Assault on Mt. Rainier August 18th - 24rd 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007

Online Photo Gallery: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=19n4fqyb.8z9p399z&x=0&y=99l67i

To my great relief, I stuck my head out of the tent in Cougar Rock Campground after three days of non-stop rain, resulting in sopping wet clothing and sleeping bags, to finally see a somewhat clear, blue sky.

Cougar Rock Campground is situated within the Mt. Rainier National Park in Washington State. I am with two buddies waiting for the weather to finally break and allow us to take care of the business that had brought us here. Ice axes, crampons, and other climbing gear were sitting in the trunk of our rental car. We were there to summit the 14,410 foot peak of Mt. Rainier.

Our three-man team consisted of Steve and Phil Smith, twin brothers, and me. Collectively we are duathletes, adventure racers, triathletes, and marathoners. While all of us are beginner mountain climbers, the Smiths at least had some experience. Needless to say, we are all in great physical shape and were determined to beat this mountain, which sees almost 9,000 successful assents per year, but has a more than 60% failure rate.

We were taking the Disappointment Cleaver route, and the original plan was to climb to the Camp Muir base camp two days prior (Monday) and then summit Rainier that night (leaving at 3:00 am Tuesday morning). Given the typical Rainier weather, we were already two days behind schedule.

During our rain delay, we hiked roughly 4,000 vertical feet past Comet Falls and its amazing 400 foot waterfall with views of steep alpine meadows filled with wild flowers spanning 3.5 miles to Mildred Point.

The trail head started at the main road leading into the park, about 1.5 miles past Cougar Rock - just before the road crosses Van Trump Creek. This day hike was also a good opportunity to acclimate ourselves to the elevation and to stretch our legs. We got soaked from the rain in the process, but the views made it all worthwhile.

Finally, the weather was clearing!

We had been popping in on the ranger station at Paradise Visitors' Center for daily base camp and summit weather updates. Base camp was seeing low 40 degrees at night and the summit was in the high 20s with 20-30 mile an hour sustained winds. Things looked like they were falling into place. After a dry run with our ropes, harnesses, and crampons at Cougar Rock Campground, the games began!

Day 1 - Paradise Visitors' Center (Elev. 5,400ft) to Camp Muir base camp (Elev. 10,000ft)
Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Muir snowfield: don't be fooled by this approach! It's steep and challenging, especially with a full pack (40 lbs or more). We started at Paradise Visitors’ Center. There is a series of braided asphalt and gravel trails leading 2.2 miles to the Camp Muir trail head. We should have followed the Pebble Creek trail, however, and we got really lost. We ended up circling for more than an hour on the paved trails. The signs along the way were confusing, and we had no map. Finally we made it to the top of Pebble Creek, and the signs pointing up the mountain said 2.7 miles to Camp Muir. It was mostly sunny and temps where in the 50’s. We could tell it was going to be a hot day. All trails lead steeply up-hill, and I had a very tough time hiking. (Note to self: don't ever take antihistamines before an aggressive endurance activity! I found out the hard way that the Bendryl I had been taking for a runny nose was also great at dehydrating my body along with the nose.)
Two hours into the climb (about half way), I began sweating profusely (although it was only 65 degrees outside), became nauseous, and my body began to shut down. I laid spread eagle on the Muir snowfield for close to an hour wondering how I would make it to the summit if I could barely make it to the base camp. Steve backtracked down the snowfield and carried my pack the rest of the way. Eventually I struggled to the top, collapsing in front of the rangers' station. Probably not the best location to collapse since the rangers could potentially tell us not to make the summit attempt. However, I could not yet go the additional 30 yards to the John Muir public bunk house. It was a very bad start and not much of a confidence builder for the summit attempt, which, at this point, was now postponed yet another day to give me time to recover.

We were among flocks of people on the way to Camp Muir and were nervous about getting a spot in the bunk house. Steve and Phil raced ahead on the snowfield only to find the bunk house completely empty. We settled onto the plywood bunk beds, that looked to hold about 20 people, choosing the top row. Our next project was to re-supply our drinking water. We quickly learned that melting ice with a JetBoil camp stove was time consuming and used a ton of fuel. In fact, during the time spent at Camp Muir, we found that drinking water was possibly the most valuable commodity to have, and in many cases lack of it was the cause of many failed summit attempts. It is amazing to be surrounded by snow in +60 degree weather and be very limited on drinking water. We topped our Nalgene bottles off as best as possible and huddled up to assess our situation.

Our plan: take a rest day on Wednesday and prepare for the summit, which we would attempt Thursday morning at around 3am! This would be a challenge on our low food supplies. We had not packed enough food for an extra day at base camp, . Although we were lucky to have a little extra, we had to ration the food.

We were in bed by 8pm after a lavish dinner of Beef Stroganoff - freeze dried of course. While lying in the bunk, Phil decided to check his pulse and quickly determined it was 120 bps. That seemed high! So, we all took a 15 sec count to check ourselves. Steve 16 (64bps), Phil and I 18 (72bps). That was more realistic.

