The Challenge
After
two days of climbing, crossing numerous crevasses and nearly 10,000 vertical
feet, the FA Rope Team successfully made it to the summit of Mount Rainier at
6:28 PST on Monday August 18th. Thanks to all of our Rope Team members
for the thoughts, prayers and support. We couldn’t have made it without you!!!
The
Climbers
Bill McCorey - Age 50 - Avid marathon runner (33) -
Vice President Global IT Infrastructure IBM - Married to Jennifer - Children
Bill III, Lauren and Drew
Kevin McQueen - Age 40 - FA Board Member and father of Sean McQueen
FA patient - Principal CapTech - Married to lovely wife Lorraine - Children
Kelsey and Sean
Bob Cournoyer - Age 50ish - Car enthusiast - Director of IT Circuit
City Stores - Married to Susan
The FA Rope Team
Todd Stormes - Age 45 -
Avid marathon runner - Retail Application Architect Dell Computers - Married to
Kim - Child Lawton
Arrive at Base Camp
Friday, August 15, 2008
We arrived at “Base
Camp” in the early afternoon after a pretty drive from Seattle. It is unusually
hot with highs in the 90s. We had several incredible views of Rainier on the
way in. To say it is imposing would be a massive understatement. It is hard to
believe that we might be standing on the top of it in a few days. After
checking in to the bunkhouse, we picked up all of our rental gear, grabbed
lunch and then waited for orientation at 3:00. The orientation involved
meeting the other climbers on our trip, an explanation of the route, a slide
show and a talk through all of our equipment. In addition to the four of us, we
will be joined by the Hoff clan, two brothers and a sister from New York, and
Tom from Washington. Everyone seems reasonably nice. No one has too much
experience. Our guide has climbed Rainier over 100 times and has done Everest
twice, so we should be in good hands. Fortunately this year the route to the
summit is in excellent shape. We can take the normal course over Disappointment
Clever instead of the longer route that got Bill in trouble last year. There
shouldn’t be many crevasses. The biggest issue will likely be falling rocks
which sounds like a lot fun. After orientation we settled into our rooms and
headed out for a great dinner up the road a piece. We returned to Whitaker’s
had a few beers on the porch and then went off to bed in anticipation of
training day.
Training Day
Saturday, August 16, 2008
We woke up to a beautifully
clear but hot day. The temperature made it up to a record setting 98 degrees at
the base of the mountain. The team assembled their packs and gathered to
meet the guides for our hour bus ride to the base of Rainier. During the trip
we caught numerous glances of the imposing peak which made us all a bit
nervous. From the Paradise lodge in the national park, the team hiked up to
7,200 feet to a large snow field. The hike through the meadows and the vistas
were amazing. The mountain flowers were out in full force. Once at the snow
field, we learned various climbing techniques
such as self arrest, team arrest, pressure breathing, rest walking, rope work
and walking with crampons. Our guides Casey and Pete did a great job
putting us through the paces. It was extremely hot and bright in the snow
field. We each put sun tan lotion on numerous times throughout the day to
prevent burning. After a full day of training, we hiked back down to Paradise,
boarded the bus and headed back to “base camp”.
Once at Whitaker’s, we showered up, grabbed a quick beer and then went out to for dinner at the Copper Creek Inn. There we met Manoj Rewatkar and his wife and daughter. Manoj is also from Richmond and had hoped to climb with us, but our team was full by the time he signed up. He had made an attempt to summit earlier that morning and made it to Camp Muir. After a great meal, we headed home to an early bedtime in anticipation of our impending summit
Hike to Camp Muir
Sunday, August 17, 2008
After a restless night of sleep, we woke up early,
somehow crammed all of our gear in our packs and gathered to wait for the bus
ride to the summit. Luckily the weather had turned cooler and overcast.
However, there was a large concern that the incoming front would produce thunderstorms
that would prevent us from attempting to summit. We drove up to camp Paradise,
topped off our water bottles and set out for Camp Muir 5,000 feet above us at
10,000.
All of us were very happy that the weather had turned
cooler. The hike conditions were very comfortable. After two hours on the
trail, we entered the massive Muir Snow field which extends from the base of
Camp Muir all the way down to about 7,000 feet. Hiking on the snow field was a
little more difficult because of the footing. We were not wearing crampons but
did have ski poles to steady ourselves. We hiked in single file line with Casey
our head guide leading most of the way. We took 15 minute breaks every hour or
so. The guides were militant that we sit during the entire break, drink water
and eat, eat, eat. The views got increasingly impressive as we climbed. Finally
after about 6 hours of hiking we approached the luxurious Camp Muir.
Once at camp, we dropped our packs and setup our
sleeping bags in the small plywood mouse infested box known at the RMI shelter.
