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June 19, 2014 - 10:41 pm PT We have arrived at 14,200'! The weather today was marginal with moderate winds, occasionally heavy snow, and sometimes even hot sunbreaks. A little bit of everything made for an interesting move. McKinley's 14K camp is uncharacteristically empty; lots of snowed in abandoned camps to choose from but they were all pretty crummy. We ended up digging out some old platforms and quarrying new blocks to rebuild some delapidated walls to protect our tents from the wind. We did find a great pre-dug posh that must have been abandoned by Jake or Tyler's crew as they moved up to 17K today. Thanks guys! Our team is racked out already after our big day and eating a hot meal. Tomorrow's plans call for an easy back carry and hopefully some rest in the afternoon. Talk soon... RMI Guide Billy Nugent

On The Map

Greetings from the Relincho Valley, Camp One on the trail into Aconcagua. This is the January Rainier Mountaineering Inc. expedition attempting to climb the "False Polish Glacier". We converged on this mountain by way of Santiago and Buenos Aeries, with the whole team meeting for the first time in Mendoza. Peter Whittaker, Ed Viesturs and Melissa Arnot guide the clients on our team along with me -Dave Hahn, I'm guiding... but I am the rookie on this climb having never been to Aconcagua before and am wide-eyed and excited to see a new place. So to are our four climbers: Clark Vautier, Tim Sohn, Kelley Maybo and Andrew Turner. Additionally we have a camera team and still photography team attempting to capture quality footage and images for RMI. The videographers are Gerry Moffet and Kent Harvey, along with Thom Pollard. Jake Norton is shooting digital stills and Rachel Rosengarten is overseeing the collection of both video and stills. Seth Waterfall and Chad Peele are guiding the production team. Poor Seth is still back in Mendoza as of tonight, waiting for slow luggage to fly in on a fast plane. He'll catch up with us in no time flat when the gear arrives. Last night we stayed in Penitentes... a small settlement built around a ski area high in the Andes, perhaps 12 miles from the Argentine border with Chile. We were at 9000 ft above sea level, but passed the night in relative comfort with steak dinners and comfy beds. Fernando Grajales Expeditions of Mendoza is our capable outfitter, and this morning they organized our loads onto 20 mule backs and got us to our trailhead for a journey into the Vacas Valley. We started walking at around 10:40 AM under blue skies and bright sunshine. The mules carry up to 60 kilos each... we carried slightly less for what will be a three-day trek into basecamp. The Vacas River was churning along in a series of rapids next to the trail and we gained altitude slowly on easy terrain. The terrain is stark and bare, with towering cliffs and scree slopes limiting the views. At first we had a few trees along the path, but before long, we were down to small shrubs, grass and the odd flower patch. Most wore shorts and T-shirts for the first few hours, but as afternoon came on the sky filled with clouds and we endured brief showers from time to time. We did pass over a couple of old and dirty snowbanks that had obviously become the final remnants of great avalanche debris piles that were deposited during the last Austral Winter. Peter -a veteran of 7 previous Aconcagua expeditions- views such evidence of a heavy winter positively, pointing out that our climb to the summit will be easier if there is more snow and less dirt and rock up high. Our camp tonight at Las Lenas is situated at 9400 ft. The gang put down a big pot of Chad's famous spiral pasta with red sauce and chicken chucked in for dinner. The clouds are now clearing, the sun is down and the light is fading. We can see new snow left by the afternoon showers on the high rock slopes above us. We'll call it a day for now... the first of potentially 18 on the mountain.

Thursday, June 19, 2025 9:36pm PDT

We were up and at ’em at 3 a.m., trying to beat the heat. This had us moving up the glacier from our 8,000 ft camp by 5 a.m. First up was Ski Hill—a steeper and longer incline than anything we’ve tackled so far. It was tough, but conditions were excellent after a solid overnight freeze.

It took about four hours to reach our goal: the head of the Kahiltna Glacier at 10,000 feet. There, we dug a deep, raven-proof hole in the snow and cached food and fuel.

The descent was pleasant, with lighter loads and easy walking. The team rolled back into camp at 11:30 a.m. and sheltered in the tents to escape the afternoon sun.

