Rainier: The Climb, Part 3

We started the descent with only 10 feet of visibility, but the wind wasn’t very strong and it wasn’t too cold. The guides told us that we would only take 2 breaks on the descent, one on top of the Disappointment Cleaver at 12,500 feet and one at the Flats at 11,200 feet. After the crevasse incident, we were all very careful and made sure to follow the same exact path as the person ahead of us. We made good time and after 1hr30’, we finished climbing down the area with the biggest crevasses and took our first break. Finally, the sky cleared and it was sunny again. I enjoyed another beautiful view of the mountain with peace of mind, knowing that I had made it to the top and the most dangerous part was almost over. We resumed our descent but as we were slowly descending the Disappointment glacier using a switchback pattern, I suddenly heard someone down the slope screaming: “Rocks!”  Immediately our guides yelled: “Look up!” We all looked at the upper part of the glacier and saw dozens of ice blocks coming directly at us like a freight train. A cornice up high had just collapsed and released blocks of ice, some as big as truck tires. Luckily, we could see the whole glacier and had time to estimate the direction of the biggest blocks. Plus, we were not short-roped but had about 40 feet interval between climbers. That gave us plenty of room to maneuver and avoid being hit. It was unreal to see the biggest blocks zooming by in-between us at high speed. The whole experience probably lasted less than a minute but it felt like we were in slow motion. No one was seriously injured and after we calmed our nerves and regrouped, we kept climbing down, hoping that Rainier would just let us finish our adventure without any more surprises. Jess told me that we would basically be safe once we got to the Flats. I couldn’t wait to get there and finally relax some 11 hours after we started our journey to the summit. Once there, we sat on our backpacks, ate and drank whatever we had left, and talked about the incident. Chris, one of the clients, was “unhappy” that I didn’t turn my GoPro on to shoot the icefall. He had a point, I said, as it would have been amazing footage to add to our little home video of our adventure.
 
After our last break on the upper mountain, the last stretch from the Ingraham Flats to Camp Muir went by really fast and we were surprised and very happy to have all the other clients who didn’t summit waiting for us for a wonderful homecoming celebration at Muir. There, we had an hour rest where we had to repack our backpacks with all the stuff (sleeping bag, trash) we didn’t bring to the summit, ate all that was left (which was very little for me), and got ready for the climb down to Paradise, where the bus would wait for us to drive back to Ashford. We were all ready in 30 minutes, very much looking forward to be off the mountain. The snow was deep and it wasn’t an easy walk down but It took us less than 2 hours to finally be off the snow and in the parking lot of Paradise. I hit the stop button of the GPS tracking device one last time to let my family know that I was done with the climb. We had a group photo with Mount Rainier in the background, climbed into the bus and drove away from the mountain that had been our home for the last three days. At the RMI headquarter in Ashford, WA, we had a small celebration with pizzas and beer with the guides. They presented each of us with a certificate for summiting Mount Rainier* and some very nice words about our successful climb despite many challenges.
 
I cannot express my gratitude enough to Solveig, Jess and JM, the guides in our group, as well as Brent, our lead guide. They did an amazing job; teaching us the basics of mountaineering, guiding us safely to the top of Rainier and back to basecamp, with many fun times but always with a “safety first” mantra in their mind. After the crevasse and the icefall incidents, our story could have been written very differently, if not for the RMI guides’ skills and professionalism. I’d also like to thank my fellow climbers - we’ve all shared something special together and although we might not see each other ever again, the bond will always remain.
 
 I personally learned so much throughout these five days that I can’t even begin to detail all of it. It was my first ever climb on a real glacier and it was also the first climb of the season for RMI. I don’t know if Mount Rainier decided to put on a show for us, but what a climb it was! From climbing up a glacier in the middle of the night, to witnessing a gorgeous sunrise, to experiencing the dangers of the mountain, and to rely on each other’s strength while on a rope, I saw first hand both the “good” and the “bad” part of mountain climbing, thankfully without experiencing the “ugly” of it. Despite my lack of expertise and my being uncomfortable and, frankly, scared, I slowly gained confidence on the mountain and really enjoyed the summit day. It showed me that, although I still have a long way to go before climbing bigger mountains, I think these five days on Rainier were a success and gave me a “go-ahead” signal to try to tackle the other mountains on my dream list.
 
2 down, 13 to go!
 
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Summit of Mount Rainier*: Most of the time, people who reach the crater rim of Rainier are considered having summited the mountain. However, the true summit is called the Columbia Crest, a mere 200 vertical feet higher than the crater. It would have taken us 45 minutes to go there and back to really tag the top of Rainier. Circumstances (crevasse incident and weather going bad) led our guides to call it a day and not go for the true summit. Honestly, the other clients and I were content with stopping our climb at the crater, and get back down as soon as possible. This climb was full of uncertainty and being there at the crater was a big achievement for all of us. However, I personally considered having climbed “only” 99% of Rainier. That’s why I added an asterisk to the Rainier page title. I hope that I will have an opportunity in the future to do an expedition skills seminar on Rainier with RMI before the bigger mountains on my list, so that I can climb that last 1%.