Most Popular Entries
Wednesday, May 30, 2018 - 10:19 PM PT
We awoke to falling snow and a whiteout this morning. Luckily, the temperatures were cold enough that everything stayed dry, and we were able to pack up camp and move uphill to
11,000' Camp. We walked through the clouds with near zero visibility until we got above the weather, and pulled into camp around 1 PM. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and snacking. We're enjoying our new home, and the sunshine that has come with it. The team is feeling great. Everyone sends their best.
RMI Guide Walter Hailes
On The Map
Happy New Years from
Pampa de Las Lenas! Today was the first day of the trek to Aconcagua Basecamp and we had a sunny day with a consistent 'breeze' that kept it cool and at times made walking a little difficult. Our trek follows the Vacas River which looks like it's filled with delicious chocolate milk and I don't even drink milk. The team enjoyed the five-hour hike and arrived in good spirits until the light rain set in. I learned long ago from a mentor that it never....keeps raining at Lenas Camp. True to form some group members put on rain gear and set up tents and the rain stopped almost immediately. We all met up with the descending RMI crew and celebrated the New Year's with the best steak asado dinner ever prepared on the Planet...since man learned to cook with fire. . . Yeah it's that good! The group is nestled in their tents thinking of the coming weeks and how good that steak was. We will get an early start tomorrow, bask in the remaining portions of shade offered on this climb while we hike to Casa de Piedra. Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Mike King
We spent a quiet night at Machame Camp with clouds above and below. Those of us lying awake, still wrestling with jet lag, were never able to detect even the faintest of breezes rustling tent fabric. 6:30 was our wake up target and although we were right on the mark,
Kilimanjaro itself decided to sleep in. We were never able to see Kibo, the central peak, due to clouds. We set out at 8 AM in pleasant walking conditions -never in danger of overheating- with the sun obscured. The trail led steeply upward through a giant heather forest. We climbed slowly and steadily, working from time to time on walking and breathing techniques for the days ahead. Views were limited but still enchanting as we reached and followed a ridge top of old lava formations to well over 12,000 ft. We finished with an hour of traversing ledges and trails to the north, turning the corner onto the easier Shira Plateau just after noon. We were in our 12,600 ft new home -Shira Camp- by 12:45. We lounged away the afternoon with meals, naps, storytelling and exploring. Sunset into the cloudy peaks of Shira was briefly beautiful. We finished with a sumptuous alpine dinner in our dining tent, chatted a bit more about legendary climbs and climbers, and then called it a day. (A good day)
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Greetings from Huaraz!
Do you like movies? Recognize the Paramount Pictures' logo? Well... that mountain exists, and we're off to climb it!!!
After a day of international traveling, and a night in Peru's capital, Lima, we drove north through the Pacific coastal desert, then through a section of Peruvian farmland where chili peppers are getting dried in the sun and finally, over the 14,000-foot pass of Conococha to arrive in Huaraz, the gateway of the "Callejon de Huaylas" Valley. This is where the
Cordillera Blanca Range extends for nearly 100 miles. We checked in to our hotel, and a clear evening provided a great view of the mountains to the Northeast form the terraces of our rooms in the Hotel Andino, an incredible facility, where after four years, we're part of the family now.
We're off to bed, excited for our acclimatization hike tomorrow. Stay tuned as we start our expedition.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos and team
June 7, 2017
"Ok, I know we've been climbing for three hours straight, but let's get a quick bite to eat and drink and get out of here and back to camp."
"Brent, there's like over thirty people behind us on the route." JT exclaims, trying to be heard over the winds that have just picked up.
This was the scene at Denali Pass a few hours ago, high point of our midday sojourn to kick in the route, reset the anchors to the current route and mostly get some exercise so we do not waste away up here.
After passing a windless evening last night I was optimistic of our chances to summit this morning. But, as our typically poor luck would have it, around 7:00am the first ripples of wind tickled the tent walls. By 9:00 we had 40 mph gusts pushing the tent walls into our faces. Yes, we were all ready to go if the weather improved since it wasn't horrible outside besides those pesky gusts.
