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The Four Day Summit Climb teams led by RMI Guides Elías de Andrés Martos and Solveig Waterfall topped out on Mt. Rainier early this morning with winds around 50-60 mph. As of 7:18AM, they were at 13,600’ on their descent. It was a very cold, windy climb for them. Congratulations to today's team!

May 20, 2017 We spent today building more snow walls for our camp, and trying to stay warm. Temps stayed cold today as our camp in Genet Basin was in the clouds and snow most of the day. The morning dawned clear though, save for another lenticular cloud on Denali's summit, a not-so-subtle hint of the strong winds above. Our team is hanging in there, but we sure would like to see a change in this weather. We'll keep you in the loop. RMI Guide Mike Walter

On The Map

Howdy folks, We have just kicked off our next Ecuador Volcanoes program here in Quito.  With most of our team arriving late last night, we spent day one casually around town. After a large buffet breakfast we went on a four-hour city tour where we visited the equator along with some key landmarks throughout the old city of Quito.  Even though this wasn't quite as relaxing as laying by a pool all day, it is important that we keep some blood flowing for acclimatization. Just by being in this city we are starting this process because it sits at 9000'.   Once we returned to our hotel and did a gear check the team was ready for a little fun, so we checked out one of Quito's new micro breweries.  The pale ale was on par and the chili cheese fries were among the best I ever had. Finally we will go to dinner tonight so we can pack on a few more calories before we start burning them tomorrow on our first acclimatization hike up Rucu Pichincha.  A small 15,700-foot hill right outside town. Stay tuned to follow the rest of our journey through the Andean high country! RMI Guide Ben Liken

The Mt. Rainier Summit Climb, led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Nick Hunt, made a successful summit at around 7:30 this morning. Dave reported cold conditions with 10mph winds blowing from the north. With favorable weather, the teams were able to spend an hour on the summit prior to starting their descent. This week’s Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir headed up the snowfield this morning. They will spend the week learning many expedition skills and finishing with a summit bid later in the week.

The mountain was calling and we answered. We spent the last two days making our way towards Elbrus. Our apologies for the lack of a dispatch yesterday, but the small city of Kislovodsk that is our jumping off point is not a hotbed of wifi access. Some smooth flights got us that far yesterday, and we spent the afternoon shopping for food and putting the final touches on our expedition preparations. We were overjoyed when the bags for three of our team members finally arrived in Moscow, and they were able to grab them and rejoin us late last night. The woes of travel. This morning we boarded a new off-road sprinter van type machine that our driver Alexei referred to as his "Russian hammer," and started the winding drive through the steppes of the Caucasus. After an hour and a bit we left the pavement and set out along the four wheel road - which at times had our hearts creeping towards our mouths with the precipitous slopes that drop from the side of the road - that takes us to base camp at 8,300'. We arrived, said goodbye to Alexei, whose jolly laugh had kept the mood light, and set up our compound. An afternoon hike into the surrounding hills let us stretch our legs and find an incredible waterfall that cuts straight through a large rock ridge, reemerging on the other side. An afternoon siesta led to dinner, and just as we were ready to serve it up, the rain started with a few flashes of lightning. We retreated to our tents with our meals, and are now getting ready to hit the hay as we listen to rain drops beat a percussion on our tents, happy to be dry. All the best from here, RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, JM Gorum, and team

On The Map

The May 15 - 20 Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir teams finished up their training at Camp Muir this morning. With a successful summit climb on Wednesday the teams spent yesterday working on crevasse rescue training. Today they packed up and left Camp Muir shortly before 11 am headed for Paradise. We look forward to seeing them later today. Congratulations to the Seminar Teams!

Once the sun hit the tents, camp came alive with teams rustling around, getting breakfast going and packing up. It seemed everyone was either carrying to Camp 2 or moving. We were carrying. After breakfast, we packed our bags and hit the trail once again. It was a busy day for the porters. Many of them with loads of 30-40kg cruising up the mountain as we all said, "Hola." With our own loads on our backs, we too made our way up the mountain to our future home Guanacos Camp aka Camp 2. It felt good to go higher and breathe in the thinning air. It just means our summit push is getting closer and closer. Once again as the sun sinks behind the ridge a chill fills the air and we all go back to our tents to get warm. Tomorrow we will be enjoying a rest day before we move up to Camp 2 the following day. Goodnight, RMI Guide Hannah Smith and team

On The Map

We woke up this morning at 19,600 feet in the cold, windy environment of high camp. It’s pretty hard to get moving when you have already accomplished your goal, but we rolled out of our cozy sleeping bags and packed up our tents. The warmth and WiFi of basecamp were calling our names. We made great time heading down hill, and arrived at Plaza Argentina around 3 pm. We sat down at our table and waited patiently for four hours until dinner time. Once the food came out, everyone stopped talking. Once the food stopped coming, we did some quick organizing for our walk out tomorrow. Now we’re all huddled up in a dome tent having a team slumber party. The Russians next door are serenading us with all genres of music. You might think that would hinder our sleep, but we are 6,000 feet lower than we were last night, so I’m betting everybody will sleep just fine. RMI Guide JM Gorum

The Mt. Rainier Summit Climb, led by RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer, turned at the top of the Nisqually Cleaver. The team encountered some gusty winds and were turned at 13,400 feet.

Karanga Camp was kind to us. After a calm, full moon night there, we had an easy and pleasant morning above the clouds. Those that got up in the night even glimpsed the lights of Moshi and other cities shining up from far below. We left just before 9 AM and made our way up broad and open terrain with the great cliffs and glaciers of Kibo towering overhead. With little or no vegetation in this alpine zone it was possible to see hundreds of porters, climbers, guides and assorted staff stretching out forever ahead of and behind us. We made good time on the relatively easy path and pulled into our 15,200 ft high camp at noon with everybody feeling strong and cheerful. Barafu Camp is on a rock ridge with grand views of the climb to come and of just about everything else in the universe. Clouds built up in the afternoon, which we welcomed for giving a little relief from the strong high altitude sunshine. We ate, and ate, and ate as Tosha Minja, our remarkable chef served up a feast to remember. We'll rest a bit now, eat an early supper and turn in early as well. We've got big work to do in the night, a climb to the Roof of Africa... Luckily, we've got 11 strong and eager climbers and seven capable and enthusiastic guides to help get the job done. Best regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map