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We made it today, despite the cold, wind, and snow! RMI Guide Casey Grom & Team

Good afternoon. This is the Alpamayo climbing team. It's 2 PM local time, calling from Camp 1. We decided to stay here. Different factors made the decision happen... some of them, a little bit of a dust of snow last night and a lot of teams coming down from High Camp made us decide to wait another day here and enjoy the benefits of acclimatization at this elevation. The plan is to move up tomorrow and, hopefully, climb the next day. Everything's looking good -- weather, team spirits, and everything. So, we'll keep you posted in a couple days, hopefully from the summit. Regardless tomorrow we'll check in from High Camp. I hope everybody back home is doing well. Take care. RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos

Once again the weather has been nothing less than spectacular for us up here on Denali. After a breakfast of smoked salmon, cream cheese, and bagels to start the day, we headed back downhill to retrieve our cache of gear at 9,500'. We arrived back at the 11k camp a few minutes after 2pm, with plenty of time to rest in the afternoon. As well as resting, eating, and drinking, we had a couple of chores to accomplish, namely building snow walls to fortify our camp and sorting our gear to cache up higher, which we anticipate doing tomorrow. The weather forecast looks good for tomorrow, so if it verifies we'll take advantage and get a cache in up high, likely at Windy Corner, around 13,500'. All of us on the first RMI Denali expedition would like to wish a very happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers in our lives. Thanks for keeping track of our progress. We'll keep you posted with updates as we continue this awesome adventure. RMI Guide Mike Walter

On The Map

What up Doc! Today we enjoyed our first rest day. We started with a leisure breakfast followed by a visit with the Basecamp doctor. In order to continue up the mountain everyone has to get the ok from Dr. Richard. Richard checked our lung sounds, blood pressure and O2 saturation. The whole team passed with flying colors! With the ok from the doc and the team all feeling good, we sorted our gear for our carry tomorrow. We will move a bunch of gear that we don't need at Basecamp to Camp 1. Not only does this help us get all of our gear up the mountain but this will also help with acclimatization with Camp 1 sitting at over 16,000 feet. It will feel good to continue getting higher and higher up this mountain.

Hasta manana,
RMI Guide Hannah Smith and team

On The Map

Good morning, afternoon or evening! The team went on an acclimatization hike today. We hiked up the drainage then gained a ridge to get a better view of the surrounding peaks. Saipal peak is more and more impressive the closer you get. There is a peak to the right of Saipal that we are considering pursuing. It too looks beautiful. The team will discuss this evening and tomorrow on what we should do. Everyone's duffles should arrive tomorrow, which the team is psyched for. Basecamp is cozy with dining tents, bathroom tent, and even a shower tent. We are living a pretty good life up here. Talk to you all tomorrow, RMI Guide Hannah Smith

Sunday, June 24, 2018 - 8:59 PM PT Oh what a day! We awoke to cool, clear skies and quickly readied ourselves to go retrieve our cache at 13,500. As we walked and the sun began to rise higher in the sky our numb digits started to gain some life and the beautiful views put a little pep in our step. When we returned from the cache we lounged in the sun, listening to Rusty’s eclectic musical mix and filling our bellies with a delightful bagel breakfast. Later we practiced running belays and traveling on fixed lines in preparation for tomorrow’s cache at 17,000'. Our Super Crew cruised on through it and will do great with tomorrow’s climb. We are now packing bags and picking out the perfect food to stash at 17,000' Camp. We plan to rise early for our climb and be back tomorrow afternoon for some proper rest time. All is well here at scenic 14,000' Camp! RMI Guide Mike Haugen & Super Crew

