Mt Rainier

Date: August 2006
Sent to washingtonclimbers@yahoogroups.com.
By Kristian Andaker
Photos from this and other trips up Mt Rainier here.

It seems no hike or climb of mine this summer is complete without some kind of illness. This time, I'm sitting in bed at home with my back stinging from 'Shingles' as I try to remember what Nathan and Peggy guided me through this Saturday. The reason I have to try hard to remember is due to the endorphin effect erasing painful memories :-), but I'm getting ahead of myself.

When Nathan and Peggy suggested doing Mt Rainier in one day (instead of the normal two), I didn't have a clear idea of the difference. I figured the first day of a normal Mt Rainier climb is only 5000ft of elevation and a few hours hiking, so adding that to the summit attempt shouldn't be impossible. It turns out I was right, but only barely.

Nathan, Peggy and I left from the South Bellevue Park&Ride around 5.30pm last Friday. We drove down to Rainier with dinner on the way, arriving around 9pm, just in time for a two hour slumber before leaving. We headed out at 11.03pm from Paradise, looking up at a perfect sky lit by stars, Mars and a very thin slice of moon about to dip below the horizon. All through our climb, we didn't see a single cloud and not even once did I feel cold from wind. With the perfect weather encouraging us, Nathan set a killer tempo. Before we knew it 50 minutes had passed and we were crossing Pebble Creek. When the timer clicked 3 hours, we were at Camp Muir, 5000ft above our starting point, and the place for the first rest. We started getting geared up for the glaciers and rock scree: crampons on, rope attached, ice axes in self-arrest position and stomachs filled with hot chicken soup. After 20 minutes we were off as one of the last rope teams for the evening leaving Camp Muir. Nathan and Peggy had their time table set on a 9 hour ascent, and so we sprinted away over the snow. Within 15 minutes, we were overtaking the first rope team, and 'overtaking' soon turned into a theme for the day.

We moved quickly over the rock scree of Cadaver Gap, followed by Ingraham Glacier and the Ingraham Flats full of small crevasses and then hit the Disappointment Cleaver without stopping. Due to the severe rock fall danger at these sections of the route, they are not good places to stop for rests, and with the pace set for the night, this is where I started feeling the pump. Disappointment Cleaver is where Nathan, Peggy, Eddy and I had to turn back last year because of bad weather, but with clear skies, we weren't about to get stopped this evening.

It took us two hours to reach the top of the Cleaver, and I was exhausted. This is when I realized I hadn't understood what I signed up for when I decided to attempt Mt Rainier in one day. My legs were just plain dead tired. I didn't have cramps, I wasn't feeling any head ache or nausea from the altitude, I wasn't getting dehydrated. I was just plain tired.

Nathan and Peggy didn't seem to notice the lack of sleep or the 6 hours of rock scree and snow walking we had put in though. They gracefully gave me 15 minutes at the top of the Cleaver for an energy bar, but soon we were off again. From here on up to the top it was all snow hiking. At first our walk led us in between the giant ice-crests (“penitents”) formed by the top of the glacier melting during the summer. But after 30 minutes or so, we were walking a switch-back snow trail over the glacier, with the thin air starting to induce the mantra of 'one foot in front of the other'. Nathan nudged down the pace a notch in sympathy of my constant leaning on the ice walls of the path, but we were still passing other rope teams on a regular basis. After a while Peggy took over the lead, and her enthusiasm kept the pace up despite the thinning air becoming more and more obvious. It seems we are all blessed with good thin-air-genesluck, because no head ache or nausea was reported. In the last 1.5 hour up to the summit we got to scramble up two ice/snow walls RMI had thoughtfully equipped with fixed ropes for people to haul themselves up on.

Reaching the crater summit at 8.11am, with a big smile on my face, I let gravity pull my backpack down, taking me with it towards those nice, cozy, restful rocks. The endorphins protecting me front the pains assailing my relaxing legs and feet made me laugh. For the first five minutes I couldn't stop giggling. I don't know if it was the same hormones that beset Peggy and gave her the idea of planning the 'defence of the summit' from the other rope teams slowly making their way up, but that sure was another source of amusement :-). We spent 40 minutes on the summit before deciding it was time to deal with the descent before the day got old and the avalanche and rock fall danger would get too serious with the heat from the sun.

Given the state of my legs, I was not looking forward to the descent. Roping up again, we quickly got rid of the glacier walk down to Disappointment Cleaver. After a short break, taking our crampons off for the rock scree ahead, we then spent 2 hours fumbling around Disappointment Cleaver missing our path and repeating 'we'll always get down' a few times.

Going down from hikes is always a bore. Going down when you're as exhausted as we were (and most especially, as I was), is a pain. By now, the sun was shining brightly, heating us up more than was comfortable, as we reached Cadaver Gap, I got the last drop out of my camel back, and started thinking of the half liter of Gatorade in my remaining Nalgene bottle as Gold. The path down to Camp Muir went fast. A little too fast sometimes as Nathan and I at different times slid down the slope, causing the rope to tighten and pull Peggy forward unexpectedly. Once this happened a little too close to a crevasse to be comfortable.

Down at Camp Muir, we took a 40 minute rest. We were now getting back into a good mood, having only the last section of the descent in front of us. The camp was full of people preparing for a summit attempt Saturday night, or just hanging out at Camp Muir for the day. As someone got the story of the 'one day climb' out of Nathan, a small circle of people recognizing our madness quickly formed. Nobody was quicker to admit our craziness than we though, so hopefully we avoided to be labeled lunatics.

This was the appropriate time Nathan and Peggy chose to fill me in on their theory that this 'one day Rainier climb' idea of theirs definitely will make it onto their 'top ten stupid ideas we've had' list... I don't think that'll prevent them from doing it again though :).

After the rest, we slid on our boots most of the way down to Pebble Creek. There Peggy and Nathan shocked me with starting down the hill in a run, as I set a walking pace more in sync with the state of my legs. About an hour later, and 16 hours 22 minutes after starting out, we then reached the Paradise parking lot.

The cold can of coca cola and the nectarine Nathan and Peggy conjured for me there definitely place among the best tasting food and drink I have ever had. The sounds Nathan made when removing his boots made the 'I will have what she is having' scene from 'When Harry met Sally' seem like a very tame exercise in pleasure. And after removing my (only one week old, and half-way broken in) boots, I knew what he was moaning about.

Peggy went on to a Jazz club that night to meet some friends as I went home to pass out. Nathan ran a half-marathon on Monday and claims his Rainier climb on Saturday must have added those 12 minutes he added to his targeted time (no kidding!). I could hardly walk on Sunday morning, but was surprised to feel almost as normal (except for the heel full of blisters, and as yet un-diagnosed 'Shingles') around mid-day.

Now, can somebody tell me again: Why do we do these things??

Nathan and Peggy, you guys are animals. Thanks for letting me lean on your mountaineering experience to finally get up that chunk of rock.

/K