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Our assault of the Barranco Wall was relentless and the team finally conquered its mighty face with no loss of limb or life. The same can't be said for the poor, hapless porter who lost his load a third of the way up, which meant beating a hasty retreat down to the valley floor to retrieve it. Luckily, said porter was below us and not above, which might have been a whole other story. The climbing up that part of our climb today was fun and exciting, but we were all humbled as we watched the porters scaling the same terrain with forty pound loads balanced on their heads or shoulders, and arriving to camp two plus hours before us. The rest of the route undulated into and out of valleys, always under the shadow of the steep flanks of the upper mountain. We ended up only a little higher than our previous camp, so everyone's feeling strong and we're all becoming well acclimatized. After arriving to camp and 'washing up' another incredible lunch was served: schnitzel with warm German potato salad, followed by apple pancakes and banana fritters. Wow!!! While in our dining tent the clouds finally unleashed a little rain. We've been so fortunate with the weather so far, that this little precipitation has not dampened anyone's spirits. And now, after thirty minutes of wetness, it has abated. We're all comfortably sheltered in either our personal tents or the mess tent playing cards, so not really affected by the vagaries of the weather. Quite nice. Until tomorrow, we'll try to suffer on. Wish us luck. RMI Guide Brent Okita

On The Map

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

May 19, 2017 This evening we are coming to you from Kahiltna Base Camp! The team enjoyed a relaxing morning and leisurely lunch as we waited for a break in the weather. Just when we thought we would be spending another night in town, K2 gave the signal and our two pilots Randy and Barry carried us over the clouds into the range and descended into the heart of the mountains. Now we are enjoying some late evening sun cooking dinner and setting up camp. The team is very excited to be here, especially the ladies who cannot stop smiling. RMI Guide Leon Davis & Team

May 19, 2017 Light snow overnight made everything quiet and still this morning. Camp was sleepy, as it seems everyone took the opportunity to sleep in. We munched our way through a big brunch of hash browns and eggs, and then trotted back downhill under empty packs to grab our cache. That short trip left plenty of time for naps and some chilling time this afternoon before a quick climbing skills refresher to get ready for tomorrow. We intend to trade sleds and snowshoes for crampons tomorrow and get our cache up to Windy Corner. We'll see if the weather let's us. RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer

On The Map

Greetings loyal RMI blog followers! This is your Expedition Skills Seminar - Peru team calling from the summit of Nevado Urus at 17,600 feet. It's a sunny day as usual in the Cordillera Blanca range of Peru; we are so spoiled down here with perfect weather. We're going to enjoy the sunshine with views of the beautiful turquoise lakes and get down safely, hopefully in a fast order of time and enjoy some home cooked meals. That's all for now. Ciao! RMI Guides Robby Young, Eric Frank, and team

June 16, 2016 - 8:27 pm PT Hey this is Geoff Schellens, Steve Gately and the Upper West Rib Team we are standing on the summit of Denali, right now! We just had an excellent climb of the Upper West Rib. It's about 7 pm and we are going to tag the top and turn around and head home. Beautiful day here, just a few puffy clouds way off in the distance but other than that, clear as can be. Thanks for following along. We will check in again when we are back at camp. RMI Guide Geoff Schellens

On The Map

Jambo! The group is all down at 10,000' at our last camp. The weather was great for our summit push but we walked into a misty cloud above camp. It's drizzling a little as I type this. We started our climb with an 11:30PM wake up call and 12:30AM departure. There wasn't much wind all night but we did get a little chilly. We hit the crater rim just before sunrise and watched the sun come up from just below the summit. After our summit pics the team descended well and we were back in camp before 10:00. Tomorrow we have a few hours of hiking in the morning and then back to the Dik Dik Hotel. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall [Audio from the summit below]

On The Map

We are settled in at the Cayambe Hut. It has been raining constantly since early this morning, so we are hunkering down until we see a weather window to review some climbing skills.

Our plan is to climb tonight, but we do need the weather to improve. Despite that, every individual's preparations have already been made and now it's just a game of wait and see. We will update you tomorrow!

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

Yesterday’s blog was about awe; this one is about how awe-full the fricken wind can be sometimes. As we nestled into our sleeping bags for the night we traded the guitars, laughter, and bustle of Basecamp with freight train after freight train of wind roaring down valley at us in Camp 1. It’s such a unique thing to hear, wind a couple kilometers away from you raging at you until finally WHOOSH you get the brunt of it all at once. I’d look over at Ben every once in a while as I held up my side of the tent with my hand. Nothing but log cutting as flaps of fabric tapped him on the head like an impatient toddler. “ Good for him” I thought.
We awoke with wind still howling and a full day of climbing ahead of us. Cold, cutting wind ever present as we saddled up and head out for our carry to camp 2. The wind only intensified as we worked our way up the switch backs to The col between Ameghino, a towering 19,300 ft peak, and Aconcagua, the stone sentinel. But eventually reaching beyond the col and catching our first glimpse of this side of the mountain. La Mano, Mercedario, Link, Fitzgerald, they just keep going, each a staggering peak in their own right and eye candy for the remainder of our climb to camp 2. We reached our destination, said a quick happy Birthday to Tori, and headed back down to the “comfort” of our camp 1 site. We can’t wait to be up at camp 2 and were hoping for a little less wind tonight.

To all family members or blog followers, we’re pretty trivia obsessed right now so give us your best.

RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli
 

The Expeditions Skills Seminar - Emmons July 20 - 25 led by RMI Guide Bryan Mazaika ascended to Camp Schurman yesterday and after setting up camp did a bit of training and preparation for their summit attempt. The team reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning around 7 AM. They will return to Camp Schurman for their final night on the mountain. Congratulations to the Emmons Seminar Climbers!