On The Map

This morning we woke with the sun and glanced out the window of our hotel room expecting a continuation of yesterday's deluge. We were pleasantly surprised to find the streets of Quito damp but no active precipitation. Optimistic for the day's objective, Cerro Fuya Fuya (13,998), the team rallied in the lobby of Hotel Mercure at 7:30 ready to load the bus. Some severe rush-hour traffic delayed the bus about an hour and a half so the team took the unexpected opportunity to indulge in one to seven of Hotel Mercure's incredible chocolate filled croissants. By 9:00 the bus was loaded and we embarked on the three hour drive to Fuya Fuya. We arrived safe and sound at the azure blue Lake Mojanda, the trailhead for Fuya Fuya. We were pleasantly surprised to find the summit out of the clouds. Eager to take stretch their legs and take advantage of the weather window the team set out at a good clip. About 20 minutes in we stopped to rest before initiating the patented Knoff acclimatization strategy, about 5 to 10 minutes of all-out effort up a steep section to raise the heart rate and let the body know it's time to make some red blood cells. The team kick-started their engines with some pressure breaths then launched following the superhuman pace of our local guide, Peter. Panting and hearts pounding the team crested the hill and we gave them the exciting news that they wouldn't have to do that again for the rest of the trip. We cruised the rest of the way through the alpine meadows and up a short pick scramble to the summit at a casual pace. The team arrived in style and were rewarded with gorgeous views of the crater lake and surrounding ridge-line. The descent to the bus was quite direct and steep through the muddy meadows and the team quickly learned that the summit is really only the halfway point. The team managed the slippery terrain in style only sustaining a few muddy backsides which the bus driver made sure we acknowledged and toweled off before embarking. We are currently enjoying the day's true summit of beers and good conversation as we settle in to the beautiful Casa La Sol for the evening. Tomorrow will take us up the rugged mountain roads to the base of the equatorial behemoth, Cayambe and the start of our first big objective of the trip. RMI Guide Jordan Cargill Signing off for the night.

Yesterday we had a wonderful albeit long day climbing to the summit of Kilimanjaro. The team woke at the enjoyable hour of 11:30 to thankfully clear skies after a very cloudy evening that had us wondering what lay ahead. We had a quick midnight breakfast of porridge, tea and coffee before hitting the trail at 12:30. We climbed in hour increments with 10-15 breaks in between, which we've been doing every day thus far. The weather was very calm allowing us to take our time and not feel too cold which we were very thankful for. The climb took about 7 1/2 hours to reach the top, and thankfully the sun had risen shortly before reaching the top to help warm us and boost morale after climbing through the night. Once there, we hugged each other, enjoyed the view and took plenty of pictures while we waited in line to get our photos of the sign that adorns the summit. It was a true test of endurance for most of the crew, and I'm really proud of everyone. We descended back to high camp, had a quick lunch, repacked and continued further down the mountain to our final camp on the mountain, where we had dinner and then headed to bed for some well deserved sleep. Today we woke at 7:00 feeling good, had breakfast, then enjoyed a goodbye song and dance from our gracious crew of porters, cooks, and local guides numbering 50. We finished the little celebration by handing out their well deserved tips and then hit the trail one last time. It took a little over three hours to reach the park gate where the team had lunch then hopped aboard our awaiting bus for the ride back to the lodge. Finally we are all safe and sound, and a little cleaner after an amazing seven-day journey up and down Kilimanjaro. The team is currently relaxing and looking forward to Safari which starts tomorrow! RMI Guide Casey Grom and a happy Kilimanjaro crew

May 21, 2017 We had another pretty perfect day for climbing in Alaska, and we made full use of it to get up to 14,000' and dig in a new camp. It was pleasantly warm and light clouds kept it from totally frying us. After maneuvering around some initial traffic on Squirrel Hill, we were able to hit cruise control and roll past our cache from two days ago. Once at 14,000' Camp came the arduous task of digging new tent platforms and a kitchen. Our task tomorrow is to retrieve our cache and build some really, really big walls. It sounds like we've got a stronger weather system headed our way this week, so we'll prep to wait it out. RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Jenny Konway, Jess Matthews and team

