Most Popular Entries

The Five Day Emmons Climb led by RMI Guide Mike King reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning via the Emmons Glacier Route. It's a beatiful day with little wind and clear skies. After spending some time on the summit the team started their descent around 6:30 am PT, they will return to high camp for their final night on the mountain. Congratulations!

June 5, 2016 - 9:46 p.m. PDT A clear night allowed the radiant heat from yesterday to escape, meaning quite the cool and crisp morning was upon us. When temperatures drop well below zero as they did this morning, it is another level of cold. There is a threshold where the mouths of our insulated Nalgene bottles freeze over, and our 12-liter aluminum water pots in the kitchen become lined with a thick layer of ice all around. The clear morning lured some climbers and neighbors to break camp and begin a push up to high camp. Within a few hours though, the forecast proved accurate as Denali began to cap over and a storm develop. Light to moderate winds here at 14 camp, but still cold and no real warming yet with increasing snowfall intensity. The "nowcast" and short lived morning sun surely tricked those climbers as they were turned around just a thousand feet up by extreme cold and back in camp by noon. Only becoming stronger with continued acclimatization, and tall snow-brick walls fortifying the windward sides of our homestead, we are content with staying put. Our camp now sits in a wind eddy as gusts strong enough to bend trees push into our walls and curl over as we lay in the tents and nap. Nice to have spent a few days dialing in our camp! The team is ready and excited to make a move once the mountain allows, but only with a high safety margin and good style. For now though we'll keep kickin' it at camp: remodeling, relaxing, pancake eating, and cold hard chilling until the weather changes. Also worth noting was last nights impromptu trip to "The Edge of the World". A short walk across Genet Basin brought us to an amazing vista overlooking the Kahiltna Glacier, Mount Hunter and Foraker, and a large portion of the route we traveled in the past week. Evening light and periodic clearing made for a special view. Snow crystals flickered and glittered through the gaps of misty clouds floating 5,000' above the ominous cracks and towering walls of the NE fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. Learning how to stay busy during our first real "storm day" isn't so bad! RMI Guide Tyler Jones

On The Map

Well, what a day. We went to bed last night to cold temps and high winds and by the time we woke this morning at 2 am the winds had calmed and the temps were on the rise. The climbing was tough right out of camp today, mixed snow and rock conditions up the Knees Route made for some challenging conditions. However, once we crested the "Knees" the roller coaster ridge line of Ixta made for some great climbing. Conditons for the rest of the climb were ideal and we enjoyed a great summit and descent. We really snuck the climb in today because on the way down from High Camp conditions began to deteriorate. We are all currently on a bus to Puebla, where we will be resting and sightseeing tomorrow before gearing up for our climb of Pico de Orizaba. Cheers, RMI Guide Billy Haas

On The Map

Jambo from the Dik Dik Hotel. The team for this Kilimanjaro trek is all here, packed and ready to go. We've got folks from all over the US and even a couple of Canadians. Everyone seems to have made the long trip from North America without any problem. Although we did have a couple of missing bags, those did arrive so no real worries there. The food and tents are packed, the crew is ready and the weather forecast is looking good. It is pretty much all systems go. I'll check in again from the mountain. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

Sunday, May 25, 2025 - 10:16 pm PT

We continue to hang at 14,000' Camp, acclimatizing, resting, going on small walks to stretch our achy legs, and working on the skills that we will need to ascend the higher reaches of the mountain. After a leisurely morning, our guides had us practice using our ascenders, clipping in and out of anchors, clipping in and out of anchors, and descending the fixed lines using the trusty arm wrap. We repeated until Seth was confident that we could perform these drills with cold hands.

As the pace of life has slowed during this phase of the expedition and we have many (many) hours in the tent with our own thoughts, I’ve curated my top 5 life hacks from the top of North America:

      1. Say goodbye to dish detergent and sponge - fresh powdery snow makes a great all-natural scrub for cleaning your single bowl, mug, and spork. Just step outside, grab a handful of nature’s Dawn, and get to work! Please be sure you select a patch of snow that is indeed white.

       2. Alternatively, forget the dish washing routine altogether and embrace the complex layerings of flavor that can only be experienced when you brew tea in the same mug as last night’s corn soup, or slurp Cinnamon Toast Crunch with undertones of Madras Lentils.

      3. Worried that your sticky-fingers roommate will take your last slice of leftover pizza, or a sneaky coworker will swipe your oat milk creamer AGAIN? Here’s what you gotta do: wrap your precious perishables in a trash bag and bury it deep in the snow! Your goodies will stay cold and fresh, and hidden from greedy scavengers. Just budget a good 20 minutes to dig it up when you need it.

