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 ...