Most Popular Entries

Tuesday, April 14, 2015 8:54 pm PT I am still in Base Camp waiting out a period of unstable weather. About half a meter of snowfall so far at Annapurna Base Camp with more forecast over the next few days. During a break in the weather, a Base Camp wide snowball fight erupted for about 20 minutes, too much pent up energy around here! RMI Guide Alex Barber

This is Dave Hahn with the RMI Everest team and we are calling you tonight from Phakding. We made the flight in this morning from Kathmandu into Lukla. Conditions were pretty clear once we got out of the smoke and smog of Kathmandu. And we got a great view of the mountain. A beautiful day when we landed in Lukla and we got on the trail and were walking by about 9:30 this morning. We reached Phakding and Joe's Garden, our tea house by the river, at about 1 o'clock. Quiet after noon, resting and relaxing down along the river among the pine trees. Looking forward to tomorrow and a climb up the Namche Hill and our goal for tomorrow is to get to Namche. We will keep you informed. RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

Good evening from the land of the midnight sun. The RMI June 21st Mt. McKinley Expedition Team gathered in Anchorage this afternoon, overcoming the first potential obstacle of any climbing expedition - the moment when you find out if all of the gear that you've spent days and weeks meticulously sorting and packing actually arrives with you after the flights. Thankfully, all the needed bags popped out on to the conveyor belt at Ted Stevens Airport at one point or another. After loading the van with our gear we headed out of town, low lying clouds hanging above Anchorage and just obscuring the peaks of the Chugach that border town. After a quick grocery stop in Wasilla (yes, the legendary Wasilla, AK) we kept driving up the Parks Highway as the skies gradually broke. By the time we arrived in Talkeetna the mountains of the Alaska Range were beginning to poke out of the clouds in the distance and we spent a few minutes on the edge of town admiring the views. Tomorrow we will spend the day organizing our gear and getting ready for the mountain. It has been many months of preparation an thousands of miles traveled to arrive here and the excitement about the adventures ahead is growing. It is 11:30 at night here in Alaska and we just watched the sun finally settle out of the sky, disappearing the peaks of the Alaska Range that sit on the horizon. Happy Summer Solstice to everyone. RMI Guide Linden Mallory

100% Team Summit of La Malinche!

We arrived to La Malinche cabins at 10,000 feet under sun and puffy clouds. Everyone enjoyed a pleasant walk to stretch the legs, then went to rest and prepare for our big climb in the morning. 

Around 5:30pm our tranquil mountain setting was rudely interrupted by dozens and dozens of lightening bolts and thunder that was way too close. Then the heavy rain started and as we went to bed, waterfalls and lakes were forming around the cabin grounds. 

Surprisingly, 5 am brought a starry sky and perfect climbing temperatures! And as we made our way past tree-line at 12,800 feet, a rare sight greeted us-La Malinche covered in snow almost like the old timey photos in the basecamp restaurant. 

The team was expecting a ‘training hike’, not a ‘mixed snow and ice alpine climb’, but the new snow was good walking, and after a couple belayed sections on the summit block we all gathered for a quick summit photo. Quick! Because as we smiled for the camera, thunder clapped right above our heads and it was time to go!

We walked down through dime sized hail and more thunder, which will only make the meat tower at dinner taste that much better!

Led by Sam Hoffman and Mitch Valatis, the RMI team summited mid-day Thursday. With the anticipation of poor weather, the climbers adapted and climbed a day-early. The push paid off and we enjoyed sunshine on the top! 

Congrats team.

Tuesday, May 28, 2024 - 9:33 pm PT

We arrived at 17,000' Camp this afternoon and are winding down for the night. Plans to climb tomorrow if winds allow.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

Today we woke at 6:30 feeling good, had breakfast, then enjoyed a goodbye song and dance from our gracious crew of porters, cooks, and local guides. We finished the little celebration by handing out their well-deserved tips and then hit the trail one last time. 
It took a little over three hours to reach the park gate where the team had lunch then hopped aboard our awaiting bus for the ride back to the lodge. 

Finally we are all safe and sound, and a little cleaner after an amazing seven-day journey up and down Kilimanjaro. 
The team is currently relaxing and looking forward to Safari which starts tomorrow!

RMI Guide Casey Grom and a happy Kilimanjaro crew

May 20, 2015 - 12:07 am PT We wanted to get up to 13,500' to cache today, but the weather had other plans. Clouds and snow were moving quickly over the Polo Field and West Buttress above us, and gave us all the clues we needed to guess what would be going on at Windy Corner. After watching the trend for a couple of hours and not seeing any improvement, we decided to sit tight and take a tent day. Sure enough, around noon the wind direction shifted and brought strong, gusty winds to camp, along with a fair bit of snow. The team did the tent time triathlon, competing in three events: napping (best napping and longest), spades, and sport eating lunch food. By dinner, the clouds above us started to break and the sun peaked through. We've got 6 inches of nice new fluffy snow, and the view as we crawled into our sleeping bags was sparkly and beautiful. We'll add some more sleep hours, and hope that we wake up to conducive conditions for getting our cache in tomorrow! RMI Guides Pete, Josh, Robby, and team

On The Map

Hey this is Seth checking in from the top of Kilimanjaro! We had a great day. Super nice weather, really sweet. No wind when we left camp, just a little breeze when we hit the crater rim. We were all walking into the crater rim when the sun came up and we have been enjoying the top for a little while now. We are going to head down. Go back to camp and spend a few hours packing up and then we'll be down to about 10,000 feet, back where trees grow out of the ground. All is well. We'll check in later today. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

July 13, 2014 - 4:05 AM PT Hey, this is Dave Hahn calling in from 17,000' we made it up today, a better than expected day. It didn't start out too good but we made good use of it. We left 14,000' at 1:30 in the afternoon and got up here at 17,000' at 9 PM, which was a little bit late but we managed to get all buttoned down before the storm started again. All are doing well at 17,000' and now we're ready to get lucky up here. RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map