The Climb

Finally, two weeks after the climb I have time to write about the experience.  I've finally had a chance to really rest up from the experience and everything else I've been up to the last couple weeks.  

Where to start?  I guess I can start on Tuesday before the climb.  I was pretty nervous before I left Seattle.  Not about the climb, instead, I was nervous about making sure I had everything I needed.  I decided at the last minute not to take my bigger camera (which I was sad to be without on the climb).  Now having been through the experience, I think I would definitely take it with me if I decide to climb the mountain again.  Since I couldn't not have a camera, I had to buy a decent small digital camera at the last minute.  I had to stop by REI to get my freeze dried meal and the much appreciated ear plugs that I would need the night before the summit climb.  Once I was on the road, almost all the nervousness went away and I was just plain excited.  I wanted it to already be Friday morning though.  I had been waiting for that day since January and I didn't want to wait anymore.

Rainier Base Camp was a pretty cool place.  RMI has a great set up in the town of Ashford.  I liked that everything a climber needed was right there.  Anything I may have forgotten could have been rented or purchased at Base Camp.  I liked the idea of staying at the place that we would be taking off from for both training and for the the climb.  It meant not really having to worry about much.  Tuesday evening was an introduction night.  We spent a few hours getting to know each other.  My group had very nice people from all over the United States. We got to know our main guide, Brent.  This climb would be his 368th summit of Mt. Rainier.  I felt like I was in good hands.  Brent went through all the gear we would need and showed us a slideshow of what we could expect on the trail.  

Wednesday was our training day.  Since the people that come climb with RMI have all different levels of experience, it's important to have a day to make sure everyone knew how to do things like rest step, pressure breathing, self arrest and climbing roped in.  For the training they drove us up to Paradise and we went on a short hike to an area that would work well for training.  It was a fun day that went by very quickly.  Most of the stuff was review for me, but I learned some good footing techniques as well as pressure breathing which would be extremely helpful on the climb.  The pressure breathing was good for dealing with the gain in altitude.  They told us that if we felt a headache coming on, that this would be the best way to alleviate it.

Wednesday night I got all my gear together and bought some last minute food for the trip.  Again, while I was looking forward to Thursday's hike up to Camp Muir, I still just wanted it to be Friday morning already.  

Thursday was a beautiful day.  This made the whole group excited since this meant our chances were summiting with decent weather were good.  The hike up to Camp Muir was just as beautiful as when I had done the Camp Muir hike last year.  This year it felt like the time went by pretty quickly though.  RMI has the climb extremely organized down to how often you break and for how long.  Roughly every hour, we took a 15 minute break.  They told us we should plan to eat 300 calories per break and drink a half quart of water.  This would help keep our energy up and helping our bodies deal with the gain in altitude.  I'm not used to eating much while I'm hiking up a mountain so this was a bit different for me.  I think I definitely appreciated it on the summit day though.  The hike to Camp Muir is 4.5 miles and you go from 5400' up to 10,000' in elevation.  It's probably one of the most rewarding day hikes I've done in the Northwest.

When we got to Camp Muir, we took our sleeping bags out and headed into the RMI hut to choose our spots.  Since I was in the first group I was able to get a spot on a lower level.  Luckily the hut already has sleeping mats in it, so we didn't have to bring those up with us.  RMI also provides water at Camp Muir so we got to restock our nalgene bottles.  We had a group meeting to talk about what we would need for the summit climb and what we should expect for the day.  After the meeting we ate dinner and then went to bed at 6pm.  I really thought I would struggle with going to bed at 6pm.  Luckily since it was dark in the hut and I had ear plugs, I actually got about 3 hours of sleep.  After that I was just laying there hoping that the guides would come wake us up soon.  I didn't want to wait around any longer!  

Luckily the time passed quickly and the guides came in and turned the light on around 11:30.  we got our gear on, ate some breakfast and then headed out to the ropes.  The view at night from Camp Muir was amazing.  It definitely made for a cool start to the day.  The weather was very calm and the sky was completely clear.  

