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Bags were packed ahead of the trip as I had a full week with little down time before wheels up. I woke at 4am Saturday morning since I had to drive to Rancho Cucamonga to meet with Kevin and Robert so we would fly out of Ontario Airport together. I arrived at our meeting place shortly after 6am and Kevin was already there. Robert showed up about 6:20 and handed out some mountaineering equipment we were borrowing from his SAR’s buddies.
We called for a taxi about 6:30am but it never showed…so we called a few more times and finally about 7:30am a taxi arrived and we headed to the airport to make our 8:30am flight. Luckily security was a breeze and we made it to the gate without much trouble.
Dominic was flying out of Oakland and would meet us in Seattle. Our first leg was Ontario to Sacramento then Sacramento to Seattle-Tecoma (Sea-Tac) airport. Kevin, Robert and I sat together both legs and I slept most of both smooth, uneventful flights.
Seattle was as Seattle often is, cool and rainy. Dom was arriving one hour after us so to save time we headed for the car rental so we’d have that completed upon his arrival. We were given a Dodge Journey compact SUV, and compact it was, it barely fit our gear but we made it work. Dom Arrived just after getting the car and 1 block up the street was a grocery store so we stopped there for the week’s food needs. Inside the store we picked up breakfast and lunch items, probably 20 minutes worth of shopping, paid, and exited the store.
I was pushing the cart as the car came into view next to a pearl white Escalade. Just as I was reaching for the keys to unlock the car the rear passenger rear door came into view and I stopped in my tracks and said, “No Way!” The guys were just behind me and said, “What,” then the car came into view for them as well. Jaws dropped and expletives were shared. My stomach clenched tight and a feeling of being violated came over me. There was glass all over the ground and inside the vehicle where a window once was. I looked inside the car to access what happened, all of the gear still looked intact in the back area, non of the doors were unlocked, there was nothing missing from the front, then it hit me. My carry-on backpack with laptop, sunglasses, personal car keys, digital still camera, passport, adventure journal, Mt. Rainier guide book, and all of my other “work” gear is in that backpack, or by now, maybe was in it. Luckily none of the backpacking gear was stolen so the trip was not a bust, but now it’s delayed at least a few hours.
I sent Dom and Robert into the store to talk with the Store Manager and find out if the cameras were able to see anything while I called the police. The report back from the store manager was nothing. Nothing was visible and the cameras were set up to see faces entering the store, not cars in the parking lot. The police were going to call me back, so we cleared as much glass as possible out of the car and off to the car rental office, one block down the road, we went. Officer Montgomery called and would meet us at the rental office. The rental personnel were shocked by the report and started to get the car processed and a different car assigned to us. We received a free upgrade to a Ford Explorer that handled our gear much better. Officer Montgomery was easy to talk with and turned out to be an Eagle Scout as well. The paperwork wrapped up, gear transferred and we were back on the road, hopefully without any more surprises, and never to return to Des Moines, WA…well at least only to return the rental car without the gear in it!
As we drove away from Des Moines toward the highway we talked about starting the hike Sunday instead of Monday and upon Kevin checking the permit, Sunday was our original start date, which was good since it would take us four days to complete the hike due to the pace of the group. REI’s flagship store is located in Seattle and that was our next destination. Four stories of gear excitement, an all the time used gear sale, restaurant, kids play area and well stocked gear rental department. We needed tents and fuel, both of which were done without major problems. We said goodbye to gear heaven and hit the road toward Mt. Rainier with dinner and a good nights sleep on our minds.
We found both 30 minutes outside Mt. Rainier National Park, dinner was at RAM brewery and restaurant, I had a delicious grilled chicken sandwich and we found a great motel with breakfast. We used the evening at the motel to situate everything into the backpacks so we were ready for the morning. I slept well and was ready to attack the day when morning broke. The motel breakfast was good with a spread of oatmeal, cereal, pastries, boiled eggs, fruit, yogurt and breads. I stuck with healthy and had cereal, fruit, yogurt and two boiled eggs. After breakfast I used the motel computer to tie up loose ends with regards to the stolen work computer and obtain serial numbers for my personal gear. This delayed us about an hour but we had to wait for RMI guide services to open so we could rent glacier glasses anyways.
