Entries By billy nugent
June 20, 2014
Posted by: Billy Nugent, Chase Nelson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
June 19, 2014 - 10:41 pm PT
We have arrived at 14,200'! The weather today was marginal with moderate winds, occasionally heavy snow, and sometimes even hot sunbreaks. A little bit of everything made for an interesting move.
McKinley's 14K camp is uncharacteristically empty; lots of snowed in abandoned camps to choose from but they were all pretty crummy. We ended up digging out some old platforms and quarrying new blocks to rebuild some delapidated walls to protect our tents from the wind. We did find a great pre-dug posh that must have been abandoned by
Jake or
Tyler's crew as they moved up to 17K today. Thanks guys! Our team is racked out already after our big day and eating a hot meal. Tomorrow's plans call for an easy back carry and hopefully some rest in the afternoon.
Talk soon...
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
June 19, 2014
Posted by: Billy Nugent, Chase Nelson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
June 18, 2014 - 9:00 pm PT
We went around Windy Corner! We dug a hole (or chipped one out of extremely hard snow)! We buried some stuff (food, fuel, overboots, etc.)! And then we came back down to our camp at 11k'. All in all, we had a great day; the team is moving well and getting more and more psyched as we make our way up the
mountain. The weather is gradually improving and we enjoyed blue skies and beautiful views of the Messner Couloir and the Orient Express on the upper mountain from the cache site. We filled up with an early dinner tonight and are racked out in anticipation of a big day tomorrow on our move to 14k' camp.
Check in again tomorrow...
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
June 18, 2014
Posted by: Billy Nugent, Chase Nelson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
June 17, 2014 - 11:00 pm PT
A rest day on Mt. McKinley! And well earned. The weather has been kinda funky; we woke this morning to around a foot of new snow but things steadily improved over the course of the day. Eventually, the sun broke and we enjoyed some turbo-tanning for much of the afternoon. But now the flurries are back and the flow has shifted from southeast to westerly. We briefly got a view of the tundra over Kahiltna Pass with a wall of large cumulus clouds headed our way. We are now in those clouds but they haven't hit with much wind so camp is still pretty pleasant. The gang is packing up for tomorrow's forward carry where we are hoping to get a cache in around Windy Corner, setting us up for a move to 14,000' if the weather cooperates.
We will talk to you later,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
June 16, 2014
Posted by: Billy Nugent
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
June 16, 2015 - 6:07 pm PT
Snow, wind, sun... Repeat. That's been the story of our day today with rapidly changing weather that seems to change every twenty or so minutes. Despite the moderate weather our team was able to descend to the cache at 9,600' in a total whiteout, retrieve it, and climb our way by Braille back to our
camp at 11. For a lot of our guys it was their first experience in not so perfect weather so it served as good training for the inevitably bad weather we'll endure higher up. Even though it was a little crummy, we made short work of the back-carry and are settling back in with a planned rest day on the docket for tomorrow.
Also wanted to make a brief shout out to all the dads out there... Sorry I forgot to mention it yesterday but out here you lose track of what day it is at all. Happy belated Father's Day!
More news as our saga unfolds,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
June 16, 2014
Posted by: Billy Nugent, Chase Nelson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
June 15, 2014 - 10:31 pm PT
Greetings from Camp 3 at 11,000'... We enjoyed a sunny and warm wake up today while we packed for a quick move up to
11,000 ft on Mt. McKinley. After a few hours on the trail in mostly whiteout conditions we arrived and set to work digging and building platforms and walls to protect our tents and posh (dining tent). The weather has been coming in and out all day with sun breaks punctuating a generally cloudy day. It's actually begun snowing moderately as I write this... Anyway, we left a sizable cache of food and fuel buried down at 9,600' that we hope to retrieve tomorrow morning after sleeping in and enjoying a more substantial breakfast. Breaking camp every morning for the last 3 days has meant quickie breakfasts like oatmeal or granola. We also got to enjoy a visit with some of our comrades from higher on the mountain as they came through camp. Good vibes all around.