Tomorrow, we’ll move past the cache and camp at 11,000 feet.

RMI Guide Sam Hoffman & Team

Hola! The team convened this evening at the lovely Hotel Geneve in the Zona Rosa region of Mexico City. To everyone's relief the earthquake damage proved to be minimal in this area of the city, and hopefully that continues to be the trend for the entirety of the trip. The team met each other for the first time in the lobby of the hotel, whilst seated in high backed lounge chairs, surrounded by paintings and towering bookshelves which made for a rather regal setting to begin our Mexican adventure. After meeting the team and going over a brief synopsis of the days to come, we took a short walk through the Zona Rosa to a lively establishment that served authentic Mexican food, tasty margaritas, as well as a full mariachi band. Although we were not able to sing along to the tunes with the rest of the patrons, I am sure we enjoyed the food just as much as the locals sharing the restaurant with us. Tomorrow we depart Mexico City and head for the former training site of the Mexican Olympic team, La Malinche, and begin our acclimatization with a trip up the extinct volcanoe. Buenas noches, RMI Guides Christina Dale, JT Schmitt and the rest of the RMI Mexican Volcanoes team!

June 4, 2015 3:04pm PST Sitting in a storm at 11 Living in a snow heaven Building walls and eating snacks Preparing for the next snowy attack Spirits are highway we wait for blue sky Tentalanches occur in the night But tucked away in our tent, we have no fright. We gather in the posh for cards and meals. As we listen to the wind squeal. Hopefully tomorrow will bring less snow, But we will keep you posted as to how it all goes. RMI Guide Tyler Jones & Team

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the entire Four Day Summit Climb team stood on the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning! Casey reported chilly temperatures but light wind and lots of sunshine on the summit. The team is beginning their descent back to Camp Muir where they will refuel and pack up before continuing on to Paradise. We look forward to greeting the team in Ashford this afternoon. Congratulations to today's climbers!

We wanted to let you know that our team reached the summit of Ixtaccihuatl today! Six of our climbers reached the summit. We had good weather today, although it was a little windy up high. We have arrived in Puebla and it's been a long day. We are looking forward to a good night's sleep and a day of rest and exploration of this great town. RMI Guides Solveig Waterfall & Chase Nelson

On The Map

Good afternoon from Alpamayo Base Camp. We are checking in from our rest day. We had an uneventful day today, just took our time to eat and drink, and rehydrate. And we witnessed a little bit of rain and light snow with hail today -- the first one of the trip. But the weather hasn't been very bad. It's just been normal Andean weather. We don't have much to share today. We're just excited to head up tomorrow to Camp 1, and other than the sighting of the birth of baby sheep that happened right here at base camp, nothing major today. So again we are just so excited to get packed tomorrow morning and head up to Camp 1, from where we will be checking in tomorrow. And so we are letting you know that the next day we are going up to Camp 1. That's it for now. We'll check again later. Bye. RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer checked in from Camp Muir at 6:45 am. The Four Day Summit Climb team was forced to turn around at Ingraham Flats due to deteriorating weather. They experienced gusty winds, drifting snow and heavy precipitation. Camp Muir had a small accumulation of snow throughout the morning. The Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz led by Elias de Andres Martos checked in from their high camp. The team was expecting to make their summit attempt today but we unable to do so due to the poor weather. The team experienced a very stormy night with consistent winds. The Four Day Summit climb will return to Rainier BaseCamp later today. The Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz will continue their training and spend another night on the mountain. They will return tomorrow afternoon.

Our Expedition Skills Seminar on the Paradise Glacier led by RMI guide Jackson Breen spent the week focusing on and developing foundational mountaineering skills while ascending the less traveled Paradise Glacier route to our high camp: Camp Muir. Establishing tented camps, they ascend the Paradise Glacier using the mountain's terrain to learn mountaineering skills such as snow & ice anchors, crevasse rescue, ice climbing, fixed line travel, belaying, and other technical skills. The team completed their week by reaching the summit of Mt. Rainier via the Disappointment Cleaver route.

Congratulations Team!