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Wednesday, June 5, 2024 - 8:25 pm PT

Good evening everyone. Today we woke to clear skies above with clouds lingering over Denali. So it was go time to get our carry in. We knew the storm would come sooner or later so we got an early start and we walking by 5am. Fueled by bagels, cream cheese, and salmon we made our way up Ski Hill. The cool air felt good to walk in compared to the rather hot and sweaty walk yesterday. After gaining two thousand feet and the beginning of snow flurries, we decided to call 9300' our cache spot. We dug a big hole to fit all our cache items and then scurried out of there before more snow fell. The rest of the day we enjoyed a bunch of tent time which included naps, reading, watching shows, listening to music, and eating snacks. Some of the best sleep comes in the afternoon. Tomorrow we hope to move to 11,000' camp. This will depend on what the weather brings us in the morning. We may need to be patient but that's part of the Denali game. As for now, we are all settling into our sleeping bags as the snow pitter patters on our tents. It's quite relaxing. So goodnight all!

RMI Guide Hannah And team

Hello from the Khumbu Valley! We started our day here pretty early, meeting in the hotel lobby at 5 a.m. After checking out of the hotel, it was a short ride to the domestic airport where we weighed all of our duffels and backpacks before getting tickets and slipping through a very laid back security check. Normally there’s a little bit of waiting before heading out to the plane, but today things moved along pretty quickly. The flights to Lukla have a reputation of being a little intimidating and bumpy, but thankfully today’s flight was pretty smooth and uneventful. It’s about a 30 minute flight in a small 16-passenger Twin Otter with stunning views of the Himalayas. We landed on the small runway in Lukla that’s only about a quarter mile in length and has a slight uphill angle. After we touched down, the plane was unloaded and our local Sherpa guides hired a few porters that will be carrying our duffels throughout the trek. We made a brief stop at a local tea house to have breakfast and get situated before hitting the trail. We hiked for about four hours today with few stops to rest and to take in the beautiful scenery. We arrived at our camp for the night in a village called Phakding just in time for a well earned lunch. The team got settled, had naps, or explored a little before walking a short way to one of the many monasteries here in the Khumbu Valley. Luckily for us the monks were having a prayer session and allowed us to sit in while they chanted and blew their horns. It was very surreal and a wonderful way to start this adventure. All is well! RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

On The Map

Tuesday, June 26, 2018 - 8:54 PM PT Rest days are the best days! We slept harrrd after our long day of climbing yesterday. When we finally began rustling around we enjoyed a very leisurely pancake brunch and our whole team laughed and chatted with renewed energy. The afternoon was filled with napping, organizing, stretching, snacking, and enjoying the sunshine. Yes, you read that correctly, sunshine! We finally had a full day with no precipitation! It wasn’t exactly beach weather, but we soaked it up nonetheless, and the day moved at just the perfect pace. Spirits are high and bellies are full- and every member of the Super Crew would like to send a very warm thank you to Carol Clark for her excellent baked goods! They somehow held up very well in Craig’s pack and he was generous enough (or his pack was heavy enough

On The Map

We are in our tents taking a little break before dinner. About two hours ago hail and rain caught us on the tail end of our training day at Ishinca Base Camp. Before the afternoon storm we took advantage of our incredible venue to learn knots, anchors, rope ascension and rappelling. The huge glacial erratics just outside our camp provided the perfect place to rappel and ascend on overhanging terrain. Just as we were coiling up the ropes to head back to camp, pea sized hail began to pelt us. We retired to our mess tent where we were greeted with hot chocolate and popcorn. We're heading back there shortly for dinner, hoping it's as good as last night's feast. Hilario our cook ended dinner with one of the best chocolate mousses I've ever had- it's going to be hard to top that! RMI Guides Zeb Blais, Chase Nelson and team

The Four Day Summit Climb teams led by RMI Guides JJ Justman and Solveig Waterfall were unable to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier due to unstable snow conditions. The Teams turned at 11,654’ on Disappointment Cleaver and are now safely back at Camp Muir. They will start their descent and be back to Rainier Basecamp in the early afternoon.

