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Hello from Seth and the Kilimanjaro crew. We are on the trail heading to the Shira Plateau. Today we got our first view of the mountain since we've been in Africa. The 'Snows of Kilimanjaro' are are fully in view. Everyone is enjoying meeting folks from all over the world while we're hiking. We'll check in tomorrow when we are on the way to Barranco Camp. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides JM Gorum and Dominic Cifelli turned at 13,100' on Mt. Rainier this morning. Low visibility, moderate precipitation, and wind prevented the team from climbing above 13,100' feet. JM Gorum radioed the RMI Office to let us know that the team is currently descending and will be back to Camp Muir soon.

Congratulations to Today's team! 

RMI Guide Grayson Swingle topped off the Paradise Seminar week- literally.  They are on the Mt. Rainier summit right now!  The team spent the week on the flanks of Mt. Rainier learning valuable mountaineering skills. Yesterday they moved to Camp Muir where they started their summit bid early this morning.  We look forward to congratulating them this afternoon at Rainier Basecamp.

Today's mixed bag of weather didn't dampen anyone's enthusiasm to train in and around the crevasses near Camp Muir. If anything, we were all smug in the knowledge that we took advantage of fantastic weather when we could to summit and would deal with less than ideal weather for our training. Even the blisters and sore feet of the climb seemed to go away with our great night of sleep. I was impressed with how the group really learned the skills to effect a rescue of a partner from a crevasse, then jumped at the chance to get back in the hole to ice climb out. Most even got in seconds on the ice climbs. Our evening talk in the bunkhouse covered everything from altitude illness, mountain medicine, expedition life, Denali and Everest to things better left unmentioned here. I apologize in advance to all of you if your partners on this seminar come home with ambitions to climb more and bigger mountains in the future. Tomorrow, sadly, is our last day. However, a morning of training will be followed by excitement to get down off the mountain, have a beer and burger and get back to our loved ones and the comforts of home. It's been a great week and we hope to be able to climb together again sometime soon. Au revoir from Camp Muir. RMI Guide Brent Okita

There is nothing more fundamentally Mongolian then riding a horse. Today we got to try our hands at the national mode of travel as we exited our base camp via the Tsagaan Gol Valley on horseback. Five hours of trotting, cantering and the occasional gallop alongside a beautiful river brought us to a small ger camp in the base of the valley. In the States we call them yurts, but here in Mongolia the round semi-permanent tents made of felt are called gers. Each summer, when the nomadic people of the area move their herds- thousands of sheep, goats, yaks, horses and camels- to the upper valleys to feast on green grass, they set up small ger camps and live out in the open. Tonight part of the team is staying in tents and part of the team have elected to join our hosts in their ger for the night. Even though they don't know us and we don't share any common language, these kind people have welcomed us into their home and made us comfortable in every way possible. Despite the fact this might be highly unusual at home, this is quite normal in Mongolia and another reason to love the hospitality of this culture. RMI Guide Eric Frank and team

May 29 12:04am PT

This morning we woke up with the goal of caching gear and food as close to 17 camp as possible. As we passed each of the normal places people cache below 17 camp, such as the top of the fixed lines, below Washburns thumb etc., we just couldn’t find a reason to not keep going.

The weather was perfect, not a whisper of wind, and the views endless. The team was performing extremely well at such high altitude for the first time this trip, not to mention how they floated through the most technical terrain we’ve encountered thus far, so we went all the way to 17,000 ft camp. After digging ourselves a hole to cache in, we retraced our steps back down the west buttress and the fixed lines until we rolled into camp just as the shadow of the mountain engulfed the tent city.

All in all, a successful day completed by a strong team!

Guides JT, Matias, Jackson and the RMI team

The Four Day Climb July 12 - 15 led by RMI Guides Dustin Wittmier & Abby Westling reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning.  Dustin reported sunny skies and winds from the west at 20 mph, which was less than forecasted.  The teams were leaving the crater rim just after 7 am today for their return to Camp Muir.  Once at Muir they will have a short rest before continuing 4,500' down to Paradise.

Congratulations to today's climbing teams!

RMI Guide Dave Hahn and the Mt. Everest team have decided to remain at Camp 4 and postpone their summit attempt until tomorrow night Nepali time. The winds remained strong and they are hoping for better weather tomorrow. We’ll keep you posted. Best of luck to the Everest Climbers!

We are on the final part of our climbing adventure, the summit push. We moved camp a couple hours uphill today to Aconcagua's High Camp and are settling in for a short night. If the weather holds we will wake early to climb and the next time you will hear from us will be a message from the summit!

RMI Guide Walter Hailes

The Four-Day climb of Mt. Rainier led by RMI guides, Dominic Cifelli and Sam Hoffman, were turned around this morning due to thunder and lightning. The team is currently on their descent and will celebrate their hard work at Basecamp in Ashford before team members head their seperate ways.