The Rainier Adventure Begins

It all started because Mitch is obsessed with Everest and Ed Viesturs.

Mitch and I have watched just about every Everest documentary / TV show / movie out there. Last year we watched all episodes of Discovery Channel's "Beyond the Limits" on Netflix. We've also seen the 1998 Everest IMAX movie, Into Thin Air, Storm Over Everest, and The Wildest Dream. We also enjoyed other climbing movies like K2, North Face, 180 South, and Touching the Void. Mitch is currently reading "No Shortcuts to the Top" by Ed Viesturs about his conquest of all 14 peaks over 8000 meters including 7 summits of Everest - without supplemental oxygen. Like I said.... obsessed.

In mid-June, when it started getting hot here in Houston, we started to plan a week-long trip around a wedding we're attending in Seattle this September. We thought a nice, long break from the heat and a change in scenery would be perfect. One of the options Mitch suggested was to climb Mount Rainier, a 14,411 foot peak in the Cascade Range. Rainier is the fifth tallest peak in the contiguous US. It is also a volcano.

Now why did Mitch get this idea to do Rainier? Well, in reading "No Shortcuts to the Top," Mitch learned that his hero, Ed Viesturs, got his start in mountaineering on Rainier. He used to work for RMI Expeditions (Rainier Mountaineering, Inc). RMI has over 40 years of experience guiding clients to the top. We decided to check and see if there was a chance that they had 2 spots left on their 4-day expedition. On Friday, June 21, they had 2 spots on the Sept 3 trip, but we decided to think about it over the weekend. Monday, June 24, the 2 spots were taken so I called and asked if we could be on the waiting list. They said that there were 2 people who had already paid for another week but were considering switching to the Sept 3 trip (our best option). They had 3 more days to decide. On Friday morning, June 28, I called at 7:30am their time, I wasn't even sure if the RMI office was open yet. But they were open, and the last two spots were ours!!

We're on a 4-day summit climb. Day 1 will be a gear check and introduction day. Day 2 will be a training day where we'll learn how to use all the gear, how to arrest a fall with an ice axe, how to use crampons (Mitch already knows how), etc. Day 3 the real adventure begins and we climb 4500 feet to the camp which is at 10,000 feet. Day 4 we'll hike another 4500 feet up and (hopefully) summit about 6am and return 9000 feet all the way down in one day. All the details are here.

Can you tell? We're excited!