RMI Expeditions Blog

Safari Day 2

Today we visited the famous Ngorongoro Crater, considered by some to be the 8th wonder of the world. The crater is roughly100 square miles and is home to roughly 30,000 mammals that have taken up residence. We hit the road early with hopes of catching a few of the big cats before the heat of the day sent them in search of shade.

There were many sightings today of hyenas, jackles, ostrich, and countless other birds. We manage to see quite a few lions including one large male up close.

The team also managed to see four Black Rhinos.

We have just finished another wonderful meal here at the Plantation Lodge and the team is off to bed after a long, but very rewarding day on safari.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the safari crew

Our Vacas fracas continued to Casa de Piedras (House of Stones).  The day started with a hearty breakfast where our fearless leader, Jess, discovered a majority of our team does not drink coffee. More java for the pros!

Pachamama blessed us with overcast skies and a gentle breeze as we pushed onward and upward amongst rusty red peaks and ethereal clouds.  Snow dusted distant summits down valley. Despite all this moisture, we managed to move camps without any rain!

The team passed a gorgeous herd of guanacos — a wild/native llama-like species.  We also stopped to admire a pack of mulas, getting shepherded up to camp.  The mules looked tiny, far across the braiding floodplain of the Vacas River.

We arrived at camp, where our incredible camp crew had prepared a delicious taco snack. We’ll refuel and rest ahead of our move to basecamp at Plaza de Argentina.

RMI Climber Munier and team

P.S. Today we used our imaginations as we were supposed to get our first view of the Aconcagua. The clouds had other plans but it was no problem for us because we are creative.

After the team has trickled in to Mexico City over the past two days, we all met up for a team meeting followed by a group dinner. Some folks traveled outside of the city to site see some historic pyramids while others stayed close and roamed the city museums. 

Today we head to La malinche cabins where we plan to go for an evening walk before eating dinner and getting ready for tomorrow’s hike ! 

We are sending  all of our warm thoughts to Bill, whom had to go home due to his family’s donkey ( Simone ) falling ill. We miss you already Bill! 

RMI Guide Lacie Smtih

Close encounters of an Elephant-kind

Our first day on safari brought us to Lake Manyara National Park. The team spent about four hours driving around the park on a “game drive” where we saw hundreds of baboons, Vervet monkeys, Blue monkeys and lots of exotic birds, Impalas, hippos and elephants so close we could have touched them. Nothing dangerous, but wow was it surreal to see these massive mammals up close.

Everyone had a great day and enjoyed just relaxing while taking in the views.

We are currently staying at the beautiful Plantation Lodge just outside Karatu.

The team just finished a wonderful meal and are off to bed as we are headed out early tomorrow hoping to see some big cats!

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Safari crew!

Mendoza → Penitentes → Pampa de Leñas

Today was our official launch into expedition mode.

We left Mendoza and headed up into the mountains toward Penitentes — where we packed, sorted, weighed our bags for the mules, and had that classic moment of “how is this possibly all my stuff?”

Then… plot twist.

The road was shut down.

For a brief moment it looked like the expedition might end before it even began, but Carlos the Great (our driver, legend, problem-solver) worked his magic and somehow snuck us through. Expeditions never start without a little hoopla.

From there: boots on, packs up, and we hit the trail. Officially beginning our ~30 mile journey toward base camp.

Carlos sent us off properly with some rock and roll. Song of the day: Hard as a Rock by AC/DC (I told you he was a legend).

We rolled into Pampa de Leñas after a lovely cloudy walk. It lightly rained here and there. That combined with a slight breeze kept us feeling cool and happy. Spirits are high and the Andes are already delivering.

Drop a song in the comments for tomorrow’s walk — we need all the beats we can get. 

RMI Guide Jess Wedel and the Aconagua team 

Today we started our day at 6:30 refreshed after a much needed nights sleep, we had breakfast, then hit the trail one last time. It took just under 3 hours to reach the park gate where the team had lunch and said our final goodbyes to our amazing crew that took such great care of us on the mountain. 

We finished the little celebration by handing out their well deserved tips and then hopped aboard our awaiting bus for the ride back to the lodge. 

Finally we are all safe and sound, cleaner, and smelling fresh after an exciting 7 day journey up and down Kilimanjaro. 
Stayed tuned, Safari starts tomorrow!

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

Walking back from dinner tonight, we were talking about the daily dispatch and I asked, “so… what should we include?”

Unanimously, everyone said: “the tornado hurricane lightning downpour.”

