Monday, September 3, 2012

To the Summit of Mount Rainier


What a fun amazing adventure this has been.  The entire experience was everything I'd hoped it would be!  I won't go over every detail, but try and give you general overview.

We spent the night at the Paradise overnight parking lot, under a beautiful full moon, in the trusty Westfalia Adventure Mobile.  It treated us well, and we were nice and snug in our cozy sleeping bags.



Rainier beer has been a fun symbol of our entire training regiment.  At one point I was training with 50 lbs of Rainier cans in my backpack, so it's been fun to celebrate with a cold one at various points of the journey (my favorite had to be the keg of Rainier at Camp Muir...time to party!)  This trip was no different. 




Rainier in August is very different than other times of the year.  There is lots of green and life in the lower section... wild flowers, grasses, etc.  Many of the things we never see in other months as we glide over them on our boards.  The other thing to note is how much snow has melted, and exposed rock there is.  And the number of tourist is almost mind numbing... so many that they have to shuttle them up to Paradise due to the parking lot full to capacity... one of the guides said there are two million visitors each year!  Anyway, it's easy to see why so many people are interested to partake in this beautiful place.
 


We had signed up with the RMI guide service in Ashford, and had a total of nine strong people in our group attempting the summit.  A quick note regarding Lou Whittaker's various businesses in Ashford... they are run very well, do a great job of taking care of their clients, and I would recommend them to anyone wanting a guided trip to the summit.    


We did a full day of physical training before heading to the summit, learning various things to make our trip more safe and organized, and allowing us to be better prepared to deal what the mountain can present on this kind of adventure.  The next day, we headed to Paradise and left for Camp Muir around 9:30am.







There were two teams of  nine that RMI was leading.  Our team of nine was a great group of guys... along with Reid and I, there was a group of five younger guys who had signed up together and a pair of hunter dudes from Washington.  It was an easy going group, and we were both psyched to be roped up with any one of them as we climbed together.


The weather was beautiful almost the entire trip.  As you will see most of our photos of the trip are in the sun.


Above the thin cloud layer, in the Muir snow field.


We arrived at Muir around 2:30pm, after a long, slow hike, which helped to ensure that the group would start the next summit phase feeling strong. 


The time at Camp Muir was somewhat odd.  We chilled for a while in the sun, hydrating, fueling up, and relaxing.





But then we were instructed to get our gear organized, and be settled in for sleep at 5pm.  I've never before slept in a bunkhouse with 20 stinky, farting, burping, snoring strangers... let alone at 5pm!  It was kind of an odd experience.  Our "wake up" call was at midnight, to get up and get ready to summit... as it turned out, most people, myself included, did not sleep a wink and just lay listening to all the noises that a room full of 20 anxious people can make.  Thus, we got up, in the dark and prepared for our 14 hour journey ahead of us.




The first part of the climb is interesting because it's in the dark.  Even though there was a beautiful full moon, you have to be so focused on what is directly three feet in front of you that it's difficult to take in the environment that surrounds.  As we were about 2/3 of the way up, the sun started to rise.

Sadly, it was at this time that a lenticular cloud began to form at the summit.  The winds picked up, and as we approached the summit, we were in windy, wintery conditions.  As we hit the summit, gone was the sun and blue sky, as the mountain top was transformed into a freezing, somewhat uninviting environment.  At that point, we were the only team at the top, and though it was very challenging for some, eight of our nine made it to the top.






Regardless of the changing conditions, it did not change the feelings of accomplishment.  Reid and I had committed to getting to the top of this great mountain, and did what it took to get there.  We weren't going to let a few clouds and wind dampen our spirits.



One of the guides shared that mountain climbing is one of the few sports where you celebrate at half time.  Climbing to the top is only half the experience.  Climbing down safely is the other side of the coin.  And as enjoyable as the ascent was, the descent was by far my favorite part of the climb.



Once we had descended from the summit, and were back underneath the cloud formation, the amazing world that had been hidden in darkness was now illuminated in sunlight.  The following is one of my favorite photos of the trip... hiking through this weird, space-like environment like no other I've experienced before.



The other thing that was  hard to capture by photo is the magnitude of the crevasses and glacial structures.  It was awesome to experience first hand.





 
For example, the following  ice structure is about 200 feet tall.


One item that freaked many people out was walking over ladders placed across crevasses along the route.