All for now,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
June 15, 2014
Posted by: Billy Nugent, Chase Nelson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 9,600'
June 14, 2014 - 10:44 pm PT
Checking in from
9,600'! All is well up here, despite a very hot day cooking in the microwave. A breezy and chilly morning made for a brisk break of camp this morning but it eventually gave way to stillness and a low level cloud clinging to the glacier. With full humidity and scorching temperatures we poured sweat despite stripping down to just our base layers. By the end of the day, a nice breeze greeted us as we neared Kahiltna Pass and put in our camp. We enjoyed the evening with a good meal outside and are all crawled in waiting for tomorrow and our planned move up to 11,000'.
More as the situation develops,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
June 13, 2014
Posted by: Billy Nugent, Chase Nelson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 7,800'
June 13, 2014 - 9:40 pm PT
Welcome! To the first of many blog installments for the June 10, 2014, RMI expedition to
Denali. Our team first met a couple days ago in Anchorage and enjoyed a cramped van ride up to Talkeetna. There, we spent the following day packing and prepping for our bush flight in the midst of a shaky weather forecast. We went to bed on Wednesday night locked and loaded with our fingers crossed for blue skies in the a.m... As luck would have it our good friends at K2 Aviation were able to drop us off at Kahiltna Basecamp in a pair of Otter ski planes first thing in the morning! After building and moving in to our camp we spent the rest of the day making our final preparations for the trip.
Today was the first real day of the expedition. We woke early and broke camp and packed up for our single-carry to Camp 1 at 7,800'. A single-carry means we are loaded down with all of the equipment, food, and fuel to sustain our expedition for 22 days... It rounds out to about 100lbs of gear per climber split between a sled and backpack. We had a couple of occasional breaks of clear skies but spent most of the day sheltered from the blazing sun by a thin layer of clouds and light snow flurries. While it might sound inclement, it actually kept temperatures from getting too warm and made for nice walking. We are all settled in at 7,800' for the night and are hoping to continue up tomorrow with another single-carry to 9,600' and Camp 2.
We'll check in again and let ya'll know how it went...
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Hi there, we are having a great summit day! We left Camp Muir at 4 am and reached the summit at 9:15. The weather has been very nice. We are making our way down the mountain now. We'll check in when we get back to
Camp Muir.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
May 25, 2014
Posted by: Billy Nugent
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 13,000'
The
Four Day Summit Climb led by
Billy Nugent and the
Five Day Summit Climb led by
Garrett Stevens were forced to call 13,000' their high point today. The teams reported high winds, low visibility, and a descending cloud cap. The teams will rest for a short time at Camp Muir before beginning their descent to Paradise. We expect to see them back in Ashford early this afternoon.
April 29, 2014
Posted by: Billy Nugent, JJ Justman, Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
Elevation: 4,383'
In Lukla, roughly eight thousand vertical feet below our
Everest Basecamp home of the past three weeks, we were pretty comfortable. But just for one night. The team was awake by five am yesterday, eating by 5:30 and walking over to the airport check-in at six. We watched -partly in awe, partly in horror- as Twin Otters, Dorniers and A-Stars roared in and out of the compact one acre loading and unloading zone, pirouetting into place, revving engines, disgorging trekkers, cases of beer and heavy bags of rice at a frenetic pace. When summoned by frantic hand gestures, we shouldered our packs, walked out onto the tarmac and took over the seats in a Twin.
A few minutes later, we were in the air, over a few craggy passes and cruising toward Kathmandu. Upon landing, we were no-longer climbers, or even would-be climbers, we were happily transformed to overdressed tourists. As such we took off a few layers and began showering, shaving and eating eating eating.
Although we are still far from home, the program is finished. We continue to enjoy each other's company, we still rely on one another to make sense of the sad events and unexpected turns our trip has taken. The team is grateful that so many have followed our journey on the blog and offered up kind words and support.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
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Mista Freed - hope the climb is going well. I am climbing too - the ramp in my tank to eat pieces of sausage. Give ‘em hell!
Love,
Moytle
Posted by: Moytle Freedman on 6/20/2014 at 10:49 am
Hi Eric, sounds like things are going well. Enjoy your adventure and stay safe. Love you, Mom and Dad
Posted by: David Olson on 6/20/2014 at 5:30 am
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