The climb starts across a fairly flat section across the Cowlitz Glacier.  We only came across small crevasses on this part and at night you don't notice these as much as when we came back later in the day.  The next section is a rocky "skree" section up and over Cathedral Gap.  There were two larger rocky sections of the day including this part and Disappointment Cleaver.  Footing wise, these were the hardest parts since you're walking on very loose rock that varies in size.  The crampons really do help you dig in for both the snow and the skree sections so you learn to appreciate having them on.  

After we crossed over Cathedral Gap we came to Ingraham Flats.  This is a section with several larger crevasses and is relatively flat.  A lot of climbers choose to set up camp at the Flats so we could see a few tents as we came through this area.  We took our first break in this section.   We were told that if we could make it through the next section to the next break feeling good, that you might as well go to the top.  The second section over the Disappointment Cleaver was the only hard section of the day for me.  It wasn't hard physically, just mentally.  It was the only part of the climb I actually felt scared on.  This was another skree section with very steep drop offs.  I was fine until I decided to look down at one point and then my nerves got to me.   I know that I can be lacking in coordination so part of me worried that I'd stumble on a rock and end up pulling my team down the mountain.  Luckily that didn't happen.  However, I knew I had to come back down through this section on the way back later in the day! 

After that section it was smooth sailing the rest of the day.  We had two more breaks to take before the summit.  The third section included the largest crevasses we'd have to cross for the day.  Earlier in the week, one had opened up to the point of needing a ladder to cross.  We were able to step over a few crevasses, then the last one was probably about 6-8 feet across.  RMI places the ladders across these.  I think the crevasse I crossed on Mt. Baker helped me get over my fear of crossing these.  I was able to walk across the ladder without a care in the world and this ended up being my favorite section of the climb.  We were at this point around sunrise.  

The final stretches were just steeper sections on snow.  We had a lot of switch backs up toward the top.  Probably the last 100 yards of the climb my legs were starting to feel like they were almost done.  I was pretty happy to be at the top when we got there.  I believe we got there around 6am.  We dropped our bags and took a few minutes to rest.  Then anyone who wanted to go could walk across the top to the true summit of 14,410'.  I knew I'd hate myself if I didn't make it to the tippy top and the weather was still nice so I was excited to see how the view was.  It was pretty cold up at the top and the wind didn't help much, but it was an incredible feeling being up there.  




We signed the register, I claimed my earth cache find and we snapped a bunch of photos from the true summit.  We were up on the top for about an hour before it was time to head back down.  Luckily we got there in time to have clear skies.  As we were leaving, the clouds started to roll in so I don't think the other groups summiting that day got as nice of a view as we did.

The climb down was pretty smooth and quick.  I was nervous for the Disappointment Cleaver section, but all went well through there.  The only miserable part of the climb was my feet by the end.  Mountaineering boots just aren't comfortable, especially when you're heading downhill.  We only took a couple breaks on the way down, then we took about an hour break at Camp Muir.  We needed to collect our gear from there, rest a little bit and refill on any water we needed.  We did a lot of boot skiing on the walk down the Muir Snow fields and I did some glissading where ever I could!  Getting back into the bus the tiredness hit me and I was excited for when I'd get the chance to shower.  

Overall it was an incredible experience.  I had awesome weather, a great group of people to climb with and great leadership with the RMI guides.  During the climb I was saying to myself "I'm never doing anything like this again!"  Now, I'm thinking that I could definitely do it again.  Many have asked me what's next on my agenda.  Well, it's a little ways off and I'll possibly climb some other mountains before then, but my next major goal is Kilamanjaro.  :)  I'll need to save up a lot of money and do a lot of investigating, but my goal is to include this with my 5 year plan.

I MADE IT!

I climbed the Mountain! Great weather helped me achieve the goal I've been working so hard for. It was definitely one of the best experiences of my life! I'll give a more complete rundown of the climb later, but I wanted to share some of the fun I had last Thursday and Friday with a few photos. 

