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A van ride, an airplane ride, another van ride, and we're in Cheget. Super smooth sailing through our travels today, ski bags and all. Yuri is the local Russian guide who will be joining us on Mt. Elbrus, and he greeted us with a warm reception at the airport in Mineralyne Vody. We're excited to finally be in the mountains. RMI Guide Tyler Reid

Summit! Casey Grom and team reached the Kilimanjaro summit this morning. The team's ascent took 7 1/2 hours and are back safe in camp. They will be headed to thicker air soon. Congratulations Casey and team on your summit!

On The Map

Buenos tardes! Today we made the journey to Tlachichuca where the great Sr. Reyes lives. Sr. Reyes runs Servimont, the guide service we use to get to Piedra Grande by 4X4 trucks. The compound to which he runs his operation was once a soap factory. One of the drums used in the process to make the soap came from Philadelphia. But enough with the history lesson and back to the climbing. Once we arrived in Tlachichuca we were down to business, doing yet another gear shuffle. We packed our bags, ate a delicious lunch, and boarded the 4X4 trucks. A two-hour drive up a very bumpy and steep road brought us to Piedra Grande which sits at roughly 14,000'. We were in and out of the clouds while we pitched our tents and got settled in. Before eating dinner we had a refresher course of our skills for the climb. With fully tummies of probably the best rotisserie chicken we had ever had, we are off to get some shut eye before an early alpine start. Hopefully the next time you here from us we will be cal ling in from the summit. Till then, good night to all, RMI Guides Mark Tucker, Hannah Smith, and team

Hey- We are checking in from High Camp on Ixtaccihuatl. We had pretty good conditions coming up and getting our big loads up to camp. We have been here about four hours acclimatizing at 12,000'. As we pulled in, the weather came in we had a little bit of a lightning event that went over. It wasn't a big deal as we already had camp set up. Then the sun broke through for a little while and we were able to get in a little training to get us ready for tonight. RMI Guide Mark Tucker

On The Map

Good afternoon from Kilimanjaro. The group is all doing good after a really strong showing on the trail today. We are at Karanga Valley which sits at 13,100ft and is our last camp before high camp. We tackled the Barranco Wall this morning and had a pretty smooth ascent up the steep slopes. We climbed it in exactly 1.5 hours which is what we were aiming for. When we were about 2/3 of the way up we could look back down on last night's camp which looked like a camp for ants. The rest of the way felt like a dance off with a bunch of ups and downs. Everyone agreed that this was the most picturesque day so far. We're all relaxing now before dinner and tomorrow we head up to Barafu Camp at 15,000ft. I'll check back in from there. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

This is RMI Guide Mike King checking in checking in from 16,400 feet on Aconcagua. Today is our rest day and we are definitely resting in our tents. The winds picked up around dinner last night and have not stopped shaking our tents. The team reported good sleep/rest after our carry to Chopper Camp yesterday and everyone is acclimating well. We are hunkered down for the day; reading and napping. There is rumor of a snack food social in one of the tents around lunch time, I might have to crash that party. We will keep checking the weather today. Our goal is to move up to Chopper Camp tomorrow during lower winds and then play the waiting game for a summit bid. The RMI office sent the blog comments to us and everyone enjoyed hearing them read during breakfast yesterday. Thank you for following along and supporting us! Keep it up! RMI Guide Mike King and Team

On The Map

RMI Guide Ben Luedtke and Team checked in today at 6:49 am PST letting us know that the entire team was standing on the summit of Orizaba.  When they get settled this evening they will have a great summit day story to tell!

The Plantation Lodge was just too comfortable... we couldn’t leave at the crack of dawn. A leisurely 9 AM departure sufficed. Before leaving the Karatu area, we stopped for some souvenir/gift shopping and a try at negotiating prices. Then we dropped back down the escarpment into the Rift Valley and cruised through the bustling town of Mosquito River. Out in the dry country beyond town, we pulled off the highway to tour a small Maasai village. The residents danced for (and with) us, showed us how to make fire without modernity, and then took us two-by-two into their small houses -built of sticks, mud and dung- to describe the basics of being Maasai. Tanzania has over 120 different tribes, but the Maasai stand out because they are attempting to hold on to their traditional methods. Thus educated and enlightened, we lit out for Tarangire National Park. This park has very different ecosystems compared to Manyara and Ngorongoro. It is made up of arid and expansive forests and savannas cut by three wandering river courses. Impala, gnu and zebra are seemingly everywhere. We began seeing extended families of elephants, including some little fellas less than a year old. We learned to distinguish between male and female giraffes by the shape of their horns. We stopped to look at giant baobab trees and termite mounds and mongoose. We were getting spoiled... the team began demanding to see grizzly bears and tigers too. Actually, just when it seemed we’d go catless for the day, we came upon nine very alert and animated lions, close up. They wandered down to the river giving every impression that they were starting a hunt. In early evening we came to Balloon Camp deep within the park. The friendly staff oriented us to our bush hotel, which included advising us not to walk around without a guardian after dark. There are no fences between us and the critters of Tarangire. We watched the sun go down on our last full day in Africa and then sat for some “bush TV” as they call the campfire. A crew of cheerful and colorful Maasai came to sing, chant, jump and dance as it got fully dark and starry. We then enjoyed a barbecue buffet under those same stars. In the morning, we’ll start to diverge, as Emily and Phil head off to the Serengeti and the rest of us explore a bit more of Tarangire. Seems a shame to break up the team, but our trip is winding down. Best Regards RMI Guide Dave Hahn

After enjoying our last showers for a few days, we packed up our things and headed downhill from the La Malintzi center. We enjoyed a delicious hot breakfast just about 30 minutes from the center, then continued on towards the town of Amecameca for a quick grocery shop and to grab any last minute items the team needed. Two more hours of driving got us to the Welcome Center for Ixtaccihuatl. Mike got us all checked in, then we continued uphill on a dusty dirty road to reach the Altzimoni Hut. After unloading our gear, we did a quick sort and packed our necessities for tomorrow's hike into basecamp. Dinner is being cooked up as we write this and the team is excited to dig in. Fresh tortillas, carne asada, rice, beans, guacamole and lots of salsas to choose from! Thanks for following along and we all hope you're eating as well as we are! RMI Guide Jenny Konway

On The Map

RMI Guides Kel Rossiter and Mike Uchal led their Four Day Summit Climb teams for July 19 - 22 to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. They reported moderate winds and mostly clear skies. Congratulations to today's climbers!