Entries By billy nugent
Whew! After several strenuous days, the team has been relaxing at Chilcabama, a traditional Ecuadorian farmhouse. The surrounding countryside is beautiful, with a knockout view of
Cotopaxi. Our day has been spent on exploratory walks, extensive eating, pestering the resident llama, and gazing at Cotopaxi through the hotel's spyglass. Tomorrow we head up to the Cotopaxi hut for our next summit bid. Wish us luck!
RMI Guides
Billy Nugent,
Katie Bono & Team
Our preparations for high altitude complete, the team awoke a few minutes after midnight on Monday morning for our summit bid on
Cayambe. The sky was cloudy, but calm- a hopeful sign given the hail and rain the afternoon prior. The first hour of climbing found us negotiating a long rocky stretch in big mountain boots. We transitioned to snowy slopes and the group moved steadily uphill in high spirits as the clouds gave way to a clear and starry night. At a break at ~17k, we caught the sunrise, as well as a glimpse of three climbers high up on the mountain. Several of us were amazed at the steepness of the slope they were ascending, only to discover shortly thereafter that that would be our route, as well! However, our group was more than up to the task, and everyone summitted after 7.5 hours en route. The weather on top was flawless(!), so we lounged around and took hero shots for an hour before heading down. The steep section was just as exciting on the descent, but the remainder of the route was easily accomplished by our crew.
After arriving at the refugio, we quickly packed up our gear and hightailed it down the mountain to get to some food! Unfortunately, hightailing it only works so well when you have 36k of rough road and 6000' to descend! After eating, everyone was looking forward to seeing our lodging at Chilcabama. However, the travel gods felt differently, and the expected transit time stretched out longer and longer, as first rain (on our duffels on top of the van), then traffic, the construction, and finally dark, unmarked roads had their way with us. Finally, we arrived to Chilcabama, where hot showers, freshly-made soup, and fires in our in-room fireplaces awaited us. It was the perfect end to a very long day.
Pictures to come pending wifi access!
RMI Guides Billy Nugent, Katie Bono and Team
On The Map
After a difficult night of sleep, we woke to mostly clear skies and enjoyed our first views of
Cayambe up close and most of the other major volcanoes poking out of the clouds in the distance. It was the perfect mood elevator after a rough first night at altitude and very loud bunkmates in the refugio who treated us to a nice and prolonged wake up in the middle of the night. Well, tonight it will be our turn because after today's training on the glacier we are prepared to take a crack at summiting Cayambe VERY early tomorrow morning. The team is anxious but ready! Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Finally, we headed for the hills! A quick breakfast at San Luis and an easy checkout (not necessarily the norm) made for a smooth start to another busy day cruising around
Ecuador. Right off the bat we headed for the Otavalo marketplace, world famous for its street food and local handicrafts. It being Saturday, the market frenzy was at a climax and the gang enjoyed a unique opportunity to experience Ecuadorian and more specially Otavalan culture. Not wanting to risk a potential intestinal disruption, we decided to grab lunch at the Cafe de la Vaca on our way over to Cayambe. After hiking for about an hour we arrived at the Refugio high on Cayambe's flank and settled in. Freshly baked pizzas for dinner were a welcome change to typical mountain food. Everybody is bracing for a rough first night above 15,000'. We'll check in tomorrow and let you know how the first night went.
All for now,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Welcome to another installment of the
Ecuador Volcanoes 2013 blog. After an early rise and a quick breakfast the team checked out of the hotel, loaded up the wagons, and headed north out of Quito for another acclimatization hike. A good bit of driving brought us through the town of Otovalo where we turned off the highway and headed up into the mountains on a cobblestone road. We were climbing towards the crater of
Cerro Fuya Fuya; a large, extinct volcano whose crater is filled with an impressive and beautiful lake. We were able to drive into the crater and alongside the like. Starting from the shore, our hike took us up to the summit of the highest point of the surrounding crater. The team moved well and was in great spirits - we all thoroughly enjoyed the spectacular surroundings and wish it didn't have to end so soon. Alas, we found ourselves piling back into the van headed for a local hacienda to spend the night. The rooms and grounds here at
Hacienda San Luis are a bit more rustic than the Hotel Mercure in Quito but are still quite charming. I will say the setting and the views out here in the countryside beat Quito by a landslide. The crew is currently hanging out before dinner and hoping for some hot water so we can take a last shower before heading into the big mountains tomorrow afternoon.
