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Sunday July 12th 7:41 pm PT The team woke at midnight to cloud and light snow at 11,000 ft. We got up and rallied anyway, packing and eating a hot breakfast. We set off into the murk at around 2:30 AM and snowshoed for several hours by Braille in the whiteout. Finally we got a little visibility down at 8000 ft, the base of Ski Hill. The glacier surface didn't freeze up last night and so we had some nervous moments crossing soft and saggy crevasse bridges. One of our team went neck-deep in a complicated hole just below Mt. Francis - one of the very last crevasses we had to deal with, actually. We plucked him from the ice, but not without a fair bit of grunting and cursing and straining at the ropes. Then it was a simple but strenuous uphill climb to the old site of basecamp (there is nothing there now -which is normal in late season). Quite literally, we'd just put our packs down, at around 11:40 AM, when two beautiful K2 Aviation ski otters landed and took us to Talkeetna. The afternoon was a busy one, drying and sorting everything around the K2 hangar and connecting to the world again. We'll have a victory dinner tonight at the West Rib, perhaps with a toast or two thrown in. And then we look forward to a comfortable night's sleep at the Talkeetna Motel. Tomorrow we'll leave each other and be out on our own for the first time in three weeks. Thanks very much for keeping track of our climb. Until Next Time, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

After waking up to a nice breakfast of huevos Mexicanos at the Altzomoni Hut, we loaded up our packs and departed for our Ixta high camp! We hiked under mostly cloudy skies and chilly weather but were greeted by some sun breaks in the afternoon. Great views all day of Ixta's actively erupting neighbor Popo, as well as the cities surrounding the mountain. We made it to the Refugio with plenty of time for some last minute prep and an early evening. The team is looking good and acclimatized for a summit bid tomorrow, it should be an exciting day! RMI Guide Chase Nelson

On The Map

The team woke this morning after a wonderful nights sleep despite not being serenaded by the sounds of war drums and a seemingly lost pan flute player. If that wasn't enough we then treated the team to breakfast burrito's and real drip coffee! Everyone is doing great after yesterday's efforts and today we focus on resting for our move to Camp I (16,200ft) tomorrow. Moving up is always such a good feeling. After 4 nights at Basecamp everyone is excited for a change of scenery and for most, getting to Camp I feels like we're finally starting the climb as we leave the creature comforts of Basecamp behind. Tonight we'll enjoy our last meal with silverware and plates until our descent. The gang sends there.... Well why don't we just let them tell you! Loving the music here at base camp: Oasis, Bon Jovi, and Ace of Base! -Candace We are both feeling good and relaxing with quesadillas at base camp on a rest day today. Love to all. - Jeff and Mere I am taking a break from technology -Sam I told people at work I didn't have access to email -Rebecca RMI Guide Steve Gately

Yesterday the weather deteriorated during the afternoon, wind picked up to 30 mph and clouds bringing snow arrived. It was the first time that we were forced to have dinner inside the tents. The weather this morning improved a lot at Camp 1, but we could see how hard the wind was blowing by the spin drift. The weather forecast that we got last night for the next few days estimates that the strong winds at 18,000' would continue until this evening and then they will drop significantly. So we decided to spend an extra day at Camp 1 today and to avoid moving camp in these windy conditions. Now, the afternoon conditions at Camp 1 are very nice, so hopefully we are enjoying the beginning of the good weather window that the forecast is calling. Tomorrow we will move to Camp 2 and then rest a day there.

Today was our first day of safari and we headed west to visit the beautiful Lake Manyara. The lake is a brief stopping ground for many migratory animals and home to more than 300 different birds. Everyone enjoyed the day cruising around in our safari vehicles with cold beverages in hand while seeing the animals up close. We manage to see a few wildebeest, zebras, Cape buffalo, lots of baboons, a few impalas and many hippos, and one elephant pretty close and even managed to see a few lions relaxing in the trees. It was a pretty nice introduction to the incredible diversity of wildlife that Africa has and the team is looking forward to seeing more tomorrow. We wrapped up the evening with a wonderful meal at our new lodge [url=http://www.plantation-lodge.com]http://www.plantation-lodge.com[/url] see for yourself! RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Safari crew