Finally, 11:45 rolled around and we decided to go for a little walk.
By 12:30 we were climbing to
Denali Pass. This is typically later than we'd like to start for the summit, but we didn't have the summit in mind anyways. What took me by surprise was how our little walk inspired the entire camp at 17,200' to gear up and climb.
Our team really climbed well today, especially impressing me on how well everyone descended.
The weather forecast is not really inspiring, but we'll hang in here for a couple more days anyways to see if we can catch a break. The team is still smiling, and we had a great experience today. All it takes is one nice day to finish this thing off.
Good night,
RMI Guides Brent, Christina and JT
On The Map
RMI Guides
Dave Hahn and
Solveig Waterfall led their Four Day Summit Climb teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Dave reported perfect weather on the summit - clear, calm, and sunny. The teams began their descent to Camp Muir just after 7:30 am. They will continue their descent to Paradise this afternoon.
Congratulations climbers!
¡Hola again from BC!
In case you missed our call this morning, here is the recap; another 100% summit success!!! Everyone did an excellent job on our climb up
Urus East, a step above the previous
Ishinca, on a day where we encountered steep terrain, short pitches, involved scrambles and rewarding rappels. Our views of distant
Copa, where we head next, from the top, were jaw dropping; all of us can't wait to head there day after tomorrow. We're enjoying dinner as we speak, and in twelve hours we'll be hitting the trail downhill towards Huaraz for a day. Stay tuned!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Saturday June 13th 11:15 pm PT
In days of yore when men where men and battles raged across the lands and glory rose in the mountains, there came upon the mountaineering stage a great climbing team called "el siete". This fellowship of dynamic professionals hailed from all corners of the great U.S. of A. and even called on brethren from distant Norwegian lands to converge here below "Ski Hill" at Camp One on
Denali (which is French for "The Nali"). The determined team worked to achieve the glory of their pursuit by trudging upward to 10,000 feet to strategically deposit in their mountain bank expedition supplies for safe keeping.
Nestled in their beds the great team awaits a strong move in the wee hours of the morning to 9,600 feet.
Stay tuned for more adventures of the soon to be mountaineering legends know as "el siete."
Stay classy lower 48 - and Norway!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
On The Map
Hey this is Seth dropping a quick check in via the satellite phone. We are way out in the bush at
Kikoti Camp. Since I checked in last we have had some really great animal encounters.
Right after I emailed yesterday we spotted several rhinos fairly close to the road. That brought our total rhino count for the day up to 5 which is by far the most I've seen in a single day. Right after that we pulled up to a male lion next to the road. Our drivers got us into a good position and before we knew it he got up and walked to less than 10 feet from the cars! That was a real treat.
Today we spent the morning driving to Tarangire National Park and had an afternoon game drive. The elephants were out in full force and I'd say we saw well over 100. It was a very hot day though and that keeps the cats in the shade. We didn't see any of them. Tomorrow we will spend the morning looking for more cats and then head back to the Dik Dik before we all fly home at night.
RMI Guide
Seth Waterfall and Team
Tuesday, June 4, 2019 - 6:16 PM PT
Last night was probably the least comfortable night of the trip. We had strong gusts throughout the night that rattled our tents, and kept us all far from sleep. We spent the morning hiding from the cold and sipping on hot drinks. The winds were too high to make a summit attempt. Eventually things calmed down, and we ventured forth into the world. It has turned into quite a nice day up here, with winds near the summit diminishing as well. We’ve had some amazing views looking down at our previous camps and the
Kahiltna glacier winding out of sight. The forecast looks promising for tomorrow. Once again, we’ll wake up in the morning and see what the mountain gives us.
RMI Guide JM Gorum
On The Map
Awesome job everyone! Keep it up! Happy Bday Chip!!!
All the best - David O.
Posted by: David Ohm on 6/1/2018 at 6:39 am
Happy 29th Birthday CHIP!
Susie, Charlie, Lauren, Max and Donner
Posted by: Susie Lindstrom on 5/31/2018 at 7:06 pm
View All Comments