Another Attempt on Mt Rainier

As soon as I had healed from the appendectomy, I was back on the slopes of the Mountain, trying to get to the top. We didn't make it, but still had a great time. When we got back to Camp Muir we decided to do some training lower ourselves into one of the crevasses. Here are some pictures, sorry none in the crevasses. I hope to try one more time before the winter. The pictures were taken by a friend.

Mt. Rainier Attempt, 4-5 Jul 08

A glacier from the top of the Dissapointment Cleaver, 12,500'

Little Tahoma Peak from the top of the Dissapointment Cleaver, 12,500'

A rest stop at Ingraham Flats after descending

The view from Camp Muir on Independence Day. Mt Adams in the background above the clouds.

Me at Camp Muir. It was cold.

The bootpath across the Cowlitz Glacier and onto Cathedral Rocks

I've written about Camp Muir several times already, so I won't write much about it here. paradise was pretty cloudy when we left, but we got above the clouds just past Panorama point at about 7000' and it was awesome.

As soon as we got to Muir we went to the Public shelter and met another team of 3 people. Two of them were soldiers from Ft. Lewis, and all 3 had been to the same climbing class I had been to at Pierce College. We talked to them for a while and I decided to spend the night at the shelter so that we could go at the same time as the other teams we'd met.

Left Camp Muir at 0130 in a cloudless sky with a slight breeze. By the time we reached Ingaham the breeze had become stronger, and about the time we got on the cleaver a cloud rolled in from the other side of the mountain and the visibility started steadily going down while the winds went up. Several parties turned around at the top of the cleaver, but we kept going.

At about 0630 and roughly 14,000 feet the winds were stronger and blowing right at us, and we were covered in rime ice from head to toe and turned around within sight of the crater rim. I was afraid if visibility went down any more we wouldn’t be able to find the wands. Conditions got better on the way down, but were never good. It rained and hailed on us between Muir and Paradise.

One of the pickets for the fixed lines below the cleaver was removed by another party. There were pickets for lines above the cleaver, but no lines attached to them. The route was pretty straightforward. There were some crevasses along the route, but none presented any major obstacles. The route was well wanded and easy to find.

I got back home from the mountain just in time. A few hours later my stomach started to hurt, and

Yakima Peak Attempt

My wife and kids were going to see Silver Falls in MRNP today with a friend, and I decide to tag along and have them drop me off at Chinook Pass on their way. The dropped me off at 9:40am and said they’d be back in two hours.

Tipsoo lake was almost completely frozen over, with thin ice signs all around it. There was only one small place where the water was moving. I started at the first turnout that one comes to when traveling E on 410. I knew that I had to travel NE before trying to climb Yakima peak, but didn’t go far enough before I started up. The snow was pretty steep and I put on the crampons after a few minutes. It kept getting steeper, but the snow was good for cramponing.

I had made it most of the way to the summit when I reached the half way point on my time limit. I didn't want them to have to wait for me. I also couldn’t see how to get to the top from where I was. I found a flat spot and took the crampons off so I could do a controlled glissade down. When I reached a line of trees and another slope, I didn’t feel comfortable going down, so I went further N and found the saddle that I should have climbed to begin with. I took some pictures, then glissaded down and jogged around the bend back to the turnout.

Unfortunately, my ride came an hour later, after I’d eaten all my food and drank all my hot cocoa. I should have been better with the route planning, but I’ll back, and get Naches peak as well next time. It was still a great time, and a great practice with my gear. I also found out that a box of couscous is more than enough for lunch, no matter how hungry I feel at the time.

Camp Muir, Part 1

I’ve been planning to climb both Mt. Adams and Mt Rainier this summer, so when I found out I had Friday off, I thought a trip to Camp Muir would be great rehearsal of sorts for those two climbs.

We left my house at 0700, which turned out to be later that I would have liked. The weather had gotten in the way of climbers for a few days, and would do so again tonight. It could not have been more perfect for a day hike. It was cool, with a light breeze and only partly cloudy. There was a large lenticular cloud around the summit, which made for some good photos, then it blew away so we could see the whole mountain.

We stopped at a viewpoint to take some pictures and then went on to the Paradise lot. It was my first time seeing Paradise since the renovations, so I got a bit turned around, which impacted our trip. We started near the Paradise Inn, and it took some time to realize that I’d started us too far East, so we had to climb up a steep ridge, in 8 inch snow the whole way. After quite a bit of traffic we reached the top and got to the main bootpath heading to Muir.

The route was well flagged, and not too steep until we got to Pebble creek, just below Panorama point. This was at 7,000 feet, and from there we had only 3,100 feet on endless snow slog to go. Most of the time I looked at the ground at the view behind me. I tried not to look up. I got my steps and breathing into a good rhythm and tried to stay that way. There was always a daunting ridge in front of me. It would seem like I was getting close to the top of it, and once I did, there was another one there waiting for me to climb it.

I led most of the way, but as we got near the top, Paul passed me and I started to lag behind. The last 1000 vertical feet were brutal. My legs and calves started to hurt and I had to stop a few times to stretch them. I could see the huts, but didn’t seem to be getting any closer. In the last few hundred vertical feet, even muscles in my hips that I didn’t know I had started to hurt. I limped up to the camp and we straight into the shelter to take off my pack and get out the water and food.