This was said as we stepped over fallen tree branches and ducked under hanging power lines. So yes today was eventful.

Was that the worst weather of the trip? We sincerely hope so. Ideally, we’re getting it all out of our system now while we’re still in Mendoza.

Picture this: it’s mid-afternoon. We’ve just wrapped our big orientation meeting (what to expect, how to pack, what’s the mountain actually like…) and finished gear checks. Everyone is scattered around town doing last-minute shopping, soaking up the city. I’d just gotten back to the hotel and noticed the sky turning that color. You know the one. As the wind started picking up, I crossed my fingers that everyone had already made it back. 

Spoiler alert: they had not.

Cardboard was flying through the air. Tiny birds were fighting for their lives. Water was pouring through elevators and doorways. Hail, graupel, and torrential rain come down all at once. Streets flooded. Ancient trees went down. One of us got stuck at a gear shop for over an hour and eventually just… swam home. Another tried to wait it out under the awning of a music store (with guitars in the window, for added drama), but eventually gave up and sprinted through the flash floods back to the hotel.

It was truly wild.

So while today was supposed to be a calm, uneventful Mendoza day, it turned into something a little more chaotic. But the skies eventually cleared, we walked past town clean up crews to a delicious dinner, and now we’re all back, dry(ish), and ready to hit the trail tomorrow.

Hopefully it will be a sunny bluebird day. 

RMI Guide Jess Wedel and the Aconcagua team 

P.S. Yes, of course we had more gelato. I think amongst the team we’ve tried at least 15 flavors since arriving. The great debate about the best one will continue until we’re back off the mountain for more. 

We’ve officially arrived in Argentina and the team is finally together — which means the expedition has truly begun (because nothing counts until everyone and every bag is at the table).

Today was all about our first chance to sit down as a full group. After a long couple days of flights, luggage wrangling, and crossing hemispheres, we gathered for dinner to swap stories, meet faces that until now only existed on email threads, and confirm the important things — like who packed the best snacks.

Which brings us to the real highlight: our first gelato stop. Not our last, but a very important milestone nonetheless. Here’s a photo. Proof of life. Proof of carbs.

The energy is high, the team is already laughing, and somehow everyone still seems optimistic about carrying heavy packs into the Andes. A strong sign.

Tomorrow we’ll dive into gear checks, a full orientation meeting, and some last-minute shopping around Mendoza before we start heading toward the Vacas Valley. For now, we’re soaking up being together in the same place, enjoying the calm before the climb, and leaning into the very scientific expedition strategy of starting with joy, caffeine, and gelato.

So far, so good. ����️

RMI Guide Jess Wedel and team

Wahoo!!! 

Everyone on top.  

All team members safely back to high camp after standing on the “Roof of Africa” and we did it while watching the sun rise. 

This team crushed it. Doing everything perfectly and stayed positive even though it was tough at times. It was surprisingly chilly (thermometer said 15°) and busier than we would have liked, however, our early departure saved us from the more than 100+ climbers all stuffed together. We even had the summit to ourselves for a little while. 

We spent about about 30 minutes on the summit celebrating, taking photos and even made a few phone calls to loved ones back home. 

We are headed down the mountain to our final camp in the thick warm air at 10,000ft, where we’ll have dinner then head off to bed for some well deserved sleep. 

RMI Guide Casey Grom and a very happy Kili team!

Our Cotopaxi summit day came highly anticipated after being run off of Cayambe earlier in the week. We awoke to high overcast at 11pm and decided it looked good for a run at the summit. The night began with the customary bread rolls, slab of butter and huge plate of jelly that is put out every night at the same time. While it would be nice to stagger our starts a little, we are at the mercy of when the hot water and aforementioned breakfast will be served.

One team made it out of the gates ahead of us, but it took very little time before they were peeling jackets and we were passing them in the unseasonably warm night. That put us in front for breaking trail for most of the climb, a task that Felipe took on energetically. There had been some question as to what snow conditions we might encounter up high, but at the very worst we dealt with a few inches of graupel that made for difficult footing as it had filled in slightly deeper where the track previously existed.

This team was well-rested and ready to go, as evidenced by our 8 hour roundtrip summit day. The conditions were excellent for our descent, but that still doesn't diminish the fact that we got up and down in 2-3 hours less than normal. A big thanks to this team for being so well-prepared to climb that we could have a safe climb and spend much of it chatting with one another. Tonight we will dine together as a group, one final time, and recap the trip before returning home.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier