One of Brooke’s buckle-list items was climbing Mt Rainier. Big Surprise! We were supposed to attempt it June 2020 but Brooke couldn’t get out of Australia. Covid lockdown. Brooke told us Australia lockdown again a week ago. They have 22 new cases.
After spending the last 4 months testing out vanlife with Dan, Brooke returned to Seattle on July 2nd. The four of us headed out to Rainier on the 6th. Since Brooke had never held an ice axe, we spent the first two days doing training.
After picking up permits and dropping the kids van at the White River climbers parking lot, we drove up to the Sunrise parking lot. The sky was so blue and the temps were perfect for playing in the snow.
With loaded down packs, we headed down the trail only a mile and a half to Sunrise Camp which would be home for the night.
After setting up camp, we head over to Burroughs Mountain to find some snow fields with nice runouts. The hike was so incredibly beautiful. Burroughs might be the best view of Mt Rainier in the park.
We spent the next 3 hours ice axe arresting, climbing snow, descending, and practicing with crampons. Funny that none of us took any pictures of these events. I think we were all too busy refreshing our own skills. After dinner, we threw the rope over a tree and practiced with our prusik. How to climb out of a crevasses.
We woke to rain which surprised us all. There was a 20% chance of rain in the forecast when we left but what do they know. By the time we finished breakfast, packed up, and hit the trail the sun was on us once again.
Our goal for the day was to do rope work. Brooke has done quite a bit of rock climbing over the last 4 months so the transition to glacier climb was pretty straight forward. She definitely is a natural. Good genes.
Our camp tonight would be Camp Curtis. It would allow us to ascend the Inter Glacier on ropes plus put us only an hour from Camp Sherman on Thursday. But like most Brisbine trips, we couldn’t just take the trail. There was a beautiful basin that needed to be explored first.
The wild flowers were blooming everywhere creating a beautiful foreground for Little Tahoma Peak. We wondered how many people had ever explored this basin.
We arrived Glacier Basin later than we had hoped. It would be a long grind up to Camp Curtis. I roped close to Brooke as to give her some tips as she put the discussed glacier skills to work.
We arrived Camp Curtis just before 8pm. After dinner, we all collapsed into our tent. The next day would be a rest day with a short one hour trip to move camp up to Camp Sherman.
I woke to pee just as the sun was coming up. I couldn’t resist staying up for a little bit and enjoying the amazing colors.
Throughout the morning, we kept looking up the mountain to spot climbers coming down. Dan eyesight is amazing. He could pick out the rope team way up on the mountain.
As we headed to Camp Sherman, we dropped onto the Emmons Glacier for the first time in the trip. I am sure everyone’s heart was racing in anticipation and excitement. This would be the climbing route. An entire day on the Emmons.
Before long you could see the ranger’s hut at Camp Sherman. In another 15 minutes, we arrived. My first visit and Jim’s second.
A large group left early that morning so there was a huge, flat tent site already dugout of the snow. We quickly setup our tents and headed up into the rocks for lunch and melting snow for water.
We set a plan for the rest of the day. Since I was staying in camp, I took on all the group tasks while everyone else worked on what they needed to climb. We would get up at 10:30pm and have dinner. They would head for the summit by midnight. The snow was getting quite slushy in the afternoon so it was best to be back in camp before that happened.
If you are wondering why I wasn’t climbing it is two fold: 1) I have climbed Rainier before and hate the getting up in the middle of the night to tie into a rope and then slog your way up a mountain for many, many hours. 2) I haven’t been doing well with high elevation lately. I get major headaches that stay for days. We have too many other amazing trips planned for the summer. One day in base camp wouldn’t kill me. Or would it?
As each climber finished their tasks, they climbed into the tents and tried to get some sleep or at least some rest. I laid down with Jim a couple of times He was able to lay down around 5pm. If you have never climbed a big mountain, trying to take a nap before the climb is almost impossible. It actually takes a lot of effort. Not only do you have your own excitement but a climber’s camp is a busy place. Climbers arriving and setting up tents. Early evening, a large guided group finally arrived camp. We had been watching them descend for hours. They had left at 2am. They were so excited and oblivious to anyone else in camp.
I spent a lot of the evening wondering around visiting with other climbers and taking pictures. I got treated to some amazing sunset colors.
Once the sun went over the ridge, the temperature dropped by 30 degrees. Jim was actually sleeping in the tent so I didn’t want to climb in and risk waking him. Instead I just kept walking around, texting and playing scrabble. There is one location at Camp Sherman where you actually get cell service.
