Most Popular Entries

Whoah... Long day of traveling today. We assembled at 5:30 am in the hotel lobby and were picked up by our driver who helped us beat the Moscow traffic on our transfer over to the airport. It was a beautiful morning for navigating Aeroflot's complicated check in process but we were able to get it all done relatively quickly making time to grab some breakfast at an airport cafe before heading through security. Our flight itself was smooth, and our ride from Mineralnye Vody to Cheget went smoothly as well despite hot temps and many cows in the road. The team is relaxing after our dinner and hoping to catch up on a little sleep. Sometimes days where you just sit in on vehicle and then another can be the most tiring. RMI Guide Billy Nugent & Team

Our RMI Alpamayo July 19th team has arrived. Late last and into the wee hours of the morning the team arrived in Lima and headed for our hotel. We met for breakfast and then loaded our van and began our 8 hour journey to Huaraz. We were all sound asleep before the van had left the busy streets of Lima. We traveled north along to coast for four hours before stopping for lunch. In the afternoon we started climbing up the narrow mountain road and eventually descended into the town of Huaraz. Huaraz is like the Chamonix of Peru, this beautiful town is at 10,000' and offers some amazing views of the central Cordillera Blanca. After settling into our very nice hotel we met our local guide, William, who showed us around the town and soon found ourselves at the Cafe Andino, the climbers Mecca in Huaraz, so we stopped in for dinner. We are all still tired and jet lagged so we are heading to bed early. Tomorrow we will go for a nice day hike to stretch the legs a bit. Everyone is doing great and the excitement is high. Thanks for following along. RMI Guide Geoff Schellens

May 22, 2016 - 11:34 p.m. PDT We climbed out of the tents this morning hopeful that we would head uphill to cache. Though there was a cap on the summit, the ridge of the West Buttress looked doable. As we fired the stoves though that situation began to change as the cap lowered and the winds over the Buttress picked up. By the end of breakfast we had changed our minds and decided to stay put. That was further reinforced when a climbing ranger stopped by to let us know that NOAA had called with a special weather advisory with high winds and snow. The rangers have taken to naming the storms; this one is Denali storm Daryl. We spent the day resting and hibernating in tents, though so far Daryl has been pretty gentle with us. Tomorrow sounds like it will be another rest day, but if we wake up to something unexpected, we'll rally and get our cache in. Fra Tomas: Gratulerer med dagen Sinnekka! Jeg elsker deg, din Tomas. Signing off, RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Jess Matthews, and Robby Young, and team

On The Map

We woke this morning to a quiet refugio but that didn't last long... The weekend hordes of locals would soon overwhelm the small refugio and unfortunately for us, the weather wasn't really cooperating for our planned day of training up on the glacier. Despite gusts to 50 mph and sideways drizzle we geared up and tried to make our way up towards the glacier. We didn't last long. After making our way up some 600 or 700 feet we were getting blasted by even stronger winds and getting wet to boot. We pulled the plug and headed back for cover, ultimately using a rock ridge for some protection. It was barely enough for us to get the training in we'll need for tonight's attempt at the Cayambe summit. Luckily, the wind is backing off a bit along with the crowds of day visitors and we are hoping both trends continue and allow us to make an honest crack at the summit. I'll check in tomorrow evening and let ya'll know how it went, RMI Guide Billy Nugent

On The Map

The Four Day Summit Climb September 6 - 9 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. RMI Guide Steve Gately and team were 100% to the summit. Steve reported clouds and winds to the top of Disappointment Cleaver with winds 10-20 mph. The climbers left the crater rim just before 8 AM en route to Camp Muir. Once back at camp they will repack and continue down to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp later this afternoon. Congratulations to today's climbers!

Monday, June 25, 2018 - 10:52 PM PT At six AM, things were looking positive... not much sign of wind and the upper portions of Denali’s West Buttress were in the clear. We got up and got going slowly in order to keep an eye out for changes... and to enjoy a leisurely breakfast of bacon and eggs. We set out from camp at 9:30 in our crampons and carrying ice axes, feeling a little more like climbers. Nice to take a break from snowshoes and from sled hauling. We carried food and fuel for caching, but each of us elected to put it all on our backs and to give the sleds the day off. First up was Motorcycle Hill, a steep but short (40 minute) glacial slope, next we got on squirrel hill, which brought us to the Polo Field -the glacial basin at the foot of the West Buttress. By then we were watching dramatic clouds beginning to form atop the high mountains. Another hour brought us to Windy Corner, which was just starting to get a little breezy when we turned the corner and reached our destination at 13,500 ft. By the time we were digging a raven-proof pit in the snow to bury our supplies, things had whited out and the snow was starting to fall. We’d taken a respectable 4 hours to reach the intended cache, we spent 45 minutes there getting everything squared away and then took just a further 90 minutes to walk back down through the snowstorm to camp at 11,000. There were plenty of other guided parties from different companies on the route today but we all worked well together and there were no traffic jams. Back at camp by 3:45 we snoozed until dinner time. Several of us admitted to being a little tired after this fine day of climbing... but that is not such a bad thing. We’ve planned a rest day for tomorrow and we’ll hope the snow takes a holiday as well. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos checked in this morning with the great news that he and 100% of his team reached the summit of Alpamayo. The team climbed strong and reached the top at 6:30 am local time. Elias reported very cold temperatures. They are back at camp resting now and will check in later today. Congratulations Team!

Sunday, March 5, 2017 After trickling in from various airports around the US, our team gathered in Mexico City to kick off the trip. We enjoyed our first Mexican meal together and talked about the upcoming climbs. This morning, after a delicious breakfast at Hotel Geneve, the team departed from Mexico City and arrived at La Malinche, an extinct volcano towering over the historical Mexican Olympic training facility. We arrived around noon, and headed out on an acclimatization hike shortly after. Everyone felt great and we were able to climb uphill for over three hours. This was enough to get us above treeline where we could enjoy the beautiful views of the plains below. Once we were back down in camp, we settled into cabins, then enjoyed a dinner of grilled meats and veggies along with fresh guacamole and home tortilla chips! Now we are tucked in bed trying to get a good night's rest and prepare for our upcoming move to Ixta Base Camp. Thanks for following along. RMI Guides Eric Frank and Jenny Konway and the Mexico's Volcanoes crew

On The Map

January 3, 2016 5:25 am PT All is well here at Mweka Camp at 10,000 ft. Climb went like clock work. Left for the summit just after midnight under clear skies and light wind. Par for the course, a bit chilly. The team did a fine job all day climbing in good style and working well together. Right now we are enjoying peanuts and popcorn awaiting an early dinner, the sooner we can get in our sleeping bags the better. Early hike in the morning to the park gate. January 2, 2016 10:15 pm PT Mark Tucker here checking in from the the top of Kilimanjaro! Looks like I've got the whole team standing here with me. Great day. Fantastic job coming up the hill and our stellar stand out, Tess, crushed it! We are all doing well. Going to make our way down the hill back to high camp and could sweep on into Mweka Camp. We will check in later. All is good in the hood. Thanks for following. RMI Guide Mark Tucker

On The Map

Hello 14!!! We headed out of the 11,200’ Camp at eleven o’clock this morning and arrived at 14,000’ at six o’clock in the evening. Getting around Windy Corner was very smooth even with our big packs on. Once we got to camp we busied ourselves getting camp ready and building snowblock walls. Everyone was plenty tired after a hard days work and we all crawled into our tents as soon as dinner was over.

On The Map