Hi everyone! The RMI Aconcagua team is safely back at Base Camp. We are enjoying cokes and beers and just relaxing. I will be honest, most of us are exhausted, me included. It was a perfect summit day and it has taken its toll. We all deserve to relax and unwind. This is officially the last blog post for our team. We will walk out tomorrow and arrive in Mendoza on the 13th. Thanks for all of your support along the way. Ciao from Aconcagua.
RMI Guide JJ Justman and JM Gorum
Hey everyone. This is JJ Justman with Team Aconcagua. We are all up at High Camp, 19,600 feet. We've got camp built. We have the stoves fired as well. We're melting snow for water, getting some hot drinks going. It's a calm day right now, but the forecast is for a little bit of winds to pick up for tomorrow but then it's supposed to really be bad the next couple of days after, so we are taking advantage of this window. It's nice weather now- keep your fingers crossed for us that it will continue. We certainly are hoping that it will; but regardless, we'll have a safe climb tomorrow. We'll touch base with you. It's going to be very busy so don't worry. We're going to have a full day ahead of us but everyone is doing really well, which is the great thing. So I'm anticipating a fun summit climb tomorrow. Take care everyone. We'll touch base later on tomorrow whether we're on top of the summit or when we're on our way down. Take care everyone. Ciao from Argentina.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
RMI Guide JJ Justman calls in from Aconcagua High Camp.
Nice work mike. Just one foot in front of the other now. Praying for a Summit for you guys. Eric
Posted by: Eric on 2/10/2016 at 3:08 am
I wish I could be up there with you guys, YOU’VE GOT TO KEEP YOUR COMPOSURE!! And don’t forget your water shoes, you wouldn’t want JJ yelling at you.
Best of luck guys,
I’m pulling for you
Hello RMI Blog followers,
This is Team Russia coming at you live from the little town of Cheget. And as usual it was a fun adventure just to get here. The team was up early to head to the airport in Moscow where we hopped on our jet that flew us to Mineralnye Vody, known for its abundant mineral springs. But we are not on a spa retreat! We're climbing!
We jumped on our private transfer bus that shuttled us to this quaint little ski town. And upon arrival I was greeted with hugs and smiles from all my friends here that have assisted us over all these years. It's a long day of travel so the team just kicked back and took in the mountain views that we've been desperately waiting for. Finally!! We are in the mountains and the incredible mountain, Mt. Elbrus is a hop, skip and a jump away!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Hello, this is the Peru Seminar and Elías and Robby and Peter with the team at High Camp on Copa. We are currently at 5,200 meters. The crew climbed really well this morning. It took us slightly less than 4 hours to move from Base Camp to here, and we are currently settled in, cooking dinner, replenishing water, and getting ready for what's ahead tonight: the biggest of our objectives, Copa, at 6,200 meters. We'll be checking in tomorrow, hopefully from the summit, and stay tuned for more. That's it for now. Everybody's doing really well, and we wish everything is good at home. Bye!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos calls in from High Camp on Copa, Peru.
The Five-Day Climb led by RMI Guides Casey Grom, Tatum Whatford, and Brooks Ordway-Smith reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today at 12:50 p.m. Taking advantage of calm winds and clear skies, the team successfully ascended to Columbia Crest at 14,410 feet. They spent about an hour on the summit soaking in the views before beginning their descent.
The team is now safely back at Camp Muir, where they will spend one more night before continuing their descent to Paradise in the morning. Congratulations to all climbers on a fantastic summit day!