The shelter had plywood bunk platform up to the ceiling not much else. We
hung out, rested, rehydrated and took some pictures. After about an hour Bob
made it up. After the second break, he had fallen off the pace. One of guides
Pete, had stayed back to help and encourage him. We are all glad to see Bob and
very proud of him for making up the difficult climb.
At about 4:30, we gathered back in the shelter where
our other guide Ellena talked through how summit day would unfold. The guides
were great and went into every detail including what we would be wearing at
each phase. At 5:00 one of the guides brought hot water for our dinner. We all
prepared our gourmet freeze dried meals and dined on delectable on
reconstituted beef teriyaki. We made some final preparation and then it was
“lights out” at 6:00.
The guides had told us that it would difficult to
sleep and they were correct. Several factors came into play including the fact
that it was 6 PM, nerves about the climb, the uncomfortable wooden platform,
and the knowledge that there were mice about. However, the biggest issue was
the excessive gas that was either caused by the elevation or the freeze dried
meals. The shelter sounded like a odd symphony of
“noises”. The guides had warned us to make sure we put lots of water in
freeze dried food so that it doesn’t try to rehydrate in your stomach which
caused abdominal pain and gas. Apparently I needed to put more water in. I was
in severe pain for the first few hours but it finally subsided as it got dark.
Around 9:00ish I heard the wind pick up followed by loud thunderclap and
flashes of lightning. I thought for sure that we were going to be able to try
to for the summit. Just after I had fallen a sleep,
the lights came on as Casey came in to wake us up at 11:30 for our summit
attempt.
Summit Day
Monday, August 18, 2008
After our rude awakening at 11:30, we took an hour or
so get our gear on and have breakfast. Everyone was sleepy, but nervous and
excited about what lay ahead. Outside, the wind had picked up and it was
“spitting” a little rain. At 12:30 we turned our head lamps on and set out in
three rope teams across the Cowlitz glacier. The first was lead by Casey with the
three Hoffs. The second team was Pete the guide, Bill and me. Ellena, Tom
from Seattle and Todd comprised the final team.
Despite a little wind it was a beautiful night. The
hike across the glacier was relatively easy and flat. It was a bit unnerving
passing our first set of crevasses. Once across the Glacier we climbed up
Cathedral Gap. The first part was very unnerving. Something had happened to the
normal route, so we had to traverse about 50 yards of completely loose large
rocks. The guides just said trust your feet, but it was very challenging in the
dark on the side of slope with crampons on. After negotiating the rocks, we
finally got back on the “route” and hiked up the steep rocky face. At the top,
I looked back and saw another set of headlamps setting out on the glacier
below. It was a really cool scene, and I suddenly realized how much I was
enjoying things so far. Once around Cathedral Gap, we got back on snow and
hiked up the relatively easy Ingraham Glacier to “The Flats” for our first
break. It felt good to sit down, drink and get some food. So far I felt good
and had no signs of nausea.
After 15 minutes which seemed like 5, we saddled up
for the grueling hour and forty five minute hike up “Disappointment Cleaver”. A
cleaver is a rock outcropping that separates two glaciers. It’s called
Disappointment because back in the day some early climbers thought that once
they got over it, they would be on the summit. We continued on relatively flat
but narrow trail across the glacier. We passed some very scary crevasses. I was
glad it was dark. About 10-15 minutes in, I heard Todd talking to Ellena about
some issue. A few minutes later, I heard Ellena radio the other guides that
Todd needed to go down. We all stopped and waited for Ellena to bring Tom up to
join our Team. Todd was not feeling right and didn’t feel it was safe to go on.
Once across the glacier, we switched to short 3 to 4 foot ropes and started
climbing the rock cleaver. This was absurd and almost comically difficult. We
were climbing up a steep rock face with crampons and packs on in the dark. I
was in back and kept bumping my head against Tom’s pack and turning my head
lamp off in the process. Once again I was thankful that I couldn’t see the full
extent of the drop offs and cliffs we were climbing around. After what seemed
like forever, we finally reached the snow on the top of the cleaver and took
another break. Again, although tired, I felt strong and had no signs of nausea
or headache. I was really focused on doing the pressure breathing that we had
been taught and it seemed to really help. The guides asked everyone if they
felt strong enough to continue to the summit. Everyone said yes. I was excited,
because 90% of the people that can make it over the cleaver make it to the
summit.
From the clever we set back out on snow up to the
“high break”. The route snaked up the mountain around numerous crevasses. We
had to negotiate numerous traverses. The wind was strong but reasonable. After
an hour or so of hiking, the horizon started to get red and things started
getting light. Right before the “high break” we had to walk across a metal ladder
that was over a deep crevasse. This was incredibly unnerving, especially for
Bill. We made it across safely and hunkered down for another break. Again, I
still felt strong and was surprised I was able to eat and drink so easily.
