! The Mount Rainier Summit Climb, led by Adam Knoff and Pete Van Deventer, reached the top this morning and began their descent just before 8:00 a.m. There were some gusty winds and clear skies. We just received an update from Adam Knoff that the team is leaving Ingraham Flats and will be back to Camp Muir in about an hour.