Nathan's Rainier Trip - June 9-11 2008

(Camp Muir)

Here are a few pictures from my recent trip to Rainier. What a stunning place, in beauty and in power. Among our entire group of 13 who struck out for Camp Muir on Monday the 9th, there are two pictures for the entire day - both of them taken from the parking lot. For anyone who watched the news while we were gone, you know that the rest of the day eventually turned from overcast, to snow, to hail, to 70+ MPH winds, to HOLY $%!^!!! Truly an epic adventure from a hike that is normally a literal "walk in the park."

(Wind gust across the Cowlitz Glacier)

Along the way, we experienced some of the awesome weather potential inherent in climbing Mt. Rainier. Details are available upon request, but suffice it to say that the last hour of my own climb to Muir consisted largely of staying within 2-3 feet of the person in front of me as we pushed for the safety of the climbing shelters.

(Daniel and I near the Muir huts)

(Then thirty seconds later)

Tuesday brought clear skies, continued high wind gusts, and news of a dayhiking group caught out during the night. By now, details in the press show that a trio of hikers dayhiking to Camp Muir started back down the mountain, into the face of the rising storm. Quickly disoriented by the white-out conditions, they were forced to shelter on the exposed Muir snowfield for the night. In the morning, one man and one woman were rescued while the woman's husband failed to survive the night, perishing in his effort to keep the rest of his group warm.

(JP and I above the Muir huts)

Among our own group, there were a couple of cases of hypothermia and a few frost-bitten digits. All-in-all, a small price for the security of the climbing shelter at Muir. My heart goes out to the surviving members of the trio and their families. The morning light on Tuesday demonstrated how close they were to safety, as they sheltered less than 1000 feet from our hut, which, during Monday evening's storm may as well have been on the other side of the mountain. \

(Ice Fractals inside the shelter window)

Tragedy aside, my overall experience was incredible. Both Tuesday and Wednesday dawned clear and cold above cloud level. While Tuesday was spent largely in camp out of the same winds that kept the rescue helicopters grounded, Wednesday dawned abruptly with the sound of thrashing rotors from the gigantic Chinook hovering over the helipad outside our door.

Following a leisurely breakfast after the helevac, those of who stayed (after abandoning our summit bid due to extreme avalanche danger), packed up, collected all the garbage, and our thoughts, and made our way through sweat-inducing sunshine, back into the clouds, down to our cars, and on to our grateful lives.