We set out from “high break” for the last hike before
the summit. The route was similar to the previous segment. I kept looking up
thinking that the next ridge must be the summit just to be disappointed once we
got there. The views in the sunlight were amazing. I have been on tall
mountains before, but this was a bit different because Rainier is so much
higher than the surrounding mountains. Finally I saw the first rope team
disappear in the summit crater. As I approached the crater I started getting
choked up. It must have been the lack of sleep. As we threw down our packs in the
crater I tried to control myself to no avail and the tears flew. Oh well. It
was a bit awkward congratulating everyone else with tears in my eyes.
We took a short break to get some water and food. I
gathered myself and took a few pictures with Bill and the flag. The crater was
really cool. Imagine a volcano crater filled with snow instead of lava. We left
our packs, dropped our ropes and set out across the crater to the true summit.
The sides of the crater were warm, steaming and did not have snow on them.
After a brief climb, we stopped to sign the summit log which is kept in a metal
box. Finally we made it to the very top which was extremely windy. The views
were crazy. We took some quick pictures and hiked back to our packs.
When we got back to our packs for another quick break
before heading down, Bill told Pete our guide that he was very tired and didn’t
think he could make it. Pete said no problem and that he won’t have any
problem once we started heading down. I was a little worried about Bill, but
figured a guy who has run umpteen Boston Marathons would be fine. We started
down the mountain. Climbing down was a lot easier but a lot scarier. The sun
was now up so we could really see how far we could fall if we stumbled. Going
down was a somewhat controlled slide in the snow with crampons. Traverses were
particularly scary because I was in the back and sometimes would get pulled
down going around the corner. After an hour or so of hiking we made it to the
top of cleaver. I was not looking forward to climbing down that in the
daylight. Right before we got there we ran across a team of four climbers going
up moving extremely slowly with a strange roping technique. The guides spoke to
them to make sure they were OK. They convinced them they were and they went on
their way. Once at the top of the cleaver we took a break.
About 10 minutes into the break, the wind picked up
dramatically and suddenly a thunderstorm was bearing down on us. We quickly
threw our packs on and the skies opened up with an
heavy hail storm. You feel the electricity in the air. The anchor poles in our
guide Casey’s pack were actually humming. We realized we were in a very unsafe
position on an exposes mountain with metal ice axes and metal crampons. Casey
decided to shorten our route by going straight down the “shoulder” of the
cleaver instead of the spine. Thunder was crashing and lightning was flashing
all around. We started climbing down this incredibly steep rock face. Pete
asked me to lead our team down. I followed shortly behind Casey’s team. It was
very difficult going in the driving hail and rain. Thankfully the thunder and
lightning passed, but we still had a long way to go to get down off the
cleaver. It took forever, but we finally made it down to the glacier. I was
very happy to be back on snow. We hiked back to our first break and took a
rest.
The rain had subsided and it was getting warmer. We
decided to shed some layers and keep our rain gear in our packs. As we came
around the rock face of the last stretch and saw Camp Muir, the skies opened up
again with a steady rain. It was too late to put our rain gear on so we just
trudged through the rain the last thirty minutes getting soaked. We all packed
into the shelter at Muir cold and wet but happy. It was great to see Todd
and Bob again. We proceeded with the arduous task of changing out wet clothes
and repacking our packs in a very confined space.
We were all very tired, but still had a long hike
from Camp Muir to Paradise 5,000 vertical feet below. About 500 yards down the
snow field, I heard someone yell “rock!!!”. I looked
back about 150 yards up and to the right of me was a huge washer machine size
boulder tumbling down the snow field. It would easily have killed someone if it
had hit them. Fortunately, no one was that close. Hiking down the Muir snow
field is a lot easier than hiking up because of these ruts that you can
glissade (slide on your butt) down on. That was a blast. Some seemed like a
half mile long or so. It was great. The rest of the way you could sort of boot
ski down which would have been fun if I wasn’t so tired. We made it to the
bottom of the snow field changed into shorts and hiked another hour or so to
Paradise. We climbed into the bus, tired, smelly and wet but very happy that we
had made it up and down safely.
Once back at “base camp” we were greeted by the
support team Jennifer McCorey and Susan Cournoyer. We turned our gear in
and then gathered for a well deserved beer while the guides said a few words
and gave us certificates. From there I called home, showered up and met with
the FA team for some celebratory champagne and dinner. I was extremely happy to
climb in bed and didn’t have any trouble at all sleeping.
Accesses since August 26, 2008.
Last updated August 26, 2008