Thursday around 9am in the Parking Lot at Paradise.

First great view of the mountain on the trail to Camp Muir.

On the trail to Camp Muir.

My little section of the hut at Camp Muir.

The larger crevasses we had to step across. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the crevasse we had to cross by walking over a ladder "bridge." This was actually my favorite section of the climb.

A pretty cool place to be at sunrise.

Ice Axe Annie at the top!

Looking over the Crater Rim from the true summit.

Trail across the Crater Rim.

Cool view on the way down.

Toward the end of the climb at Ingraham Flats.

Our climbing group on the way back down to Paradise.

Time to see about climbing a mountain

The time is finally here! I'm sitting at a coffee shop at Rainier Base Camp and I'll be taking off with my group in about 30 minutes. I'm really excited. Today's hike to Camp Muir should be beautiful since the weather is perfect!

http://www.nature.nps.gov/air/webcams/parks/moracam/moracam.cfm

This webcam at Paradise shows just how nice the weather will be for the start of our journey. I believe that weather is supposed to hold out, so this should be good for our summit attempt early tomorrow morning.

Throughout the past couple weeks I've been thinking of how fortunate I've been through this whole experience to have the overwhelming support from my friends, family, coworkers and perfect strangers. If there was ever a day or two that I wasn't sure that I wanted to follow through, I just thought of the people who have been rooting me along and it's been the kick I've needed to really push myself. A huge THANK YOU goes out to all the people who have been so supportive in so many ways. I'm really excited to have this opportunity and I've been thrilled that people have cared so much to let me share my stories with them. So yeah, thanks!

Guess I should go get my boots on and head over to meet the group now.

Carpe Diem

The time has finally come. I've been determined to climb Mt. Rainier since I made it my New Years Resolution in January and I'll finally get to do it. I've actually sectioned off my life this year into two sections because of all that's gone into preparing for this. My pre-Rainier life and my post-Rainier life. It's been hard to plan things with my friends for so long and I've just kept telling them "let's do such and such after Rainier." I'm sure they're tired of hearing that and I know I'm tired of saying it. :)

I made a pact with myself that I would make an attempt on the Mountain one way or another before the climbing season was over. I've finally decided to go with the RMI guide service. They have both a 4 day and a 5 day summit climb. I've opted to go with the 4 day climb, which includes a day and a half of training before the summit attempt.

The way the guided service is set up, I'll be going down to Ashford, Washington (just outside the park entrance) Tuesday for introductions and the first part of training. On Wednesday we'll spend the day near Paradise doing some training as a group. I'm guessing this will include more self arrest and ropes training. Then on Thursday we'll hike up to Camp Muir. With the guide service we'll be staying in a hut rather than in our own tents. They say to bring ear plugs as it can be hard to sleep in the hut. On Friday morning we'll get started on the trail to the summit at 12:30am. I have been reading reports of teams heading up earlier than that because of the warmer temperatures lately on the mountain.

So now it's the last minute preparations. I'm trying to figure out what food and how much to bring. Luckily the recommended foods for a climb like this are pizza, beef jerky, chips, candy, etc. Being that those are my favorite foods, I think I can handle that. I'm also trying to figure out what layers I'll want for the summit climb. They say it's much colder up on Rainier than people think it will be so I'm guessing my down jacket will be coming in handy.

I'll be going on my last short training hike today on one of the trails near Seattle. It'll be nice to take a break from those trails for a while after this is over. I'm actually looking forward to doing some normal hiking for a bit after this experience. Although, there is talk of still climbing Mt. Adams this summer!

