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Cayambe Summit

The first six days of this trip feel like they move slowly. Acclimatization is not a quick process and it certainly makes the anticipation build. Each day it feels as if we are inching closer to Cayambe, literally. From the Hotel Mercure in Quito on day one, Cayambe occasionally pokes out in the distance. We hike Rucu Pichincha to get a slightly better view. As we drive north to go hiking, it occassionaly comes into better view, except that it often dips behind a nearby ridgeline. But then comes the day we move to the lower Cayambe hut and there it is, right in front of us in all of its beauty. We watch the sun rise and set on the mountain, the moon lights it up at night. The anticipation reaches a maximum the day we drive to the upper hut, where you can strap on your boots and climb the mountain. No more bus rides inching closer, no more distractions.

With all the time spent prepping and thinking about climbing this big mountain, the day finally came and when it did, the entire group made it to the top! We were fortunate enough to have a perfect weather day, practically windless and some slight overcast that was both picturesque and helped shade us from the intensity of the sun. The route itself was also in great shape, with just one serious crux to navigate near the top in the form of a large crevasse system at 18,500' that we had to descend into and then climb steeply out of. It honestly made for a great distraction from the difficulty of the high-altitude exercise. By 7am we were on top, high fiving, taking in the views and snagging a few photos before making what turned out to be a pretty quick descent of just under three hours.

Now we find ourselves on the move towards Cotopaxi. However, this time we do not have to repeat the same acclimatization schedule. Instead, we traveled for six hours yesterday to reach the Chilcabamba Eco Lodge, our lovely Andean home for two nights. We were jostled in pickup trucks coming down from the hut, jostled on the bus getting back to town and then fought traffic from the town of Cayambe to Machaci. Along the way we did stop to eat some lunch and resupply on snacks so that we could arrive at this peaceful place and enjoy a full rest day today. Tomorrow, we head for the Cotopaxi Hut with plans to climb in the night again. But for now, eating well, hydrating, stretching and reading are our focus.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

PC: Dustin Wittmier

Good evening! We enjoyed a sunny rest day at Alpamayo Base Camp. The weather here is incredible, and we took a small hike to Arwaycocha Lake a few hundred feet above camp to stretch our legs before reviewing climbing techniques with our ropes and hardware in the vicinity of our tents. We are hoping to head to Camp 1 tomorrow morning. We are all doing great and excited to move uphill. RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos and team

We saw the sun on day one and haven't really seen it since. The trend of southern flow pushing moisture our way continues, and it snowed off and on all day. While climbing on bright, bluebird days is nice, it really doesn't get much better than conditions today. While we couldn't see a lot, there was very little wind on a piece of the mountain that is known for wind, the clouds and snow kept the temps pleasantly cool, and the fresh snow has set up creating great cramponing conditions. We cruised out of camp a bit after the main rush, which kept us out of traffic all day. A few smooth stretches later, we rounded Windy Corner and reached our cache site. All told, the day was really smooth and pleasant, and we're feeling really good about getting a big chunk of weight uphill. On the docket for tomorrow is done hard chilling time, nap competitions, and general self care before we look to move to 14. RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Jenny Konway, Jess Matthews and Team

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

On The Map

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

On The Map

RMI Guide Brent Okita and the Four Day Summit Climb team were walking onto Columbia Crest, the highest point in Washington State, at 7:05 am this morning. The team climbed into a light cloud cap, but otherwise had calm weather. They are now en route back to Camp Muir. Congratulations to today's teams!

Greetings from Icchi Coccha. We're on our way out, camped at our same first camp on the way in... Since we were heading out earlier, it took a bit more logistics to organize our "donkey train". But these awesome guys made it happen for us and came with short notice. It's amazing how things work in these places, with no written contract, just a verbal agreement, and a satphone call to a distant neighbor of our cellphone-less mule driver, human sense is the common norm. "Someone needs me, I must assist" they must think. And a two-day journey uphill becomes a sprint so they can bring us back to our commodities. We left midday instead of early morning and decided to keep soaking in the greatness of the Andes, since pushing it all the way out with our late departure, would have us arriving late. So, here we are, enjoying another great meal from our cook Emilio, breathing thicker air, and witnessing the mountains getting bigger above us, as we descend. We look forward to a shower and clean clothes tomorrow, to catch up on emails, to a meal in a restaurant and to a room with clean sheets... but surely, and despite the "no summit" this year, the magnitude and majesty of these peaks will always be greater than any mundane human desire. RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos and team

Jambo everyone, Today we visited Ngorongoro Crater. The crater is roughly 100 square miles and is home for the 30,000 to 40,000 animals that have taken up residence. We hit the road early with hopes of catching a few more animals before the heat of the day. There were many sightings today of hyenas, jackles, ostrich, and countless other birds. We didn’t manage to see many lions, but did get pretty close to one big male. One of the highlights was seeing not one, but five Black Rhino which have become very rare do to poaching. We wrapped up the day with a visit to a Maasai village not far from the crater rim. The Maasai people are a semi-nomadic tribe that exist almost entirely off of their cattle. The team spent time asking questions and enjoyed being shown around their small and simple village. We have just finished another wonderful meal here at the Plantation Lodge under the stars and the full moon that hopefully everyone back home gets to see too. RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

Hey, Everybody! Casey Grom checking in again here on day 3 Kilimanjaro. Well, today was very similar to yesterday we started off and mostly clear skies we got about two 2 1/2 hours up the trail before the rains came back in. Luckily today's rains were bit shorter than yesterday's. We we're able to get all of our Gore-Tex on and umbrellas out and expedite our selves here to camp, which was pretty necessary considering all our stuff was already a little bit damp. Things are going pretty well. I'm sitting in my tent right now, I'm not sure if you can hear the rain coming down? It's still raining hard. Our crew has been fantastic, the porters that is. They have been able to get on the trail ahead of us, and get to our camp by the time we get there, and we've been able to have everything already set up and ready for us to dive into and get out of the rain! So a little bit like yesterday and we are hoping tomorrow will be dry. They are taking great care of it here, and we're all doing well. We're just a little tired of the rain right now, but we're going to take a little break, we're going to have some soup to warm ourselves up. It sounds like we're going to have a little cribbage tournament here in a little bit. That's all for now. RMI Guide Casey Grom & Team

Hello from Huaraz! Your ESS-Peru team is back safely in Huaraz after a week in the Ishinca Valley. Two successful summits, a lot of learning, a dash of weather and adversity, and several spectacular sunrises and sunsets were experienced during the last week in the mountains. We're happy to be enjoying this bustling beautiful city this evening, eating our favorite traditional Peruvian dishes, enjoying local cervezas, and watching the sun set over this spectacular mountain range. This evening brings us much needed rest and relaxation before our final four-day climb of 6,000+ meter Nevada Copa beginning tomorrow. We'll hike to base camp in the morning, with our exceptional cook staff in tow, ready to attempt our biggest objective of the trip. We'll keep you updated, wish us luck!! RMI Guides Robby Young, Steve Gately, and your ESS-Peru Team