Thursday June 18th 10:15 pm PT Today was another early wake up, and then we broke camp and retraced our steps back up to 14K Camp. Everyone did great with the move, and the name of the game for the rest of the day was beating the heat around camp, moving in and mentally preparing for a much deserved day of rest tomorrow. The word on the street is blueberry pancakes could be involved. RMI Guide Mike Haugen

On The Map

After some long trips from our respective homes, our crew arrived in Anchorage and formed the super team, "El Siete" (RMI Team Seven). We made the journey to Talkeetna, AK the day before yesterday and started to prepare for our flight onto the mountain. We spent yesterday packing in the hanger. The weather did not seem to be on our side and the probability of us flying into base camp on time seemed very small. We figured we would be joining all of the other teams that had been doing the "Talkeetna Wait" for days. We woke up today anticipating that we would not fly this morning and we were not wrong. After a good breakfast, lunch, and a few wanders around town, we planned on getting a pizza and watching the NBA finals. As soon as the crew started to get into the game, the flight service called and told us there was a small window for us to fly. So here we are on the glacier ready to climb the big one. If you did not get a call from us before we left, we were in a mad rush and we will get back to you after we summit! RMI Guide Mike Haugen & Team

May 19, 2015 - 11:40 pm PT Our team had another great day today. We had leisurely breakfast and then headed back down to Windy Corner to retrieve our cached gear that we left there two days ago. The weather was cloudy with light snow, which made for a comfortable walking temperature. After returning to camp, we reviewed fixed rope travel, in preparation for the next phase of our climb. Once we felt polished on the fixed rope training, we spent a few hours building walls for our camp and erecting a cook tent. We're quite comfortable now, here at the 14,200' camp in Genet Basin. We'll play tomorrow by ear, based on the weather. If it is nice out, we'll climb up above 16,000' to establish a cache of supplies for our high camp. If the weather doesn't cooperate, we'll take advantage of a full rest day tomorrow to recover and acclimate. Either option will be a benefit to our team. Everyone is doing well up here. We'll keep you posted as to how tomorrow goes. Cheers, RMI Guide Mike Walter and team

On The Map

Hello again everyone, All is well here in Ecuador. We had a slight technical issue yesterday which delayed our ability to send a dispatch. So let me bring everyone up to speed. Yesterday we checked out of our warm and comfortable hacienda and made our way to the famous Otavalo market. It's the largest market in Ecuador and one of the largest in all of South American. The team spent a few hours negotiating the endless maze of goods for sale and worked on our bartering skills- some did better than others. :) After everyone satisfied their shopping desires we headed uphill towards Cayambe, our first major climbing objective. The road to Cayambe is long, rough, and an accomplishment in itself. We were amazed that our bus was able to make it so far on what is clearly a 4x4 road. There were several times I was sure the mud was going to win, but somehow Hector, our daring driver was able to make it through. We hiked the final hour to the hut at Cayambe to help with our acclimatizing and spent the remainder of the evening relaxing. Today the team woke early with a big breakfast and plenty of coffee. We then hiked up to the start of the glacier which is about an hour away, and spent a few hours refreshing our skills for tomorrow's climb. While out on the glacier we were not only amazed at the beautifully clear day, but also incredibly lucky to see a condor soaring not far away! Once back at the hut we reviewed the plan for the upcoming climb and got everything packed up and ready to go. A special thanks to Leon for whipping up one heck of a nice meal for everyone. The team is off to bed now as we are waking early for tomorrow's climb. Wish us luck!!! And one more thing... Keep your cell phones handy tomorrow morning. One lucky trivia winner will be making a satellite call from the summit if all goes well. RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

On The Map

Our morning started with crystal clear views of the peak of Kibo (which contains Kilimanjaro's central crater). We were just above a sea of clouds, as we'd gotten used to yesterday afternoon. Our climb began just before 8 AM up the steady and gradual incline heading directly toward Kibo. We spent the day above "timberline" getting close up views of smaller desert shrubs and flowers. The upper sky began to cloud up, particularly as we approached our high point for the day at 15,200 ft. At this point we came around the castle-like "lava tower" and had to use our imaginations to visualize the steep escarpments above, cloaked in cloud. Those clouds let loose with snow showers as we began our descent toward the Barranco Valley. We quickly put on the weatherproof shells and marched downward through a mild blizzard. The showers let up as we reached the giant Senecios -the doctor Seuss themed trees that make Barranco so interesting. The team was in camp by about 3:15 PM. We were lucky enough to get some brief periods of sunshine as the afternoon progressed, allowing a chance to dry damp gear and as well to see the route for tomorrow up the Barranco Wall. We anticipate a calm night with some good and much needed rest at 13,030 ft above sea level. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map