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Today was just all-around lovely!

We woke up with the sun, packed our tents and headed to breakfast. We have discovered this wonderful thing called Dulce de leche and now we smother all of our toast in it.

We hit the trail on our way to our next camp, Casa de Piedra. We weaved up through the valley for 10 miles today - always keeping our eyes out from Guanacos. Just when we were convinced we might not get a glimpse, we looked up and saw three majestic Guanacos staring right back at us. Yay!

Soon after, we popped up over a little hill and saw the yellow and white dome tents of our next camp. Just before we walked into camp, we were greeted with our first views of "The Stone Sentinel", Aconcagua.

Tomorrow we’ll head to Base camp where we can’t wait to greet our fellow RMI climbers who stood on the summit today.

RMI Guides Jess Wedel, Jack Delaney and the Magnificent 7.

Jambo everyone back home - The team woke feeling well rested after about 10 hours in our tent last night. We had a pretty good day on Kilimanjaro today, I only say pretty good because we hiked in light sprinkles to full on rain all day. Thankfully everyone’s gore-tex jackets kept us dry. We started the day waking at 6:30 to start packing up before moving into our dinning tent for a nice breakfast with porridge, fried eggs, toast, avocado and even some fresh fruit, and most importantly plenty of hot coffee. We hit the trail shortly after 8 am and slowly made our way up the rocky trail that leads out of camp. The trail climbs up a ridge and eventually out of the trees and normally allows for some truly spectacular views of the valley below, but today it was a bit limited. The team hiked for about 4.5 hours before reaching our next camp that sits on the Shira plateau, which is an ancient lava flow just above tree-line. Once at camp we were treated to a wonderful warm meal and then hopped into our tents to relax. The evening was full of great stories and another amazing meal prepared by our gracious staff. RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew

On The Map

The Four Day Summit Climb teams led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and JM Gorum reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. Brent reported a cold morning, and the team climbed into the a cap, so their time on the summit was brief. The are on the descent and en route to Camp Muir. Congratulations to today's teams!

Tuesday, June 12, 2018 - 5:32 PM PT We'd already sent in the dispatch yesterday and then skies cleared up and we enjoyed a sunny evening. Today however, we woke to grey skies up above and clouds pouring over Kahiltna Pass. The teams in camp all got a slow roll to see who would break trail up Motorcycle Hill. This led to a bottleneck and a slow pace. After an hour the clouds had descended and snow was blowing. Our goal today was a cache around Windy Corner, but due to the volume of climbers, new snow and low visibility we opted for a 12,500' cache. We are back at Camp at 11,000' hoping to get a chance to move up to 14,000' Camp in the next few days. RMI Guide Mike King

On The Map

After an early wake up call the Team enjoyed clear views of Aconcagua on a beautiful day to finish the hike to our base camp, Plaza Argentina. We hiked through the scenic Relinchos River Valley while our bodies continued the acclimatization process. Base camp is situated on a large glacial moraine that is covered in scree. The Team is resting after setting up camp and everyone is looking forward to rest day tomorrow. With all the comforts of home except a comfy bed, we'll sort some gear and food, knock the dust off with a shower and take in the stellar views this place has to offer...rough life. Thanks for following along. RMI Guide Mike King

On The Map

This morning you could feel the energy in the air. Everyone is very excited to be moving up hill again. Immediately after breakfast Dan, Paul, and Olga began packing and were done by 9:30, despite the plan to leave BC after lunch. So we all enjoyed a little more relaxation time until lunch was served around noon. Unfortunately the tasty pasta ended up sitting heavy in our bellies so we waited a bit more before shouldering our packs. As we picked our way through the boulder field we settled into a comfortable pace and in just over two hours we found ourselves at Moraine Camp, 16,200'. Everyone is doing great and glad to be making upward progress again. We are all tucked in for the evening, getting some good rest before we move up to high camp tomorrow. Thanks for following along. RMI Guide Geoff Schellens

Original Post | July 20, 2016 - 11:38 a.m. PDT Hello! This is Elias and the Alpamayo team we are on top! A great crew - some excitement out there. We got to the top here in four hours and a half. We keep beating the time every year! So, the RMI Alpamayo Climb is getting better and better every year! Peter, I, and the guys here are pretty psyched. We're going to enjoy the views a little longer and then start our descent. We'll give you a shout later on tonight from camp. We will head for base camp tomorrow. That's it for now! Update | July 20, 2016 - 3:16 p.m. PDT And we did it! Everybody reached the summit of Alpamayo today. We were on the fence about climbing and almost didn't leave camp. Starting around 11:00 p.m., we experienced unusually strong winds which lasted pretty much all night and all morning. We dragged our feet, and decided to give it a go after a delayed breakfast. With no one on the wall, we could have the luxury of climbing this surreal face without headlamps. With better conditions than usual, the plethora of of nevé provided pure joy on our steep upward progression. By 19,000', crystal ice demanded more focus and conscious delivery of every swing with our ice tools. With the incredible training and preparation by the team, we reached the airy summit a mere four and a half hour after departure. We celebrated on the summit and started our descent. Eight 60 meter rappels brought us to the overhanging bergschrund and deposited us back on the glacier, a stones throw to our tents. Now we're enjoying dinner at our high camp. Our two porters, Leoncio and Miguel, greeted with a huge smile and bows of soup. We climb hard, and we climb in style. We'll be checking in from Base Camp tomorrow! RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos and team

May 30, 2016 - 7:39 pm PT With just a day of active rest scheduled, the team was able to sleep in. Most all of us slept like rocks, with a pitter patter of fresh snow making the perfect background noise. Once we finally rolled out of bed, a lazy breakfast of bacon, cheese and hash-brown wraps with a half bagel on the side and a hot drink or two got us ready for our back carry. The whole group was excited to be reunited with our buried goods; as many of us were craving some snack hidden in the snow. 11 Camp remains a weather quandary with reports of clear skies at both fourteen and Base Camps. Yet the fresh six inches of snow is welcome as it has brought our camp back to its pristine status. For now we'll continue to chill and listen to the snow fall! RMI Guide Tyler Jones

On The Map

Monday, May 2, 2016 - 10:03 p.m. Greetings Blog Followers! Our first Alaska Mountaineering Seminar - Expedition is doing fine at Kahiltna Base Camp! Our morning in Talkeetna, AK was anything but slow and leisurely as we performed many logistic moves in order to get ahead of the changing weather forecast. We made it onto K2 Aviation's Otters by noon and made camp quickly in great weather. Despite being thrust into action on a compressed time schedule, the team worked very well together displaying great work ethic and sense if humor. It's 9:00 p.m and we are all warm and happy in tents looking forward to fortifying camp tomorrow. Good night friends and family from the southeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier; we'll check in again tomorrow. RMI Guides Leon Davis and Mike King

On The Map

The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer and the Five Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Zeb Blais reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at about 6:50 am this morning. The team climbed into a cap with some high winds and a bit of rime. They have started their descent and are en route back to Camp Muir. Congratulations to today's Teams!