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RMI Guides Casey Grom & Paul Rachele led their Four Day Summit Climb June 5 - 8, 2017 up to Camp Muir yesterday under beautiful blue skies. Unfortunately the weather changed last night bringing rain and snow to Mt. Rainier which prevented today's climbs from making their summit attempt. The teams will descend to Paradise and return to Rainier BaseCamp later today.

We slept in this morning and then enjoyed a breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, and smoked salmon. Then we headed back down glacier to retrieve the cache we left there two days ago. It was a warm day with light snow and no wind. Now that we have all of our supplies with us at 11k, we'll start to strategize our move to the upper mountain. The next move for us is to carry supplies up around Windy Corner and establish a cache at around 13,700'. We're still not sure if that will happen tomorrow or if we will take our first full rest day. Weather will certainly play a role in that decision. We will let you know what we decide and touch base tomorrow. RMI Guide Mike Walter

Day two in Mexico was very successful.  We climbed to 13,400 feet for our acclimatization hike on La Malinche then made it back to the cabins at the old Olympic training facility for time to shower and lounge on the grass.  For dinner we had sizzling cactus and steak served on hot coals.  The group is healthy and happy and starting a game of counting stray dogs.  Off to Ixta tomorrow!  Here's a photo of lounging in front of La Malinche. RMI Guide Christina Dale

There was optimistic talk yesterday evening of a flight to South America today. The weather didn't cooperate, but we certainly didn't mind another day in the heart of Antarctica. We ate well, we rested, we rode fat tire bikes on a 10k groomed trail, we watched clouds come and go, and we mingled with other "tourists" and staff of ALE (our logistical company). Everybody wanted to know about our big storm and just how hard the wind really blew. Union Glacier camp feels like a major city compared to our small camps on Vinson. Ski planes come and go at all hours, snow cats and snowmobiles roam about, folks come and go from skiing and climbing, from excursions to the coast and the pole. It is a bustling crossroads in the middle of a beautiful nowhere. It is hard to interact with so many well-traveled people without hatching plans for the future. Our immediate future involves northward travel and word has it that the IL76 will be in tomorrow morning. We could be in South America tomorrow evening. One day at a time though. Best Regards, Dave Hahn

June 1, 2016 - 11:47 p.m. PDT Summit days don't get any better than what we had today. There wasn't a breath of wind, and the warm temperatures let us leave early and get out ahead of other teams. It was the warmest summit day any of the guides remember, and the team did spectacularly. Seven and a half hours of climbing had us standing on the summit taking photos, and then we boogied back to camp. It was well worth the wait and we certainly did our penance and deserved a day like today. With the summit achieved, everyone is more than ready to get back to town and home. We'll pack camp tomorrow and get down to warmer, thicker air, and with luck be at the airstrip first thing the day after tomorrow. But first we'll sleep tonight, and dream of the highest summit in North America. Best, RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Robby Young, Jess Matthews, and team

On The Map

RMI Guide Eric Frank and the Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons were unable to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning due to route conditions. The team climbed to 10,800' before being forced to turn around. Despite being unable to summit, Eric and the team enjoyed and incredible meteor shower in the early hours of the morning. The team is back at Camp Schurman and plans to spend the rest of the day doing crevasse rescue and ice climbing training around camp. Tomorrow the team will descend from Camp Schurman. We look forward to greeting them in Ashford tomorrow afternoon.

Hello from Barranco Camp on Kilimanjaro. We are set up in this beautiful valley with the Giant Senecia trees all around. The crew did great today on our 6.5 hour hike. The day started off cloudy, cold and windy after a little weather system moved in overnight. But by the time we reached our high point at 14,900' the wind was dying and the sun was out. The temperature crept up and up as we descended to camp and it is quite comfortable now. We will relax for the rest of the afternoon and evening and get fueled up for the Barranco Wall tomorrow. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

Thursday June 25th 10:15 pm PT Our exit from Talkeetna was nearly as smooth and easy as our arrival in the Alaska Range turned out to be. We had our traditional Roadhouse breakfast and then headed for the hangar. By 10:00 AM we were loading onto K2 Aviation's ski planes and taking off for the mountains. We had a couple of good views of Denali and Foraker, the giants of the range, despite a fair amount of cloud and forest fire smoke in the air. Basecamp at 7,200 feet on the Southeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier was nearly deserted when we came in... just the way we like it. We set camp, reviewed glacier travel techniques and got used to fabulous views when the clouds lifted. By early evening a few other guided teams flew in and we chatted with the leaders, since we'll likely be seeing each other a bit in the weeks to come. There was a lot to get done on this day- there always is at the start of a big climb. But we got it done and the team is now resting. We were early to bed and we'll be early to rise tomorrow in the hopes of catching easier and safer conditions for travel in the cold part of the day. From what we could see from the airplane, the first part of our climb will be made easier by excellent snow coverage on the glacier surface. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

Friday June 12th 11:25 pm PT Upon our late arrival at Base Camp the weather started turning nasty, so we set up tents and burrowed into our sleeping bags. Lo and behold, upon awakening the skies had cleared and the mountain beckoned! We broke camp and descended the Southeast Fork Kahiltna to the Main Fork, turned up-glacier and headed toward Camp 1. The glacier route is in prime condition and we reached our camp in several hours taking in the spectacular mountain views around us. Everyone in the team is doing great and looking forward to our next objective, Camp ll. More later! RMI Guide Mike Haugen

On The Map

Today the team left the comfort of Quito to begin our journey south to Illiniza Norte (because Illiniza Sur is apparently hard so we’re going to skip it). Unfortunately, we had to make an early morning start to get from our rooms to the hotel lobby by 9am.

With everyone safely on the bus we began the drive south to a famous gas station to buy critical snacks, meet our local guides Gustavo, Felipe (one of RMI’s finest) and Jaime, and sign paperwork. After saying goodbye to the gas station (and the last real toilet) we continued our drive to the trail head where we met horses and mules to carry our gear to the refuge.

We are now furiously chomping down popcorn and hoping for a good climb tomorrow.

- RMI Climber, Joe Maguire & Team