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The Four Day Summit Climb Team led by RMI Guides Adam Knoff and Andy Bond reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. Andy reported clear skies, cold temperatures and great route conditions. The team will spend some time on the Summit before starting their descent. Congratulations to today's team!

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons Team led by RMI Guide Robby Young were turned at 13,200' on their summit attempt of Mt. Rainier via the Emmons route due to high winds and deteriorating weather. The team will be spending the afternoon learning crevasse rescue, and plan to return to Ashford Basecamp tomorrow afternoon. Congratulations team!

Greetings! Today was a great day for the first day of our Alpamayo Expedition: stellar landscape on the acclimatization hike, for a stellar crew, on stellar weather. This third year of Alpamayo Expeditions for RMI looks very promising! We hiked up to 14,400' to our traditional destination of Lake Churup, and we had incredible views of the range, the glacial lake and the mountain of the same name. We hiked back to town and had a team lunch before returning to our hotel for some packing and relaxing. We're heading tomorrow to the trailhead. Everyone is doing great and is very excited. We'll be checking from the trail from now on! Best, RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos and team

I can't remember the last time I woke up in a room of ten other people and everyone felt hungover. Come to think of it, it was probably the last time I was here. I hope all of you in the blogosphere don't think I am telling all the climbers on my team that chugging beer is a good idea before spending our first night above 15,000 feet. Quite the contrary actually but no matter how many preventative measures we take, the first night sleeping this high always produces hangover-like symptoms the next morning. Fortunately these symptoms are more easily combated and by 8:30 a.m. the team was feeling much better. Out hut sits at 15,300 feet on a beautiful rocky ridge. We were blessed this morning with glorious views of Antisana, our next major objective and Cotopaxi, Ecuador's most famous mountain. Sadly she is suffering from a bit of indigestion and burps up large amounts of lava and ash. Not good for climbers wanting to look into her crater. Anyway, Cayambe is in great shape so making good use of our expedition's best morning, we pack our things and hiked a solid hour to the glacier. Here we reviewed basic skills then got into a fun crevasse rescue scenario. Our high point for today was almost 16,500', a new altitude record for many on the team. We knew time was getting close to head down, not when the dark clouds began to threaten rain but when a large local family arrived on the glacier next to us in tennis shoes and began taking their clothes off. At one point I was trying to review how to tie a friction hitch when a large man began screaming for a photo while doing jumping jacks in a speedo. Most likely the weirdest thing I've ever seen on a glacier. Once down we all rested and then packed for our big night tonight. We plan to "wake up" at 11:00 p.m. to begin our climb. Wish us luck! It is raining now so think dry thoughts as well. Hasta Manana, RMI Guide Adam Knoff and team

Mark Tucker here at Kilimanjaro International Airport. Wi-Fi is a bit tough to get, as you can imagine out here in the bush, so I'm doing a quick voice call to say we had a great trip. Thanks for checking in. We had a wonderful evening at the Kikoti Lodge. We went for a sunset hike to the rock, about a mile or so with a guide because we are outside of the park. Saw a few tracks and a beautiful sunset. We had the Lodge come pick us up in a four-wheel drive for the ride home and then the scourning... Lo-and-behold 15 feet from the trail that I was on, a large male with his girlfriend- a big, old lion. I was cohabitating with the beasts. I don't know, ignorance is bliss, I guess. Pretty exciting. Lots of buffalo today, and elephants and everything else you can imagine on the way out of the park. Then a quick snack and a shower before the big journey home. But fear not, we've got the infamous Seth Waterfall right behind me. You guys can stay tuned and listen to his action up on the hill. All is well here. Everybody's making their way back to the homeland, doing just fine. Thanks for watching. RMI Guide Mark Tucker

Hola from Ecuador!

The team arrived late last night after some long and late arriving flights. Today we started our day with a team meeting where we did our usual round of introductions to get to know each other and then discussed the game plan for our upcoming 11 day adventure here in Ecuador.

After the meeting we headed out on the town to explore this beautiful historical city with our local and very knowledgeable tour guide Gloria and trusty drive Angel. We first headed to the southern part of Quito to a big hill called La Panacia that over looks this beautiful city. Then made our way on foot to the oldest parts of Quito, to take in the sights, admire the colonial Spanish architecture, and visit one of the many old churches found here Quito.

We finished our tour with of course a visit to the Equator from which Ecuador derivesits name, stopping by a museum that had a pretty interesting collection as well as some unique test that attempt to prove it’s the actual middle of the world.

We wrapped up the day with a quick gear check to make sure everyone has all the gear needed for our climbs. Then it was off to dinner at a nice restaurant where we were enjoyed getting to know each other better.

RMI Guides Casey Grom, Jackson Breen and the the Quito Crew!

We've gotten eleven climbers -and their gear- through an assortment of aircraft and airports to the outskirts of Arusha, Tanzania. What with ample jet lag, it can't be declared with certainty that all are now sleeping at the Arumeru River Lodge, but all are now in residence (at 4 AM). In a few hours, we'll wake up to begin a Kilimanjaro adventure. It will begin with coffee and a velvet monkey or two out in the garden-like patio of the lodge. We'll eat breakfast (if the monkeys don't) and meet finally as one big team to figure out the start of our week-long climb to the highest point in Africa. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

RMI Guides Tyler Jones and Mike King led their Four Day Summit Climb August 21 - 24 to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The cloud deck remains below Camp Muir so the team was able to enjoy clear skies during their climb and from the summit crater before starting their descent. Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams! Thanks to all the guides for their hard work over the last few days to re-establish a route above the top of Disappointment Cleaver!

AMO MEXICO These climbing expeditions are so much more than putting one foot in front of the other for hours on end. It really is fun and exciting pushing yourself way beyond what you think is your limit. Such a great mental boost and refreshing perspective you return home with that your friends, family and co-workers always benefit from the zest for life you exude. A few hour drive, seamless check in and the team is on the way home. We all not only climbed the third tallest mountain in North America, but were true ambassadors. Thank you team for representing the USA with great poise. Have I told you guys what a great job you did! RMI Guide Mark Tucker

June 27, 2016 - 11:08 pm PT Another murky day, weatherwise. It was snowing lightly when we checked things at 6:45 AM, but it was calm and there were hints of clearing in some of the cloud layers stacked above us. We got up and had a slow and substantial breakfast as we watched the skies. With a few patches of blue showing, the decision was made to go on up for our carry. We left camp at about 10:15 and were promptly surrounded again by calm and listless clouds. It was a relief to be spending a day without our sleds and to be in crampons instead of snowshoes. The terrain, beginning with "Motorcycle hill" right out of camp, was steeper than any of the ground we'd covered to date, but that was nice too. We all felt a bit more like climbers with ice axes in our hands at last. The team wound up and across "Squirrel hill" to get to the lesser angled "Polo fields" below the end of Denali's West Buttress. At least we think those were the granite walls of the Buttress... we couldn't really see very far up it in the clouds. Conditions stayed windless though, so we pushed on to Windy Corner. Nobody seemed disappointed that it wasn't living up to its well-earned reputation. We cached the provisions we'd been carrying there at about 13,300ft, digging a big hole and burying it all to keep the ravens from attacking. Then it was an easy and uneventful hour back to camp with light packs and still not much for views. We were down by 4PM and taking naps and sipping water by about 4:30. Tomorrow is a rest day, so we are less concerned than usual by the continued light snow and ever-present murk. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

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