Picking up the glasses was quick and we continued on our way to the National Park.
Seeing the wood beam entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park gave me a feeling of awe. We are really doing this, really here and the park is beautiful. Lush green forest, tall evergreens and swift streams delighted our eyes. Not much past the entrance we saw our first patch of snow and that’s also when the drizzly started.
The windy road guided our path to Paradise, the trailhead, not the conjectural Garden of Eden. We parked and walked to the climbing hut to check in and validate our permit. From there we unloaded the car, double checked gear and weighed our packs. Mine was at 70 pounds, carrying food, tent, stove, fuel and personal gear. Robert’s, my tent mate, weighed in at 60 pounds with the only shared gear being an extra rope. Dom and Kevin were just over 50 pounds splitting gear evenly. Something was wrong here...
Today involved 5,000 ft of elevation gain to our first stop at Camp Muir. The trail was covered with snow right from the start and it was still drizzling. The weather was warm but I started with my jacket on to keep my clothes from getting wet but that soon changed. It was too warm and the light sprinkle was refreshing on my warm skin.
Since I am the strongest hiker out of our group I took the back of the pack so that I would not exhaust the rest. Soon Dom and Kevin were ahead by 10 minutes with me slowly moving up the mountain behind Robert, motivating him with every step.
After a couple hours of hiking I talked with people making their way down and they said in about 500 vertical feet we’d be above the clouds…very cool!
Step by step we covered the 500 vertical feet in about an hour and the view was amazing. A blanket of rolling clouds stretched as far as the eye could see and then interrupted by another peak breaking through in the distance, Mt. Adams. The sun was intense and the sky was a brilliant blue.
This is where Robert and I caught up with Kevin and Dom and ate lunch. Cheese, crackers and dry salami, Mmm, Mmm Good.
As we wrapped up lunch I told the crew I could no longer follow Robert as the weight of my pack was not getting any more comfortable. Since the trail was well marked by the guide services I felt comfortable forging ahead toward Camp Muir to reserve a space at the public sleep house or a tent site.
As I made my way up to camp I talked with a hiker for a good part of the second leg about things to do around Seattle for the backside of our trip and what brought him Rainier. The conversation helped pass the time but he too soon dropped off the pace and I made it to Camp Muir around 2pm. I promptly dropped the 70-pound pack near the public house and scoped out the sleeping opportunities. I was 10 minutes too late for room in the public house so I moved to the tent camp and laid claim to two tent sites cut into the snow bank. I took in the sights and let my body relax until the rest of my crew arrived.
Dom arrived about 30 minutes after me followed by Kevin about 30 minutes after that and Robert 2 hours after Kevin, yes, two hours. First thing I heard from Robert was a barking of orders for Dom to bring him water right away because he was dehydrated and been without water for at least an hour. I bit my tongue from speaking out about his foolishness and lack of preparedness for this trek.
By the time Robert arrived at Camp Muir we had set up camp and prepared our cooking and water station. Without any flowing water around snow had to be melted for drinking and cooking. Instead of burning precious fuel to boil water for sterilization we melted snow into liquid and filtered it.
For dinner Robert and I split a new meal assortment from Hi Mountain Seasonings, Green Chili Casserole. It was delicious! The spice assortment delighted by taste buds and was a nice change from the mostly bland dehydrated food competition. Water bottles were topped off and we watched the sun fall in the sky before calling it a night. The sun does not set until about 10pm so we did not wait for that to occur but did not rush to sleep either. Monday was a mellow hiking day so there was no need to rush.
I woke about 8am to the sound of my name being called by Kevin. While we were not in a hurry and only had a couple hour hike ahead, he figured we might as well get going. I am fast on the trail but slow when packing up. Everyone else had their gear packed before me. Once packed we ate breakfast of which I had cereal and peanut butter, then we geared up for our first technical section.
