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We wanted some sunlight on the Easton glacier so route finding would be a little easier after several days of rain and no summits of Mt. Baker. By sunrise we had tried three different tracks through the broken up glacier, which all ended in absent snow bridges. Two of the guides went out to sniff out a 4th option that we could see from our break below 8,000’. The Team kept uphill for another 700’ before encountering warm snow and a snow bridge that didn’t look like it would last much longer let alone allow nine people to cross it. Being late in the morning and deteriorating visibility above us, we made the difficult decision to turn around and come back to camp. We enjoyed some great climbing and views of the surrounding peaks as we descended. At camp now after a good nap we are learning some skills and going to eat dinner. Tomorrow morning the team will pack up and descend to the trailhead. RMI Guide Mike King

January 26, 2019 - 11:09 am PT Polar opposite weather for the summit team’s return to Colera. At this point yesterday we were in a ground blizzard and wondering if we’d get an opportunity to climb. The guides got up at 1:00 am to see clear skies but strong wind. We wouldn’t start then anyway, too cold. At 3:00 the skies were still clear and the winds had calmed. We set off from Camp with a mix of snow and scree. The forecasted 30 mph winds out of the west were present and account for the entire climb. The route switchbacks for a while and then you arrive at the defunct storm shelter, Independencia Hut at 21,000’. From the hut, the climb ascends a moderate snow slope and then transitions into a long ascending traverse. We had about 60% frozen scree and 40% snow. After feeling like you’ve walked forever without gaining much ground the climbers arrive at “the cave”, it’s not a cave. From the cave the climb is a steep ribbon of winter snow in a feature called the Candeleta. After crossover stepping for what seems like enough time for someone to recite an epic poem you hit the Guanacos Ridge. This ridge goes up, down and never flat; however, towards the end you get a spectacular view of the South face of Aconcagua. Just 10-15 minutes more and your standing on top of the highest mountain outside of the Himalayas. We are back in camp and will begin the process of heading to Mendoza tomorrow morning. Starting with a down carry of our gear and remaining food to Plaza Argentina. From base camp, mules take our equipment to Penitentes while we stop for one last Argentine asado (Cookout) at Pampa Las Lenas. The following morning after a night of meatmares and red wine to celebrate, we will return to Mendoza for a wine tour or some much needed pool time. Thanks for following along! RMI Guide Mike King January 26, 2019 - 7:25 am PT This is Mike, we reached the summit of Aconcagua just a few minutes ago. The storm blew out around midnight and we hit the trail at 3:45am. I’ll write more once we are back in camp safely, we have a long descent ahead of us. RMI Guide Mike King

On The Map

Namaste from Kathmandu, Everyone arrived on time, bags made it no problem... and jet lag, as expected, kicked in early. We met at our hotel, Yak & Yeti, and headed out for lunch and coffee, as the first activity as a team. It was funny to see how we all were craving bed shortly after, as the massive time difference started to trigger a need for sleep at an awkward local time. With not much else to report, we're scheduled to have a good day tomorrow of touring some of the city's historical landmarks, and of course, getting excited to start our mountainous journey. That's all for now, the adventure begins! RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos

June 22, 2016 - 2:33 pm PT Hey gang, Here's a soggy hello from just south of the Canadian border. Caleb and I are sitting in a coffeeshop in Bellingham pouring over radar maps and weather forecasts, while our boots dry in the parking lot. Yesterday we were suppose to have climbed Mt. Buckner, but both the weather and route conditions shut that down. On Monday we made it to one of our potential camp locations after eight hours of climbing only to find that it was buried in snow. We had to dig for 20 minutes to make snow platforms for our tents. It started raining later in the night and by the time we woke up at 3am to launch, everything was rimed over with several inches of ice. Because the first hour of the climb requires scrambling on six-inch rock ledges and the use of bare hands, we knew it wasn't an option. After checking the weather every 20-30 minutes until 8am, we gave up and went back to bed. The wind continued to blow and spit light precip. Around 10am, there was a clearing and we decided to capitalize on the opportunity by making a quick trip to the summit of nearby Sahale. From the top, we had incredible views of our camp and the surrounding peaks before the clouds obscured them again. In the early afternoon we packed up camp and started the trek downhill. As a group we decided to focus our efforts of the next objective, Mt. Shuksan, and take a full rest day in Bellingham to dry our gear and prepare. Wish us luck and a drier next few days. RMI Guides Eric Frank and Caleb Ladue

The Four Day Summit Climb Teams led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Ben Liken reached the top of Mt. Rainier today. Casey reported a touch and go summit as the team had climbed into a cloud cap and a bit of poor weather with some new snow and a bit of wind. The Team is en route to Camp Muir and we expect them to be celebrating back at Rainier Basecamp later this afternoon! Congratulations Team!

