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The first trip of the Mt. Rainier season is always a special one and just like that, it has come and gone. We spent the week learning skills like crevasse rescue, rappelling, glacier travel, the basics of snow safety, and even some fixed line travel. It was a busy week!  We didn’t make the summit and in mountaineering, that’s part of the game. Sometimes the mountain, no matter how much we want it, just says no to going up high. It’s a tough pill, but a worthwhile one to take in stride and with conviction that the decision was the right one.  We’ll take home the skills, the memories, and the bug to come back and try again another day. 

The weather is becoming wetter and windier and looks to be trending that way for our descent tomorrow. The hot food, showers, and beds in town will be that much sweeter. 

Cheers to a great week and a great start to the season,  Team!

RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli

The summit climb teams reported 100% to the top today! They climbed into a cap with 25 – 30 mph winds, but otherwise conditions were not too bad according to Lead Guide Mike Haugen. The teams will spend a bit of time on the summit today and head back down to Camp Muir shortly. Congratulations to today’s teams!

RMI Guides Walter Hailes and Avery Parrinello led the Five Day Climb to Ingraham Flats, 11,200', this morning.  High winds overnight at Camp Muir had prevented the teams getting an alpine start and thus they were unable to make a summit attempt.  Winds at Camp Muir averaged between 40 - 80 mph with gusts as high as 93 mph around 9 pm.

Once the winds subsided later in the morning the teams roped up and traveled to Ingraham Flats to check out the conditions and see a bit of the route.  They will return to Camp Muir and descend to Paradise later this morning.

Hello again everyone

The team had a really nice day here on Kili today, waking to clear skies and a beautiful view of Kilimanjaro looming in the distance. We had a light cloudy layer which helped keep us cool while on the trail, which was nice as the sun can be quite intense here near the equator.

We started the day waking at 6:30 to start packing up before moving into our dinning tent for a nice breakfast with porridge, fried eggs, toast, avocado and even some fresh fruit, and most importantly plenty of hot coffee.

We hit the trail shortly after 8am and slowly made our way up the rocky trail with occasional views of Kilimanjaro above. The trail climbed up a blunted ridge and eventually out of the trees and allowed for some truly spectacular views of the valley below. The team hiked for a little more than four hours before reaching out next camp that sits on the Shira plateau, which is the remnant of an ancient lava flow.

Everyone is doing very well and we are currently relaxing in camp.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

First and foremost, we are safely off of Mt. Elbrus, and back in Kislovodsk! The last 36 hours have gone by in a rush to be sure. We woke yesterday to very light winds and clear skies all around us for the first time in several days. All indications were that it was a perfect summit day, so we rallied the troops, crammed down breakfast, and readied our summit kits for a big day. By 8:45, it was time to rope up and start walking. The first section of the climbing route follows the natural contours of the bowl between summits (Mt Elbrus has two summits, the west about 40 ft higher than the east) to the saddle that splits them. We found nice, firm cramponing conditions on the wind buffed snow, and the team moved very well. After three hours we had gained the saddle and our climbing route merged with that of the South side. As we climbed a steep pitch out of the saddle we passed many teams already descending. Seven hundred feet brought us to the summit ridge, a broad, flat stretch that leads to the very tippy top. Here the wind increased, reddening our cheeks and causing us to pull up our buffs and tuck deeper into our hoods. After five hours of steady climbing, our rope teams made the final steps to the top of Europe. Jeff had 5 summits of Mt. Elbrus under his belt, and despite the wind, this one was the warmest and nicest by far. After ample time for photographs and enjoying the moment, we bid adieu to the summit and headed for camp. The wind quickly died, but the cumulus clouds that were beginning to rise in all directions caught our attention. It was a short trip to retrace our tracks to camp, and once there, a poll of the group showed unanimous support for packing everything and continuing to Camp 1. Despite tired legs, thirsty throats and hungry bellies, none wanted to endure any incoming weather at Lenz Rocks. So with a bit more suffering. We descended another 3,000 feet to the relative comfort of Camp 1, ate dinner and called it a big day well done. This morning we packed all of our gear one last time, and descended the trail, with wildflowers and views aplenty to base camp. Just like clockwork (not always the case here in Russia) the WAS vans that carry us to and from base camp rolled in just a few moments after us. We hurriedly packed our duffles and jumped inside as the drivers became more agitated about the prospect of rain. We made the river crossing and up the steepest, slickest section of road before the rain, quickly turning to hail (a fitting send off from the mountain). The drive went smoothly, as eyelids took turns closing, and we now find ourselves back in Kislovodsk, showered, and ready for a big meal. It was a bit bittersweet to drive away from the mountain, or biggest objective now complete, but our trip is not over: we have tomorrow to explore this Caucus region town before heading on to St. Petersburg to enjoy the rich history and all that it has to offer. We'll continue to update you on our adventures. Thanks for reading, RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Jeff Martin, and team

