Mount Rainier - Disappointment Cleaver was NOT a disappointment this time around

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sli74

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LONG TRIP REPORT ALERT

The wheels began turning last year in August as I sat at the top of Disappointment Cleaver and watched 2 of my Rainier trip teammates head upward and I contemplated my decision to allow them to proceed faster without me . . . in the hours that followed, I made another decision . . . that I would return and attempt the summit again soon. Talking my boyfriend into going with me was not nearly as difficult as I initially anticipated and so when the permit application time rolled around in March 2006, I got our ball rolling. The plan was for Brian and I to attempt the summit at my own very SLOW pace with either a camp at Muir or at the Flats.

At the very last minute I remembered that Frodo had offered to have us join him last October on Rainier and I had turned him down not wanting to drag him down with my pace. He had INSISTED that any pace at all would be fine and I had still felt uncomfortable going with anyone other than Brian who I knew cared neither about my pace nor very much about some summit. However, I couldn’t remember if Frodo had ever actually gone on that Rainier trip so after a couple of emails and figuring out that he had cancelled the Rainier trip in October, Brian and I decided to extend an invite to Frodo to join us with a VERY CLEAR and UPFRONT understanding that my pace is painfully slow and that he’d have to adjust to my pace with warmer clothes and lots of patience.

Soon our team of two grew to a team of 3 as Frodo decided to join us. I took care of the permits and the planning and the keeping up-to-date on the conditions, etc. Brian and I began setting aside weekends to train for the upcoming climb. We had been downhill skiing with ASC season passes and so planned one final weekend of skiing before the training hikes and mountaineering classes started. Unfortunately, that final day of fun on the slopes turned into a disaster. I took a VERY bad fall on the slopes when I hit a patch of ice and had my right leg “snap” backwards over the boot, which failed to release from the binding. Fighting waves of nausea and intense pain, I was finally taken down the mountain by ski patrol on a sled with a concerned Brian in tow.

The weeks that followed were frustrating to say the least as I wondered if this last minute ski injury was going to hinder my Rainier attempt for the year. But after 3 weeks of hobbling around and staying home on the weekends and practically driving Brian crazy with my need to get out of the apartment, we pushed the limits of my pain and went on a few flat but LONG hikes on the AT in Conn and Mass . . . those hikes were good for my spirit but did little else for my physical shape which was already dismal from a winter spent downhill skiing. But as my leg healed, I began to feel as though I still had it in me to give Rainier a try. We practiced our knots and read “Freedom of the Hills” and got generally excited about our upcoming trip.

Also, for those of you that know me, you know I can’t just do a simple trip like Rainier . . . so to add to the adventure, Rainier was planned as a final hurrah to a 2 week vacation which included driving cross-country in my car, a “stop” for 5 days with Brian’s parents in Colorado, a possible attempt of Pikes Peak while visiting his parents, driving to Paradise and a trip up Rainier and a manic drive back to attend a rehearsal dinner back home in Mass for a wedding in which I was a bridesmaid. So, needless to say, the excitement was at a maximum as Brian and I set out to drive to Colorado on June 22 at 8 pm . . . I won’t bore you with the details of the rest of our vacation except to say that we hit up the super difficult climbs of the state highpoints in Missouri and Kansas . . . wow . . . exhausting !!!!

While at his parents, we got another snag in our plans as I caught a cold and had to cancel our acclimatizing hike of Pikes Peak so as to conserve my energies for Rainier. His parents made sure to pamper us and treat us to great food and it was tough to leave Colorado but we were both very excited about meeting Frodo in Washington.
 
We arrived at Rainier National Park late Friday afternoon, June 30 and I picked up the permits before meeting some friends in Tacoma for dinner. After some carbo-loading we headed back to the parking lot at Paradise, where we grabbed 5 hours of much needed sleep . . . waking to find Frodo parked in the rental car next to us catching a few zzzz himself.

Frodo woke up long enough to tell us about his ordeal getting there and we decided that since he hikes like the wind and had only gotten a couple of hours of shut-eye that a longer nap was in order for him while Brian and I started up to Muir. Our initial reservations were for 4 nights at Muir but we only had 3 nights to work with since Frodo had a Tuesday flight and I had to be back in Mass by 6 pm on Thursday. The hike up to Muir was beautiful. Frodo caught up to us by the time we gained a 1000 feet in elevation and then decided to head up ahead of us to Muir to get some more rest. Brian and I took our own sweet time getting up there, stopping to check out trailside wildflowers and take pictures of the beautiful mountain surrounded by clear blue skies.

Once at Muir, the reality of our plan to get a 10 pm start that very night set in. A quick calculation of our timing had us getting 2 hours of sleep before hitting the boot tracks to the summit. So, we talked to the Rangers, cleared the “new” plan with Frodo and hit the sack. So, the new plan was to get a full night’s sleep on Saturday and head up to Ingraham Flats Sunday morning and make a summit attempt on Sunday night/Monday morning and then descend to Muir on Monday afternoon.