Aaah, the rest day. El equipo de dos Guillermos is sun bathing, snacking on turkey jerky and guacamole, and letting our minds and legs recover from the carry yesterday. The team is in great spirits today, and since we have some extra time, we thought we'd have every climber give their own little shout out! Here it goes: Glen: Mi carino. Te quiero. Abrozos y besos. Lindsay: I'm feeling great and miss you all! Guess which limerick was mine? Gerald: Missing me yet lol. Missing you! Charlotte, good luck Saturday. Lucy: I miss you all and love you all so much. Walker, have you heard?! Floyd: Feelin' great. Working hard at resting and sitting still. Tanya, hope you're feeling better. Miss you all and see you soon! Corell: Feeling fine, weather is nice. Miss you all! Hope the hunting trip was good and the Eagle Scout manual is progressing. Thurston, remember to study! Love to everyone. RMI Guide Billy Nugent & Team

Hello from Camp 1 on Kilimanjaro! We had a nice hike today. We started with an early breakfast at the hotel and then we piled into the big 'Unimog' and drove to the park entrance. After checking in there we hit the trail. Since we were in a cloud from the start, the hike was very pleasant temperature-wise. Once we reached Machame Camp, the sun broke out and we had a great view of the upper mountain. Everyone's getting settled into their first night on the mountain and looking forward to tomorrow's trek to the Shira Plateau. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

A messy weather picture has got most teams pulling back from immediate summit bids. That isn't so strange at this point of the season. It is not quite awful weather and not quite good weather...tough to commit a bigger team to a resource-burning summit bid without a bit more stability. And we hope that stability will be on the horizon soon, but in the meantime... My team of Seth, Erica, Kent and Ang Kaji can still head up for our final acclimatization rotation and we will tomorrow morning. The days are still shiny and blue each morning with messiness creeping in near midday. Wind, clouds and some snow showers roll in and down here in Basecamp, we retreat to the tents. But none of that should keep us from hopping up to ABC and making an effort to sleep at CIII in these next few days. Whereas just a day ago, it seemed unreasonably tough to gear up for this mission, now that the decision has been made we are each eager for it. The only thing worse than actually taking risky, uncomfortable action at high altitude for four or five days is sitting down in BC contemplating it. We are now set to get on with it. There will be a few significant tests to this round. The first will be our effort to go directly from BC to ABC without a night at CI. It means getting up just a bit earlier and walking just a bit farther than we have, so far, but my guess is that we are capable of it. Then, it will be important to improve on our past performance in what will be our second climb up the Lhotse Face and to withstand the weirdness of a first night close to 24,000 ft. We'll test out our oxygen systems in the place they were designed for and try to work out any kinks before the summit bid. Despite the avalanche accident and a day that was anything but restful - smack in the middle of our time down low...we are now well rested, healthy and ready to get our work done. I believe that Peter Whittaker's team actually has things a bit tougher now, having to keep their edge for an imminent summit bid while patiently waiting a few more days in Basecamp. This kind of thing happens a lot in mountaineering, they will do fine with it.

Today was our first day of safari for us and we headed east to visit Lake Manyara, which is know for its tree climbing lions and more than 400 different species of birds.

We had a nice day viewing the wildlife that hardly seemed to notice us, despite being only feet away at times.

We didn't manage to see any of those famous lions, but we had several very close encounters with elephants. Nothing dangerous, but they passed close enough that we could have almost touched them.

We did manage to see a few giraffe, hundreds of baboons, impalas and so many birds, and one highlight was seeing the Pearl Spotted Owl, which is about the size of a coffee cup. It was a pretty nice introduction to the incredible bio-diversity that Africa has, and everyone enjoyed the day riding around in our safari vehicles.

We wrapped up the evening here at the beautiful Plantation Lodge with a wonderful meal and great conversations. Check out our beautiful lodge!

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Safari team.

PC: Casey Grom

Hello again everyone

We had a good nights rest last night and today just a short hike up to 15,000ft to our High Camp. It was mostly sunny today with great views of Kilimanjaro and our intended route for tomorrow’s climb.
The team has just wrapped up lunch and discussed in great detail the plan for tomorrow’s climb. Everyone knows what what we’ll be wearing, what will be in the pack, as well as the schedule.
Our game plan will be to wake at 11pm and have a quick breakfast at 11:30, then hopefully hit the trail right at midnight. The team has been doing great thus far and I’m expecting us to reach the summit in 7 to 8 hours if things go according to plan.

I’m also going to bring our Satellite phone to hopefully make a few calls from the summit.
So everyone back home please keep your phones handy and if you receive a call from a strange number please answer. We are seven hours ahead of the east coast time zone.

Wish us luck!

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew 

On The Map