The public shelter was very nice for the location. There was plenty of bunk space, and counter for cooking and shelves for gear. The bunk space was really a sheet of plywood a few inches off the floor, and another a few feet above it, but I still would have liked to spend the night. I put on my new green fleece jacket that my wife’s parents bought me, and heated some water for some water while Paul got the food. Paul and I are both from SoCal and we were amazed to meet two others in different parties from that area. One of them had run out of fuel, and so I gave him what was left from my stove.

After about an hour we left to head home. I wore my rain pants and glissaded much of the way. After the rest and food I felt better and practically jogged down much of the mountain. It’s 1am so I won’t say too much more about the descent. I did get a lot of snow in my boots. After I knew we were almost there, I climbed to the top of a hill, looked ahead and felt my heart sink when I saw we weren’t there yet. Then I looked to my left and was relieved to see the parking lot 100m away.

It was a great trip, which I thoroughly enjoyed, but I will be spending much more time at the gym and on the trail in the next few weeks. Below are lots of pictures.

Lenticular cloud from the viewpoint.

Paul and I at the view point.

Gibraltar rock.

Can you hear me now? She couldn't, because he has sprint.

Camp Muir, Part 2

Paul falling again. There are many like this one.

Mt Adams.

I don't like hats.

I need to catch up...

Camp Muir, Part 3

Looking west, on the Nisqually glacier (I think)



Paul and I at Muir with Hot Cocoa

Paul and I at Muir, with the upper mountain in the background.

Looking around at high camp.

Camp Muir, Part 4

Looking west near the camp. Crevasses in the bottom left.


Me as we left the camp.

Looking back at Muir, wishing I could stay for the summit attempt.

The Tattoosh range and St Helens on the horizon.

Camp Muir, Part 5

Muir snowfield from the Pebble creek area.


The clouds started to roll in as we descended.


Half way down, starting to warm up again.


Back at the car after the hike. The bottoms of my pants are soaked.

Never take me to Vegas

I’m still at a camp in Kuwait awaiting a flight back home. I’m on standby for the daily flights going back, and if I'm lucky I could fly back tomorrow, or there is one in several days that I’m sure to get on. I’ll plan on being home in about a week. While it has never been great, the Texas Hold ‘Em tournament at the MWR last nigh proved that I am not a lucky person. Fortunately the game was free.

I’ve spent the last two days sleeping as much as possible and when not doing that I’ve been reading and watching movies. The library is well stocked, but I don’t want to get tired of reading before I spend 24 hours on a plane with nothing to do but read and sleep. I only have a few movies, and I’m very picky about such things. The food here is decent, but it’s the same thing I’ve been eating for the last 13 months, so I skip meals to enjoy it better.

Close but so far away

I’m finally on my way home. It took over a week for my paperwork to get approved for me to leave the country. I can’t imagine what took it so long, because all but one of the signatures was ready within 24 hours. Then I waited another week for one last signature. Another soldier in the same company was sent home for a different reason and everything she had was approved within 2 days.

Once I finally had everything ready, I was lucky enough to get a seat on the first helicopter leaving the FOB. It was a strange feeling, and it had never really sunk in that I was going home until I left the helipad. Even then, it wasn’t emotional as I had thought it would be, merely an acknowledgement in my mind that I really was starting the long trip home. Part of me was sad to go, because of the closeness that had developed in my section in the past weeks and months. As we left, I realized that I had no phone card with which to call my wife when I got the US, so she would know when to pick me up. I shrugged it off, and decided I’d have to buy one somewhere.

The first half of the helicopter ride was beautiful. Iraq is much brighter at night than I thought it would be. The Blackhawk had no windows, so I felt the cool night breeze as we watched the scenery below us from a hundred feet off the ground. It reminded of driving to the top of Mt. Olive when I was a child to look down at the “jewel box”. As we approached the next stop, I saw the Tigris River and felt glad to see the familiar surroundings where I had driven so many times.

When we landed, all but one other passenger got off but more came back, and I was forced to switch to the back corner seat in the Blackhawk. I had wanted that seat for the better view, but learned that for some reason the seat catches all the rotor wash through the open window. I spent the next leg of the trip trying in vain to hide from the 100+mph winds that were blowing in my face. Someone lent me some glasses, but they only helped a little.

Upon landing in Balad, I went to the pax terminal as fast I could to sign up for the next flight going south. I was told to come back in a few hours at 0530 for the showtime. When I came back I was told that I had been put on the manifest and to wait to be called. Near the entrance there was a TV with a slide show of flight information. One slide had a Daily trivia question that asked “What was the first book printing using a movable type press?” After waiting a few hours (They said there was a prize, and I was concerned it would be big) I went to the counter and told them the answer was a Gutenburg Bible. Since I was the first one to get it right, I was given a 300 minute phone card. An hour later my flight was ready and I rode a C-17 down to Kuwait. I slept the whole way.

My luck ran out when I got to Kuwait. I was told that they might be able to get my on a Space Available flight in the morning, and to come back at 0830. So I made myself comfortable and got a good night’s sleep. At 0700 I packed up everything I had and got the desk at 0800. I was told I was too early and to come back. At 0830 on the dot I came back and the person I had been told to see was nowhere to be found. He came back for a few minutes half an hour later, but completely ignored me and everyone else that was waiting to see him. Then at 0930 he came back to stay, but still ignored everyone that was waiting to see him. Instead, he sent someone else to tell us that we wouldn’t fly today and to come back tomorrow. Maybe we’d get to fly, or maybe not. If not, we could try again every day until Saturday. I understand that aircraft only have so many seats, but the complete lack of concern and customer service was frustrating, to say the least.

I came back in the afternoon with some questions, and found the same people to be much more friendly, but still no seats on aircraft.