I took a photo down inside the crevasse, but it doesn't quite have the same effect as standing over it.



Here are some miscellaneous photos of our descent.


















In the end, the climb was a super experience and another satisfying adventure... other than the cloud coverage at the summit, we had great weather, good conditions, and I was both mentally and physically ready for the challenge.


Thanks to all those that supported our efforts and offered encouragement... it felt so good to know we had a bunch of people rooting for us!  Reid and I have shared some great memories, and reaching the summit of Rainier is another epic one to add to the list!









Sunday, July 8, 2012

Bayla is Beautiful

We've been looking for a pup for a long time. Actually applied for several rescue dogs, but it didn't work out. Then Abbi found the following cutie at a Shelton Rescue Shelter. We picked her up on the 4th and we now have a new family member!

 











Sunday, June 24, 2012

Camp Muir Adventure with Reid Warner

Had an awesome day climbing to Muir and snowboarding down!

Will comment later...









Saturday, June 16, 2012

Camp Muir Adventure with Greg Jones

Another trip to Muir... really trying hard to build that base that will help get me to the top.

The original plan was to meetup with Reid Warner and friends from Microsoft, as well as Greg Jones and possibly some of his friends, and climb Mt St Helens.   But as can so often happen, plans go sideways, and I found myself hiking to Camp Muir with my long time buddy Greg Jones.  Buddy Reid... we need to connect soon for one of these!

A beautiful blue bird day up on Mount Rainer.



On our way up to Muir.



Pizza and Vitamin R at Camp Muir.





Greg and I had a blast glissading down... I had a garbage bag, and he had a strong piece of plastic.  The snow was very slushy, but we managed to power through it for I'm sure over 1000 feet.  One thing I will say is that it would have been a epic, tasty day to descend via a snowboard... next time!  I saw a dozen or so people "skinning" and skiing down... no splitboarders though.



Greg has a lot more knowledge than I regarding mountain climbing, so it was cool to hang with him and listen/learn from his stories.  It was also great just to chill with him and share such a successful, enjoyable trip.
Thanks Greg... let's not wait another ten years!

Another note, I saw a fox in the Paradise parking lot for my third time.  And on the way home, saw a baby fox just outside of the den, right next to the road!  What a cutie, but sure seemed a dangerous place to grow up!  Too bad the video I took turned out too grainy.


It was a perfect weather day, if you like sun and warmth!  I learned several things on this trip...

1.  Sunscreen can lose it's effectiveness over time.  Make sure you have new stuff when exposing yourself to such extreme sun and snow glare.  Luckily I learned from someone else's mistake.  You want to make sure you have lip gloss with some sunscreen protection.  You want to make sure you get under your nose, ears, back of neck, back of legs, etc.

2.  Greg mentioned hearing of people hiking with their mouths open and getting the roof of their mouths burned from the reflection of the snow.

3.  Definitely bring two pairs of sunglasses or goggles in case one fails... on a sunny day like this, you would get snow blindness very quickly.

4.  When it looks like a nice sunny day, pack shorts... I unzipped the sides of my snow pants, but it would have been nice to have been wearing shorts.

5.  Bring something that is cotton to wipe eyes and sunglasses of sweat.  If everything is wool or synthetic, it doesn't clean the sunglasses well.




This hike I was trying to accomplish a couple things:

1.  Get to Muir carrying a 45 lbs pack.

Outcome... It was much harder than my previous hike, and I was much slower with the added weight, but I made it!  It was a good sanity check... I still have a fair amount of conditioning to do before the summit attempt.  I want my legs feeling stronger once I've reached Camp Muir.  After some rest, food, water, etc. I felt much better, and the descent down was no problem.

2.  Spend more than an hour in my new hiking boots, breaking them in. 

Outcome... I spend about 2 1/2 hrs in the boots, which is the longest I've hike in them.  Made about to the middle of the Muir snow field.  I probably could have worn them to Camp Muir, as I was only feeling very mild hot spots, but I did not want to take a chance of blisters forming again.  So I changed into my old reliables and had no problems with my feet after that.  I will have to dial in those boots before the actual attempt, and I'm confident I can (I found out heel lift has more to do with space on the front of your ankle than the heal cup.)

That's it for now... until next time, cherish every day, and live life to the fullest!

-Dennis Lapchis