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Today we rest! Today we did some camp improvements, reinforcing the snow walls and buffing out the kitchen tent. Other than that, we were working on our relaxation techniques. These cannot be underestimated on a climb of this length.

On The Map

Thursday, October 31, 2024 - 8:22 am PT

Yesterday's trip to Illiniza Norte went quite smoothly. We were on the move just after 5am and were able to complete the loop from the refuge to the summit and down the alternate descent back to the trailhead. The route was a touch slippery to begin with as a wet cloud blew past the mountain all night, but as the sun rose, the rocks dried off and we had mostly dry conditions once we reached the scrambling portion. For our entire climb it was dry and in the afternoon there was a heavy downpour, which may signal the change towards the rainy season.

Today, we are headed for Cotopaxi. The mountain does not seem to have received any fresh snowfall from yesterday's weather as we were treated to perfect views of the mountain from our hacienda this morning. The conditions are "dry" meaning that the glacier itself is mostly ice instead of "neve". Tonight after a few fitful hours of rest, we will make our summit attempt starting from the hut at about 16,000'.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

While the lower elevations around Mt. Rainier have cloudy skies and a bit of rain this morning, the Four Day Summit Climb July 31 - 3 August enjoyed blue skies and sunshine for their summit climb. The team reached the summit this morning with light winds and were able to spend some time on the crater soaking in the views before beginning their descent around 7 AM PT. The cloud deck remains at around 7,500' but hopefully it will clear about before the team gets to that elevation this afternoon. Congratulations to today's Summit Climb team!

Friday, May 25, 2018 - 7:44 PM PT We woke early this morning to beautifully clear skies, and fired up the stoves. After an efficient breakfast, we took down camp and packed up. It was a chilly morning, the coldest we've seen thus far (-10F), plus it was the earliest that we got out of the tents so far this trip. We had beautiful weather and great climbing conditions all the way to the Genet Basin Camp at 14,200 ft, where we currently reside. It was a hard day with heavy packs, and everyone did well. After six hours of climbing at altitude with heavy packs we're all ready for some dinner and then some horizontal time in the tents. Tomorrow we will go back to 13,700' to pick up the cache we left there two days ago. RMI Guide Mike Walter

On The Map

Though we haven’t been in Moscow for long, we did our best to see everything we could today. We matched the fast pace of our tour guide (she looked at us and said “you are supposed to be sportsmen”), and checked out sites that seem hard to believe for anyone who was alive during the Cold War. We wandered through Red Square, silently filed through Lenin’s Tomb, where Russia spends $200,000 a year to keep his body in perfect condition, and crossed through the front gate of the Kremlin to get a tour inside and see several of the cathedrals that exist within. Each had a dedicated purpose and patron, the Cathedral of the Assumption being used for Coronations and things involving the Russian Czars, while Archangel Michael’s Cathedral was used as a burial place for Czars and Czarinnas, including the family of Ivan the Terrible. Unfortunately, St. Basil’s Cathedral was closed today due to a national holiday commemorating paratroopers in WWII, but we strolled through the GUM, the former Soviet State Department Store, and now a high end shopping mall, stopping to ease the heat with ice cream, before a delicious lunch at a Ukrainian Restaurant around the corner. We had the afternoon free to explore or take naps, before we headed to a nice rooftop restaurant overlooking the Moscow River for dinner. Tomorrow starts early, 5.30 am, as we head back to the airport to fly to the Caucasus and refocus on our climbing objective. Tomorrow will be a travel day, but before we know it, we’ll be at base camp, staring up at the twin summits of Mt. Elbrus and beginning our climb. We’ll check in soon. RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer

Today we visited the famous Ngorongoro Crater, and considered by many to be the 8th wonder of the world. The crater is what remains of a once massive volcano that erupted and collapsed on itself, leaving behind a giant caldera that's almost exactly 100 square miles. Every time we've visited the crater it's been excitingly different, and today was the same. We were able to see many lions, some close enough that they actually stopped to smell the tires of our Safari vehicles. However, we were safely inside our vehicle, yet it was extremely exciting to be so close! As we made our way around the Ngorongoro crater we saw tons of other wildlife, zebras, Cape buffalo, wildebeest, jackals, Giselle, countless raptors and many other large birds. It was quite a day to say the least, and I'm certain one that won't be forgotten by anyone. We wrapped up the day with a visit to a Maasai village just outside the crater rim. The Maasai people are a nomadic tribe that have lived here for more than 500 years among the wildlife, while raising the cattle that sustain them. The team spent time visiting the homes of these kind and gentle people, with tour guides who shared their history and way of life. We finished the evening here at the plantation lodge and are looking forward to what tomorrow may bring as we head to Tarangire National Park. RMI Guide Casey Grom

Our Kilimanjaro trip is underway! The team arrived late last night after their long flights from the US and after a short drive to our lodge the team had a quick dinner and headed for bed. Today after a hearty breakfast the team met for RMI's official orientation where we did a round of introductions and discussed the upcoming plan for the next few day and the gear essentials for our climb. We spent the remainder of the day packing and relaxing here at this tranquil and private lodge that has numerous wild animals roaming the grounds. There are two different types of monkeys here, the Velvet and the Blue. Several Dik Dik that have been rescued, a few Guinea fowl, and we even managed to see a Genet sneaking around tonight. We are being well taken care of here at the Arumeru River Lodge by their gracious and kind staff. Everyone is doing well and looking forward to a little uphill exercise tomorrow as we head to Kilimanjaro. RMI Guide Casey Grom and Kili Team

This is Zeb Blais and team checking in from Mount Baker. We had a pretty tough day today. We started out looking at the North Ridge Route. Due to route difficulties and an impending poor weather forecast, we decided to bail on climbing that route. We shifted our focus to the Coleman-Deming and after a long day of climbing, we got back to camp just a few minutes ago. It was a great climb and we only got rained on for a few minutes. We are back in our tents now waiting out some weather. Our plan is to pack up and head out tomorrow morning. That's all for now. RMI Guide Zeb Blais

Its a storm day for Team Elbrus. We actually had good weather this morning and got out to do some more practice with the ice axe and crampons. We then moved into self arrest practice. By the time we finished that it had started to snow and then that turned to rain for a minute. The wind really kicked up for a few hours after that and we had a real storm for a while We all hid from the weather and watched a movie this afternoon. Thanks to Brett for supplying the iPad. It's about 5:30PM now and there's not much wind and some sun at camp. The upper mountain is covered in a large cloud and it looks like there are more clouds moving our way. Because of that we have decided to stick to our original plan and go for the summit either tomorrow night or the next. I'll check in again tomorrow. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

May 19, 2016 - 2:44 p.m. PDT One plane is flying up in ten minutes, and with luck, the rest of the team will follow shortly thereafter. Here we go! The pilot gives us a 30% chance of actually getting to the mountain. I think otherwise. More like a 30% of having to return to Talkeetna, but good to have a sober expectation of our chances. RMI Guide Brent Okita