Crampons were attached to boots, harnesses were tightened around our waist and thighs, rope was evenly distributed between our team and ice axes were lashed to our harnesses and help in hand. Robert led followed by me, Dom and Kevin as the caboose.
The only excitement was the crashing sounds of an avalanche on the backside of the mountain and a volleyball size rock tumbling down the mountain and crossing the trail in front of us. Within two hours we were at our next base camp, Ingram Flats.
While a short hike day, the technical nature of the trail with the steep drop and no place to break a fall was the reason for roping up.
Ingram Flats is the final stop before the assault on the peak. Some groups leave from Camp Muir, which adds an additional 1-1/2 to 2 hour section on summit day, but the guide groups and many others had their plots at Ingram.
In order for us to set up tents we first had to dig a platform out of the snow bank and with two tents ours was a double wide with a wall surrounding the windward side. We talked a bit with our neighbors, Rainier rookies as well, taped an episode of “Cribs: Alpine Edition,” ate dinner about 4pm and got ready for bed. The best time to summit Rainier is while the snow pack is hard which means when the sun is not present to melt it. We were waking up at 11pm to start our summit push.
One of the tough parts of sleeping on Rainier in the summer time, especially around the summer solstice, is that the sun does not set until close to 10pm so even if you nod off, you wake and the world around you is still illuminated. I did not sleep well as my inflatable mat formed a hole somewhere and I did not have anything insulating me from the cold snow pack below. I threw as much of my clothes under my bag and pad as I could to create a barrier and even donned my down jacket so at least my core would be warm. The jacket helped but cold legs prevented solid sleep. When the alarm went off I hesitated because sleep sounded so good and it was cold outside of the sleeping bag but there was also the anticipation of the summit less than 4,000 vertical feet away. I had trained hard and traveled a great distance, “I’m doing this,” I said.
Before I peeked out of the tent I saw a light illuminating it and when I stepped outside, the mountain was lit up with a weaving pattern of light as the rope trains made their way toward the top, I wish I had a time lapse camera to capture the scene. Seeing that energized me to get on board and tackle this mountain. By the time we started it was close to 1:30am, the outside temperature was 20 degrees F and immediately the pace was slow. Robert was leading followed by Kevin and Dom with me in the rear. I used the Cyclops headlamp with red LED’s to keep my night vision fresh. So many of the other teams were all using bright white headlamps, which definitely blinded anyone who looked their way. We walked up the glacier then across, avoiding the three-foot crevasse 50ft below. A guide rope assisted us around a rock face that we hugged for 25ft and then stayed on the guide rope for at least an hour as it led us up the mountain.
The going was slow up the guide rope path. We were passed by all of the hiking teams that morning and not much further than our first steps this morning I told myself we were not going to make it. I had to prepare myself for the worst case scenario as I had already worked so hard to maintain my fitness and also be a motivational coach to Robert that nothing would assist our situation if we stayed the current course.
Robert stopped shortly after the guide rope ended and said he was having a tough time. I finally had my chance to speak up and I did. I told Robert he needs to decide now if he’s not going to make it and detach himself from the team. He did not take long to decide and was off rope and preparing to sit on a bare patch of earth until he could catch a ride down with another team or we came back for him. A huge weight lifted from my shoulders upon seeing his decision. We were the last rope team heading up and the sky was coming alive as the sun arrived.
Seeing the sky lighten meant it was about 4am which also meant we’d been hiking for three hours and only gained one thousand feet. The pace doubled with Kevin in the lead and the summit was again within reach.
We had hiked about 10 minutes past our drop off of Robert and came upon a team stopped on the trail with one of their hikers suffering from altitude sickness. There were four on that team and one joined us heading up while the rest headed down and Kevin asked them to pick up Robert on their way down. Kevin, Dom and I stopped at a plateau just as the sun peeked over the distant mountaintops. It was a beautiful sight.