About an hour later a group of guys shuffled into the bunk house with headlights flickering on the walls and gear clattering. They had come from Paradise Visitors’ Center, and I overheard them say they would leave at 6am the next morning for the summit. I also overheard that they too were low on water. Things eventually settled down as they headed for sleep.

Now picture the scene: 10 guys in a tiny bunk house is a recipe for zero sleep! The snoring and farting persisted throughout the night. If I got 2 hours of sleep I was lucky.

Day 2- Preparing for the Summit
Wednesday, August 22, 2007

We snuck in a few hours of sleep once the 6am group left. That was the best sleep all night. We finally got up and made breakfast. Yummalicious freeze dried Chicken Jambalaya - breakfast of champions. Stepping out of the John Muir Bunk House we were greeted with a brilliant blue sky above us and a layer of clouds below us. We had a panoramic view of Mts. Adams, Hood, and St. Helens. Each of the mountain peaks poked through the cloud layer displaying their summits. We must have had 90 miles of visibility. The sun was warming us and the snow, and our breakfast view was postcard perfect.

We decided to rope up and make sure we had all of our gear in order for the following morning’s summit attempt. I seemed to have recovered from Tuesday’s debacle with dehydration. Our plan was to hike a 45 minute section of the Disappointment Clever route toward the summit. Suiting up with crampons, helmets, ice axes, and ropes, we got familiar with that section of trail so that when 3am rolled around the next morning, all our gear would be ready to go and darkness would not hold us back as we picked our way through the crevasses. We headed across the Cowlizt Glacier and up to Cathedral Gap and its rock outcrop. The panoramic view back to base camp was picturesque with snow splattered with a few colorful tents in the foreground, and stone base camp structures in the background.

We hiked back to camp, and our next priority was water. We conservatively calculated 4 quarts (1 gallon) of water per person for the summit attempt Thursday. That equals 3 gallons of water total, and there was just not enough fuel for the Jetboil or enough time to melt that much snow. Our only other option was a 15 minute hike back toward Paradise Visitors’ Center to a section of the snowfield where snow melt runoff was surfacing from a rock outcropping. Within 10 minutes we had all water bottles topped off, and our bodies re-hydrated as well. Of course the 15 minutes downhill hike was almost an hour-long hike back up to camp.

At approximately 4pm, as we were hiking back up to base camp, we ran into the group from the bunk house that had left for the summit at 6am that morning. Unfortunately, none of them was successful. Their challenge was lack of water. In addition, the steep sections of the route had became very slushy because they left so late in the morning, and they were having problems ascending those segments of the trail. They regretably had to turn around before summiting.

For the remainder of the evening we relaxed and divvied up the trail mix, GORP, power bars, GU, and beef jerky for the summit climb. We also ate our last freeze-dried meal and readied our gear. There were 2 other guys in the bunk house melting snow and cooking dinner. The 3 of us hit the hay early.

Well, surprise, surprise - at 1am we had visitors! It sounded like 6-8 people who woke us with their noise. We would return the favor when our alarm went off at 3am.

Day 3 – Conquering the Summit
Thursday, August 23, 2007
At 3am my watch alarm went off; then a minute later Steve’s alarm sounded. We were up and out of the bunk house quickly. Outside, it was pitch dark. The moon had already set, and the stars were bright and abundant. The temperature was probably in the mid-40s. With our headlamps on, we roped up and headed toward the summit. It was 3:45am.

With only about 30 feet of rope connecting the 3 of us, it was a silent and lonely start in the dark. My mind was wondering. Would we make it? Would I become nauseous and collapse again keeping us all from making it to the top? On the positive side, thanks to our meticulous planning the day before, I felt great and confident of success. We were prepared, rested, and each of us stocked with lots of water and body fuel for the attempt.

45 minutes into the climb, having retraced our steps from the day before, we were at the rock outcrop. We could see the sky slowly turning to a blood red as the sun came closer to rising. Little Tahoma Peak, at 11,138ft, was right in front of us with the colors of the early morning sky all around. The route then took us across Ingram Glacier and down around Disappointment Cleaver (DC). This section is the DC variation and would normally climb up and over DC. Due to the weather conditions, however, we had a variation that took us around DC, and this would be the only significant downhill section of the trail during the ascent. This variation adds about 1 - 1.5 hours to the roundtrip time, but it also avoids some hazardous rock fall zones and some pretty nasty crevasses, which were being spanned by teetering ladders.

Once we turned the corner around DC, it would be a long slow up-hill climb for many hours on the Emmons Glacier. We were about 3 hours into the climb and had not seen any signs of other groups. Next we had to navigate the only real technical section called the Hillary Step. It had fixed ropes, and we proceded one at a time. Clipping into the fixed webbing, Hillary Step was a 30 foot, essentially vertical, maneuver. Setting our ice axes and crampons into the ice/snow mixture, we climbed up without a problem.

