Mount Rainier
In 2007 my climbing partner Rob and I went on our first big mountaineering trip. We chose the lower 48s most glaciated peak as our objective, Mount Rainier. Our route took the Emmons glacier, which ascends nearly 10,000 vertical feet, all the way to Rainier’s 14,411-foot summit.
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[wpcol_1third id=”” class=”” style=””]Crowded Camp Schurman where most camp. We chose the secluded solitude of Emmons Flats 500 feet higher.[/wpcol_1third] [wpcol_1third id=”” class=”” style=””]Mount Adams from the summit of Mount Rainier[/wpcol_1third] [wpcol_1third_end id=”” class=”” style=””]The crater rim at sunrise[/wpcol_1third_end]
We were in rare form, having already climbed Mount Shuksan and Forbidden Peak, and were the first team to reach the top that day. We made such good time that we had to wait on the crater rim for the sunrise and were back at our high camp by 10:00 am. As is our tradition, we toasted our success with a Zinfandel, raising our glasses to the entertaining, stumbling, never-ending procession of returning climbers well into the afternoon. Stay thirsty my friends.
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[wpcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””]”Sir Edmund” Rob at high camp, Emmons Flats (10,000 feet)[/wpcol_1half] [wpcol_1half_end id=”” class=”” style=””]I don’t often summit Mount Rainier, but when I do…[/wpcol_1half_end]