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Tuesday, June 12, 2018 - 9:56 PM PT Today was another windy and snowy day here at 14,000' Camp. After a late breakfast, despite the snow, the team worked together to make an igloo to improve the comfort of the bathroom experience given the current conditions. It’s little projects like these around camp that help down days go by. After a few hours of resting back in our tents the sun made an evening appearance that allowed us to stretch our legs around camp and clear out some of the snow again. The skiers on the mountain have been taking advantage of the evening clearings by enjoying the powder turns to be had just above camp. We’ve enjoyed standing out in the sun watching them ski back to camp. Unfortunately, the outlook for the forecast took a big swing this morning and instead of high pressure settling in for the weekend it now appears we are expecting a major snowstorm and continued high winds through Saturday to stall our summit bid. The team is staying optimistic however, given we may be at 14 camp for a few more days. Tomorrow’s another day and a forecast is only a forecast! RMI Guide Tyler Jones and Team

On The Map

July 3, 2017 In a perfect world, it would have been sunny and calm at high camp the morning after our summit. Then we could have packed at our leisure and enjoyed morning coffee. Instead, it was a surprise storm with annoying gusts of cold air and the sun caught up in a ragged and ugly cloud cap. We packed and ate anyway and eventually got walking down the West Buttress at noon. The weather was actually worse at high camp than along our descent route. We had a smooth trip down the fixed ropes into an unexpected snowstorm in Genet Basin where we pitched our 14,000 ft camp again. We'll recover here for a night and give the storm a chance to quit before our journey to 8,000 ft tomorrow. The forecasts still suggest that the weather will improve... some day. RMI Guide Dave Hahn and team

Saturday, June 6th 10:18 p.m. PT On the Road again! Yes, today we got to move up into the Genet Basin! We are currently snuggled up in our sleeping bags at McKinley's 14K Camp. Everyone did an excellent job today and climbed quite strong. We had a leisurely departure from 11K waiting for the perfect time of day. There was a lot of traffic on the route due to lots of teams sitting out this storm at 11K. However, with our strong group Tyler was able to giraffe neck around to see what was ahead and plan some strategic breaks in order to avoid the congestion. We arrived at camp around 4:15pm and everyone was quite efficient setting up camp. After a hard days work, everyone enjoyed many spatulas of Annie's Mac and cheese with crispy bacon. We are happy to have made the move and will check in again tomorrow! RMI Guides Tyler Jones, Lindsay Mann and Chase Nelson

On The Map

Hola Amigos! Sleeping at 15,000' is not a normal thing, nor is sleeping with 6 other people, but thankfully everyone managed to get a few hours of shuteye last night. Today the team woke around 7 am and headed downstairs for breakfast and washed it down with plenty of coffee. We then got packed up and went out for a little training on the glacier that's about an hour away. Cloudy skies and light snowfall keep things relatively brief as we didn't want to get too wet before tonight's climb of Cayambe. Once back at the climbers hut we relaxed with hot drinks and a little additional training, mixed in with a few bad jokes. Everyone is in good spirits and seems to be ready for tomorrow's climb. Our plan is to get up at 11 pm and have a quick breakfast and hopefully hit the trail around midnight. If all goes well we should reach the summit around 7 am. We had a trivia challenge tonight that will allow the winner a sat phone call from the summit. So keep your phones nearby to find out who the winner is. Wish us luck! RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

On The Map

New scenery is always a welcome site on an expedition and the carry to Aconcagua Camp 2 (18,000ft) is always one of my favorite parts of the trip! The route from Camp 1 had us traveling west across the flanks of a broad basin until we eventually made a sharp turn north and headed towards the col between Aconcagua and fellow neighboring peak Cerro Ameghino. This is where it gets good! Crossing over the col the high Andes open up in front of us and we're left with stunning views of big glaciers and 6,000m peaks. Everyone woke this morning to the sound of silence... Ah, yes! The winds finally died down and we were left with a breathless morning and we couldn't have been more thrilled. Higher elevation, new views, warm temperatures and no wind. Couldn't have asked for a better day! The crew did a fantastic job navigating new terrain and thinner air today and with a rest day planned for tomorrow the team will prepare for the move to Camp 2 on Christmas Day! What better way to spend Christmas than with a headache and a rough nights sleep!? No, in all seriousness the team has been handling the altitude like champs and they're excited to be just a little bit closer to the summit. Everyone sends their best regards to their loved ones and stay tuned for the always riveting rest day blog update! RMI Guide Steve Gately

