Mt. Rainier Summit, Part 3 -- Pre-Climb Activities

So I thought I'd run through the 4 day's events. I'll apologize in advance for the length, but I really want to capture this for posterity.

Day 1 -- Orientation
We met at the Wittaker's "Compound" for general orientation, to meet the climbing team, and to have our gear check. Win Whittaker gave us a presentation about Rainier, Leave No Trace principles, equipments needs, what to expect, etc.

Here are the RMI / Whittaker Facilities:

Click Here for FullScreen High Quality Panoramic 360 deg View

It was immediately apparent that our team would be a fun one. Which was great ... since we would be spending the next four days together.






Day 2 -- Climb School
The second day of the climb was spent in a climb school. I was uncertain that I would enjoy this portion of the week ... but was pleasantly surprised. I learned a lot, which ended up making the trip a very enjoyable experience. Plus; it was a lot of fun.

Highlights included self-arrest training and rope climbing techniques. For those who don't know, a self-arrest is a technique of using an ice-axe to stop yourself while falling on a glacier. The camp exercises involved sliding down a steep part of the glacier (on your back, head-first, on your back - head-first, etc.) and then our guides would yell; "Falling," to which we would reply by yelling; "Falling!" and then arresting ourselves from the slide. It was good practice and a lot of fun.




The day ended with a pep-talk/fireside by Lou Whittaker. As I said in a previous post, Lou is pretty amazing ... he's had an accomplished career as a climber including pioneering Mt. Everest routes. He's also pretty much Mr. Rainier ... having climbed the mountain hundreds of times. Perhaps most impressive (to me) is the climbing organization (RMI) which he has built. It is one of the more respected guiding services in the world.

Anyways, it was great to hear his stories and to get to know the climb team better. Fun night!

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Mt. Rainier Summit, Part 2 - Highlights

I thought I'd wrap up this event by writing three posts. For those of you who have short attention spans ... I'll just hit the highlights of the actual climb in this post ...

First of all ... what an amazing adventure. In terms of life experiences this one ranks pretty high.

A couple of highlights:

1.) The People -- One of the things I didn't know about this event was that this was originally the brainchild of Lou Whittaker . The Whittaker family runs an amazing guide service (RMI) on Mt. Rainier. Their involvement in the event really made it memorable. Lou has had a very interesting life ... he gave a great fireside the evening before our climb.

All of the guides were amazing people. In particular, we were lucky to climb with Win Whittaker, Lou's son and an accomplished climber and Dave Hahn, who recently set a record for the most successful Everest Summits for a non-sherpa. Both of the lead guides really made the event.

In addition, the other climbers were a kick. Considering that we were stuck together for four straight days ... it was great to have a group of great people to climb with. I fealt like we really bonded in a very short amount of time. If you read the detailed account of the climb ... you might understand why. But, in addition to being fun people, they were also amazingly talented. Which made for a very interesting weekend.

2.) The Mountain -- Mt. Rainier is a gorgeous mountain. In comparison to the other Cascade I've climbed, Rainier is in a class by itself. Unfortunately, when I look back at the pictures I took of the climb, I'm dissappointed ... I really wish I had the talent to take pictures which would communicate how spectacular the scenary really is.

There are areas on the glaciers that make you feel like you are on another planet ... Awesome!

3.) My Performance -- Not to brag ... but I really crushed this climb. That made it a lot more fun. I'm comfortable saying this because ... those who are reading this, and who have climbed with me before know that climbing for me has previously been self-torture. But not this climb ... in fact, it has made it really hard to compare to other climbs. It was really weird to be at 13,500 ft on Saturday and feel like I could go another 5,000 ... I kept saying to Kate (my rope lead) that I'm really having fun ... I'm really having fun! She must have thought I was weird ... :-)

I attribute this to a couple of things:

• Conditioning - I really did work hard for this one. Which really made the climb satisfying
• Great Guides - I learned a lot from the guides about managing time and pace on this climb. It was really interesting how small adjustments to climb planning make for a much more enjoyable experience.
• Technique - I also learned a lot about technique from the guides. Things that, I had been told or read, but didn't get until I watched the guides for a couple of hours. And I was surprised that; yes, pressure breathing works, and yes; the guides actually do this .... even though it feels a little silly at first
• The Climbing Conditions - Its hard to take credit for the weather that we had on summit day. That was a big factor, which made for a comfortable climb.

So there you go ... I get a small amount of credit for the Conditioning, the other three differences in this climb go elsewhere!

More to come ...

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Mt. Rainier Summit, Part 1: Fundraising

I feel a lot of pressure to write something profound to end my 7 month goal to raise funds for the American Lung Association and to summit Rainier. So much so, that I've been stalling writing anything for the last 24 hours ... so here goes:

First, I have to thank everyone who stepped up and contributed to my fundraising efforts. As I said before, I was much more nervous about raising the funds to participate in this event than I was about climbing the mountain. I was really surprised how generous people were. In addition, this part of my goal really made this climb memorable. I learned a lot about friends and business associates that I didn't know before. There were a number of people who shared with me personal stories about loved ones who had struggled with cancers, asthmas, and other ailments. I didn't anticipate this ... and it really made the event more personally meaningful.

Hopefully, it was also a way for you to get to know me better. It has been a lot of fun getting calls this last week asking about the climb, the fundraising, and my preparations. There was some personal growth for me as well ... it is always good to put yourself out there, so that others get to know you better. I'm not terribly good at this, and this was a great way for me to stretch in this way.

If I haven't told you, the event raised about a quarter-million dollars for the American Lung Association. That is pretty amazing. However, when I got to the climb ... and met the others who were involved, I wasn't nearly as surprised about that dollar figure. That was the other benefit of climbing for a charity; it attracted some really great, fun, and VERY talented people.

Here is my climb team, Team #3 w/ Lou Whittaker

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Rainier Summit! 14,410 ft.

Success! I just returned from a successful summit of Rainier. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Anyways, I have plans to create a couple of posts with pictures, videos, etc ... but, I have to get my gear packed up (almost done jen!), play with the kids, etc. etc. Expect more to follow within the next 24 hrs. Thanks to all who supported me this year!

-derrick

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