We dropped down from our high camp on Mt. Shuksan last night to avoid the wildfire smoke, and made our final walk out easier. An open bivy with breathtaking views of the mountain and Lake Anne were our reward. We enjoyed them in the fading light while eating dinner. A first-light start got us back to the car early enough to hit a local coffee shop for lattes on the way down valley. This last week of climbing has been phenomenal. The perfect weather and excellent conditions in the mountains came together for an unforgettable experience. Here are some photos of our best moments... RMI Guide Eric Frank

Good morning. This is Eric and John calling from the summit of Mount Shuksan. It's about 10:45 here. We had a great climb on the Upper Curtis this morning to the Southeast Rib of Mount Shuksan. Right now we are just looking out over a whole sky of smoke unfortunately. We're taking in the scents of the bonfire that's currently in southern British Columbia, which has blown in a bunch of smoke in, which looks a lot like clouds. So right now we just see the tops of the peaks around us but down below there's really heavy coverage from the smoke that has blown in. We're going to descend down through the smoke, potentially move a little lower to try to avoid it and get down where some trees can filter it out for us. Tomorrow continue our descent all the way out to the car and the end of our climb. Thanks for following along. We'll see everyone soon. RMI Guide Eric Frank

Hey there. It's Eric Frank calling from the North Cascades on our climb. We were able to get up Forbidden Peak two days ago. We walked out of Boston Basin and had a nice rest day in the sun yesterday in Bellingham. Today we are checking in from the north side of Mount Shuksan. We climbed up the Fisher Chimneys Route today, and then depending on what we find in the morning, we may end up climbing the north ridge of Mount Shuksan. Our good weather has gone away for the moment, and we're sitting in a cloud currently. All-in-all things are going really well though. We'll keep you updated tomorrow. Take care. RMI Guide Eric Frank

Hello, this is Eric Frank calling from the North Cascades. We are at the notch of the West Ridge of Forbidden tonight. We've had a long, but very well traveled day. We were almost 13 hours on the route to climb the Torment Forbidden Traverse. Everything went really well, so we're just nestling into bed up on our high bivy. We looking out over Iceberg and Tuck Lakes, and a pretty stunning sunset behind the El Dorado Peak. Hope everyone's doing well. Talk to you in the next couple days!

Hello, this is RMI Guide Eric Frank calling from the Torment Basin here in the North Cascades. We are on day one of a seven-day custom climbing trip and we have the most beautiful view you can imagine right now. We climbed up out of the wooded valley up into the alpine and tonight we are going to sleep out on the glacier below the beginning of the Torment-Forbidden Traverse. It is beautiful blue skies probably the most stable weather of the summer thus far. So we're actually up here without a tent, just laying out looking at all of the expanses of the North Cascades in front of us. Tomorrow we're hoping to climb the majority of Torment-Forbidden Traverse, and then probably finish up with Forbidden on Saturday. I look forward to updating you a long the way. Take care. RMI Guide Eric Frank