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I had a reprieve from the blog yesterday as I was focused on my wife’s birthday…and I forgot to write it . Happy birthday again Tory, I love you and miss you and never want to be this far away from you, we all send birthday wishes from South America! 

Today we moved to Camp 2 at 18,000' feet, Camp Guanaco, and we could not be more pleased. I think Dom’s description yesterday of the wind at Camp 1 can be expanded upon and I would contrast it to each sorry climber having their own miniature tornado that follows you and continually gut punches you while yelling the the lyrics of Achy Breaky Heart over and over for which you cannot escape. Trying to relieve yourself of #1 merely winds up on your boots regardless of the direction you are facing, leaving you with a frozen reminder of your wonderful experience at Camp 1. 

Anyway, today I woke up to less wind and clear skies. I unzipped my sleeping bag fully taking in the aromas that I had deposited there over the last several days, too afraid to search my foot box for a dead Guanaco. After wiping the tears from my eyes and checking my pulse, I exited my tent to experience these clear skies. No headache and feeling cocky, I walked 30 feet up a ridge line to celebrate my fitness, only to experience my heart rate jumping from 70 to 130, altitude humbling me again. We had Argentinian bagels with bacon and cream cheese, a familiar flavor I thought I may have experienced before (yesterday). We packed up and headed out, feeling stronger than the previous day. Porters passed us without effort, carrying so much gear they looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. Our carry was leisurely, a lot of photos and selfies, and pats on the back. Major daily decisions were beginning to materialize: should I brush my teeth today, weather windows to relieve ourselves, drinking, eating, should I use my wet wipes or help my team out by signaling my presence so they don’t lose track of me- my daughter and I share similar views on these important questions in the wilderness. 

We arrived at Camp Guanaco early afternoon. We were welcomed by the German team (not really) broadcasting their Rave music across camp with a beat totally out of sync with our slow deliberate movements sparking visions of some remote college parties gone terribly wrong that I will go into no further detail. Privacy and individual space were no more, tents packed together, no one using their inside voices, and now sharing common areas/domes with other climbers- but no one yearned for the miniature tornadoes again. 

There is an international feel to Camp 2, and with that comes an international difference in manners and hospitalities. I felt a need to share my thoughts on proper etiquette by covering up when sneezing or coughing, yelling in close proximity contributes to mountain sickness, and if a person is standing in front of you you can’t just walk through them. My attempt at conforming behavior inside the dome was brushed off, so after I took the non-conformists out at the knees and made them kiss the hand, I quietly exited the dome a champion celebrated by my team, like something out of a Marvel movie. We ate our dinner, breaking down the flavors and spices of our culinary experience, shared our desired and current superpowers, if you could drink only 5 drinks the rest of your life out of your fingers what would they be, then resigned to our tents for reading, audio books, and movies on our phones. 

I don’t know if any of the above events actually occurred as the altitude is clearly impacting my thought processes and disinhibiting my frontal lobe. But I will share with you that my chosen Marvel name is Land Shark, and my alias is Jack Handy. My team are Thanos killers, but will settle for summiting Aconcagua if she smiles on us and deems us worthy. In the end, I don’t even know who plays Land Shark and puts on that androgynous hood, but I love that Saturday Night Live lore and I am bringing it back, much to the dismay of my coworkers and family. Goodnight everyone.

RMI Climber Brian Goltry

Monday, March 20, 2023 - 3:22 pm PT

Namaste readers,

Hello from Kathmandu Nepal! The team has arrived for their Trek to Everest Base Camp and climb up Lobuche peak. Jetlag had everyone a bit sleepy at our first team Dinner but everyone has arrived healthy and psyched to hit the trail. Out of 12 people we only have one missing duffle stuck in Delhi, so we are sitting pretty good overall. Tomorrow we meet in the morning for a more official team meeting where we will discuss our itinerary and expectations for our trip along with a gear check. After we take care of some business we will relax and enjoy the sights on our city tour. Fingers crossed the team gets some descent sleep and isn't writing a dispatch at 4am unable to sleep since 2am...oh the jetlag. 

Keep following along as we embark on a trek of a lifetime!

RMI Guides Hannah Smith, Abby Westling, and Team

The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guide Casey Grom reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The team reported beautiful clear skies, but breezy. They have started their descent and are working their way back to Camp Muir. Congratulations to today's team!

