Early Monday morning, July 2, I left Seattle for Mt. Rainier, specifically the White River Campground where I began my bid to climb the mountain. The campground is on the east side of Rainier at an elevation of 4400 feet. It is the jump-off point for those taking the Emmons Glacier route to the summit, elevation 14,410. This climb was a four day climb guided by Alpine Ascents International. There were 7 climbers and 4 guides on the trip.
For the first part of the climb, we hiked through forest and along the white river, picking our way through a trail that had been devastated in parts by the November, 2006 flooding. Significant work had been done on the trail, and it was in better shape than I expected. After about 3.5 miles and an elevation gain of 1600 feet, the vista opened up into Glacier Basin, which had great views of the Emmons route and a beautiful meadow filled with avalanche lilies. This would be a great place to camp.
After we passed through Glacier Basin, the real uphill began. Then, we hit snow, and eventually, glacier. We practiced our snow skills at the bottom of the Interglacier, then roped up and headed up the 2000 foot climb to our first camp, Camp Curtis, elevation 8500 feet.
On Day 2, we took it easy. We climbed another 1000 feet to Camp Schurman, where we set up our tents on the Emmons glacier and then relaxed in preparation for the next day's climb. We went to bed around 6:00 pm to be ready for our Alpine start. The weather was great, and the forecast for summit day was also spectacular.
We arose at about 11:15 pm on July 3, ate our oatmeal and drank coffee, then headed up at about 1:00 am on July 4. The wind was blowing, but it wasn't very cold. The stars and moon were out, the snow was hard, and all was good. We had four rope teams, 3 with 3 people, 1 with 2. The summit was 5000 feet above us, and we were expecting to reach it anywhere from 6-8 hours in the future.
At first, the grade was pretty mellow. We used our headlamps and walked in the tracks of others. Then, the real climbing began. The slope after about 11,200 feet becomes anywhere from 30-40 degrees. You can't walk straight. Climbers either duck walk with their feet splayed, or walk sideways, one foot crossing over the other, perpendicular to the fall line. Great workout for your it band and also for your quads. I opted for the latter. For much of the climb, the concentration is on putting one foot in front of the other. It was dark until probably somewhere around 4:30, and the wind prevented me from hearing anyone else's voices. When the sun finally started to rise, there still was not much opportunity to look around. I was too concerned with making sure I knew where I was stepping. At times, the crossover steps were actually carved into the trail where it was really steep. Some of these steps were about one foot above the other. Much fun for someone with short legs above 12,000 feet.
At around sunrise, the last person on my rope decided that he did not want to climb anymore. The combination of a lack of sleep, altitude sickness, and a weakening drive spelled the end of his summit bid. He changed places with the person on the two person rope, and a guide took him back down. The timing was great, however. I was able to take several sunrise photos during the unexpected break. You can see Camp Schurman's location far below at the base of the prow shaped rock to the right of the climber below me. We were at about 12,500 feet.
My rope team finally arrived at the crater rim at 7:30 am. There, we met up with Dave, another AAI guide who had come up from the Camp Muir side. We chatted with him for several minutes, then headed up the final 200 or so yards to the true summit. The views were amazing -- Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, Mt. Baker, Glacier Peak. All around us were mountains, the Puget Sound, and the crater below. We signed the summit register then sat down to wait for the rest of the crew.
The remaining two teams arrived at the top about an hour or so behind us. We took a nice photo at the top, complete with the Climb to Fight Breast Cancer banner and our prayer flags. Then, we headed back down at about 9:30.
The 5000 foot descent was even more difficult than the climb. By the time we headed down, the snow had softened up substantially, and snow was balling up under our crampons causing us to lose traction. On a steep slope, we took off our crampons so that we could plunge step down just using our heels as traction. On my first or second plunge step, I started to slide. Thankfully, the guide had my back. I slid many times on my way down. Nothing serious, but I did get lots of self arrest practice. It was not good for my confidence, however. The snow was variable. Sometimes it was deep and the plunge stepping was easy. Other times, however, there was a thick layer of ice just below the surface snow, and I could not dig my heel in. My feet slid out, and down I would go. Not something you want to do on a steep slope with yawning crevasses. Oh, did I mention how hot it got in the full sun? And, my splitting headache? We could see Camp Schurman for most of the way down, and boy, did it seem far away.
We finally made it down at 1:30. We were exhausted, but happy. The rest of the teams showed up about an hour or so later. Some of them had fallen into crevasses, but only up to their waists. They, too, were exhausted. One of our teammates was too exhausted to eat any dinner.
Later that night, the three of us in my tent woke up and watched the fireworks in Seattle and Tacoma. Not a bad ending to a good day. The next morning, we woke up early and headed back to the White River Campground. The 2000 foot Interglacier climb that took us 2 hour to get up took us about 10 minutes of glissading on our butts on the way down. We were back at the van by noon. Beers and watermelon at the van, then lunch in Enumclaw on the way home. Friday, I stayed home and did nothing. What an amazing trip!!
