Mt. Rainier Summit Climb - First Day 7-14-2015

After months of hard conditioning, our perseverance, stamina, mental discipline, balance, and strength were put to the test as we, my friends, John, his wife, Sharon and son, Mike, made an attempt to summit  Mt. Rainier, 14,411 feet.

We would be gaining over 9,000 feet in two days.  Hiking and climbing over 20 miles in four days.

We began our climb on Tuesday, July 14 from Paradise at 5,400 feet.  My pack weighed about 35 lbs. and Ted's pack weighed about 60 lbs.  On this first day we would climb to Camp Muir, 10,100 feet, about a 4,700 foot elevation gain.   It was an amazingly sunny day.

We started our climb about 7:00 a.m.  We met our friends, John, Sharon and Mike at the Paradise parking lot. We started about the same time, but they reached Camp Muir before we did.  Me and Ted did not get to Camp Muir until about 4:00 p.m.

On the way up we met Seth and Solveig, guides for RMI (Rainier Mountaineering, Inc.).  They are a wonderful couple who guided me and Bronka, my 87 year old friend at the time, for an attempted summit of Mt. Rainier a couple years ago.

Because of the lack of snowfall, the Disappointment Clever route has had to be re-routed due to all the open crevasses, making it a much longer climb.   We really appreciated RMI's  hard work in trying to keep the route open and safe.

I also ran into Wynn Whittaker, another guide and one of the owners of RMI.   He was also leading a group up.  Had met him and his wife at Bronka's home last year.

When we finally got to Camp Muir, John and Sharon were able to secure some space in the public shelter there, so that we would not have to set up our tents.

 It was really nice talking to the climbers there.   Many were starting that night from Camp Muir to the summit, which is over 4,000 foot elevation gain.   We were planning on spending the night at Camp Muir, then going up to Ingraham Flats, 11,100 feet to camp there on Wednesday and hopefully make a summit attempt on Wednesday/Thursday.

I was talking to one of the climber's that knew my friend,  Bronka, Craig.  He told me he just opened a Mountaineering store in Sedro Woolley.  It will be fun to drive up there some day and visit it.  He was making his team members a wonderful pasta feast with fresh bacon and a wonderful sauce mixed in.  He had a huge pot on a big stove.  Yummy!

We got our kitchen set up and we had our freeze dried, Chicken Pasta Primavera for dinner.  Yummy!  Then we were more than ready to get some sleep.    It got very quiet as many climbers were preparing to get up about 11:00 p.m. from Camp Muir for a summit attempt.

Me and my big heavy pack!  

Ted and his heavy 60 lb. pack!

Ted heading up to Camp Muir, first,  10,100 feet. Then to the top of that mountain!

John hiking up from Paradise.

Mike our rope leader!

My cute friend, Sharon and a real Mountain Woman!

Ted, still heading up.  The mountain looks so big!

A little Marmot keeping an eye on us.

Oh, so much up hill!  You can see the meadows below.

Coming to Pebble Creek at 7,300 feet.

The Muir Snow Field.  Climbing up to Moon Rocks, 9,000 feet.

You can barely see Ted coming up the snow field.
Large clouds above to give us some shade and the
Tatoosh Range behind him.

MRI Guide Seth, bringing his team up.

Seth, Giving a wave of hello to his friend, Bronka.

Seth's wife, Solveig, bringing her team up.

Solveig giving Bronka a wave hello to Bronka.

So funny to see a hiker glissading backwards, ha!

Oh yes, the mountain is getting closer!

Finally, Camp Muir at 10,100 feet.  Where we plan to camp.

Craig, one of the climbers we got to chat with.  He made a wonderful
dinner for his team mates.  He knew many people who we know.

It was cold in the shelter, those warm beverages tasted really good!

John and Sharon's sleeping quarters.

Climbers and hikers coming and leaving Camp Muir.

Route we will be taking on Wednesday to Ingraham Flats, where we will be camping.

Campers getting ready to get some sleep.   Sun is going down.

Mike at Camp Muir.

John, at Camp Muir.

From Camp Muir, you can see Mt. Adams on the left,
and Mt. St. Helens on the right.  A little hazy.

The out houses were not too bad.  Sometimes they can get pretty stinky!

Time to get some sleep.  We bunked below by the middle ladder.
I slept okay, but many others did not because of the snoring!