So, on Sunday, we roped up and carried our humungous packs across Cowlitz Glacier and up the annoying and frustrating scree rocks on Cathedral Gap and over onto Ingraham Glacier to the Flats. A couple of short hours after leaving Muir we were chilling out at the Flats. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening melting snow, eating and resting. We even roped up and walked up towards a large crevasse to try to get untainted snow for water. None of us got much sleep, however, as we were all excited and anxious to get started. We were geared up and ready to hit the boot tracks at 10:30 pm on Sunday night.

We spent an annoyingly long time searching for the wands amongst the gazillion boot tracks all over the place. We knew there were crevasses all around that area and after a relatively small crevasse crossing, we made our way through the rock and ice fall area at the base of the cleaver. Once on the toe of the cleaver we traversed a short rocky area and quickly got onto the snow again. After a couple of hours of climbing via switchbacks, we made it to an area that I recognized even in the dark as the top of the cleaver, where I had spent a good deal of time last August soaking in the sun.

This year, we continued our climb upslope beyond the cleaver, making our way past a number of RMI placed pickets, choosing not to use them afterall. I started to get cold at this point and put on mittens. It had been pretty “warm” with temps hovering around the freezing mark but the higher we got and the further into nighttime we got, the colder temps creeped in . . .

About an hour or so beyond the top of the cleaver, we crossed what I think was the scariest crevasse I had crossed yet. This crossing made all the others seem like child’s play. It was only about 2 feet across but the terrain was “uphill” and the crevasse was VERY VERY deep, 75 to 100 feet deep and worst of all it was undercut, making the edges look unstable and flimsy. I aptly nicknamed this crevasse “Panic Attack”. Frodo and I belayed Brian while he took the scary leap. I knew even before I got to it that it had to be frightening since Brian had stood near it and contemplated the crossing for nearly 5 minutes.

When I got to it, I began to freak out. I couldn’t imagine jumping over it but since others had done it and the boot tracks restarted across on the other side, I had no choice. I was belayed on both sides and yet, I began to panic. Finally on Frodo’s encouragement and assurance, I jumped across and uphill but managed to land only one foot across and proceeded to become “stuck”, with one foot on each side and the gaping cavernous abyss looming beneath me. Now the panic attack had taken complete hold of me and I was practically hyperventilating. Finally, since I had no choice, Brian and I counted to 3 and he gave one hard yank on the rope and I used whatever muscle strength I could muster to push the extended back leg over the crevasse and made my way across. Now, the adrenaline was pumping in my veins and I felt ready to just cry from relief and fear . . . however, I had to make my way uphill quickly so that both Brian and I could secure ourselves and Frodo could jump across as well. After Frodo was also safely across, we continued our climb with Frodo making the obvious but unnerving observation that we’d have to cross that crevasse again on our way down.

Soon after “Panic Attack”, the snow began to set nicely and we could kick in our crampons much more easily. We had a few more small and medium crevasse crossings that seemed so MUCH easier than Panic Attack. We could eventually see rime ice and the temps started to cause my body to shiver. However, by this time the steady 15 mph winds had begun to pick up and visibility had also been steadily dropping since we left the cleaver behind. The cold winds tried to knock me off my feet a couple of times but I braced against them. I was very cold by this point but didn’t want to stop long enough in the exposed winds to put on more clothing. I kept hoping we could put on layers at the summit. Soon enough I began to see a few rocks off to the side. Hadn’t seen exposed rock since the cleaver. It was getting to be daylight out and I tried to hold down a creeping excitement that the exposed rock might indicate that we were at the top.

Just as I was trying to decide if the rocks were a hallucination, Brian turned around, pulled aside his balaclava and smiled at me . . . “Couldn’t be the summit” I thought to myself just as I saw a “dip” in the landscape and the crater of Rainier up 40 feet in front of me as Brian turned around, gave me a thumbs up and began walking backwards into the crater. We had a round of high fives and hugs, noted the time at being just prior to 6 am and quickly reenergized ourselves for the trek across the crater to the true summit and register at Columbia Crest. The hike there was simple and flat but the winds were pretty fierce at points as I struggled against the gusts . . . we hiked past the register, where another group that had started across the crater before us were signing in. We chose to hike past the register to tag the true summit or highpoint which was just a ways up the hill. After finding what seemed to us in the thick fog and low visibility to be the highest ground, we took some pictures and quickly got ourselves back to the register.

At the register, we signed in and took a few more pictures including a picture with a large sign for HarryK for his generosity, Harry . . . you are the best and we can’t thank you enough . . . your picture will be in the mail very soon. The winds and fog made hanging out at the summit difficult and unnecessary so we made our way back to the Crater Rim on the other side. Here we took some time to eat and drink and relieve water burdens and put on more clothes.
 