Hello Everyone

We awoke early today and left behind the comforts of our beautiful lodge and have headed to the mountain towards the start of the climb. We hit the road shortly before 8am we drove along the rural country side for two hours to reach the park entrance. Most of the area surrounding Kilimanjaro has been cultivated and primarily used for coffee production and for a variety of other agriculture needs, but there are still some areas that have been untouched and resemble more of a savannah that Tanzania is known for.

The base of Kilimanjaro is forested and resembles a jungle or cloud forest. Traditionally it supports a large part of the banana production for this area. Lucky for us it was cloudy, which made for wonderful hiking conditions.

Once at the gate we had all of our gear weighed and divided into 20kg loads for our porters to carry before hitting the trail. Once everything was in order we started our climb slowly making our way up the winding trail. It was slightly busier than last week, but the team made good time.

The team just finished an amazing hot meal and are looking forward to a good night of sleep at a little bit of exercise.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew.

June 29, 2014 - 4:07 am PT Hey it's Billy here with a late-night check in. I just finished up making dinner and filling water bottles for folks after a successful summit bid today. Everybody's pretty much racked out and exhausted, laying in their tents right now. But their spirits are definitely high. Everyone made it to the summit. We enjoyed an awesome day. Clear blue skies. It was very, very cold, but there was no wind and we were able to make it happen. So, that's all for now. We'll check in again on our way out. Ciao. RMI Guide Billy Nugent

On The Map

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.

Hello everyone,

Today the we had an early start and left behind our beautiful lodge as we have headed to the mountain towards the start of the climb. We left around 8am and drove along the rural country side and small villages for 2 hours before reaching the Kilimanjaro National Park entrance.

Most of the area surrounding Kilimanjaro has been cultivated and primarily used for coffee and banana production, plus a variety of other agriculture needs. There are still a few areas that have been untouched and resemble more of a savannah that Tanzania is known for. Kilimanjaro’s base is mostly forested and resembles more of a jungle, this area is called the cloud forest.

Once we arrived at the park gate we had all of our gear weighed and divided into loads for our porters and other staff to carry before hitting the trail. Once everything was in order we started our climb slowly making our way up the winding trail that ascends continuously through the thick forest. Thankfully the overhead canopy provided a bit of relief from the hot sun overhead.

The team hiked for about five hours, reaching 10,000' and arriving at our first camp. After settling into camp and get situated the team was served a nice warm meal for dinner.

Everyone is doing well and looking forward to a good nights rest.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

It was a perfect morning to move up to Camp 1! Bright, sunny skies greeted us as we crawled out of the tents, so we'r spent some time organizing what we would take up high and what we would leave. It's easy to think about a few days in camp 1 and start filling our backpacks with luxury items, but everything that comes up must go down. We cooked up a "very American breakfast" of fresh eggs, Tillamook cheddar, loaded into tortillas, and grabbed our packs to start the journey back up the tall that we familiarized ourselves with yesterday. Somehow, having seen it once, each stretch felt easier than yesterday, we walked a bit lighter, and before we knew it, we were pulling into camp. The pattern from the last several afternoons changed today, and though clouds built at times, they dispersed and we stayed warm and most importantly, dry. We're looking at a bit of a training day tomorrow, but mostly a day to rest and acclimate after a few big days and a big jump in altitude. RMI Guides Pete and Mike, and Team "all we've learned is the Russian word for hose"