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!