Our descent was considerably slowed by having to step aside for the many groups making their way up and those that overtook us as we descended. By about 13,500 or so, we cleared the lenticular cloud that had been sitting on the summit and we got some spectacular and breathtaking views of the surrounding landscape, the open crevasses below and around were much scarier in the daylight with visibility. The softening snow slowed me more than I had realized it would and we finally made our way back to our camp at Ingraham Flats a little past noon. The jump over Panic Attack had been freaky but about a 1000 times easier going downhill where gravity helped me cross without great incident.

At Ingraham, we made the decision to split our group. Frodo was keen on trying to speed down to the car and making an effort to catch an earlier flight home so he could get back to his wife and kids for the Fourth of July. We all knew he could cut his hike time in half by descending without me and Brian and I were comfortable crossing the glaciers from Ingraham to Muir by ourselves. So, we bid Frodo goodbye, gave him a couple of liters of water and took his remaining fuel so we could melt more snow for water.

Our plan, Brian’s and mine, was to descend to Muir later that afternoon or early evening and spend the night there as our permit indicated we’d do. However, as we settled into our chores, water, food, etc . . . sleep and exhaustion quickly overtook us and looking around at the 5 other tents there we knew the Flats were nowhere near full capacity and we chose instead to stay put and hike from the Flats to the car early on Tuesday morning. This would prove to be a bad decision later that night when I would experience the only thing scarier than the Panic Attack crevasse.

At about 2:15 am, I woke to a loud boom and became fearfully aware that a rain and thunder and lightening storm was raging outside. Our calculations of the seconds between lightening and thunder put the storm closer than ONE mile . . . I hurriedly woke Brian who was so tired that he went right back to sleep while I ran every scary scenario through my head. I thought about how flat everything was, how we were likely the highest thing there and how we were surrounded my metal, tentpoles, pickets, axes, biners, ascenders, ice screws, etc . . . I laid awake, watching the flashes of light as Brian slept. I listened to the thunder and the sounds of 4 of the other 5 tents’ occupants pack up and leave for Muir in the midst of the rain and storm.

The storm had abated by morning and we packed up, almost losing our tent as the wind tried to pick it up and fly it into a crevasse. I chased it down and barely grabbed it with my mittened hand. That would be the last of the excitement/adventure for this trip. We quickly made our way down to the car with a short stop at Muir. The trip down was much faster as we covered a LOT of ground on our behinds as we glissaded down. Along the way we meant a July Santa who was hiking up with his 2 helpers and they allowed us to choose a couple of small gifts from his Christmas stocking and also a couple of pictures with Santa.

After reorganizing the car and taking showers at the Visitor’s Center, we drove like the winds from Rainier to Wrentham, MA, covering 3000+ miles in 46 hours and running up to the wedding rehearsal making it there in time to get into the processional line alongside the other bridesmaids . . . it was such an adventure. This trip was as Hectic and Crazy as the best of my hair brained schemes and Brian is still with me . . . what a saint.

2 weeks vacation time
7500 miles of wear and tear on the car
19 states
5 fun days with the boyfriend’s parents
3 state highpoints
1 glacier and 1 difficult summit
Uncountable adventures and FUN
THANK YOU FRODO and BRIAN, I can’t think of two more handsome and fun hiking companions. Let’s do it again sometime.

Here are Frodo’s pictures. I am house and dog sitting for my boss and will upload my pictures later this week after I get back home.

http://rwilliams2112.photosite.com/Rainier06/

EDIT:
And finally here are my pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/album/552244602nYILuX

sli74
 
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Congratulations, Seema - great TR! Sounds like all of you had quite an adventure!
 
Hey Seema, awesome report and pictures, they give me a scope into what I was missing out. Congratulation to all of you.
 
Seema, Brian and Frodo; Great trip and I am glad you made the summit this year. Now you know why it is one of my favorites. This year I'll follow your footsteps as I will visit Rainier later in July.
 
Congratulations Seema, Brian and Frodo!!!! Big hugs from us!!!

John & June
 
WOW - that trip came out of nowhere - Great stuff, I had heard last week that Frodo did it and already gave congrats to him. He said he went with 2 freinds.

I didn't know who the 2 freinds were - mumm was the word I guess. Great stuff!!

HUGE CONGRATS TO ALL. Glad it was a fun and safe journey. :D :D :D :D
 
Hooray, hooray hooray!!!! What a fantastic surprise. Reading your trip report sure makes my work day look pretty dull today!!! Thanks for taking the time to describe your trip. I loved reading it. Can't wait to give you and Brian a big hug and toast to your adventurous spirits and your perseverance. Can't wait to see you!

Jen
 
Seema, Brian, and Frodo,

Congratulations on an amazing journey! I had no idea you were about to undertake this challenge...I am incredibly impressed :) And I am INCREDIBLY happy for you!!

-katie
 
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