On The Map

"I don't think that people are so much looking for the meaning of life as they are looking for the experience of being alive"--Joseph Campbell Climbing mountains is ultimately an absurd act, to stand on top of a pile of rocks and call it a success, laughable. In yet, it is something anyone who has ever shared the feeling knows the feeling: powerful, liberated, inspired. Wind-whipped, bodily spent, surrounded by ravaging beauty--beyond providing meaning for living, it provides the feeling of being fully alive. That feeling is only magnified when combined with the pure spirit of speed and fluidity found on a ski descent. Early May is an excellent time for a climb and ski on Mt. Baker and I'm just back from two trips up in the northern reaches of the Cascades. Thick snows blanket the land—especially after this winter—providing a smooth carpet for cruising up to the high flanks of the mountains. That's not to say the approach is easy—for starters, as is usual, the road was blocked by snow several miles short of the actual Heliotrope Trailhead. Secondly, navigating through the dense Pacific Northwest forests requires lots of muscles that no amount of resort skiing or even gym training can fully develop. Plus, there's the prospect of needing to carry those skis on the pack. Forty pound packs quickly become fifty-five on the back. While our first trip allowed us to get to camp on skis, spring comes quickly in the Cascades and by the second trip we were shouldering the skis until treeline. Whether approached by ski or with those skis on your back, the arrival above treeline on Baker comes abruptly and spectacularly. Unlike many an alpine ascent, where the trees gradually shrink in size to Charlie Brown Christmas trees, on Baker's Heliotrope Trail approach it goes from massive towers to wide open alpine in the time it takes to apply sunscreen. Clouds came and went throughout our trips, but when they cleared, the stunning serac falls at the terminus of the Coleman Glacier, the stately girth of Mt. Baker's volcanic cone, and the sheer ice face of Colfax Peak made it clear why we'd worked so hard to get there. On both trips we were fortunate to have time and energy to enjoy some beautiful turns above camp on Hogsback Ridge. Skinning up, we looked at ways to improve our kick turns, balance, and tracking techniques and to practice roped travel while skiing. Viewing camp from a thousand feet above, we ripped skins, carved turns in sweet-edging snow and cruised back to camp to prep for the summit push. The morning hour always come early, but it's a little easier with the benefit of the full moon we experienced. Rising up to boil water for coffee, our shadows mixed among the long shadows cast by the small trees around camp. Shaking out the soreness of the approach, we slurped down some oatmeal and caffeine before clicking in and gliding up. On our first climb we utilized ski crampons to leave camp with skis on, digging the teeth of the crampons in with each step to allow us a smooth ascent. On the second climb we relied instead on boot crampons to power us up past the steeper parts of Hogsback Ridge to where things leveled off enough to skin without crampons. While both can work, ski crampons definitely allow more time to enjoy the fluid uphill motion that skinning provides, and ski crampons are definitely advisable for a Mt. Baker Climb-Ski. A mix of shaky weather, altitude, and the challenge of converting climbing fitness to skinning finesse stopped us short of the summit on the first trip, but the beauty of ski mountaineering is that even without a summit, every step upward is a success, as it increases the joy of going down. High up on the Pumice Ridge, views of the Puget Sound and British Columbia's Coastal Range slipped in and out of the clouds as we ripped skins and prepared for the descent. With the light sometimes flat and spring crevasses beginning to show, we pitched things out more conservatively on the descent, allowing time to enjoy all the hard-earned 4000' of vertical. And with each turn of descent the skiing became increasingly edgeable and enjoyable, a fresh layer atop the thick winter's snowpack. Rolling back into camp with smiles, fist bumps, and a feeling of refreshment is one of the uniquely attractive aspects ski mountaineering presents to the world of alpine climbing. The second Mt. Baker Climb-Ski was a custom trip, so it allowed us time to both climb Baker in the optimal (if shaky) weather window and then sneak in some time afterward to focus on the pure joy of climbing to ski. Bagley Lakes, just outside of the Baker Ski Area, provided the perfect venue, as you can drive past 4000', straight into a ten-foot snowpack, and on out into enchanting alpine lakes guarded by precipitous cliff walls. South facing slopes were graced with an accumulation of wind-blown powder and perfect runs. Climbing mountains is a process. Summits provide a goal. Skiing down them provides a purpose. Everything that we seek up high is only of value if we can convert it into a currency that enriches our lives in the valley. The 2017 Mt. Baker Climb-Ski trips brought process and purpose together and brought us all back home to the valley floor refreshed and ready to move forward fully alive. Upward, downward, forward. Alive! --RMI Guide Kel Rossiter