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Our Four Day Summit Climb teams for August 17 - 20 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The teams enjoyed beautiful weather with clear skies and a lots of bright moon light. After spending time in the crater, they started their descent. As of 7:00 am PT, RMI Guides Elias de Andres Martos and Mike King reported that they were descending Disappointment Cleaver. We look forward to greeting the teams at BaseCamp this afternoon. Congratulations to today Summit Climbers!

Monday, May 9, 2016 - 11:35 p.m. PDT Hello from 11,000' on Denali! Our team had a great day today, as we were able to travel back down glacier to retrieve our cache. Now we're back at 11,000' and after a fulfilling dinner of quesadillas we are all set to make another carry up around Windy Corner (13,600') tomorrow, weather permitting. The weather forecast looks good for the next few days, and we're psyched to take advantage of it. It will be nice to trade in our sleds and snowshoes for ice axes and crampons. The approach is over and the climb is beginning. RMI Guide Mike Walter and team

On The Map

As I write, the band is cranking here at the Dik Dik. We had a great departure from the mountain this morning with perfect weather.....again. What a packed week we had up on the Roof of Africa?! To be a guest in a foreign county is something special and this group shined at embracing the local staff as friends, not just someone for hire. The local staff were all so much a part of our success; it was tough to say goodbye. The time you spend on these big mountains is extreme in many ways and you always learn something about yourself and others. It's a special and hard to describe experience. Tomorrow we will continue to cut a swath through Tanzania as we head over to Lake Manyara National Park for our first day on safari. We're pumped! Don't forget to kiss the Blarney before you're next adventure! RMI Guide Mark Tucker

We decided this morning to take a Groundhog Day at Camp 2 on Aconcagua. With gusty winds swirling around camp, the group thought about it and decided that another day of acclimatization would make everyone stronger. We have plenty of extra days to spare, and an important skill here in the mountains is being able to curb our enthusiasm to rush in higher and make the necessary adjustments to set us up for success. We spent the day sorting snack food, playing cards, and trading food with tent mates. At this point in the trip, the grass is always greener in a neighbor's snack bag, since things that looked so delicious when we were shopping have come to look much less appetizing with too many repetitions. It is exciting to get some new additions, and some of the card games started taking on snack food bets. Our plan is to head up to camp 3 tomorrow weather permitting, which will put us in place for our summit attempt. Hasta mañana, RMI Guides Pete, Alex, Juan, and the gang.

On The Map

With no agenda today but resting, we had a casual breakfast and a lazy morning. Many cups of coffee were enjoyed as we all sat around the table chit-chatting. As the afternoon rolled up Mike King and team strolled into camp. They had a successful summit yesterday and looked eager to get out of their boots. It was great catching up with them and hearing about their climb. It just adds more excitement for the team to hear what is coming next from those who were just there. Our day is coming soon but first we have to move to Camp 1. Tomorrow we will pack up our things and leave the joys of basecamp. Tomorrow we will be one step closer. All the best, RMI Guide Hannah Smith and team

Saturday, June 2, 2018 - 8:30 pm PT We woke to perfect weather so we fired up the stoves, had a hot breakfast and packed up camp. We were climbing before 9am, headed up toward the headwall en route to 17k camp. The weather was perfect and so were the views. We made it to camp in six hours. And then it took us another couple of hours to build camp, and another few on top of that for us to get dinner made (our stoves are rather anemic at this altitude). If all goes well, we'll try for the top tomorrow. We'll see what the weather throws at us in the morning, but the forecast remains good through mid week. RMI Guide Mike Walter

On The Map

We awoke this morning from the heat in our tents, the sun was shining and the winds had died. Eager to move higher, we packed up our home for the past three nights at Camp 1. With heavy packs we set off confidently, knowing we had already covered the ground between camps two days ago. After four hours of steady rest steps we reached Camp 2. We dug out the cache and set up camp with the efficiency of an experienced team. We moved into our tents just in time to hide out from a sudden snow storm. Our whole team can proudly report feeling healthy at this new elevation. RMI Guide Mark Tucker

On The Map

The team has left Basecamp! We are officially on the mountain now, and our timing could not have been better. When we arrived in Basecamp we were the only ones there, and as of yesterday evening there were 64 people. We have all of Camp One to ourselves, however, and we should stay about a step ahead of the masses. The group broke down camp quickly this morning, we ate a nice breakfast, finalized our plans with the Basecamp staff, and hit the trail by 8:45. A nice breeze kept things cool for us today. We got to camp around 1:15 this afternoon, and set up camp efficiently. This group doesn't mess around with tents. A couple hours of hardcore, downright chillin' brought us to an early dinner of ravioli, and lentils and rice for our more gluten-challenged climbers. A surly snow squall sent everyone to their tents after dinner, and that's where we are now. Everyone is feeling great, and our plan is to carry to Camp 2 tomorrow. The team sends their best to everyone back at home. RMI Guide JM Gorum

On The Map

It was nice to wake up at Vinson Basecamp. We started the stoves at 8:30 AM when it was nice and sunny, but still a little chilly with cold air flowing gently down the glacier. The consensus was for moving lock-stock-and-barrel up to Low Camp but we had a fair bit of organizing and packing to do first. We took a break from it all for a time and went to sit with ALE’s basecamp manager, Darren, while he briefed us on current route conditions, communication schedules, etc. At 2:20 we were ready to roll and went slowly out of basecamp, roped together, carrying heavy packs and dragging heavy sleds. It was a beautiful day, but we were a little surprised when a layer of cloud formed up. That ended up being a good thing though as without it we’d have baked in the sunshine. The terrain wasn’t so complicated or difficult for the most part but the couple of hills we had to chug up got everybody’s attention. Crevasses were lurking, but we had good route conditions and no dicey bridges to cross. We pulled into 9,200 ft at 8:20 PM as expected, and set to work getting situated at Low Camp. The cloud cover was kind enough right then to go away, giving us nice warm sunshine and big views of Shinn and Epperly, the next spectacular peaks to Vinson’s north. And with full visibility we could crank our necks to see Vinson’s giant western rock escarpment towering about a vertical mile above us. We ate a late supper and headed to bed, still in strong sunshine... we should get it until about 3 AM here. RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

This is Avery and Eric Frank's North Cascades team calling from the summit of Sahale today. We've had an absolutely beautiful day, couldn't ask for better weather. Managed to summit early in the day and get some training in in preparation for a Forbidden summit tomorrow. Going to get some rest tonight. And get ready for the Forbidden summit in the morning. Thanks for following along. RMI Guides Avery Parrinello and Eric Frank