Update 7:15 pm PT
Hi all...
We are safely back at camp after a long descent down a very wet and snowy central gully on the summit pyramid. The team stayed strong the whole way through and rounded out a great day after putting the whole team on the summit.
Now, it's just a walk through the woods tomorrow morning and we'll be back in Babylon!
2:07 pm PT
Hey everyone. It's Billy checking in from the summit of Mount Shuksan with our whole crew! Give a shout you guys,"Yeah!" I will give you guys a call when we are back down at camp , safe and sound. We are about to begin our descent.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
RMI Guide Billy Nugent calls in from the Mt. Shuksan summit!
Hey, it's Billy here checking in from the Sulphide yet again on our Expedition Skills Seminar. We ended up not going for the climb today despite the perfect weather. There's a ton of new snow up on the upper summit pyramid. We figured we'd give that stuff a chance to sort of settle out and melt and see whatever it was going to do on the first truly hot day in quite a while. We let things just sort of mellow out up there, and we kept ourselves busy with ice climbing in and out of crevasses. We went for a little walk around the Sulphide Glacier and then capped off the day with some belaying and rappelling practice. Everyone is super excited for our summit attempt tomorrow. We'll call and hopefully check in from the tippy top and let you know what we run into up there. Alright. All for now.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
RMI Guide Billy Nugent calls in from the Shuksan Seminar.
Hey, Billy here checking in again from our Expedition Seminar out on the Sulphide. All is going well. Our team is enjoying a significant improvement in the weather. We spent the morning doing some anchor systems, and we learned how to move around, how to manage rope on rocky terrain- both blocky rock and more fifth-class rock. That was pretty exciting and then we sort of changed gears for the afternoon. We headed out to a crevasse where the team honed their skills on crevasse rescue, so we had a great day. We're hoping to take a crack at the summit tomorrow, but we're not super sure if we're going to do it tomorrow or wait another day. There's a lot of new snow up on up on the summit pyramid and the next couple of days are supposed to be quite warm, so we might let some of that snow melt off. We'll give you a call tomorrow and let you know what we ended up doing. Check in and let you know where we're at. Alright. All for now. Talk later.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
RMI Guide Billy Nugent checks in from the Shuksan Seminar.
Hey, it's Billy here checking in from the Sulphide Glacier on Mt. Shuksan. We're on an expedition skills seminar. All is well here. We had a good day of training despite some moderately inclement weather, a little bit of overcast skies and some rain in the morning. But that didn't stop us from doing the snow school and learning some snow anchors and other skills, and everyone's doing well. Right now things are just starting to clear up actually for the first time so the team is enjoying the views and taking some photos, and we're all hanging out and going to rack out soon and head to bed and looking for another good day of training tomorrow. Alright so I'll call in tomorrow evening and let you guys know how it went. Alright bye for now.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
RMI Guide Billy Nugent checks in from the Expedition Skills Seminar - Shuksan.
Hey! It's Billy here checking in from the Sulphide Glacier on Mt. Shuksan where the most recent storm cycle actually left us with a nice coating of new snow. Things are exceptionally beautiful here right now but the fog's kind of moving in and out. And our team has built camp and settled on in and we just enjoyed some dinner. And we're gonna rack out and hit the hay pretty soon here to get us ready for a big day training tomorrow.
Weird stuff definitely today on the lower glacier. We actually saw multiple frogs on the glacier so the team hasn't decided whether or not that's a good omen or bad omen but we're hoping that it's a good one. And we're hoping to get an awesome week of learning and climbing. So, that's all for now. We'll check in again tomorrow, and let you know how the day went.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent and Team
RMI Guide Billy Nugent checks in from the Sulphide Glacier on Mt. Shuksan.
Update - August 26th 5:35 pm
Just checking in from camp! All our safe and sound after our successful summit of Mt. Shuksan earlier today.
Original Dispatch
Hey everybody! It is Billy checking in here from the summit of Mt. Shuksan with 100 percent of our crew. We all styled our way up the Central Gully. And yeah, we're enjoying a nice sunny day on top, a little bit of smoke in the air but not too bad, a little bit of breeze but again not too bad. We'll check in once more when we get back into camp safe and sound. So that's all for now. Whelp, see ya.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Hi all,
Checking in after a great day of anchor and crevasse rescue training out here on the Sulphide Glacier. Our team enjoyed gorgeous views and perfect warm, sunny weather as we continued moving through our Expedition Seminar curriculum. We knocked off around 5:00 this evening and sat for a quick summit briefing in preparation for tomorrow's summit climb... If all goes well we'll be checking in tomorrow from Shuksan's beautiful summit.
Hasta mañana!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Good luck on your climb and training looking forward to climbing and training with RMI in the next year or two. Currently working on physical conditioning now.
Hey, it's Billy here checking in on the expedition seminar here on the Sulphide Glacier on Mount Shuksan. Our team hiked up from the trail head today all the way up to the base of the glacier and put in a camp on a very, very dry Mount Shuksan. We actually camped a little higher than we normally would because the lower glacier is down to bare ice and it's impossible to dig tents platforms. We are still within our permitted zone so all is good with the National Park Service. We are hanging out, chewing on food and relaxing after a long day of hard work. I will check in tomorrow after a day of training, and let you guys know how it went. So long for now.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
RMI Guide Billy Nugent calls in from the Mount Shuksan seminar.
So great to hear you all are making it up the mountain! Praying for a safe climb that continues to be fun and rejuvenating. Shoutout to my friend Jeremy - you got this!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent radioed at 7:23 am as his Four Day Summit Climb team and the Five Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning, and were starting their descent from the crater rim. Billy reported it was very windy with winds from the NW.
Congratulations to today's team!
RMI Guides Billy Nugent and Eric Frank led their Four Day Summit Climbs to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Billy reported lots of climbers on the route and light winds. The teams are enjoying some time on the summit before beginning their descent. We look forward to seeing the teams in Ashford this afternoon.
Congratulations climbers!
Good luck on your climb and training looking forward to climbing and training with RMI in the next year or two. Currently working on physical conditioning now.
Posted by: Kevin Stone on 8/26/2015 at 2:12 pm
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