Greetings from Vinson Base Camp, 7000 feet in elevation on the Branscomb Glacier. We were reasonably confident that we’d get here today, but it wasn’t a slam dunk. The weather wasn’t quite right at the start of the day for flying through big mountains, so we took it easy, enjoying breakfast and lunch in the fine dining tent at Union Glacier. The clouds out at Vinson began to break and a Twin Otter fired up to start doing laps. Ours was the third lap... off and on again as clouds drifted in and out, but finally on for real. We left Union a bit after 4 PM and considered ourselves lucky to squeak in to VBC... there were no more laps after ours as snow clouds rolled into the Branscomb. We began building camp at 5 PM. It took a bit to get sorted out, dug in and anchored down, but we were right where we wanted to be for all of that. Eventually the team assembled for dinner in our very own, freshly built dining tent. The snow clouds rolled out again and we had views of Vinson’s great Western escarpment and even of the summit pyramid up at 16,000 ft. It stayed cloudy and murky in every other direction, but we got enough sun to make going to bed easy. It is definitely colder here, up about 4,000 feet higher than where we started today, but right now, at midnight it is pleasantly calm and the sun is shining on our camp.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The Team decided that they have had enough of the comforts of base camp...roasted lamb, showers, Internet and pit latrines and told the guides they trade it all in for pasta, dusty scree, interpersonal conversation and blue bags. With our lungs and legs feeling stronger after another rest day we cruised up to Camp 1 in under 5 hours and spent the remainder of the day setting up camp and enjoying the view. We can see the first hour and half towards Camp 2 and the red, brown and orange pastel colors of the Central Andes to the East. There is some apprehension in the group about what the coming days and weather will bring. So far everyone is acclimating well and excited to be finally heading up Aconcagua. Thanks for following along, we'll carry gear and supplies to Camp 2 tomorrow and check in with an update.
RMI Guide Mike King
Good on you, mate!! Have a safe climb and show em how we do it in Texas.
Posted by: Lee on 1/26/2018 at 8:09 pm
So good to hear your voice, Dave. Sorry to hear of the BP change you had. So you are on your way again, keep trucking! Enjoyed the post to you all by Rachel Ford, so fitting.
After a week on honing their alpine mountaineering and expedition skills on the Paradise Glacier, RMI Guide Christina Dale and the Expedition Skills Seminar - Paradise team successfully reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. Christina reported clear skies, warm temperatures, and light winds on the summit. The team started their descent and will be back at Ashford Basecamp later today.
Congratulations to today's team!
The Four Day Summit Climb June 4-7 led by RMI Guide Dave Hahn and the Five Day Summit Climb led by Pepper Dee were unable to reach the summit today due to high winds and deteriorating weather. Both teams ascended to 13,500' this morning but were forced to turn around due to weather. The teams will return to Camp Muir to re-pack and take a short rest before descending to Paradise.
We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Hello and congrats to all on the Hahn team. Outstanding “participation” on the climb and tremendous patience for putting up with the awkward sense of humor of a southern redneck. Y’all are forever in my memories! Thank you to the birthday girl Nikki, the leg model Solveig, and the man with the bed time stories Dave. Y’all took great care of us and are good folk to spend time on a mountain with! May the good Lord keep you safe on all your future expeditions!
Posted by: Keith Lineback on 6/8/2017 at 6:16 pm
The leader of a group of people have a great deal of responsibility in your case I Sincerely believesdid that You makes The right call,Hope that tomorrow will l be a better day, God bless you.
Posted by: Lauro De Leon Jr on 6/8/2017 at 2:02 pm
Well, we're on the mountain now! After a farewell breakfast with Mike King and company, our team loaded up packs with tents, sleeping bags, and high mountain essentials, and retraced our steps back up to Camp 1. Knowing the route, and averaging lighter packs than our carry day, everyone on the team made it up to 16,500 feet in fine form. We picked a campsite more or less in the middle of the sweeping moraine of camp 1, with fine views down the valley and up higher to Ameghino Col. Tents are set up, bellies are full of Mac and Cheese, and we're getting ready to hit the hay on our first night above basecamp.
Love from the hill!
RMI Guides Mark Tucker and Pepper
Congratulations on your summit mike. That was huge…. Eric
Posted by: Eric on 2/12/2016 at 2:45 am
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