What a Great Climb!
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008I want to thank all the people who have been encouraging me & supporting me on this site. I really appreciate the great words. Especially my good buddies FP & CG! Now, about the climb. Day #1, Sunday, was the climb to high camp, Camp Muir. We leave from Paradise parking lot around 10a.m. (elev. 5400′) & take about 6 hours to climb to camp Muir at 10,100′. My pack weighs 54lbs & there are 9 (5 of us in the wedding group & 4 others) of us in the group plus 3 guides. We take 4 breaks on the way up, this is a tough hike by itself. At the 3rd break one of our group members decides he has had enough & calls it quits. One of the guides (Carrie) has to take him back down to Paradise. She will hike back up again the next day. The weather starts out kinda crummy but clears up by the afternoon. We get to Muir around 4p.m., rest a little then set up camp & move into the tents. We eat dinner - Dehydrated Spaghetti & hit the sack around 8. Day #2, Monday, is a rest day. We get up around 8 or so, eat breakfast (Oatmeal for me) then really just rest, nap & hydrate the rest of the day. The weather in the morning is nice & sunny, around 50 degrees, but turns chilly & windy toward the evening. At this point I am worried about our summit climb. We have our final summit briefing at 4 p.m., eat dinner - Dehydrated Lasagna - & head to bed at 6p.m. Our guides wake us up at midnight & give us the good news. The storm has passed & the skies are starry & clear! I am SO relieved! We get up & gear up. Summit clothes, 3 layers of bottoms…Long Johns, Climbing pants & Gore Tex shells. 4 Layers on top Under Armor T, Under Armor insulated shirt, then 2 layers of fleece, 1 light, 1 heavy. Its relatively warm (35 degrees) so I’m not wearing a jacket & only my lightweight gloves. Get my climbing gear ready, Boots, Crampons, Climbing Harness, Helmet, Headlamp. Grab a heavy breakfast - 3 packets of oatmeal & a small bag of trailmix. Down 16 oz of water & we are off. We have 3 rope teams & we leave Camp Muir at 1:30 a.m. First break is 50 min later at Ingraham flats. Down some Clif Power Blocks, another Trail Mix & some electrolyte drink & we are off on the second leg. This stretch is HARD!!! We climb up Disappointment cleaver. It is impossible to describe how steep, treacherous & long this is. Wind howling, crampons digging, thighs burning, chest heaving we finally pull in to the top of the cleaver & our next break 90 min later. Another one of our team and one of the "sister" team call it quits & we later learn that the bridesmaid almost went with them. Both the bridesmaid & best man almost lose their lunch here. Side note…the climbing culture is so interesting. When you are on a rope team in dangerous terrain there is no unhooking to run off to a bathroom someplace. You HAVE to stay clipped in. Thus, you just walk a few feet away and do your business. Women just pull down there pants & everyone just keeps going about their business. All modesty is out the window. Ok, so we leave the top of the cleaver & head off on our third section. This is now the coldest & windiest it gets. My toes are numb by this point but I am doing well. This was the hardest stretch for me. The cleaver was no problem, but during this stretch I really feel my thighs getting weaker. No matter, we push on for another hour or so switchbacking up to high break at 13,200′ feet. This is a tough stretch…very steep terrain and completely exposed to the wind. The sun is now breaking the horizon. It it has been a beautiful night…could see the lights of the cities below & the stars & moon above. So breathtaking! Now the sun is coming up & the sunrise is a brilliant red! Nothing like a sunrise on Rainier. We pull in to high break & take another "maintenance break." In each I am downing 2 or 3 energy blocks, 1 bag of trail mix, a bite of jerky & about 10oz of electrolyte drink. Over 500 calories per break. This turns out to be a great strategy. My best eating plan of all my summits. We leave high break & head for the rim…45 min later we cross the crest of the crater & celebrate…we did it. Of course, our mission isn’t over. It is still a 20 min walk across the crater rim to the highest point. So the guides, the wedding party & I head over. We sign into the register then climb up to the highest point in Washington state & the 5th highest in the lower 48…14,411′. After pics & lots of high 5s we climb down out of the wind a little & I perform the wedding ceremony. They said their vows, exchanged their rings (quickly, cuz it’s about 15 degrees here) & I pronounced them husband & wife. They both cried (as did one of our guides:) It was awesome & they all loved it. Well, we head back across the crater, grab some food & water & head back down. Going down is not much easier than coming up. Your legs are jello & it is STEEP. I’ll spare you the details. We all made it back down to camp safe & sound. 1 funny note. We get back to Ingraham flats, our last break going down, which, you will recall was our first break going up (in the dark) & the bridesmaid turns around to look at what we had just done & says "I am SO GLAD I couldn’t see what I was doing." She is right, it is very intimidating! We get back to high camp, pack up and then head back down to paradise at 3 p.m. We have ascended over 4,000 feet and descended 9,000 vertical feet. All in all we have climbed for over 13 hours with a pack on! To get an equivalent feel for this in your gym…put on a 40 lb pack…get on a stairmaster on medium difficulty & begin climbing. Every hour take a 15 min break for snack & water & do this for 13 straight hours. It’s about like that….minus the 40 mph wind & sub freezing temps. And yes, you have to be crazy to do this. Now it is time to rest (I am SO SORE) & rehydrate (muscle cramping as well) and then start preparing for my July climb.
View all comments | Leave Comment