Mount Rainier

May 2001 we got an opportunity to head out to Mount Rainier in Washington State. The weather looked good and we were all in good shape. What could possibly keep us from the summit? Well, as it turns out the weather was a little too good. The weekend we headed up to the mountain, they had a record heat wave. We had plenty cold weather gear, but hadn't planned on 80+ degrees at base camp! We made it to base camp without too much trouble, but after talking to several groups that had summited the same weekend and the rangers, we determined that the avalanche danger was much too dangerous, and that the snow bridges would be considerably weaker. In fact several groups had people fall through snow bridges when trying to cross. It was one of those times when you're faced with a judgement call on whether or not to chance it, or to call it a trip. We usually tend to be conservative when it comes to climbing, so we decided we'd have to try again another year. Regardless, the trip to Camp Muir and back was great! We got to do some Alpine Ice climbing while at base camp, and had a great time sledding down the glacier back to the lodge, 4,000 vertical feet down.

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Neil and I at the trail head, night before we headed up to Muir

Rich on the approach glacier

Heading towards the mountain

Line of climbers heading to base camp

Camp Muir. Can you spot our tent?

The view from Muir.

Rich and I playing on some alpine ice

Getting ready for the sled ride down the glacier

Rich cruisin' down the mountain