Anyway, if all goes well, anyone with a view of Mt. Rainier should be able to look up on their commute to work Friday morning and hopefully see me waving from the top. :)

A Learning Experience

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, based off my experiences so far. I haven't been one to know a lot of fear in my life. If I want to do something I usually just go do it. Mt. Baker made me realize that I need to learn how to deal with my fears and not let them take away my confidence in climbing a mountain. That being said, I didn't want my fears to ruin any summit attempt for the Rainier group I've been training with. All of us have worked really hard over the past several months toward this goal. The point I stopped at for Baker was a good stopping point. It was a good, safe place for one to wait while others attempted a summit. I don't know that Rainier has those same options in case someone can't go on. I'm determined to make the summit, but if my fears get the best of me I wouldn't want my group that I've been training with to miss out because of it. They will still be going as scheduled this Friday, so they should be up on the summit a week from today. I'll be excited to hear how it goes for them.

I'm still planning to climb the mountain. I'm just thinking that I need to go with an option that wouldn't have the possibility of letting my training buddies down.

When I do climb the mountain, I will be following the Disappointment Cleaver route. This is considered the easiest and most popular route up the mountain. The park rangers keep trail reports updated regularly on their website. This route starts at Paradise for the first day and the typical stopping point is Camp Muir at the 10,000' level. If it's a two day summit attempt, then it's very typical to get started on the trail at 12:30am the next morning meaning you spend the first few hours in the dark. It's important to start in the middle of the night so that you have the best conditions on the snow.

Ice Axe Annie

Mt. Baker

Friday after work we drove up to Mt. Baker and set up camp outside our cars. There was still too much snow on the road to go all the way to the trailhead, but we were less than a mile away from there. After building our tents, we only had about 2 hours to "sleep" before we were going to get up at 1am. Since we'll have to get up at 12:30am to start our journey for the summit of Rainier, this was good experience to get used to hiking in the middle of the night. We got going just before 2am on Saturday morning.



Just after the trailhead, we came to a bridge that had been washed out so we had to "ford" the river as the sign had indicated we would need to do. Luckily there was a tree over the river not far from the bridge and it was wide enough to walk across. This would prove to be good practice for me later in the day since I'm highly lacking in coordination! The trail was very hard to keep because it was mostly buried under snow. We actually ended up losing the trail for a while and went on a slightly precarious route. I slipped and fell at one point and my bad gut feeling I had before going into the trip made me stop for a minute and reevaluate whether I wanted to be climbing Mt. Baker this past weekend. Something was telling me that something bad would happen. Luckily my gut feelings weren't accurate.



We finally got out onto the glacier and it was wide open and beautiful - this put me at ease. That is, until we came to the first and only major crevasse we would cross for the day. I'm guessing the crevasse was at least 12 feet wide, with at least a 20 foot drop or more in parts. We had to cross this on a snow "bridge." The snow bridge was about 2 feet wide and of course, made of snow. This is why we did the crevasse rescue training and I'm glad we did. We all made it across safely and I tried not to look down!



Not long after crossing the crevasse and a little more of the glacier I heard a loud noise and looked to my right. A big chunk of snow was coming off the mountain and an avalanche was taking place right in front of us. It was hard to tell where it was going to stop - though where we were standing at the time, we were not in its path. It did scare me because it was approaching the trail we had just crossed and I knew we had to go back that way. The avalanche sent a snowball the size of a minivan down across the trail we had passed just minutes before. Again, this made my gut feelings get to me. As we got farther up the trail and passed other rope teams, they indicated that there was avalanche danger near the summit. I decided I didn't want to summit after hearing that. I stopped at 8,000 feet and Mihae decided to stop there with me as well. It was a perfect stopping point for not summiting. It was a rocky section of the mountain so other climbers and skiers were stopping there for breaks so it was fun talking to others while we were there. The view was amazing!



The guys in the group, Harrison and Bram, decided that they would attempt the summit and they almost made it there. They did an avalanche test and decided not to risk going all the way to the summit. This made me feel better about my decision.



I have to say the whole experience made me feel better about Rainier. Experiencing some of the things I may come against with the mountain put things more into perspective. I also realized that I am in shape for climbing Rainier so all the hard work has paid off physically. The plan is still to summit the third weekend of July.