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The Mt. Rainier Climb, led by RMI Guides JM Gorum and Dan Windham, had high winds and new snow at Camp Muir last night.  These conditions kept the team hunkered down at Camp Muir.  Both teams began their descent back to Paradise at 8:00 a.m.

Hello everyone!

Right out of camp we were faced with the only significant technical obstacle for this climb. This hurdle is the great Barranco Wall, which rises about 1,000 ft and looks as intimidating as it sounds. Thankfully there is a nice narrow trail that weaves its way up and through the wall and all the way to the top. Most of it feels more like steep hiking, but there are a few places that require the use of our hands to help us climb up.

The team did a good job of moving steady and allowing a few porters through with their loads precariously balanced on their heads. Which was astonishing to see!

After reaching the top we took a nice break and enjoyed the amazing views of the ice-ladened south face and valleys below. The team continued our hike for a few more hours up and down through a few valleys before reaching today’s endpoint.

All in all, it took only about 4 hours for us to reach our next camp called Karanga, named for the big and beautiful valley which it overlooks.

Casey and crew

Update 7:21 p.m. PST: Mark Tucker sent a message that the team is descending from Camp 1 to Basecamp. All is well! Voicemail update 7:20 a.m. PST: Hey, this is Dave Hahn calling from Advanced Base Camp once again. We finished our whirlwind tour of the upper mountain. You remember we went from here, 21,300, to nearly 26,000 feet the South Col and went to the summit this morning. And then all the way back down here to Advanced Base Camp. So a long day of climbing and an exciting day of climbing for myself, Seth, Kaji and Tshering. With Gyaljen playing lifeguard back at the South Col looking out for us and having some hot drinks ready when we got back there - which was pretty nice. And we loaded everything up, up there at the Col and came down with the pretty heavy packs down the Lhotse Face. It feels very good to be a little bit lower on the mountain but what a big day! Certainly intended to give a voice dispatch from the summit, had the sat phone up there but there was a little bit of a cold wind blowing from the north, made it hard to do things like work with your fingers with your gloves off and make phone calls and things like that. But we were able to talk to Mark Tucker down a base camp on the radio and Dan as well who was standing down there with Lam Babu and our whole Base Camp staff. So, that was nice to be able to connect with those guys, while we were up there. (broken transmission). Conditions weren't all that bad, ended up a pretty good weather summit day but a little cold. Wind kind of goes with what we consider a good day. Anyway this was a good day. And now it's clearly the season is changed. And it's time to get off the mountain, it's heating up. The anchors we're melting out on our way down the Lhotse Face and we had to be pretty careful of that. So we're taking that as a sign that it is time to be heading down. Alright, bye for now. Thank you. RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

The Five-Day climb led by RMI Guides, Brent Okita and Henry Coppolillo, reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. They enjoyed absolutely beautiful day on top this morning with a great route and enjoyable weather.

They will enjoy a casual walk back down to Camp Muir to do some more training this afternoon and tomorrow morning. The team will return to Basecamp tomorrow.

Nice work team!

Update: November 11th, 2:00 pm PT Buenas Tardes! Our team has safely returned down to Tlachichuca after our climb of Orizaba this morning. It was a beautiful day and a great climb, made even more so by the fact that we were the only people on the entire mountain! What a treat. Now back in the valley below, we are doing the old duffle shuffle and getting ready to celebrate with a hard earned dinner. Tomorrow we will part ways, but our time in Mexico has been a fantastic adventure. RMI Guide Jake Beren Transcription of call from the Orizaba summit: Hello. This is Jake on top of Pico de Orizaba with the crew. We are doing great. We had a beautiful, could not ask for a better style day, today. The winds are light, the sun is out, and we're going to reverse our path and start heading down soon. It was a great climb, everybody did well, and we'll be in touch from the lowlands. Alright everybody take care.

On The Map

Tuesday, May 30, 2023 - 10:55 pm PT

Yet another weather day, we woke up to snow covered tents and cold temperatures. We had our final bagel meal of the trip, paired with smoked salmon. As we sat in and out of the clouds, and snowfall we waited for the other RMI teams to descend from 17,000' Camp. Tomorrow morning marks a decision point. We need a three day weather window to open up before Thursday for us, otherwise we run out of food at 14,000' Camp, and then have to go retrieve our cache from 16,300' and then eat our summit food. Leaving us out of food if a summit window did open up later. Tomorrow morning we should have clarity if Wednesday, Thursday, Friday will be a viable option. The other tricky component is a very large system seems to be slated to hit the mountain Friday, bringing more snow and more wind. This storm could run it's course as late as next Tuesday or so. Leaving us completely out of food by the time weather improves. All that said, with an updated forecast tomorrow morning we may make the call to either go for it, or to grab the cache and get out so we don't get stuck for the entire storm. We will check in tomorrow with whatever we hear!

RMI Guide Nikki Champion

We made progress.  

It was definitely colder in a tent at 7,000 ft on an Antarctic glacier than in a hotel room in Punta Arenas, but we were happy and comfortable enough for the night.  Local conditions (shadows and breezes) dictate a slower start in the mornings, so we didn’t get moving around until after 9 AM.  We ate breakfast and then did a bit of training and review and of course -gear sorting.  We took a last COVID test (our sixth in six days) and then roped up and went walking up glacier.  We carried loads for two and a half hours, to “half camp” our intended cache point.  Most of our journey was in murky glacier fog, but we broke out of clouds near our cache point and could look up on Vinson’s great western wall.  We could see neighboring peaks Shinn and Epperly, but they had a few clouds stuck on and around them as well.  We secured the food and gear we’d carried and then walked back down into the cold and frosty clouds.  Glacier conditions were reasonable and we didn’t sink into the snow too much or slip and slide on ice.  There were some crevasses visible here and there, but we didn’t have any openings to step over. 

Back at camp in the clouds, we ate dinner and turned in for a well deserved rest. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

The Everest Team checked in from Base Camp inside their dining tent. It had been snowing lightly but they were warm inside the tent and looking forward to dinner together. They spent the day training on the ladders around Base Camp as they get ready to ascend through the Khumbu Icefall. Dave Hahn sent several pictures of the team training as well as of their Puja Ceremony that took place on Saturday, April 9th. The team is doing well and they will check in tomorrow with a written dispatch.

Half past one in the morning and the sun is blazing away at high camp on Mt. Vinson. We made the move up today. It was a murky day from the start, with lazy clouds and light snowfall keeping the views pretty limited as we cranked on up the steep fixed rope section. We made the trip in about 6.5 hours, coming in to camp just after 9 PM. By midnight we'd gotten a good hot dinner and the team was turning in while the clouds began to drop away. We'll likely take a rest day tomorrow and go for the top on December 11th if weather permits. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

The Mt. Elbrus North Side team reached the summit of Mt. Elbrus at 2 pm local time on August 12th. The team had good weather for their summit attempt. After taking photos and soaking in the views they descended to their high camp, broke down camp and descended to Camp 1. The team will spend their final night on the mountain tonight and make their way to the trail head tomorrow for a ride back to Kislovodsk. Congratulations to the Mt. Elbrus North Side Team!

On The Map