Hey, everyone, this is JJ and Mike and Team Mexico. I'm going to give everyone 3 seconds to guess, that's right, three seconds to guess where we are. You don't need that much time you guessed it, we are all 100%, the entire team, is on the summit of Ixta as we speak. I'll tell you what, it was a beautiful day climbing, actually probably my best day on Ixta of all my years, over a decade of coming here. Just a beautiful day climbing and a great strong team, we worked hard but everyone did well. We are taking a few summit photos, have a little bit of water and food and then we are going to throw the rucksacks back on and head down hill. Don't go too far away we are going to go all the way down to Puebla later this afternoon. And I'm going to hopefully make a summit video as well as post a few photos. Thanks for following along. We are really excited to be up here and we really appreciate your support. So stay tuned a little later and you'll see how beautiful today was climbing. Take care everyone, chao from the summit of Ixta.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
RMI Guide JJ Justman calls from the summit of Ixtaccihuatl, 17,340', Mexico.
Congrats to Rhonda and the rest of the team. Stay strong and be safe.
Posted by: Judy on 11/11/2015 at 10:13 am
Awesome!! Congratulations on summiting Ixta! We love the blog and hearing how the expedition is progressing. Can’t wait to see the photos and videos! Hello to our son, Nick:-)!! Good luck with the rest of the week.
RMI Guide Jess Wedel and custom climbing team reached the summit of Glacier Peak yesterday evening just in time to watch the sunset from the top.
With the forecast for the next couple of days looking rather grim, the team took advantage of the good weather and made their summit bid on the second night of their trip, after a successful climb the team returned to camp in the early morning for some much needed sleep. They will spend today at Glacier Gap camp and descend to the trailhead for the conclusion of their trip tomorrow morning.
Jess, Thanks for putting up with all my complaining, and keeping me from throwing in the towel with 1000 feet to the summit. What an amazing sunset summit. Truely breathtaking. Best wishes on your next adventures!
Posted by: Brian Dury on 7/23/2025 at 10:08 am
Thanks for an amazing trip Jess!! I’ll never forget that sunset summit!
You just can't make this stuff up folks. It started as a normal morning. We woke and ate rice portage, followed by some confusion on when we were leaving and how far we would go. This relaxed sense of time and a schedule is called Nepali time. Everything takes longer then you think and no one has a direct answer. We sat around a bit then we were informed there was going to be a goat sacrifice. Bells, chanting and smoke filled the air as a momma goat and and baby goat were taken into the temple and killed. Then the goats were decapitated by the teeth of a priest. Shortly afterwards we ate some bread and piece of goat and were on our way to the next camp. After walking roughly four hours we arrived to our jungle camp, a forest of marijuana. The porters took machetes to the marijuana, stumped it down, then we set up our tents. With so many people it is a sea of yellow tents, with no room to walk between them. As I write this it has began to sprinkle a little, so we are settling into our home for the night and having tea time. Tomorrow we will hit the trail again, getting closer to our Base Camp.
Talk to you later,
RMI Guide Hannah Smith
Geez Louise! Like I said, what you are experiencing is like a movie! Small town minnesota girl! Who would ever dream that you would be doing what you are!
Hello everyone,
All is well here in the beautiful Khumbu Valley. Today was a scheduled rest/acclimatization day, so we did just that. After breakfast we made a long slow climb up the big hill that’s just behind our tea house. We climbed just up over 16,000ft to help our bodies adjust to the upcoming altitude of BC (base camp). The team did great and thoroughly enjoyed the amazing views in nearly all directions. We could see Makalu in the far off distance which is the world's seventh highest mountain, as well as countless other huge mountains. It’s very surreal to be higher than anyplace in the continental US and be surrounded by so many big mountains.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing at the tea house chatting with other trekkers and recovering from our day’s outing.
Most of us took showers again and rewarmed ourselves by the big wood stove that burns dried Yak dung, just as the Sherpa people have done for centuries. We are a little ways above tree line and firewood is scarce, but Yak dung is plentiful.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and a warm crew
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Elias de Andres Martos climbed to 12,700' this morning, but were forced to turn due to icy and firm route conditions. The team has started their descent and are en route to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's team!
June 5, 2017
Day 16 of the hostage crisis and negotiations are at a standstill. Apparently, those that hold the key to the summit have not been impressed with our payment so far. Climbing through a cold and snowy first week and a half impressed no one. Then they would not recognize the currency of toil that got us and all our food and gear to 17,200'. We missed a golden opportunity by a day, as the winds picked up last night, shaking the fabric of our tents and blowing light plumes of snow higher off the mountain.
These conditions entitled the team to breakfast in bed this morning, considering that we left our Posh House at 14,200' to reduce our loads a bit.
But, the sun is shining, we have plenty of food and fuel, and our spirits are still high. After a post breakfast siesta we'll get to work building walls around our new home to keep the tents a little more protected.
