Most Popular Entries
The team is all here in Quito! We began our day by enjoying our breakfast along side an abundant spread of fresh fruit and overloading on coffee while we made some group introductions. We had a number of stops during our city tour, some of the highlights include visiting the Equator monument, a panoramic view of Quito from the top of Panecillo Hill, the colonial Center and touring some of the historical churches. Today in Quito is the celebration of the capital’s foundation so many shops were closed and the plazas were busier than normal with locals celebrating the holiday. We are back at the hotel for a quick siesta before we head out together for dinner. This evening we will prepare our day packs for our first acclimatization hike up to Rucu Pichincha and we are hoping for the clear, sunny skies we had this morning so we can get our first view of
Cotopaxi and Cayambe!
RMI Guides Steve Gately &
Bryan Mazaika
Just after breakfast we hauled our duffel bags down to the hotel lobby. ALE -our logistics company- weighed each bag and carted them away for packing on the Ilyushin 76 aircraft. Thus freed from the temptation to fiddle with our gear, the team went for a walk along the shore. We visited a few old square rigged ships beached and broken along the shore and looked for whales and/or dolphins out in the wind blown waves.
In the evening, we attended ALE’s briefing/cocktail party to meet the other folks on our flight. There are people going to see the Emperor Penguins at the edge of the continent, some who are bound for the South Pole, in the middle of everything, and a handful of teams joining us on
Vinson. Olivia, our contact at ALE, let us know that there was a chance we’d fly out just a few hours following the meeting, so we headed to dinner and crossed our fingers. Things didn’t come together for a fight this evening though, so we relaxed and lingered over our dinner table, telling mountain stories.
We’re optimistic that the morning will be a different story and that we’ll soon be flying south.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
June 9, 2017 12:55 a.m. PT
Every fifteen minutes another gust would pummel the side of the tent. Of course, it would have to be on my side. The moisture inside our precious shelter, frozen to the walls of the tent would fall on us with each gust, forcing us deeper into our bed of down.
Day five at
17,200' turned in to a real doozy. The forecasts have actually been fairly good lately, and no good news was to be had with the latest issued. In fact, a high wind alert was posted for the upcoming four days with winds into the sixties. This had camp on edge, including my wise assistants Christina and JT, upon whom I rely so heavily to help make our trip the best and safest, My initial optimism that the weather would surely improve with time was tempered by the latest info coming out. A decision to retreat to the relative safety, protection and comfort of 14,200' camp was made by all in camp, even though the strong winds are cause for concern as we need to navigate the technical terrain of the
West Buttress.
Taking down tents and packing up went well even in those conditions, a testament of the ability of our veteran and tested team. The climb down to camp went well, besides the inevitable traffic of perhaps fifty people leaving camp simultaneously.
To our delight, the RMI teams at 14,200' got into our cache and had camp all set up for us when we pulled in, What incredible work, A huge THANKS to [url=https://www.rmiguides.com/blog/expedition/denali_5_23_17/desc]https://www.rmiguides.com/blog/expedition/denali_5_23_17/desc[/url],
Jake and their teams!!!
So now, at day 19 we have a number of folks feeling the pull of home and a life put on hold while we take part in this incredible experience. A couple of others are still excited to finish off the climb and willing to put in a few more days. An updated forecast in the morning might help us see if we actually have a realistic chance of getting a good enough break on the weather in a few days time. We'll make some final decisions in the morning, but right now we might not even have good enough weather to leave camp.
Goodnight from 14,200' camp (revisited),
RMI Guides Brent Okita, Christina Dale and JT Schmitt
On The Map
Hello again.
It was a nice warm day here on our final hike to
Lukla. We started early to beat the traffic and made good time, yet taking time to enjoy this peaceful and majestic place.
There were still dozens of loads headed for basecamp as always, because much of the needed supplies arrive via plane or from a few days further down hill via mules.
We ran into a few friends including one of RMI's finest guides
Mike Haugen, headed up for his second summit.
The entire team is doing well and relieved to be off of our feet for a bit. With a little luck we hope to be back in Kathmandu tomorrow morning.