Next we encountered a section of switchbacks and sketchy snow bridge crossings. We took many short breaks for photo ops, water, and snacks. The wind began to really pick up at around 13,000ft while hiking the switchbacks. The wind got our adrenaline pumping and made the ascent that much more of an adventure.

The quads were starting to burn, and we kept telling each other that we had to be close. The route was very steep with sharp drop offs at each switchback. We could almost see the top!
10am and we were at the crater rim (!), but not quite the official top. The wind was howling, and the temps were in the low 20s as we took cover behind a large boulder, the only object within view not covered by snow. We ditched our packs and headed across the flat cinder cone reaching Columbia Crest, the true summit at 14,411 ft., 20 minutes later. We were whooping and hollering the entire way, completely overwhelmed with excitement; AND we were completely alone! At that moment, we were the highest people in the entire lower 48 states.

Got some catching up to do...

I arrived in Las Vegas Thursday August 9th, 2007 for the 5th time in 2 years. Made a bee line too rental cars heading out of town as fast as possible toward Utah and Bryce Canyon national park. I am not a big city guy. I had a 4.5 hour drive through desert and over mountain ridges ahead of me. The temperature on the dash of my Subaru Forester ranged from 106 deg. at sea level to 68 deg at 5000 ft.

As luck would have it, while driving on the 75mpg roads, a rock strikes my windshield leaving a crack. I observe the crack grow longer and longer. Finally, over a 2 hour period the crack settling at 8 inches right across the windshield. Crap, should have gotten the rental car insurance, but who ever does? O well, lunch stop at Carl’s Junior, we don’t have them on the East coast, made up for it. Yummalicious junior double bacon cheeseburger.

Cedar Break NP – 1 night of front country camping on my way to Bryce. This is a very small park (www.nps.gov/cebr) at 10,000 foot elevation. The major attraction is the amazing amphitheater with hundreds of hoodoos that have slowly formed from wind, rain and freeze/thaw. This is just a warm up for Bryce and its amphitheater.

At +10,000 foot elevation my 6 mile trail run was interesting. I ran from the parks camp ground to and around the Alpine Pond Loop Trail. Obviously due to the elevation, the air was very thin. I was fine on the flats and downhill, but the second I hit any sort of uphill bump or greater, I was done and had to walk that section and felt like I was sucking air through a straw.

Onward to Bryce – 76 miles east of Cedar Break. I go straight to the North Campground, do the self check-in for camp site #107 on loop D. It’s for tent campers only. Quiet and far from the generators that run on the gas guzzling houses on wheels (Winnebagos). The camp site was pretty empty and reservations are probably never needed. I can’t imagine this place ever filled up unless you show up on a Friday or Saturday evening around 6pm. But I got there early and had many sites to choose from. BTW, I generally don’t camp in campgrounds and prefer backcountry. However, at Bryce, most of the amazing scenery is viewed from the rim trail and just below. All backcountry camping is pretty far from their with limited supplies of water.

After pitching my tiny 2 man backpacking tent overlooked a large empty field, I set out for exploration and adventure. The amphitheater and hoodoos are incredible. Views from the rim trail are breathtaking and you really can’t go wrong with selecting locations if you want a good photo shoot. Track down Thor’s Hammer and the Alligator! Just before during and after sunrise and sunset are the best time to get great pictures. The colors burst out.

By complete luck, my timing at Bryce coincided with the annual Perseids Meteor shower. Once a year earth travels through bunch of space junk and you can observer about 80 shooting stars per hour. Bryce is known to have optimal conditions for star gazing since there are now citys anywhere close to artificially brighten the sky. Photographing the shower is particularly challenging however and I woke each morning around 4am to give it a try. Hiking into the canyon from the rim trail was spooky in the pitch black, it was a new moon. I am pretty sure I was the only one crazy enough to do such a thing and had the amphitheater to my self. Setting up with my camera and tripod I took set up for long exposure shots. From 10 to 30 minutes on my Nikon D80. Needless to say, my battery would die within an hour of this. As long exposures really suck the juice.

My first entry - Why blog????

I have thought about creating a blog for a while and now am ready to commit. Why do i want to start a blog? Well, i can think of a few reasons.

1. I think i do some cool things and want to share my experiences with friends, family and others interested in the same adventures.

2. I have a terrible memory! Hopefully creating a blog of my adventures will help me remember details and when people ask, 'Whats happening' I will not provide the usually answer. 'Nothing much'.

I was born and have lived in Washington, DC for my entire life. I am a computer geek, working for Cisco Systems for more than 7 years. I am a terrible writer so this blogging thing my not go very far. And if it does, i am sure there will be tons of grammatical and spelling errors. I love to workout and train for local triathlons, hike and backpack through the US national parks taking photos on the way. Those are the experiences i want to share here in this blog.