We'll be ready to rock this mountain just as soon as she gives us a chance,
Staying warm enough,
RMI Guides Brent, Christina and JT
May 14, 2017 - 9:35 am PT
The May 12th Denali Team is loaded and ready to climb. We spent yesterday in town packing, repacking, sorting food, and enjoying the Talkeetna restaurant scene. Our bags are weighed, sorted, and now we just need weather to fly. Rain moved in overnight, but the news this morning is that weather in the range is good, so once things clear out here, we should be ready to launch for base camp. Hopefully that's sooner than later. We'll give another shout this evening and let everyone know how it went.
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
Really awesome feeling to see all the progress guys :) Keep going and be safe…
Raghu- Mauna is doing great… :) can’t wait to hear the stories of the journey and of course to see all those beautiful pictures ;)
Lax
-Thanks for the updates !! and we are waiting everyday for the new post..
Posted by: Lakshmi gompa on 5/19/2017 at 12:51 pm
Hey there Jt!
I know you are having the time of your life now and I am so happy for you! You’re on my mind and in my heart daily. I know you will do great! I can’t wait to see all the beautiful pictures and hear the amazing stories when you get back. I love you bunches!
With love,
Crystal
(To the whole team, prayers and best of luck! You got this!)
Posted by: Crystal Kingsbury on 5/16/2017 at 5:22 am
The good weather had to leave us at some point. The rain bounced off our tents most of the night and started to lighten up as we departed camp. This is our last full day on the Inca Trail.
We hiked along amazing stone work and paths, ascending to 12,130'. This has been our shortest day and we got the opportunity to see two Incan sites that are still nearly original. The team took the afternoon to see Winaywayna and some llamas keeping the grass under control.
As the sun sets, light clouds are floating in the valley and occasionally offering views of high glaciated peaks. We are getting an early start so Machu Picchu won't be quite as crowded. Five days have flown by and the team, while eager to visit the main site, is already reminiscing on our first few days in the High Andes, oh and eager for a shower.
We will check in from Machu Picchu pueblo/Aquas Calientes tomorrow afternoon.
RMI Guide Mike King
After meeting up for a phenomenal opening dinner of sushi and ceviche in Lima last night, the Artesonraju-Frank team was back up early this morning. We caught a 5:30 a.m. cab to the Lima airport, and had anticipated being in Huaraz for breakfast- a quick one hour flight away. Instead, our carrier LC Peru, had oversold our flight and despite having confirmed reservations we were told there were not any seats available for us. A terse hour of back and forth conversation with the ticket agent about finding additional seats for us, and the exact definition of of the phrase "confirmed reservation" yielded nothing. Eventually we gave in and did the only thing we could in such a situation - took a series deep breaths, bought a couple cups of burnt airport coffee and started looking for other options to cover the 300 miles to Huaraz.
Three cab rides, four bus stops and ten hours later, were finally here in Huaraz only slightly worse for the wear. In many ways, developing world travel is a lot like the mountains. Things are always changing and if you wanna succeed, you have to stay on your toes! Thanks for following along. We be out of the city, and into the mountains in a couple days, headed for a ultimate objective- Artesonraju!
RMI Guide Eric Frank and the Arteson Crew
June 18, 2016 - 12:40 am PT
Hi all, sorry there hasn't been a dispatch since we summited, we've been busy and on the move a lot. The team did a fantastic job climbing the Upper Rib yesterday and we all made the summit just after 7:00 PM. After some hugs, photos, and congratulations we began our descent down to 17 Camp on the West Buttress. Thirteen hours after we started climbing we were crawling into our tents, exhausted but very satisfied with our accomplishment. This morning we woke up early to get low on the mountain before the 50 mph forecasted winds rolled in this afternoon. I am truly amazed at how strong this team is, even after a big summit day everyone climbed very well as we made our way down the Buttress and fixed lines to 14 Camp. Here we took about an hour to retrieve our cache and re pack before we hit the trail to 11 Camp. I thought for sure folks would be tired at 11 camp, but no. We dug up our cache here rigged for traveling with sleds and kept descending. We are currently at the base of Ski Hilll, 7800', getting a little rest and waiting for the cold of the night before we walk the lower Kahiltna Glacier back to the landing strip. Weather permitting we will be on board an airplane first thing in the morning.
Thanks so much for following along throughout our expedition
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens and the Upper West Rib Team
WOW! I just finished reading all the posts and looking at the beautiful pics & I am in awe of all you (collectively) have accomplished! I guess to say u feel “on top of the world” would likely be an understatement! Safe journey to all on ur decent! Can’t wait to hear the stories!
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Congrats to Rhonda and the rest of the team. Stay strong and be safe.
Posted by: Judy on 11/11/2015 at 10:13 am
Awesome!! Congratulations on summiting Ixta! We love the blog and hearing how the expedition is progressing. Can’t wait to see the photos and videos! Hello to our son, Nick:-)!! Good luck with the rest of the week.
Posted by: Julie Beres on 11/11/2015 at 7:35 am
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