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Tuesday, June 28, 2022 - 11:42 pm PT

Let me tell you about the pain cave. It’s made of self doubt stalactites and poorly spaced foot buckets where you think you have found purchase with your crampons and yet they slide again and again. It’s got stalagmites forged from the tears of mountaineers who came before you. It’s a fearsome place indeed. But we are a powerful team and WE CARRY ON.

That is right readers, this intrepid group scaled the hairy fixed lines once again to move our camp to 17,000' today. What stroke of luck to have such incredible weather for our move day. To be traversing the airy Washburns’s Thumb in nothing but a sun hoody is the stuff of dreams. Our RMI guides continue to provide important services such as lying to us about the steepness of the grade on the trail we cannot yet see, and assurances that today will likely be considered a harder day than our planned summit day tomorrow. Andy, keep up the bluffing, it’s working like a charm.

Todays highlights included Steve’s reunion with his hula hoop, the view from 17 Camp when we finally arrived, the fact that most of us are higher than we’ve ever been, and the team spirit embodied by Yann who selflessly swung into action helping his teammates set up tents when they arrived exhausted. There was also the traffic on the running belays which was reminiscent of Seattle’s I-5, but really, who can complain when it’s a fraction of the normal peak season crowd.

With a bit of rest this evening, some much needed calories (an entire mountain house plus snacks), and a continuous deep well of motivation to draw from, we sit eager with anticipation for tomorrow - the big day!!!

RMI Climber Holly

RMI Guide James Bealer led his team to the summit of Mt. Baker this morning!  The route was steep and icy making for a challenging day but everyone was up to the task.  They are four days into their six-day program where they are also receiving their credentials for the Leave No Trace Master Educator Course.

On The Map

 We awoke hours before the sun was up to begin our journey to the start of the Salkantay trek. Hours of winding Peruvian roads and a beautiful sunrise later, we arrived!

Our local guides and cooks made us a fantastic breakfast to start our trek off right. The first part of the trek began with a gradual uphill that gave us phenomenal views of the valley below. We followed an impressive trail alongside an aqueduct for several miles until we got to the town of Soraypampa. Here, we enjoyed the last porcelain throne that we would see for several days. Leaving town, we headed up a valley with soaring views of both, Tucarhuay and Salkantay peaks! The gradual ascent up the valley was difficult but rewarding as the beauty around us only increased as we got higher. Camp was graciously already set up for us by our guides and their assistants. We enjoyed a great dinner, drank cocoa, tea, and did our best to adjust to our new altitude of 14,300 feet. It was the highest most of us had ever slept, and it looked to be a cold night. Thankfully the cooks made us all wawa's (bladders of hot water) for bedtime!

Goodnight from the Andes!

Mike, Jack, and the team

Monday, January 17, 2022

What a crazy 36 hours! We arrived at Aconcagua Camp 1 excited for the true expedition to begin, but little did we know, the mountain had other plans. We crawled in our tents after dinner with moderate winds slapping the tent walls, but what began as moderate mountain winds soon grew into freight train roars. Gust after gust battered the tents as we scrambled to secure more guy lines and add more rocks to the anchors. What started as 40 mph gusts soon grew to 80 mph and greater! It felt as if the mountain was unhappy with our presence on its flanks. The wind was relentless all night, making the guide's job tireless as we constantly left the safety of our tent to check on the security of the others. No one slept a wink as we all constantly felt the need brace the walls of our tent as the roar of the train built high in the mountain and finally crashed angrily into our camp. As the sun rose, the wind flowed unabated but with less severity as it had throughout the night. With the light increasing we were able to survey the damage. One out of the three tents didn’t survive, but all climbers woke unscathed, albeit a little sleep deprived. Despite their experience, it was the guides whose tent was left broken and battered and who had to seek shelter in the emergency dome tent set up by our logistics company for just such an occasion. With the sun rising, the group sipped coffee with 1,000-yard stares until the caffeine kicked in and we were able to process what just happened. With a broken tent and the forecast changing for the worst, the mountain forced our hand. The guides made the tactical decision to retreat back to basecamp to regroup and pick up our spare tent we had left behind. However, this does not mean the adventure is over. We plan to rest where the air is thicker, wait out the bad weather, and continue on up the mountain in two days. Everyone is tired, but in good spirits after such a trying night on Aconcagua. Wind is what this mountain is famous for and it delivered in spades. Two nights of good sleep in basecamp will have us rested and ready to give it another go. Let’s just hope the mountain decides to let us pass.

RMI Guide Nick Scott

Matias and the Kautz seminar team will spend their last night on the mountain tonight and plan for an early departure off the mountain followed by more training at Basecamp in Ashford.

The guide team have the following to say in reflection of the last week of training:

We have spent the past 4 days and 3 nights experiencing the mountain and the heat that accompanied it this week. Our high point may have only been 9,400’ but an abundant of learning and training was accomplished.

After a scorching first day moving across the Nisqually Glacier, we decided to move to a night schedule, only climbing when the snow hadn’t been tarnished by the blistering sun. Very Denali-esque of us. We hit on rock climbing, mixed climbing, ice climbing, crevasse rescue and many other skills. Hot weather and beating sun created unstable snow conditions and difficult trail breaking. But as one participant said, “It’s not all about the summit on trips like this”, and we feel like we were able to accomplish all our training and learning goals. The wisping clouds float below us like pillows awaiting to catch us on our decent.

RMI Kautz Team,

George, Leif, Lauren, and Matias

Silence. Beautiful silence. For the first time all trip we had a windless night. Needless to say everyone slept deeply and blissfully after the previous nights adventure. We woke up with the late morning sun and enjoyed a relaxing day of snacking, restocking on water and double checking our gear for summit day. Tomorrow we move to High Camp and the team is in high spirits to be that much closer to our goal!

RMI Guide Walter Hailes

The Five-Day Climb with RMI Guides Casey Grom and Dominic Cifelli reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. Our Five-Day Climb ascends Mt. Rainier's classic route while providing an additional day on the mountain to allow the flexibility to adjust the summit schedule to take advantage of the best window. With great weather all week, the team took a short acclimatization climb to Ingraham Flats on Tuesday, choosing to climb last night. The team had clear skies and light winds on their climb. 

Congratulations team! 

July 14, 2022

After waking to wild horses outside our tents in search for scraps, we gulped down some coffee and porridge and began walking uphill in the cold of the night at 2:00 a.m. We made the toe of the glacier by 5:30 a.m. and donned our crampons and climbing gear. Due to the melting out of the glacier we attempted a new route over a rocky ridge where we began climbing two pitches of firm nevé to the cruzy glacial traverse toward the steep summit ramp. The team dug deep through the heat of the morning and reached the summit of Ishinca where we were surrounded by cobalt skies and beautiful snowy peaks. Back at camp, the team was tired and ready for bed. We enjoyed fresh avocado salads and asada then quickly got horizontal under a clear starry night. Ready for a well deserved rest day tomorrow!

RMI Guide Alan Davis and Team