Most Popular Entries

For most of us, its been quite a journey to make it to Bolivia, as many of us had to deal with cancelled and delayed flights.  Most of us arrived early this morning into El Alto at 13,500' with the airport sitting on the plateau above the city of La Paz.  Due to the high elevation, (La Paz is the highest capital city in the world!) planes need to land at night with colder air temperatures in order to be able to take off. 

After a little bit of sleep and some breakfast at our hotel Mitru Sur, our group went for a ride on the teleferico (cable car) system that travels all over the city of La Paz and El Alto.  This allowed us to see some sights without having to put in too much effort as we start to acclimatize to the high altitude we start at here in Bolivia.  

We're beginning to pack as we head out tomorrow on Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca (2nd highest freshwater lake in the world) where we will continue to acclimatize at the famous La Estancia Ecolodge before heading into the mountains.  

RMI Guides Andy Bond & Henry Coppolillo

PC: Andy Bond

Sunday, May 19, 2024 - 10:59 pm PT

This morning every peak around us, including Denali, was wearing a funny cloud hat - lenticular clouds and a sign of high winds. It made the decision pretty clear: we would rest at 14,000' Camp today. We did all of our usual rest day things and watched as camp was engulfed by a calm, white cloud, before it started to snow lightly. Despite all that, the tents were catching quite a bit of solar radiation and it was quite warm and comfy inside. We made a decent start at building snow walls to protect camp should the weather turn worse. The forecast sounds decent tomorrow, so we are hoping for weather in the morning that let's us carry to 17,000'.

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer

On The Map

The Four Day Climb teams led by Joe Hoch and Tatum Whatford stood on the summit of Mt. Rainier at 6:15 AM this morning!

The team left under a beautiful full moon and summited with perfect sunny skies. We also had a proposal on the summit. Rumor has it, she said YES!

Congratulations to all climbers for reaching the top of the Pacific Northwest!

We awoke to another beautiful day, although day has lost all meaning without night. The clouds had lifted and the mountain that yesterday’s correspondent described as a bride in her white gown, now looked even better without it. Carrying half our camp on our backs and in sleds, we climbed almost 3000 feet up the Kahiltna Glacier. All around hanging glaciers were spread like coats of icing, melting over the ridges. Long after our altimeters told us we were at the cache, Dom lead our caravan up a cliff, our sleds nearly swinging in the void beneath us. He claimed he had taken us further than advertised because we were such a “Strong Team.” Such praise from an RMI Guide is an almost certain indication of a Full Team Summit.

Our round trip was a little over 7 miles. Yes, you heard right, round trip. We’re now back in our camp at the bottom of Ski Hill to make the same climb tomorrow with the other half of our camp. Sisyphus didn’t complain so neither will we. Unlike other beasts of burden, we know that the journey is the destination, and we appreciate each step. So, we accept every challenge because that’s who we are. To paraphrase David Lee Roth: We’re not like this because we’re climbing Denali. We’re climbing Denali because we’re like this.

RMI Climber Kris Reitz

Saturday, January 13, 2024

Greetings from High Camp!

Today we woke to the sound of rain drops on the tent. Which you’d think we’d be accustomed to at this point, but thankfully the rain stopped as we were having breakfast. We had a relatively nice three hour hike to High Camp with a brief view of Kili looming high above. Everyone did great and the team is feeling good. 

The team has just wrapped up lunch and discussed in great detail the plan for tomorrow’s climb. Everyone knows what we’ll be wearing, what will be in the pack, as well as the schedule. 

Our game plan will be to wake at 11pm and have a quick breakfast at 11:30, then hopefully hit the trail right at midnight. The team has been doing great thus far and I’m expecting us to reach the summit in seven to eight hours if things go according to plan.

Wish us luck!

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kilimanjaro summit bound team!