Mt. Rainier Summit Climb, Day Two, 7-15-2015

On Wednesday morning, we were up early and ready for coffee and breakfast.  We got packed up and then roped up for our climb to Ingraham Flats at 11,100 feet elevation.

Unfortunately,  John and Mike did not get much sleep because of all the snoring!  ha!

When we arrived at Ingraham Flats, climbers were leaving, so we were able to get their spots.

I was talking to one of the climbers, who told me he was from Nepal.  He was telling me about his grandmother, who passed away when she was 106 years old!  He told me she was so very active and would  go out for a walk several times a day.   He said when living in Nepal, his family had no electricity nor running water.   I think he felt at home with the high altitude at Ingraham Flats.   The climbing team he was on had a successful summit climb.

At Ingraham Flats, we set up camp by setting up our tent and putting all the contents of our backpack inside.  Then we started melting snow for water as we needed to get our water bottles filled as well as my hydration bladder.  I drank about three quarts of water to get hydrated for the climb.  We had dinner early, so we could get to bed early as we planned to start our climb about 9:00 p.m.    We also got our packs ready for the climb, making sure we had our warm clothing, food and water.   Then we got all of our climbing gear ready.  Our harnesses, helmets, ice ax, crampons,  etc. needed for the climb.  Also, decided where we would position ourselves on the rope.  Mike was going to lead the climb, then Sharon would be next on the rope, then me and John would be last.

Ted made the decision that he would not go with us as he did not think he would be fast enough.  I was so very proud of Ted.  If it were not for him, I probably would not have made it as he carried a lot of our climbing gear, tent, food, etc.  July 16 is his birthday and what a great gift for him if we all summated!

As we were sitting and chatting at camp, getting everything ready that afternoon, we could see two climbers coming down Disappointment Clever carrying a ladder.  All of a sudden, we saw huge rocks tumble down the Clever.  We were so worried for them and I think all of us at camp held our breath.  Then we saw them and they looked okay.  The rocks had fallen beneath them rather than on top of them!  That was really scary since we too had to head up the Clever, but in the dark!  I thought, I hope no rocks fall on us!

As I said earlier, we had planned to leave at 9:00 a.m., but unfortunately, a wind came up and really blew.  We could not rest or sleep as the wind gusts, 35 - 40 mph,,  were slamming against our tents.   Would we be able to climb?

John and his son, Mike, having coffee and breakfast, yummy!

A beautiful morning at Camp Muir  as the sun was coming up.

Climbers heading for Ingram Flats 11,100 feet, which is where
we will be heading.   Sharon getting ready on the left side.

John, Sharon and Mike, ready to go!

Ted tying onto the rope, as there are large crevasses along the route.

Off to Ingraham Flats!

Can  see Mt. Adams  as we head up.

Can also see Mt. St. Helens, as well as barely see Camp Muir way down there.

Mt. Tahoma as we get closer to  Ingraham Flats.

See climbers tents at Ingraham Flats, our base camp.

We will have to climb Disappointment Clever, huge rock on right
as we head up toward the summit.

Looking for a camp spot among other climbers' tents.

Ted, taking a break before setting up camp.

Me and Summit Gypsy shirt.

John and Sharon setting up their little tent.

Our camp kitchen, getting something warm to drink.

Our cozy little tent.  Mike, John and Sharon in the background.

Climbers, probably guides, who brought a ladder down and could have gotten
hit by rock fall.  We were worried about them as they descended Disappointment
Clever and heard rocks falling down.  Happy they were okay.

Climbers and their tents.  Time to get some rest before the climb, except
the wind has kicked up and now uncertain about our climb.

Mt. Rainier Summit Climb - Summit Day - 7-16-2015

As we were huddled in our tents, we were very concerned about the wind as it was too fierce to be out climbing in it.  I know I was praying it would calm down and Mike told me he too was praying.  Then, it stopped!  Even though we had intended to leave at 9:00 p.m., the wind stopped about 1:00 a.m.  I peeked out the tent and could see other climbers around us getting ready.  So I asked John, Sharon and Mike if they still wanted to do this, and they said yes!   So we got up and started getting ready.

 We all got dressed, put our climbing gear on, and then roped up.  We checked to make sure that our gear was on correctly.   Made sure our headlamps were on  our helmets and working properly.  All ready to go on our journey to the top!

