The Wisdom of the Mountains

I am sitting comfortably in the beautiful home of my friend David in Seattle.  I unfortunately did not summit Mt. Rainier on this trip, but I did have a spectacular and transformational journey with my fellow climbers and guides during the past week on the mountain.  We experience winds as high as 78 mph and worked on the glacier learning crevasse rescue techniques in winds as high as 50 mph.  I learned a ton about myself, my fellow climbers and guides and truly enjoyed the fellowship.  My highpoint on the Mountain was at about 11,200 feet on the Ingram Flats.  Twelve of my fellow climbers did reach the summit during a beautiful day.  The climb to the summit began at 2:30 am on Wednesday the 21st and the successful climbers reached the summit at about 8:30 am.  At almost exactly that time, a cloud descended on the top of the mountain and the winds picked up.  The climbers' descent to Camp Muir took about 5 more hours, some of which was in the wind and a little rain.  It was cold enough on the summit for the rain to freeze on the clothing of those who stood on the high point, Columbia Crest.

While I was disappointed to not reach the top, it only made me more committed to getting in better shape and trying again.  Yesterday I hiked up Mt. Pilchuck with a friend in less than 2 hours, an ascent of 2400 feet and 3 miles.  Let the training continue!!!

When I return to NYC on Tuesday I will have more pictures for you and a more complete story about the week's activities.  I did successfully complete the Expedition Skills Seminar, one aspect of which was the summit attempt.  I now have skills in most of the basic aspects of mountaineering with hands on practice from some of the best guides in the country!!  It was awesome.  Now I am truly in love with the mountains and looking forward to more.

This model of Rainier shows the entire mountain.  I reached a point on the Ingram Glacier. I could not figure out how to put an X on the photo, but if you begin at the top of the mountain an let your eye follow the right shoulder down the model you will come to a large gray shape that looks like a big wide Y or V, the Ingram Flats are at approximately the top of that gray shape.  Looks pretty steep huh?  Well let's just say that an hour on a Stair Master three times a week is not enough training.  More on this when I return home.