Last night we enjoyed a delicious fresh, local trout dinner—served at the 16,000’ Cotopaxi Climbers’ Hut!...and then we went to bed early, in preparation for an alpine start wake-up for our summit bid on Cotopaxi. I woke before midnight to check the weather. It wasn’t perfect—we were in thick clouds, but there wasn’t any wind. We got the ball rolling at midnight, coffee-ed up and got ready to climb. As we prepared the weather kept fluctuating: a little snow here, a little wind there, clouds that we could see the moon through… At just after one a.m. we headed out of the Jose Ribas Refugio on Cotopaxi. Winds increased during our first hour of climbing, which brought us to the glacier where we donned crampons and roped up. The winds continued above, coupled with Viento Blanco (White Wind, ~30 mph wind inside a 100% humidity cloud) that iced up everything—our clothes, our packs, our ice axes, and even our eyes—as we climbed. We persevered through the Viento Blanco as it increased in strength until we conceded to it due to safety; at less than 800 feet from the summit we turned around and headed back to the Climbers’ Hut. Even the descent was challenging; Viento Blanco was relentless, trying to blow us off of our feet, limit our visibility to near zero, and continue to dominate everything it could think its icy teeth into. Arriving safely back at the Climbers’ Hut we were a spectacle, pasted in white ice from head to toe. It’s bittersweet to return from fierce weather unscathed but without a summit. We all know which one is more important. I am confident that had we had decent weather for our summit day 100% of our climbers would have made the top. Everyone performed well on our preparatory climbs, and everyone was acclimatizing to the extreme altitude well. But such is mountain climbing. Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you. RMI Guide Mike Walter

On The Map

Hello, this is day 2 of the Mount Baker Climb & Ski program. Today was an excellent training day. We woke up with a sunrise, had some breakfast, and got out on the glacier for some firm snow ski, uphill travel techniques: ski cramponing, boot cramponing, roped travel, and a variety of other skills. Then we ripped skins and had a delightful 1,300-foot descent back to camp. In the afternoon we covered avalanche rescue techniques and crevasse rescue techniques as well. We rolled into dinner, cooked up some great food, put the finishing touches on our packs and getting set for a successful summit bid on Baker tomorrow or tomorrow morning. Bye. Bye. RMI Guide Kel Rossiter

Greetings once more from Ecuador! Today was what climbers like to call an "active rest day". After our successful summit of Cayambe yesterday, our bodies need some time to recover and prepare for our next objective. But rather than just napping all day, we took the opportunity to exercise our minds and learn a few new technical skills. We moved this morning from the hacienda to our Base Camp for Antisana, where we pitched a bunch of tents in the rolling meadows at the base of the peak. After a little bit of afternoon napping, we donned our thinking caps and filled the evening hours refreshing our knowledge on knots and practiced a crevasse rescue scenario around camp. This was followed by an incredible pasta dinner cooked by fellow guide Steve Gately. If he wasn't such a good guide, he'd make a pretty good chef! With full bellies, we crawled in to our sleeping bags to get another good night of rest. Tomorrow morning we'll head out to the toe of Antisana's glaciers for more training in the field. Stay tuned for updates tomorrow as we prepare for our second summit attempt! Until then, RMI Guides Nick Hunt and Steve Gately, and the rest of the Ecuador Team

RMI Guide Jake Beren and the Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz team reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning via the Kautz route. Jake reported clear skies on the summit. The team will spend some time on the summit before making their descent. The team will spend one more night on the mountain before descending off the mountain tomorrow. Way to climb!

Hello from Azau. The team is down to five as two left yesterday evening. The remaining teammates are having our last dinner together as I type this message. Today the guys went for a horseback ride in the morning and then we all went to a 'catch your own' trout lunch. There may or may not have been beer drinking involved as well. It has been a total blast of a trip and today was hilarious. We are all catching flights tomorrow and beginning our journeys back home. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

Hi everyone, Billy (Nugent) here checking in after the first official day on our 2015 Aconcagua expedition. Today was a crazy one and the team spent most of the day scrambling around trying to get everything ready for tomorrow´s departure to the mountain. One of our team members was the victim of freezing rain and thus a cancelled flight from O´Hare so she arrived in Mendoza this morning and was forced to hit the ground running. We went straight to the permit office to handle that and then made a quick stop to freshen up at the hotel before we departed for Penitentes where Grajales, our outfitter, has a packing facility near the trailhead. The rest of the team spent the morning tying up loose ends; making runs to the grocery store and gear shop to pick up last minute items before we all jumped in the van for a three-hour drive up to Penitentes in the mountains. Once we arrived we spent several hours packing and readying our loads for the mules that were broken up nicely by a great dinner at Ayelen, our hotel. Lots of things to remember means a fair bit of stress but that will all evaporate once we hit the trail tomorrow. The team is ready and in good spirits, eager to hit the trail! We´ll check in again from our first camp along the trekking route into basecamp. All for now, RMI Guide Billy Nugent and the gang

The Four Day Summit Climb August 2 - 5, 2014 with climbers from Eddie Bauer and led by RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Solveig reported light winds and great weather. As of 7:20 am the team was reaching the top of Disappointment Cleaver on their descent. Congratulations to today's summit climb team!