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The Five Day Summit Climb June 15 - 19, 2018 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Chris Ebeling. Chris reported good clear weather with no winds. The team will spend return to Camp Muir and then continue their descent to Paradise. Congratulations to today's climbers!

Today the team did a fantastic job climbing the intimidating looking Barranco Wall. It is the technical hurdle of this expedition and everyone did great. Everybody enjoyed the challenge; of course, the porters made it look easy as they climbed the wall with their loads carefully balanced on their heads. Once above the wall we took a well-deserved break to enjoy the valleys below and the peak above. Yet another day of great hiking conditions. We are now at about 13,000ft at the Karanga Camp. High camp tomorrow and the team is looking good. RMI Guide Mark Tucker

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Hello Everyone All is well here in the Khumbu. It's incredibly beautiful, peaceful, and the mountains are grandiose. We've been very comfortable hiking each day in the sunny weather, then bundling up in our warm sleeping bags each night as the temperature drops. Our normal schedule goes generally like this, We wake up around 7am start getting packed up, then the team meets for breakfast at 8am, with eggs, toast, potatoes, and plenty of fresh coffee we bought along. We hit the trail as close to 9am as we can, then hike anywhere between 3 and 7 hrs to our next stop. We break at least once an hour to hydrate and eat snacks, and on the longer days we stop at one of the many tea houses and have lunch. Once we've arrived at our new village for the night we check in to our rooms and take a small nap/break. We then often meet around 5pm for a little tea, popcorn, and card playing. Dinner is often at 6:30-7 and the menu is pretty much the same at every tea house with plenty of soups, simple pasta, potatoes, and typical Nepalese Dal Bat. After dinner we relax and have a brief review of the day ahead and then it's off to bed. The group moved up to Gorak Shep today under the towering peaks of Nuptse, Pumori, and Everest. Today started cold and clear with stunning views all around. We were all reluctant to leave the warmth of our cozy down sleeping bags but the smell of French press coffee enticed us out. For breakfast was a mix of cinnamon rolls, eggs, Tibetan bread, and rossti (potato pancakes). After our duffels are loaded on the Zoopkios we head off at a slow pace (given the 16,000 foot elevation). Along the trail every language can be overhead and porters are seen carrying 100 pounds across their foreheads. We stop for pictures and to share sweet snacks about ever hour and continue towards the Khumbu Glacier. Tomorrow we'll be in Everest Base Camp with hopes of peering into the popcorn field of the notorious ice fall. That's all for now RMI Guides Casey Grom & Christina Dale

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Hello again everyone! It was a beautiful day here in Russia. We had a nice relaxing start to the day with a traditional Russian breakfast of porridge, eggs and bread. Afterwards we made our way to the local ski lifts to help give us a jump start on our hike. I didn't hear a single complaint about riding up 1,500' on a chair lift before we started our two-hour hike to the top of Peak Cheget. Yes, it is also the name of the town in which we are staying. The hike went well with mostly clear skies and we even caught a few glimpses of Elbrus between the clouds. After our hike we made it back to town relatively quickly thanks to the ski lifts, where we had a hot lunch waiting for us. After lunch, we dropped off our gear and made a quick stop to pick up a few extra items and even managed to try on a few local hats. We wrapped up the evening with another nice, home cooked meal here provided by our ever so gracious local outfitter. Things are good here. RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

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Hi, this is RMI Guide Zeb Blais and team checking in from Boston Basin, our camp for Sahale Mountain. Earlier this morning we summitted Sahale under perfectly blue skies and low winds. Our team was strong all the way up and all the way down. We are enjoying the sunshine up here in the North Cascades.

The Mount Rainier Four and Five Day Summit Climbs, led by Kel Rossiter and Ben Liken, reached about 12,300 feet before thunder and lightning forced the team to turn. The team is safely back at Camp Muir and began their descent to Paradise at 9:00 a.m. The skies are currently hazy with a fair amount of smoke in the skies from various wildfires in eastern part of Washington. Geoff Schellens and the Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz turned from their summit attempt yesterday at 13,300 feet. They will finish their day of training and be back at RMI Basecamp later this afternoon. The RMI Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons, led by Eric Frank, checked in from camp this morning. Their team is doing well, training today, and preparing for their summit bid in the morning.

Hello friends and family, Apologies for the absent dispatches these last few days; Apparently clouds and Sat phones do not get along. We had a few eventful days on the Kahiltna so here is a quick wrap up. Our attempt on Kahiltna Dome was thwarted by Avalanche conditions so we made a full retreat from camp II back to Base Camp under a blanket of clouds. The team set up a quick camp by the airstrip and started celebrating the trip with a few beers we stashed in a hole and some margarita's from a friendly neighbor. With some time to kill, a few folks wanted to know what the inside of a crevasse looked like so we set some anchors and lowered a few into the deep blue black holes that reach down under our feet. Doug perched himself at the lip for a photo session of folks climbing out of the abyss. Everyone flew off yesterday just before the weather shut base camp down and we enjoyed a fine dinner in Talkeetna and some drinks at the Fairview. A great trip with some of the finest people I've shared a rope with. Thank you all for tuning in and look forward to the pictures and stories headed your way! RMI Guide Leon Davis & Team

Day 7 on Denali. The weather today was not very good so we decided to take another rest day. Taking another day here doesn’t really cost us much as we are still acclimatizing and recovering from our toils on the lower part of the mountain. We spent the day in camp sorting gear for our carry to 14,000, eating and telling jokes.

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Friday, June 6, 2025 - 10:16 pm PT

Day 7

Today was a great day, balanced with a hike and refreshers on crampon use at our 11,000-foot home. The day started cold, but we were warmed with a southern classic of biscuits and gravy. In the morning, we also had a final chance to admire Will's elegant snow columns, leading the way to the latrine. Sadly, the mountain claimed them while we were out. 

After breakfast, we took a quick trip down and back up 1,000 feet in elevation to retrieve our cache. After the final uphill in snowshoes, we happily buried them in the ground, putting them to use as tent anchors. Above this point, we're in crampons, so Lacie gave us a quick course on their use.

After class, some much needed sun gave us a chance to relax, as well as literally refill our batteries. At dinner, we found that Will had transformed his toilet columns into an enormous kitchen wall to block the weather.

We went to sleep hopeful about the upper mountain, with plans to cache at 14k before some rough weather this Sunday.

-- Charles "Carl" Stephens

Dustin, Lacie & Will's team

After a fun filled day touring around Quito yesterday, today was our first acclimatization hike. Our target Rucu Pichincha, a 15,696' extinct volcano. With sun breaks and patchy clouds the hike was a success, getting back to the hotel by 3 in the afternoon. There was plenty of time for more exploring and shopping around Quito before the team had a good dinner at a local brewery. RMI Guide Chad Gaffigan

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