      4. Too lazy to take dry clean only items in for a proper cleaning? Just set dingy laundry like sleeping bags and boot liners out in the sun to sanitize. At least, we think it’s working - our noses have become desensitized to our collective eau de parfum naturel.

        5. Lastly, to all my nocturnal urinators: A pee bottle is the greatest luxury you can add to your life. Not only does the pee bottle save you a trip outside the tent in the middle of a cold night, but you can then tuck it in your sleeping bag as a sort of cozy hot water bottle. Just make sure it has a spill-proof lid. 

In all seriousness, we love and miss you all back home! Sending so much love to ma and pa in Vancouver, David in NYC, Grammie and Granddad and family in Nova Scotia, all the fam in Toronto and Boston, and our supportive friends in Seattle!

A special shout out to our youngest reader, Gene, burgeoning outdoorsperson and super rad human! Say hi to your mom for me!

Love,

RMI Climber Grace

Hey, you blog followers and RMI Family, this is Christina, Grayson and Alan with our amazing team on the summit of Ixtaccihuatl. We are all happy, warmer right now that the sun is coming up. All is well here in Mexico. RMI Guide Christina Dale

On The Map

Greetings all! Your Peru Expedition Skills Team has arrived in the beautiful mountain city of Huaraz, Peru! What a nice introduction to Peru we’ve had thus far; breakfast in the bustling city of Lima, a drive along the Pacific Coast, and altitude gain up and over the mountain pass (13,500’) into the Rio Santo Valley. The views of the Cordillera Blanca (White Mountains) and the Cordillera Huayhuash were ‘out of this world’. We made a stop to admire the first of many ice capped peaks, Pastoruri (see photo). After a fantastic dinner here at Hotel Andino, our team is doing our best to rest and recover from long days of travel. Alpaca steaks, Inka Kolas, and apple fritters were popular choices for many of us as we dove in head first to some exotic Peruvian fare. Tomorrow, acclimatization hiking above Huaraz and body nourishment are the name of the game as we prep for our climbs later this week. Until then, thanks for following! RMI Guides Robby Young, Alan Davis, and your Peru 2018 Team

This is Christina calling in from Patagonia. We had a long day on the trail today 11 hours of walking from Los Perros Camp to Lago Grey we went up and over John Gardner Pass. Everyone did really well going up this steep, long hill and we rewarded ourselves with beautiful views looking down on to the Gray Glacier. It look like white caps on the water all frozen in stillness, a huge glacier draining the Southern Patagonia ice cap all the way to the Grey Lake. As far as the eye can see was glacier. We walked down the other side of the pass and along the trail in and out of forest, across streams that you can drink out of without worrying about any bacteria here, the water is that clean. They say that drinking lots of glacier water here makes your skin look younger so we have all been staying hydrated. We got into camp feeling tired and very proud of our long day. The team is doing great. RMI Guide Christina Dale

Here we are at the Altzimoni hut, checking in after another good day in Mexico. We rose this morning and hit the road from La Malintzi to the town of Amecameca where we picked up some last minute fresh food items for our climb on Ixta. The bus then took us up to the Paso de Cortez, and continued up to the hut here at 13,000 feet. Upon arriving we grabbed our day packs and went up tomorrow’s trail, towards Ixta high camp, for another acclimatization hike. It’s been a bit cloudy here at the moment but otherwise it’s as beautiful as ever up here in the mountains. The whole team seems to be handling the altitude thus far exceedingly well and I think we’re looking really strong for our trip up to high camp tomorrow. We fueled up with a nice dinner of carne asada, rice, and fresh tortillas so now it’s time to get some sleep for a day of heavy packs and uphill travel! RMI Guide Chase Nelson

On The Map

Alpamayo team to Base Camp. This morning we woke to a light wind and scattered clouds making for chilly start to the day. Lucky we had a hot breakfast and many cups of hot coffee and as we hit the trail we were quite happy with the cooler hiking weather. The team did great and as we climbed the switchbacks out of the Santa Cruz Valley we got our first glimpse of Alpamayo. By midday we had arrived to our Base Camp, unloaded the donkeys, and set up camp. This afternoon Elias and his team descended to BC after their successful summit yesterday, so we all hung out and told stories. We are all very happy to be settled into our new home for the next few days. Tomorrow we will carry a load of gear up to Moraine Camp in the morning and then rest and relax in the afternoon. That's all for now. Thanks for following along. RMI Guide Geoff Schellens and the A Team