Until tomorrow,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Another great day here (barely) south of the equator! We woke up this morning to slightly overcast skies that made me wonder if we were going to see anything at all today on our first acclimatization hike. Nevertheless, the team hopped a few taxis in front of the hotel and headed over to the Teleférico. A short gondola ride deposited us at an elevation just shy of 13,000'. Despite the cloud cover above we enjoyed clear and sweeping views of the metropolis below and even some occasional sun breaks came through to heat us up very quickly as we hiked along. After a little over three hours of hiking and a fun rock scramble we found ourselves standing on the summit of
Rucu Pichincha! At an elevation above 15,000' many personal altitude records were broken today. We took some photos, hung out a bit hoping the cloud would dissipate for a split second (no luck), and began our sandy descent. After a mildly adventurous ride back to the hotel the gang has been chilling out while
Katie and I did a little grocery shopping. Another team dinner tonight should commemorate our last evening in
Quito before we head for the hills.
Talk tomorrow...
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Hi everybody and welcome to another series of dispatches from an
RMI Expeditions' Ecuador Volcanoes program! The majority of our team arrived scattered throughout the day yesterday with high spirits and great expectations despite being exhausted from a solid day of airline travel. We met up for the first time as a complete team this morning at Spicy, our hotel restaurant, and enjoyed a pretty good spread of food and decent coffee to boot. After breakfast we headed out on a very informative city tour with our veteran city guide Jorge. Jorge showed us around town while explaining much of the complex cultural past that made Ecuador the country it is today. Our crew climbed the towers of the Basilica, enjoyed sweeping views of the city from the top of the Panecillo, and got to experiment with different physical phenomena on the exact geographic
equator. All of this while beginning our all-important acclimatization process. Cool! We plan on rounding out our first full day in Ecuador with a brief team meeting followed by a team dinner.
More to come as the adventure progresses!
RMI Guides
Billy Nugent,
Katie Bono, and the rest of the gang
On The Map
RMI Guides
Mike Walter &
Billy Nugent led their team to the summit of
Mt. Shuksan today. The team enjoyed stellar views and a great climb. They will return to high camp for their final night in the mountains. They will descend to the trail tomorrow.
Congratulations to the team!
The
Four Day Summit Climb September 12 - 15 led by
RMI Guide Billy Nugent reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The team reported calm winds and cold temperatures with high cirrus clouds above. Shortly after 9 am PT they began their descent from the crater rim. They will return to Camp Muir and then continue down to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them in Ashford later today.
Congratulations to today's summit climbers!
At 9:30am the
Four Day Summit Climb teams led by RMI Guides
Billy Nugent and
Geoff Schellens we descending from the crater rim. They reported 60+ mph winds on the summit. The teams are making their descent back to Camp Muir and will be back in Ashford late the afternoon.
The
Expedition Skills Seminar – Muir is beginning their ascent to Camp Muir where they will spend the week training.
Congratulations to today's summit climb teams and good luck to the Expedition Skills Seminar!
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Hi Mike and Kendra! Can’t wait to see all your pics and hear about your adventures. Be careful and enjoy! Aunt Linda
Posted by: Linda Grimes on 1/16/2013 at 2:30 pm
I also am glad to know you’re all safe and that you had a successful summit. Can’t wait to see the pictures. Have fun and come home safely.
Posted by: Cheryl on 1/16/2013 at 6:00 am
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