As we waited for one another, it was really exciting to see the lights of many climber's headlamps coming towards Ingraham Flats from Camp Muir.   The climbers, that were camped around us, started before we did.  We could see the lights from their headlamps climbing up Disappointment Clever.  Then, it would be our turn to climb up the Clever.

Our team was ready!  So off we went!

We had heard there were about 7 ladders across crevasses that we had to walk over.  The first one was before we started up Disappointment Clever.  I saw Sharon crawl over it, so I thought that was a very good idea, so I did the same thing.  Since it was dark, I could not see how deep the crevasse was. So thankful for that!  ha!  But there were 6 more ahead of us.  While at Ingraham Flats on Wednesday afternoon, we had heard that a climber was walking over one of those ladders, when it fell a foot!  I am so glad it did not happen to me!

Our first challenge was climbing up Disappointment Clever.  Mike, our great rope leader, led us up the route.    It was mostly scree and rock.  Climbing with our crampons did not help.  We were trying not to knock any rocks down on climbers below us and we were hoping no climbers would knock any rocks down on us!  We were so relieved when we got onto the snow field at the top of the Clever.

Then it was up, up, up.  As the sun rose, I could see the beautiful red, orange and yellow of the sun's colors.  So beautiful!  I was happy when we finally got some daylight so we can see more of the views, as well as the route.   As we climbed further up the route, I could barely see our campsite.  It looked so very tiny looking down from over 12,000 feet.

I felt really good!  Normally I can feel the altitude, but this time, just felt great and strong!

As we continued up, we got a little disoriented because of two routes going different directions, with wands on both routes.  Mike realized right away that we were not on the correct route, so he redirected us to go back to the right one.  He was so right.  John and Mike are great route finders, so secure with both of them.

Although I have summated 6 times before, my first successful summit was with Sharon, who led me and another friend of ours on the D. C. route to the summit of Mt. Rainier 25 years ago!   Sharon is one of my heroes and admire her for all of her mountaineering skills and experience.  She is also fun to be with, she has a great sense of humor.

As we continued to climb, the winds became fierce, 50-55 mph.   Then, we finally saw the crater rocks!  Yes, there was the summit!  Wow!  we did it!  We were so excited!  This was Thursday, July 16, Ted's birthday!  We got there about 9:00 a.m.   We started at about 2:00 a.m.  So it took us 7 hours to climb over 5 miles gaining over 3,000 feet.  All team work.   So well worth the past few months of hard conditioning, which included hiking up to Camp Muir 7 times!  Also, summated  Mt. St. Helens in May and went on many hikes.  Our dogs made us walk them everyday too!

 I dedicated this climb to my friend, Judy, who is fighting a battle with cancer.  If it was not for her, I probably would not be here.  She is the one who introduced me to the beautiful world of hiking.  She took me to Camp Muir for the first time.

We did not stay at the crater too long because the winds were fierce and cold.   We also noticed other climbers who did not stay very long.

All of our hard work paid off, and we all praised and honored our God for getting us up there and now it was time to go back down and only 5 ladders to cross over crevasses, not 7.    Yay!

2:00 a.m. our headlamps lighting the path.

Got above Disappointment Clever, sunrise!

Clouds covering the valley below.  Happy to see daylight

Can barely see Ingraham Flats where our camp is.

So very beautiful!  Mt. Tahoma.

Route with high snow banks on each side.  

.

John, going over another ladder.  This one not so bad as it is against a snow bank.

Beautiful sunrise.

Going up, up, up, and gaining elevation.

Has gotten windy.  Sharon covering up from the wind.

Looks like we are climbing on clouds, rather than snow.

Steep icy bank.  There was a fixed line.  Glad we had good crampons.

More daylight and more elevation gain.

John on the deep snow route.  Mt. Adams in the background

Beautiful ice fall.

Sharon crawling over a ladder.  I was next! Yikes!

John climbing on a ladder over a crevasse we all climbed over.

Taking a short break, took a picture of Mike!

Beautiful views.

Finally!  the summit!  The true summit is that high dirt high point in
the background.  The winds were about 50 - 55 mph.  Hard
to even stand up without almost falling down.

Left side of the crater.

Right side of the crater.

Michael, giving thumbs up!!!   We did it!

Yes!  We did it!!!   Thank you, Jesus!

Yaaaay, Mike made it to the top!

John and Sharon also made it to the top!  We tried to find a
place away from the wind, but no place was good, the winds
were so very fierce and cold.  Time to head on down.