July 22, 2012
Rain, Sleet and Rainier Summit
Driving North from St. Helen's we decided to make a run at Rainier. The plan was relatively simple. Sleep in (wake up at 6 versus our previous 2-5 a.m. starts) and then hike up to Camp Muir. Once there, we would assess the conditions, hoping to make an afternoon summit of Little Tahona. Then, we would leave for Rainier's peak early the next morning – completing a twofer – bagging two summits back to back.
We were optimistic upon leaving as the weather began to clear and we were feeling strong after our easy hike up St. Helen's. Additionally, we were both looking forward to making up for our time on Adams, which we now affectionately called a Swedish twofer – two attempts but no summit.
At Muir, we quickly realized our ambitions plans would not be realized as the route to Little Tahona was too melted out to be safe. No worries, we thought, we'd head up Rainier that night and come down and be ready to tackle our next peak. Our alarm rattled us out of our sleeping bags at 1 a.m. Then, a bright flash and loud boom shook out the remaining cobwebs. For the next 8 hours, we experienced Rainier's worst – rain, thunder, lightning, wind, sleet and everything in between. Summiting today would not be in the cards for us.
The weather finally cleared around noon which left another 13 hours for us to kill until we would be able to for the summit again – assuming the weather would cooperate of course. We managed to sleep, stare and talk away most of the time but there were a few hours hours that put even our expedition tried patience to the test. With the weekend upon us, a whole cadre of climbers descended on camp. Listening to one climber fuss over his old 1980's era MSR Whisperlite stove for over 15 minutes, I stuck my head out the tent and offered to fix it. In a few minutes, I had the jet cleared and it was working fine.
'I was almost asleep,' Rdub commented without moving from his sleeping bag.
We left around two in the morning and climbed silently in the dark. Looking up, I was relieved that the sky was clear. The stars were beautiful and I was reminded, for an instant, of my summit day on Everest – leaving the South Col around midnight on a similarly clear night. Back on Rainier, the conditions deteriorated fairly quickly and we spent the three hours with heads bowed being pelted by blowing ice pellets. Still, we made good time, reaching the summit at six.
We gave each other a quick high five and then headed back down. The weather cleared and we laughed and joked as we walked casually across Rainier's crater. Ryan and I have now completed three climbs of my Seven for Someone Big City Mountaineers fundraiser. I was hoping to have four or five completed by now so I am starting to feel a little bit of pressure to complete seven. Regardless, it has been a good week, filled with a wide variety of fun (and not so fun) challenges.
Please remember that the goal of this adventure is to support Big City Mountaineers and their effort to provide critical life skills to under-resourced urban youth through their mentor led wilderness expeditions. You can help by donating here: https://www.summitforsomeone.org/main.php?page=4&climber=8414
Image: Rdub heading up the Muir snowfield.
We were optimistic upon leaving as the weather began to clear and we were feeling strong after our easy hike up St. Helen's. Additionally, we were both looking forward to making up for our time on Adams, which we now affectionately called a Swedish twofer – two attempts but no summit.
At Muir, we quickly realized our ambitions plans would not be realized as the route to Little Tahona was too melted out to be safe. No worries, we thought, we'd head up Rainier that night and come down and be ready to tackle our next peak. Our alarm rattled us out of our sleeping bags at 1 a.m. Then, a bright flash and loud boom shook out the remaining cobwebs. For the next 8 hours, we experienced Rainier's worst – rain, thunder, lightning, wind, sleet and everything in between. Summiting today would not be in the cards for us.
The weather finally cleared around noon which left another 13 hours for us to kill until we would be able to for the summit again – assuming the weather would cooperate of course. We managed to sleep, stare and talk away most of the time but there were a few hours hours that put even our expedition tried patience to the test. With the weekend upon us, a whole cadre of climbers descended on camp. Listening to one climber fuss over his old 1980's era MSR Whisperlite stove for over 15 minutes, I stuck my head out the tent and offered to fix it. In a few minutes, I had the jet cleared and it was working fine.
'I was almost asleep,' Rdub commented without moving from his sleeping bag.
We left around two in the morning and climbed silently in the dark. Looking up, I was relieved that the sky was clear. The stars were beautiful and I was reminded, for an instant, of my summit day on Everest – leaving the South Col around midnight on a similarly clear night. Back on Rainier, the conditions deteriorated fairly quickly and we spent the three hours with heads bowed being pelted by blowing ice pellets. Still, we made good time, reaching the summit at six.
We gave each other a quick high five and then headed back down. The weather cleared and we laughed and joked as we walked casually across Rainier's crater. Ryan and I have now completed three climbs of my Seven for Someone Big City Mountaineers fundraiser. I was hoping to have four or five completed by now so I am starting to feel a little bit of pressure to complete seven. Regardless, it has been a good week, filled with a wide variety of fun (and not so fun) challenges.
Please remember that the goal of this adventure is to support Big City Mountaineers and their effort to provide critical life skills to under-resourced urban youth through their mentor led wilderness expeditions. You can help by donating here: https://www.summitforsomeone.org/main.php?page=4&climber=8414
Image: Rdub heading up the Muir snowfield.