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Posted by: Casey Grom, Nick Hunt
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Rest day at the beautiful Chilcabamba Eco Lodge! Our team enjoyed the opportunity to sleep in and relax, and prepare for Cotopaxi, our next objective for this trip.
After a delightful breakfast, we were able to catch a few glimpses of the mountain in the distance and talked about the route. Based on the team's performance on Cayambe, we'll have no problem with this next climb!
We spent the day reading books and sharing stories, and wrapped the evening up with a technical skills session. We learned a variety of knots, talked about climbing anchors, and finished with a full-blown crevasse rescue scenario in the lawn.
Spirits are high and we are ready to go! Tomorrow we move on to the Tambopaxi Lodge in preparation for our summit bid on Cotopaxi.
Until then,
RMI Guide Nick Hunt and the Ecuador team
Posted by: Adam Knoff, Nick Hunt
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Greetings from the beautiful Eco Lodge of Tambopaxi, located inside of Cotopaxi National Park. We are all resting nicely despite our elevation being well above 12,000 feet. In the ten days we have been in Ecuador, eight of them have been spent living or climbing above 14,000 feet so despite this lodge being higher than any staffed tourist joint in the US, we are all feeling dandy. It is amazing how after three days away from civilization the internet can trump even a shower. But now that we all got our fix, 19,400-foot Cotopaxi is taking center stage in our heads and out the window.
It is quite a quick transition from mountain to mountain but the team's successful summit of Antisana, the first by any RMI team, is proving a strong motivator to push our tired legs upward one more time. Our legs won't be the only tired things because with the famous Cotopaxi hut closed for the time being, Tambopaxi sits a short 45 minutes away from the trail head, which in turn sits a short 45-minute hike from the mountain's normal starting point so our wake up call will casually be at 9:30pm. We expect a long night and day so resting now is crucial. We will be taking dinner in an hour then getting ready for our final mountain climb. We will report tomorrow with the outcome.
Wishing all of our families and friends the best. We miss you all and look forward to coming home soon.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
No big parties last night, all was quiet at Basecamp until the morning helicopter began what seems to be its morning workout at 7AM, just before the sun hit. We were all up and half-packed by our 8 AM breakfast. Everybody had lots of details to chase down and loads to figure out before our 9:30 AM departure. The production teams used their scouting of the previous day to figure out some nice shots as the guides and climbers chugged higher over now-familiar terrain. We took four hours to make it into our new camp, a bit higher than we'd cached yesterday... concensus seems to put us at around 16,500 ft. We found a place of our own up here, which is actually quite nice. This is a busy mountain in its prime climbing season, so there are almost always other teams around us, coming and going. At our Camp One, though, we've carved out a little privacy by virtue of walking a little farther than most choose to. We had clear skies today and strong sunshine, but we have all transitioned from the cotton clothes, shorts and t-shirts that we wore during the trek in. Now we are in mountain climbing clothing and gaurding against the cold. Even so, the afternoon was very warm and comfortable as we napped in the tents. We did dinner over by Melissa's tent, sitting on our sleeping pads in the pumice and gravel with puffy coats on. The light is just getting good now at 7:30 PM, we are in shadow, but we are high enough now that we can see out of the surrounding valleys and watch the sun set on South America.
Rest/Acclimatization day tomorrow... maybe a carry or two for the guides and some production work for the artistically inclined photographers and filmers, but basically tomorrow will be a day designed to allow our bodies to catch up with our rate of ascent.
The weather was OK today, but there were at least eight teams trying to move up the fixed lines toward the 17,000’ Camp. Because of this we decided to wait a day and carry our gear tomorrow. It turns out that this was a good idea as all of the teams arrived at the fixed lines

together and the resulting traffic jam was frustrating to the other groups that we talked to. I took part of our group out to “the edge of the world” today. This is the edge of the ridge that abuts the glacier that the 14,000’ camp sits upon. The view down to the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier is mind boggling and we spent about an hour out there taking photos and admiring the scenery.
On The Map
Posted by: Mark Tucker, JM Gorum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
We’ve had a great day in Moscow. The weather was perfect for the whole tour day around Red Square and the Kremlin. It is amazing to see these wonders of mankind in person. We finished the evening at one of the nicest restaurants in Moscow, if you like borsch we know the place! We have a 5 am wake up call for the next part of the journey off to the mountains. A couple hour flight and a few hour drive and we will be staring up at the big hills of the Caucasus range. The mountains are our playground for the next several days, we have a lot to look forward to.
