Hardwear Sessions

The hike from Paradise up to Camp Muir is stunning. Though there was a thick cloud cover blocking any views of the mountain from the visitor's center, the permit ranger assured us it was clear above 7000 feet. Also, we had been monitoring the forecast and it was predicted to be an outstanding couple of days on the mountain. So, we strapped on our new Trance backpacks that we were excited to use for the first time, and set out into the mist. We ended up loving the functionality and overall clean design of the packs. Darren was bummed that he had to use my old Gregory.

Within an hour we started to see the sun struggling to burn through the cloud cover and the mountain flashed itself a couple of times. From there it only got clearer, and by the time we were approaching Muir the mountain was out on display framed behind a bright blue background.

This was significant for Darren because this was only his second alpine climb. He recently finished his service in the Marine Corp, including two tours in Iraq, and is eager to get out in the mountains. His only other climb was a crappy day on St. Helens back in April where we made him hike through the night to be able to see a bunch of clouds at the top. A second experience like that probably would have squashed his interest in climbing prematurely.

Brian and I have spent the last 3-4 years doing as much climbing and backpacking as our budget and family limits will allow. I guess if you asked our wives and kids they would say we've probably exceeded both. However, in that time we have had the chance to climb the four other highest peaks in the Cascades (Shasta, Adams, Hood, and Baker), some multiple times, and were really excited to have the chance to add Rainier to the list. We had made too many trips up and down I-5 staring at it.

Please, no one argue with me about Shastina and Little Tahoma.

Also, a few months ago we made plans to highpoint the 50 states, and Rainier would be the first during this project. By the end of the year we have trips to New England (13 states/4 days) and Borah Peak (Idaho) in the works. If everything goes according to plan we should have 16 states done by the end of the year. It looks like we are going to twist Darren's arm into going with us.

Once up at Camp Muir we went about making arrangements to chill the rest of the day. We shoveled out a platform for our EV3 tent. I know what you're thinking, total overkill, but it got some looks. The same looks you got when your mom dropped you off at school in her Hummer. Okay, that never happened, but I saw it in a commercial once. Luckily we had the tent out prior to Rainier so it wasn't still in the box. From a product standpoint, the couple of times we've used it we've had ZERO condensation from our single walled friend, and it stood up to a nice beating in a wind storm on Baker...oh, and did I mention that it looks cool?

Most of the day we watched the various groups come in and out of Muir. One group in particular was really interesting. They were a group of kids from inner city Chicago, probably two dozen that had been in Washington for four weeks camping and hiking all over the place. They were taking a ton of pictures for a documentary. It was nice to see Columbia Sportswear had hooked them all up with backpacks.

We wanted to get started on summit day around midnight so we headed to bed at 6PM. At about 8PM a group of guys showed up at Muir and started digging a tent platform right next to us. I wished I could have returned the favor by hanging around on their rest day to bang pots and sing Journey as loud as I could. Just as they were finishing up somebody's kid started crying and making noise. I thought I was having a nightmare where I was trying to sleep at home. We did end up getting away around 12:30AM to a full moon and great visibility. An RMI guide that Brian chatted up said it was the best morning he had seen all season. The normal Disappointment Cleaver route was no longer possible and there was a new route that lost a bunch of elevation and took a much longer path out onto the Emmons Glacier which added more steep sections, a lot more crevasse crossings, and a short section of vertical snow. The plus was that it avoided much of the rocky section of the Disappointment Cleaver and the accompanying rock fall. The ranger said that the detour added about four hours to the summit day.

Once out on the upper Emmons Glacier the winds picked up a bit and made it cold whenever we stopped for a brief rest. The sunrise brought a little warmth and a beautiful splash of pink on the Emmons. I got some nausea and wasn't feeling well from the altitude and left a few splashes of green at various points on the mountain. Believe it or not, after all that work I was a little disappointed by the summit of Rainer. I was glad to be there but vastness of the crater takes away from the being on top of such a massive mountain (Baker is by far the best summit view in the Cascades).

On the way down the sun had dramatically altered the snow that had been firm overnight and had now become very soft and slick. We carefully moved down the mountain so as not to slip into a crevasse or step through a hidden snow bridge. Obstacles passed included: a jump over a three-foot wide crevasse that was only a foot wide a few hours before, narrow snow bridges and a 12' vertical snow wall that we descended with prussiks (most people set up full belay stations but prussiking down felt very secure).

We then broke camp and slipped and slided down the final 4800' of the Muir snowfield and Paradise trails as fast as we could so we could get to Plaza Jalisco in Morton as quickly as possible. We were afraid to eat there on the drive into the park.

Disclaimer: If you are reading this and have summited Rainer multiple times bear with me...okay, if you done it 100+ times you can snicker.

A few hours later nearing home it started to sink in that we had finally climbed Rainier. It was by far the hardest of the Cascades to do, and our respect for it has only grown, but the next time I see it I'll probably smile a little more then usual.