On The Map

The RMI Mount Elbrus Southside team departed Moscow. We jumped on a plane and wound up in the ski town of Cheget. Let the climb begin! Check out the video below. RMI Guide JJ Justman

On The Map

This is Dave Hahn calling from Mount McKinley. We were able to move from Basecamp to Camp 1 at 7,800’ today. We thought we were going to get a perfectly clear night, but it did end up a cloudy night again. The clouds rolled in as we were going to bed last night and put a little tension in things. We weren’t sure that the glacier surface was going to be able to freeze up with that cloud cover. We woke up to climb at 1:00 a.m. and the cloud cover was starting to break up and things were getting cold again and starting to freeze. We left Basecamp at 3:30 a.m. and conditions were pretty good. We moved on down to the main Kahiltna Glacier, and banged a right turn around Mt. Francis. The lower glacier right now is a little broken in that region with lots of crevasses. There is a lot of contour to the surface. It’s a pretty rough surface because there is ash from the volcanic eruption to the south from a couple years ago which is now on the surface of the snow. Things are melting out a little bit strange this year which made it a little awkward for sled pulling. We saw a number of other guided teams and other teams coming down and we witnessed a lot of folks stepping into crevasses. Most just post pushing a leg here and there but we actually did pretty well and didn’t have too much trouble. Conditions improved as we got closer to 7,800’ with good sled pulling condition. The group moved pretty well and everybody was feeling good, everybody was enjoying the morning. It took us about 6 hours to here so by 9:30 a.m. we started setting up camp. We have had a relaxing rest of the day. We are taking it easy and trying to get out of the sun. There is another snowstorm around but we seem to be in a hole. We can see it storm up higher on the mountain and back down at Basecamp. But for now it’s pretty nice right here.

Tuesday, September 10, 2024 - 10:58 pm PT

Hello Everyone

The team 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 a little less than 2 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. 

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 and made our way up the winding trail. It wasn’t too busy which made for some pleasant hiking. It took a little over 5 hrs to reach our camp for the night which sits just shy of 10’000ft. 

The team just finished an amazing hot meal and are looking forward to a good night of sleep at our new home for the night. 

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew

Shifting route conditions prevented the American Lung Association's Climb for Clean Air from climbing above Ingraham Flats on Mt. Rainier this morning. The team, led by RMI Guide Win Whittaker, made the most of their morning by watching the sunrise at 11,200' before returnning to Camp Muir. We look forward to seeing the team at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.

Beds are a wonderful invention. That seemed to be the consensus view shared over breakfast at the Arumeru River Lodge this morning. Leaving for Safari was certainly easier and more casual than leaving to climb Kilimanjaro was. We drove west through Arusha starting just after 8 AM and after all the traffic and stoplights it was a relief to break into the open countryside beyond the city. Our two Landcruiser drivers are also our two naturalists and guides. Godson and Fabian began educating us on Tanzania in general, on the Maasai Tribe (since we are passing through much Maasai territory) on trees and animals and geography. It took the morning to reach Lake Manyara, our National Park for the day. We popped the tops on the cars and stood hanging over the edges with cameras and binoculars in hopes of seeing exotic critters. We weren’t disappointed. There were Cape Buffalo and a few shy elephants. There were giraffes and wildebeest and zebra. Storks, pelicans, flamingos, vultures and ibis. We saw monkeys and baboons. Folks liked the hippos out rolling in lily-covered wallows, yawning and grunting and flipping their tails. After a great picnic lunch, we drove a few more rough dirt road laps through forest and the lake shore and then in late afternoon drove out of the park and up the escarpment of the Great Rift Valley to our hotel -the Plantation Lodge. The contrast with our dusty camps of the past week could not be greater. Plantation is a beautiful garden surrounding with tastefully constructed and furnished rooms. The dining room and bar are comfortable enough, with such friendly service, that a few of our team are now considering simply living here indefinitely. They can do that after tomorrow though, because we’re going out exploring again... Ngorongoro Crater is calling us. Best Regards RMI Guide Dave Hahn