Our tag-along joined another group he knew at the plateau and Dom addressed a blister. We all ate snacks and then my heart and hopes sank again. Kevin said he did not know how much further he could go. It was 4:30am, we were at about 12,000 ft and this was the last thing I wanted to hear. Options were discussed, which included, 1. I could possibly join another team making their way up; problem with this option now was we were the last team heading up. 2. We could head back down to Ingram, I could wake up at 10:30pm and ask rope teams if I could join them and option 3 was to give up the summit push all together and head back another day and time but not on this trip. Option 4 was in my head: convince these guys they could do it. I wanted to summit with them so we could all bask in the enjoyment of accomplishment. Options were debated and I gave motivation a try. After Kevin ate some food he began feeling better and the summit was once again within reach. Lesson: make sure you eat enough food to keep your engine running smoothly.
We threw on our packs, kiwi coiled the rope around us (Kevin and I), and one foot in front of the other we were back on track, 2,411 ft to go…vertical feet that is. The trail weaved back and forth and we stopped to sit one more time to address boots, otherwise short breaths were had and forward progress was sustained. I saw a few teams heading down whom I’d seen in camp and they offered words of encouragement that we were almost there.
Cresting the top of the crater and looking in on it brought a sigh of relief and joy, it was 8:30am and we had made it! We dropped our packs, rope and harnesses along side the hikers we were camping next to at Ingram and made our way across the crater to the opposite and highest point. We took photos and enjoyed the clear views. From the top we could see past Mt. Hood in Oregon, far up the Cascade range in Canada, across the Pacific Ocean and into Idaho to the East. Heck, the sky was so clear we could see the waves of grain in Kansas!
The wind was howling on the summit so we wrapped up the photos and headed back into the crater. Our Ingram neighbors had already started down before our return but not before leaving a “Rainier” beer for us. We took photos with the beer then with a Moosejaw banner and finally an Outdoor Channel sticker.
We gave the beer to another crew who summited from another route. Our time on the top was limited as the sun meant melting snow and possibly a tough descent. We geared up and made our way down. The snow was noticeably softer but not so much that we felt in danger.
Back to the plateau we came upon two other groups and our Ingram neighbors. We ate, drank and continued down. The descent was uneventful and the only changes from the ascent were slushy snow, a couple of collapsed snow bridges and a new perspective of the mountain.
We passed one team halfway down the guide rope path and made it back to camp at 1:30pm. Robert greeted us and we mingled for a bit with the neighbors, then the camp fell silent as naps were had. Robert and I began filling up water bladders and organizing our gear. We stayed at Ingram for the night before heading all the way out in the morning.
It was a long summit push and I was tired. I did not take a nap for fear I may not rest as easy later but it would be an early night nonetheless. The hole in my pad could not be located so I knew a cold nights rest was at hand. I prepared my insulation as best I could, ate the Hi Mountain Seasonings Cajun Beans and Rice meal for dinner, which was delicious, and climbed into my sleeping bag. Camp fell silent about 6:30pm and I fell right to sleep. It was another cold night and at one point I saw light flashing across the tent. I was glad I did not have to summit and relished the memories from earlier in the day.
7am came soon enough after mediocre sleep. The way down would be a breeze and other than finding a place to rest our heads for the night, we had no where to be but down the mountain. Camp broke down quickly and we roped up for the final time to make our way to Camp Muir. At Camp Muir we packed up the technical gear, ate breakfast in the public hut and talked with one of it’s temporary residents who joined his son for support.
The pace from Camp Muir to Paradise was quick as we were able to glissade at least 3,000 of the 5,000 vertical feet; it was amazing! The snow was soft but still allowed for a fun ride down on our bottoms. The final long slide was a slalom course with a 45º slope. A few more short slides and some hiking found us back to point “A,” Paradise Visitor Center and the parking lot.
I grabbed the car, we took photos and changed into comfortable clothes. It was a clear day but looking up at the peak we could see the signs of high wind and summit clouds. We definitely lucked out on the weather. We double checked our rental gear to be complete and dry and made our way toward Seattle, only stopping to eat at RAM restaurant again.
The trip was a success and there were still a few days left for more fun…maybe Kayaking with Orca whales…
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