Stay tuned,
RMI Guide Mark Tucker & Team
The Four Day Summit Climb September 8 - 11, 2016 were unable to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning due to windy conditions. RMI Guides Billy Nugent and Katrina Bloemsma made the decision to turn their teams around at 13,700' as the extremely high winds made it unsafe for the groups to continue. They began their descent from their high point at 7:30 am en route to Camp Muir. After they rest and repack they will continue to Paradise and be transferred to Rainier Base Camp.
Many thanks to our guides! Although we didn’t make the summit, it will be an adventure that we will always treasure.
Dave & Lori
Posted by: David Haggist on 9/13/2016 at 11:08 am
Great job guys! Sorry the weather didn’t cooperate, but what an experience! Very proud of you!!
Posted by: Ron and Debbie Hochstein on 9/11/2016 at 5:38 pm
Posted by: Brent Okita, Christina Dale, Chris Ebeling
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 9,600'
May 24, 2016 - 10:15 pm PT
At 6:00am the guides were just wrestling with the thought of unzipping from warm cocoon of down that so wonderfully keeps the cold outside at bay. A cold front had come thru and the winds had picked up as well. At that hour we didn't know what to expect from the weather. Frost was sticking to the ceiling and walls of the tent, making any attempt to get up unpleasant. This was our first cold morning of the trip.
As it turned out, the sun had finally come out in all its glory, quite contrary to the forecast. For the first time the Alaska range was out in all its glory. We had a great walk down to pick up our cache, and unlike yesterday, had some relatively light packs to shoulder. We were actually able to put a new cache in above us at 10,000', which will make our back carry in two days pretty easy.
Back at camp, with the tortellini dinner behind us, we're back in our down cocoons as the sun has dropped over the mountains to our west and a chill has returned to camp.
Tomorrow, 11,200' camp!
Cheers from the team at 9600'. We're all doing well.
RMI Guide Brent Okita
On The Map
Posted by: Leon Davis, Bridget Belliveau
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 7,300'
Greetings all
We departed Talkeetna into cloudy weather and for a while there we did not think we would make it. But thanks to the skill of our K2 pilots we were able to sneak in as the skies briefly parted. As a result of our teams hard work and cooperation we now have a fortified camp. We will sleep well behind block walls and we are excited for a chance to climb the radio tower tomorrow morning. Tonight we sleep under clear blue (still) skies and just a whisper of a cool breeze.
Until tomorrow then!
RMI Guide Leon Davis & Team
On The Map
Will: looks beautiful. Stay warm and cozy in your tent. We’re all thinking of you. Mom
Posted by: Judy Kenyon on 5/18/2015 at 6:08 am
Tents??? I figured you guys would be sleeping in hand dug snow caves! Have fun Dad,it looks beautiful there!
Posted by: Johnnie Newland on 5/18/2015 at 3:06 am
Posted by: Solveig Waterfall, Chase Nelson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Elevation: 12,000'
Good evening everyone!
We are all nestled in here at the Altzomoni Hut, which is subsequently nestled between the summits of Popo and Ixta, just above the Paso de Cortez.
We started off the day with a buffet breakfast at the Mission Tlaxaca, the last in-town meal before the climb. After meeting our local guide Cato and going for an acclimatization hike up the first few hundred feet of the route to high camp, we returned to the hut for rewarding hot drinks and a chips and salsa fiesta!
The rest of the evening has been spent organizing gear, practicing with our crampons, harnesses, and learning to set up expedition tents. We are all excited to get up to camp tomorrow and get our eyes on the upper mountain!
Thanks for following along and we'll check in tomorrow night!
RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall and the Team
On The Map
congrats Will W. and team on a great climb, keep safe and enjoy!
Posted by: sherril jarosch on 2/18/2015 at 12:12 pm
RMI Base, this is Alex Barber calling in with the Aconcagua Team. This morning was perfectly clear with light winds. Definitely an appreciated contrast from yesterday's windstorm at Camp 1. We took full advantage of this clear weather today and pushed up to Camp 2. Everyone on the team did extremely well and now we are sitting tight here at Camp 2 playing cards and eating snack food, and plotting our summit attempt. Tomorrow is just a rest day, so we will check back in with you from Camp 2 sometime tomorrow. Adios.
RMI Guide Alex Barber
RMI Guide Alex Barber calls in from Aconcagua Camp 2.
On The Map
Hi Julian,
We are thinking of you and Stephen. We wish you both the best of luck as you push for the summit. Love Dad and Mum
Posted by: Elizabeth Bannister on 1/10/2015 at 8:33 pm
Yoder, looks like you are having a great time! Hope you’re taking lots of photos! :)
Posted by: Jody on 1/28/2015 at 11:23 am
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