Most Popular Entries
What an amazing hike we did today. Starting in the dense trees of the national park (which are open in Mexico), we headed up past horses grazing and children laughing to 12,000 feet where we met some really nice people who were excited to joke with us. We kept our slow and constant pace all the way to 13,500 feet where the trail became rockier and the air lighter. After a break of dried fruit and protein bars we headed to the summit of
La Malinche at 14,500 feet. We were in a light cloud so no great views but it felt got to be up there and not too winded. Here's a picture of Sue at the high break. Feeling happy and proud, we chitchatted all the way down to hot showers and enchiladas!
RMI Guide Christina Dale
Hello from Kyajo Ri Camp 1,
All is good here, except that we had an extraordinarily windy day, preventing us from moving up to
Camp 2. We did, however, take some of our gear to the base of the gullie that provides access to it, as we plan on attempting the summit from here.
The sun is shining and the spirits are high! We are going to bed early, so cheer for us on our push to summit our first objective here.
Regards,
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos
The Four Day Summit Climb Teams led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Bryan Mazaika spent a stormy night at Camp Muir. They woke very early in the morning to blowing snow and whiteout conditions that forced the team to go back to bed for a few hours. They woke up again for breakfast, and the skies started clearing. The team decided to make the best of the morning and are going for a walk to Ingraham Flats so that they can see the upper mountain. This is the final climb of Mt. Rainier for our 2018 season, they will enjoy this views from the flats before heading back to Paradise.
Congratulations team!
Thursday, June 14, 2018 - 7:42 PM PT
After yesterday's grueling day the team slept in until the sun hit our tents, 9ish. We had a slow start with salmon and cream cheese bagels and coffee. The goal for today was to build walls around our tents and get our kitchen/dining tent dug out and reinforced. The walls are built by digging through the loose snow into the firm layers below. Then we take snow saws and begin to quarry large blocks to be the foundational row. Each successive layer gets smaller so the wall isn't top heavy. The walls help keep wind from destroying our tents. The team rallied through their wall building then helped the guides finish reinforcing the kitchen tent or Posh as we call it. The Posh is a five sided tent without a floor. We dig a hole in the snow and have benches for people to sit and cooking counters for the guides. Out of the wind and sun we enjoy our meals, today's dinner is hand rolled chicken burritos. With the menacing forecast on the horizon we will put the finishing touches on camp and hunker down for the remnants of a tropical cyclone that is headed for Alaska. People are happy for the sunshine and tired from the 'light exercise' of camp craft. This helps us acclimate in preparation for heading to
17,000' Camp, High Camp, for our cache day and ultimately our summit day when the weather and mountain tell us it's time to go up. Until then we will be at 14,000' continuing to get comfortable being uncomfortable and focusing on the tasks that our in our control and leaving the conditions that our out of our control to Denali.
Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
July 4, 2017
Happy Independence Day to all of our readers back home in the USA! We couldn't find any fireworks, so we celebrated with a nice walk around the hills of
Cheget instead. Beautiful weather and warm temperatures allowed for a leisurely tone today. We spent around an hour above 10,000 feet, snacking, trading factoids, and testing out some thinner air. Passerby might have called it lounging, but we're going to call it hard work. Whatever you want to call it, today was a success.
We headed back down toward tree line for lunch in Cheget. The team considered purchasing matching headwear as a sign of solidarity and unity. Ultimately, the potential headpieces proved to be far too itchy. A good idea nonetheless. Now, gear has been sorted, packing has begun, and we are just about ready to move up to the mountain tomorrow morning.
RMI Guides JM Gorum and Mark Tucker, and the Elbrus Crew
July 3, 2017
Dobryy vecher!!! That's good evening, to all of you at home. We are writing from the wonderful hamlet of Cheget after another full travel day. We left our hotel this morning at 5:40, packed our 24 duffels and 12 bodies into a van, shuffled through airport security, and departed for Mineralnye Vody. We all made it, and so did our bags. Excellent news!
The sun and heat of our more southerly locale had people changing into shorts and flip flops as soon as possible. After checking in to the hotel, the team enjoyed a walk around town, some locale cuisine, wonderful views of Elbrus, and maybe even a nap or two. More relaxing is on the schedule before our first acclimatization hike tomorrow. We will check in again tomorrow.
Thanks for following along-
RMI Guides
Mark Tucker and
JM Gorum, and the Elbrus Crew.
On The Map
May 12, 2017 - 9:13 pm PT
Nice day here at 10,000' on the upper Kahiltna Glacier. The team slept in a bit after the hard day yesterday. We kitted up and waddled through a few feet of snow to the base of the ridge for some fixed line travel and snow science. A few of us kept our snow shoes on and put in a track up the ridge of
Kahiltna Dome for an eventual attempt early tomorrow if the weather holds. All is well here in Alaska. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather!
RMI Guide Leon Davis
On The Map
Hey Everyone,
Today Team 4 did a carry to
Camp Two at 18000 feet. However, we didn't stop there. We were all feeling so good that after we dropped our gear at camp we ventured higher to 19000 feet. The team did great and we are now back at Camp One where 16200 feet is beginning to feel like sea level. Tomorrow we will have a rest day to fully recover and assist in acclimatizing even better.
Thanks for following along!
RMI Guide
JJ Justman & Team
Move to 17,000! Today we awoke to the normal weather pattern... WIND. We decided to give it a go and try to move to 17,000’ anyway. The pattern had been for the wind to die down in the afternoon so we figured that it would be perfect for us as we would be on the Buttress proper when the winds were at their lowest.
Well so much for the best laid plans. The winds stayed high throughout the day making the climb tough, but we all managed to make it without suffering too much. We picked up our cache along the way so we’re here in camp with all of the food and fuel we’ll need through summit day.
Some unfortunate events occurred today as we entered camp. A team of two independent climbers had fallen from high above the normal route. The Rangers and some volunteers have gone to help them. We have had a rough time finding suitable snow to build walls for our tents. The high winds have stripped a lot of snow away and cutting blocks was extremely difficult. It’s amazing how the altitude makes simple chores more difficult. You have to be very conscious of not working yourself too hard. It’s easy to get light headed.
On The Map
After packing our packs, organizing our tents, and eating lunch, we were ready to head uphill. Unfortunately though, we have been stalled at Base Camp. Our team members at High Camp radioed down that they need more time and rope to fix the route. They said the route is a bit icy and not great snow, but they seem optimistic that we will be able to give it a whirl in a few days. Till then we will continuing hanging out at Base Camp, practicing more with the girls and going on hikes. It's a good thing it's so pretty here and one can easily occupy themselves.
Happy Halloween!
RMI Guide Hannah Smith
The
Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guides Mike King and Hannah McGowan reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The team started their climb in the clouds, but these quickly subsided to provide clear skies and a beautiful views from the top. The team has started their descent and will be returning to Rainier Basecamp early this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's team!
 copy.jpg)
Great picture, Uie, keep smiling! Enjoy yourself, good climbing, and stay safe, please!!!
Posted by: Pam Zechlinski on 1/19/2019 at 4:16 pm
Sue : Sounds like a spectacular trip, have fun and be safe
Of course very jealous of you in good way
Posted by: Sandra E on 1/16/2019 at 5:16 am
View All Comments