RMI Guides Brent Okita, Zeb Blais and the Expedition Skills Seminar - Winter Team finished up a great week of training. The team has started their descent and will be back at Rainier Basecamp this afternoon. Congratulations Team!

A little wind and snow couldn't keep this intrepid group of aspiring alpinists from training on our last full day of the seminar. What most impressed the guides was the 100% participation of the group given the 50 mph winds and heavy snowfall. We look forward to a last evening together going over a couple more topics and sharing a war story or two. RMI Guide Brent Okita

We left Camp Muir this morning at 4: There was a cap over the summit from the outset of our climb but we were thankful the winds from yesterday evening had abated and hoped the cap would follow suit.45 a.m. in reasonable winds. The team took to heart the lessons learned at yesterday’s climbing school and climbed strong on the upper mountain in deteriorating conditions. I began the route finding effort up the Ingraham Direct but gave way to RMI Guide Zeb Blais as he led the team up to a break at 12,800’. As we switchbacked our way up the mountain, we encountered increasing wind speeds and steadily decreasing visibility. We made the smart and safe choice to call 13,400’ our high point for the day. On our descent to Camp Muir, clouds would billow up from below causing white out conditions followed by periods of visibility. This process repeated continually until we returned to Camp Muir. We’re back at Camp Muir safe and sound. We are looking forward to a low-key afternoon at camp with a siesta and some easy training on the schedule. Signing off for now, RMI Guide Brent Okita

We had a great day for making our way to Camp Muir yesterday. Blue skies and just enough wind to keep us from over heating. Everyone did well! Camp Muir will be home through Friday. The next few days we'll be training around Camp Muir. It's going to be a fantastic week! RMI Guide Brent Okita