Keep your fingers crossed for us.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and a happy crew
On The Map
After a nice breakfast at the Dik Dik Lodge, we sent a few final emails and we were off to
climb Kilimanjaro. A couple hours later, after a stop at the market and registering with the National Park it was time to start the climb. We left the cultivation zone behind and traded it in for a lush cloud forest. The team climbed well to our next zone the Heather and Moorland. We are camped here at 10,000' with an outstanding view of the mountain and incredible weather. It is time to crawl in to the tents and get some rest before the next challenge tomorrow. The team is doing well and we will continue to check in as we ascend Kilimanjaro.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
On The Map
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 20, 2016 - 12:24 am PT
Stupendous day here on Denali! We fought saucy winds through the aptly named
Windy Corner, but the sky stayed pristinely azure, and the team ducked their heads into the chilly breeze and powered around the corner, where the winds promptly died. We rolled into 14 looking like a fresh pair of socks, and started building our own fortress next to that of Mike Walter's crew. As the temps dropped, we ate a hearty dinner and retired to the tents. We have a light day on tap tomorrow, returning to our cache to retrieve food and fuel and fully move into 14.
Best from our new abode,
RMI Guides Pete, Jess, Robby, and team
On The Map
Well..., I know...I know...you've heard enough from me! So for today's blog from Russia, I'd like to hand it over to one of my favorite...(sorry guys!) team members from Team 2!... RMI Guide JJ Justman
Greetings from
St. Petersburg! Our team left the mountains of Cheget this morning after one last feast of porridge and eggs, and drove up to the airport in Mineralnye Vody early this morning. The changing scenery was quite breathtaking, especially some of the great rock formations just outside of Cheget. After arriving to our new destination in due time, we were greeted by the welcome sight of a Starbucks cafe, where several of us enthusiastically loaded up on caffeine. The streets and architecture we passed on the way to the hotel gave us a great preview of what to expect tomorrow, where we will be touring this 'Venice of the North,' including the Hermitage, the canals, and the Church of the Savior on Spillled Blood.
Until then, the team will be enjoying some well-deserved downtime, and possibly attempting to see Finland from our hotel. Cheers!
Lindsay
Friday June 12th 10:30 pm PT
A blog post brought to you by Kim, Pete and Phillip:
We awoke to clear blue skies and stellar views of the
Alaska Range. It was followed by an exquisite breakfast of fluffy blueberry and granola pancakes, topped with a wild cherry compote. Then we made a six-feet deep hole and went to "The Edge of the World".
Weather is looking better and we are hopeful that we will move up the mountain this weekend.
We are looking forward to moving higher up on the mountain, since we are all rested up having slept more in the past few nights than we have in the last month. Clearly we are enjoying the mountain lifestyle, but ready for the next challenges.
Viele Grüße vom Berg, cheers
The Gang
P.S. Hi Sophia! XO love Aunt Kim
Hello again everyone!
We are finally back in Quito after a successful climb of Cotopaxi!
Today was redemption day for us with the weather. We had incredibly clear skies with moonlight to help illuminate the way. The team hit the trail right at midnight and slowly made our way uphill, and I mean uphill. Seems no one here in Ecuador got the memo that we (North) Americans prefer switchbacks to lessen the steepness and make it easier. Anyway, the team did great and 4 of the 6 climbers were able to stand on top for sunrise this morning. 19,347 feet to be exact. If that sounds familiar it’s because it’s 7 feet higher than Kilimanjaro!
We are all safely back in our hotel freshly showered and catching up on some much needed sleep. It’s been a wonderful adventure and cultural experience here in Ecuador. And I hope the team brings these stories home to share with you all. A huge thank you to our excellent local guide team (Fatima, Gustavo, Ronaldo and Daniel) for keeping us safe, making it fun and enjoyable, and sharing their local knowledge.
As I have done before, I’ve asked all the team members to share just one word that best sums up their trip. So in no particular order here are our words.
Grateful
Nostalgic
Camaraderie
Ellipsis
Inspiring
Alive
Awesome
Educational
Hope you enjoyed following and if any of this sounded enjoyable, come join us for an adventure sometime.
RMI Guides Casey Grom and Jackson Breen and the Cotopaxi conquistadors
×
New Post Alerts:
Ecuador Volcanoes November 4 - 14, 2025
Previous Page
Next Page
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Hi Dave!
Of course I wish I was there with you guys. Have a safe, spectacular climb.
-Larry
Posted by: Larry Seaton on 11/26/2017 at 8:13 am
View All Comments