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Hello again, This is the Ecuador team checking in from 15,300' on Cayambe. We have successfully made the transition from comfortable city living to our slightly less glamorous base camp, and our excitement continues to grow. Through gaps in the clouds, we are finally able to catch a few glimpses of what lies ahead, with the summit looking as good as ever! Before heading uphill this morning, we were able to enjoy a little more of a relaxed start. We slept in a bit, partook in some fantastically hot showers, ate a good breakfast, and headed in to the Otavalo market. This market is the largest market of its kind in Ecuador, offering miles (literally) of artisanal souvenirs: paintings, textiles, wood carvings, clothing, you name it. It can almost be a bit of sensory overload when you first step in, with the endless stalls of crafts and cuisine. Our team did an admirable job of filling the extra space in the duffels with goodies! When its all said and done, though, we were ready to move on and head to the hills. The real work starts tomorrow, so the evening tonight is all about taking it easy. We are just about to head in for a nice hot meal and then prepare for our mountaineering skills refresher course tomorrow. Until then, RMI Guides Nick Hunt, Steve Gately, and the rest of the RMI team

On The Map

May 18, 2015, 11:16 pm PT Hello from beautiful 14 camp! We arrived today under sunny skies and warm temps with light winds that gusted a bit higher as we rounded the aptly named Windy Corner. The move took us just under 5.5 hours and everyone climbed strong and then worked extremely hard building a solid camp here in Genet Basin. Tomorrow our plan is to return to our cache at 13,600, retrieve the rest of our food and fuel, and fully set up shop here in our new location. The views from camp are spectacular and we all enjoyed a delicious dinner of lentils and rice while familiarizing ourselves with the incredible scenery. Our team wants to say thank you to everyone who left comments on our blog. We received them this morning and the boost in morale helped propel us into camp today! Here are a few personal messages from the team members! Keep the positive energy coming our way! Thanks for following along! RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall Hey, Christy, Phillip, gabe, Annie, things going well. Sure miss all of u. Can't wait to see u. Hoping to summit next week or so. Love u all, Brian. To all my family and friends, thanks for cheering us on! It's quite the adventure, the views are incredible. We're staying safe and I'm proud of what we've achieved so far. Can't wait to go further! Dan Dear fam and friends, thanks for following this wild adventure. Getting chilly as we venture up higher. Looking to hit the summit within this next week. Love you fam, go Rangers!! To all friends and loved ones following our progress Thnk you for the posts allis well at 14 camp love you all! Kearney Sagehorn Love hearing all the support! For my fellow Bison, I am flying the guidon at every camp and hope to take it to the summit. "Move out the Way!!" For the family, your in my thoughts constantly and look forward to getting back home safely. Brooke, give the boys a hug and kiss for me. I love you all! - Chris

On The Map

The team got together several times today to eat, drink and discuss the trek and climb to come. We enjoyed the comfortable calm, immaculately cared-for gardens but at other times, got out into the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu streets to run errands. We were pleased that our bascamp manager, Mark Tucker, was able to fly into Lukla to begin working his way toward base, some 35 to 40 miles distant. Most worked to get bags properly packed and organized for an early start in the morning. As team leader, I was asked to stop by the legendary Elizabeth Hawley's home office for my yearly interview as to the makeup of our team. Miss Hawley has kept track of climbing in Nepal and Tibet for more than fifty years and has known every famous and want-to-be-famous climber along the way. Jet lag remains a big challenge for the team, but our hope is that walking out in the fresh air of the Khumbu Valley will begin to work magic on us. Fingers crossed for clear weather and smooth flying in the morning. RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Hey, this is Zeb, Mike and Alex checking in with our Aconcagua trip. We are at Pampas de Las Lenas. We have had a great day. Our team is looking really strong. Everybody's in good spirits. We set up our tents and we're about to enjoy a steak asado with the herreros. We're doing well and we are headed up the valley. We'll check back in soon. RMI Guide Zeb Blais

On The Map

Hello everyone! Well, we are still at high camp on Alpamayo. The weather during the evening last night was a variable mix of snow and wind with periods of calm in-between. Sometime shortly after 2am, we decided to take advantage of one of the calm times and see how the route would treat us. After several hours of difficult, waist deep, trail breaking the team managed to access the main couloir on the southwest face. Unfortunately it was a six-inch deep torrent of falling spindrift and finding ice to stick our tools into was impossible. We retreated and made it back to camp shortly after 6am. We have decided to wait one more day and hope to see an improvement in the weather. Keep your fingers crossed that tomorrow morning we will find good climbing conditions. RMI Guide Eric Frank

The Mt. Rainier Summit Climbs led by Brent Okita and Leon Davis crested the crater rim at 7:35 a.m. Brent reported 25 mph winds and the cloud deck was at 9,500’. The teams spent some time on the summit before beginning their descent at 8:40 a.m. Congratulations to today's summit climbers!

The clouds parted long enough for our team to fly onto the Kahiltna Glacier today. We have been packed and ready for this day and now we are ready to climb! Once we are settled in at Kahiltna Base, we'll check in again. RMI Guides Eric Frank and Geoff Schellens

We have finished the final trek from Kilimanjaro's Mweka Camp down to the Mweka Gate with a three hour descent where we met our drivers from the Dik Dik Hotel. Team “Simba”, as we are calling ourselves, did a great job and we had a fantastic climb of Kilimanjaro. After signing out and having lunch at the gate, it was off to the Dik Dik for showers and celebration dinner. We just finished a briefing about the safari that will start tomorrow. We are looking forward to exploring more of Tanzania with visits to Lake Manyara, Tarangire and Ngorongoro Crater National Parks. We will check in again soon and let you know about all of the beautiful African animals we are seeing. RMI Guide Mark Tucker

Billy Nugent and our Four Day Summit climb teams made it to the top of Disappointment Cleaver. Due to weather they chose to make this their high point for the climb and descend safely back to Camp Muir. The team should arrive back to Rainier Basecamp in the early afternoon.

RMI Guides Kel Rossiter & Seth Waterfall checked in as their teams were about to begin thier descent from the crater rim. They had a great summit day, clear weather, light easterly wind and a great view of Mt. Jefferson. They will make their way back to Camp Muir and spend a little time there packing and re-hydrating before departing for Paradise. Congratulations on reaching the summit of Mt. Rainier! .