Ecuador Volcanoes, day three. This journey is only three days old but the number of firsts for me has surpassed the last three years. What I mean by firsts is simply having an experience down here I have not had in the 15 years I’ve been guiding these mountains. For example, I’ve never ventured off the equator tour to go find local home brewed corn beer. I’ve never been told by one of my climbers that they decided to venture out onto the fire escape, only to lock themselves out, with their roommate, and wind up on roof of the lobby looking down directly at the front desk waving to get let back in. I also have never broken two hours ascent time to the summit of Rucu Pinchincha, which we did yesterday without even trying. Yes, that’s fast....... To continue this trend, we blitzed our second acclimating hike today on a mountain called Fuya Fuya, reached the summit in record time, decided we should keep going and found ourselves on the second summit a kilometer away that I have never even considered going to. The views of Quito were amazing and the team was psyched to have two summits reached instead of one. Right when I thought the day should find its way back to normal, I was again surprised. When we descended and reached the parking lot a few of the guys asked if the lake we were parked next to was good for swimming. After a few typical guy jokes about fish that swim where fish don’t belong and shrunken heads, not attached to our necks, three crazy men stripped off their cloths, high fived and jumped into the lake. Of course at that point jokes about great white somethings happened but jokes aside, swimming in that lake has never happened! Kudos to my “brave” teammates who took the plunge. After those shenanigans, we all piled back into the bus to head into Otovalo to praise our adventurous spirits and eat some pizza. At this point I was just waiting for an earthquake or meteorite to hit the bus, just to keep the streak alive. It didn’t happen.....Gracias! Now we are resting nicely at our beautiful hacienda soaking up the warm sun and humid air. When the weather isn’t raining, it can be almost perfect. In a couple hours we will have another nice team dinner then prepare to head to Cayambe. Our fist “big” objective of the trip. Stay turned for tomorrow’s dispatch on high intensity market negotiating, crazy 4x4 truck rides and a new sleeping altitude for most. With this team I have no idea what might happen. RMI Guide Adam Knoff & Team

Mambo poa... We are full on safari pros now. We left the Plantation Lodge at a relaxed pace this morning and after a couple of quick shopping missions we made it into Tarangire National Park. This is the 'Garden of the Elephants' and true to its name we have already seen about 50 of them before lunch. We are going to make our way through the rest of the park this afternoon on our way to Kikoti Camp. I'll check in again tomorrow. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

We moved to the 14,000' camp yesterday. The weather was clear and sunny above us and clouds below. A light wind kept things comfortable. We plan to make a back carry today to Windy Corner to pickup our cache. Everyone is doing well and in high spirits.

We had a windy but great rest day here at basecamp. Drinking mate', telling stories, and pigging out. We enjoyed another delicious scramble for breakfast and then devoured a fat steak dinner. Tomorrow's move to Camp 1 should be a big day but we are certainly ready!

Good evening readers,

What is a great way to wake up you ask? Waking up to fresh mountain air and then you walk down a colorful spiral staircase to hot coffee that you sip on a porch looking out on the lush green hills towering all around you as birds tweet in the trees. They say mountain climbing is type 2 fun (fun once your done) but so far we are experiencing type 1 fun (fun as you do it). After our casual morning we loaded the bus to the Otavalo Market. Here is where you buy all the souvenirs for your loved ones back home, plus some for yourself. The big ticket items are blankets, art work, and chocolate. After all that bartering we had worked up an appetite and made our way to a lovely sandwich shop before ending at our final destination, a beautiful hostel at the base of Cayambe. We spent our afternoon learning knots, hitches, and Earnest anchors. These are our building blocks for further skills/training later. Tomorrow we head up to the Climbers Hut where we will continue our training and prepare for our early start Monday to, fingers crossed, the summit of Cayambe. Monday is not our only early start because the alarm clock goes off at 4am tomorrow. So it's early to bed for us as we rest up for many big days to come. 

Buenos noches,

RMI Guides Avery, Hannah, and Team