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Ah, the rest day! A whole day spent just relaxing and taking care of ourselves. It's the dream, right!? Not always, it can be a real struggle to find ways to pass the hours and a lot of our climbers find the lack of an agenda anything but relaxing. Luckily our team seems to be coping with all the free time like expedition veterans. This morning we started with a scrambled egg breakfast with onions, peppers and tomatoes. The group split after breakfast and have been passing the time by reading, taking walls through old glacial moraines and the occasional nap. This afternoon we'll prepare for our move to Camp 1 (16,200ft) by dividing up our remaining group gear and discussing our strategy for the upper mountain. Our forecast is calling for increasing winds over the next few days, with the highest winds coming in at 45mph at Camp 1 and well over 70mph on the summit! We take things one day at a time up here in the high mountains and will be looking at the forecast closely over the next few days. The team is excited to move up and ready for the challenges that Aconcagua has to throw at us. Pray to the weather Gods for us! Thanks for following! RMI Guide Steve Gately

On The Map

Good evening from Artesonraju Base Camp. Today was a well deserved rest day here at Hauripampa after yesterday's summit on Paria. We're eager to start our final move towards our objective. RMI Guides Elias de Andres Martos and Eric Frank

Summit! The Mount Rainier Summit Climb teams, led by Dave Hahn and Tyler Reid, were leaving the crater rim at 7:30 this morning. Dave reported great conditions: clear and sunny, with light winds. Mike King and the Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons are returning to Base Camp today after a successful summit via the Emmons Glacier.

Sunday, May 31st 11:16 p.m. PDT The team got a late start this morning after a middle of the night arrival at 7,800 ft camp. Breakfast took the majority of the morning, but eventually we loaded up a portion of our food and gear to make the three-hour trip up the glacier to cache our load. Everyone did well despite the heavy packs, and we are looking forward to the them lighter and lighter as we eat more food. This evening we were able to congratulate both Mike Walter and Pete Van Deventer's teams who are on their way down from the summit. RMI Guide Geoff Schellens

Today we rested from our effort of the day before. We’re still acclimatizing, so a solid day’s effort will really take it out of you. We’re sitting pretty now with our gear just below the 14,000’ Camp.

On The Map

Wednesday, November 26, 2025 - 6:14 pm PT

We’re counting ourselves as being extremely fortunate.  Not only did we fly from South America to Antarctica on the morning we were scheduled to…. We then flew from Union Glacier right out to Vinson Basecamp on this same lucky day.  It doesn’t always work this way, but it is pretty sweet to avoid glitches and weather delays. 

It was a somewhat typical adventure travel day in that there was a lot of hurry up and wait.  But it wasn’t unpleasant waiting.  It was about 12:30 PM before we clunked up the airplane stairs in our big mountaineering boots to leave Punta.  There were about 80 of us in the entire plane, so Tim and I both helped ourselves to window seats.  This paid off about three and a half hours into the flight when we were treated to unobstructed views of Vinson and the Ellsworth Mountains. 

The landing of a big jet on a blue ice runway was thrilling, although it was also flawless.  We were certainly dressed for extreme cold when we got out, but to be honest, the weather at Union Glacier wasn’t all that unpleasant.  A little cool but not face freezing cool. 

We had just a short tour of Union Glacier Camp before climbing aboard the ski equipped Twin Otter for the 45 minute flight to Vinson.  It was another perfect landing at 7,000' on the Branscomb Glacier and then we were hugging old friends and meeting new ones. Although we are the first climbing teams of the season, the ALE guides have already been in for some time getting things set up.  Tim and I met Jon Gupta, who we’ll be working with.  Jon was just on Vinson summit two days ago and reported excellent conditions. 

We won’t climb the mountain tomorrow.  It will be the perfect day to acclimatize and get gear sorted for the climb. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Good afternoon everyone! The team woke today to a fresh dusting of snow. It looked as if the heavens above had sprinkled powder sugar on all the peaks. We packed up all our belonging and hit the trail to our new home, Camp One at 16,200 feet. After walking a handful of hours in an environment that looked like Mars we arrived at camp in some snow flurries. In no time our tents were up and we were enjoying some well deserved relaxation. The snow continues to lightly come down as we get ready for dinner. The team is doing fantastic and is climbing strong. We hope to carry to Camp Two tomorrow. Till then, enjoy your day everyone! RMI Guides Hannah Smith, Avery Parrinello, and Mark Tucker

On The Map

Winds plagued the mountain throughout the night, but luckily our hut kept us fairly sheltered from the raucous. The winds persisted through the morning with off and on showers as we enjoyed our breakfast of scrambled eggs, yogurt and granola. With the weather not letting up we opted to do some training inside our hut in hopes that it would dry out later and we would be able to to move up to the glacier for more training. We spent a few hours discussing anchor building and construction. The team enjoyed getting hands on and nerding out some of the more technical aspects. Just as we had begun our second topic the skies cleared a bit and the sun popped out! We opted to gather our things, take advantage of the nicer weather and head up to the glacier for more training. The climb up to the glacier takes about an hour and meanders its way through loose talus, sand and a few rocky steps. The wind persisted through this area and kept the temperatures cool. Once to the glacier we spent the next few hours discussing and practicing efficient walking techniques, cramponing, team and self arrest, as well as rope travel on a glacier. The winds died down shortly into our first topics and we were glad to stay warm and dry for the remainder of the session. We started back down at around 1:30pm in hopes to get back early to rest and relax before dinner at 5:30PM. The rain has returned since our arrival back to camp and we'll meet in a moment to discuss our summit attempt tomorrow morning! The team is excited and anxious for the challenge of their first volcano of the trip, Cayambe! It's not uncommon to get afternoon rains here so we're optimistic things should clear overnight, pray to the weather gods for us. Thanks for following along! RMI Guide Steve Gately

June 23, 2016 - 9:39 P.M. PDT First day in our new home...The Alaska Range. We enjoyed a final night in Talkeetna and another great breakfast at the Roadhouse, but then we hustled out to the airstrip. There was no "hurry up and wait" today, more like just plain hurry up. The weather was good and the pilots were ready to go. Stan and Randy each piloted a big and beautiful Otter on skis into the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier and spit us and our gear out onto the snow...all before 10 A.M. We spent a calm day building camp and reviewing glacier travel techniques. We'd take breaks from time to time to sip water and stare at the giant mountain walls surrounding us. Cloud cover moved in to obscure those walls by our early bedtime. Our intention is to be up at midnight for an alpine start. During the flight in, we could see that the rumors have been spot on. The lower glacier is in excellent condition with very few open crevasses. Even so, we'll go at it early when the surface has the best chance for being frozen solid. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

May 18, 2016 - 8:17 pm PT Finally, all the checking and packing and repacking and a million other things that need to be done before we can fly on to the mountain are done. Cool weather kept the mosquitos at bay, and although it was overcast, word from up high on the mountain reported sunny skies. We're hopeful for a good day tomorrow so we can start our trip. Planes were taking off and landing on the mountain all day today, which is always a good sign. With luck, tonight will be our last dinner in town for a while. Talk with you soon. RMI Guides Brent Okita, Christina Dale and Chris Ebeling