Just when I decided that it was too cold to stay outside any longer, Jim came out of the tent to take a pee. Prime opportunity for me to jump in. The wind was picking up and it was cold! Jim had already packed up his sleeping bag to take on the climb for an emergency so we shared mine. By now it was 9:30pm, I didn’t dare fall asleep so I just laid there and listened to the wind. The next hour seemed to take forever.
When 10:30 finally came, I shut off the alarm as to give Jim as long to lay there as possible. Jim has done this for me a million times so I think I can do it for him, this once.
I went to making dinner for everyone. When it was ready, I woke the group. It took about a little over an hour for everyone to get ready to leave. It was just before midnight when they headed out.
I tried to take photos of them climbing but they were just blurs of light.
Took me over an hour to get to sleep. I was so excited for all of them. The night was bitter cold. I was glad everyone left with extra clothes. They would be fine while they were moving but breaks can get very chilly in the dark.
A large party heading out for home woke me just before 7am. By 7:30, I couldn’t lay in bed any longer. I was too excited to see them come down. I took my camp chair (a luxury item I brought knowing I wasn’t going to climb) and set up on the helipad. Then I began scanning the mountain for climbers. Jim left me his binoculars so I was able to see a whole lot better.
I now know I am not good at “hanging” in camp. Time goes by so slowly and all you can do is worry. A little past 9am, a party crested the top of the mountain. It was the group of four that left at the same time as our party. Jim must be right behind them.
As I watched the party descend, you could see they were moving very slow with lots of break. The ranger came by for a visit and told me the heatwave had greatly effected the route. The route was now quite long with lots of switchbacks around crevasses. Prior to the heatwave, the route was taking 8-10 hrs. Now it was taking, 12-16 hrs. They actually had a group taking 24hrs last week. Well if that doesn’t get a mom worrying than nothing will.
I remember when I jumped out of an airplane in my early 20’s. I invited my dad to come watch. After the event, he asked me to never invite him to something like that again. He wanted me to just tell him about it afterwards. I now totally understand. I decided I was probably going to be here for awhile so I set up camp on the helipad.
Around 11am, they appeared. I guess there was no way to know it was them for sure but I convinced myself anyway.
A half hour later, I could see them moving around a wall with a crevasses. Something wasn’t right. Before long I could see they were belaying a climber up the wall. I had seen a solo climber heading up earlier in the morning. Either someone over confident or someone who really knew the mountain.
I watched the four mill around in a mass for several minutes. My eyes glued to the binoculars. Then I saw a climber being belayed back down the wall. How confusing! Then another. Soon my team of three were heading down again and the solo climber was heading back up. Turns out we had met the solo climber two days ago in Glacier Basin. He hikes the mountain a couple days a week and skis down. It was impressive to watch him descend several hours later. The teams were simply helping each other through a sketchy section. How lucky to run into each other at that exact moment.
The only problem was the solo climber gave Jim a route change so he could avoid a dicey section that none of them wanted to descend. Good news for Jim’s team but bad news for those of us watching from below. They started down the same route everyone else had done then disappeared out of sight for almost 2 hours. I kept thinking “they sure are taking a long break”.
I took a lot of zoomed in pictures of them descending but this is the first picture I could find them in. Kind of like looking for Big Foot.
Before long the party of four arrived back at camp, I couldn’t wait to talk with them. They said the conditions were very slow. The snow was getting soft and slippery so they were forced to descend slower than they had wanted. They weren’t much help on any other details. Climbers minds are pretty mushy went they reach camp. 13 hours of climbing on 1-2 hours sleep will do that to you.
After an hour and half of not being able to see them, I figured I must of missed them on the face. New climbing parties had been showing up all morning and stopping for a visit. And we all got distracted by a rainbow cloud.
Finally I saw them way on the other side of the climbing route. “How did they get all the way over there with none of us seeing them?”. A question to be answered later.
From here they looked so close to camp but I knew from the previous party, that it would take them another hour or two to get to me. So I just stayed put, watched them descend methodically, and took pictures.
Finally they were close enough that I could get a picture of them with the mountain behind them.
Watching through the binoculars. Eyes glued to them. I saw Jim go down. My heart raced. What a helpless feeling being in base camp. I keep reminding myself that I would rather be in base camp than at home. After what seemed like a several minutes, Jim was back up and the team was moving again.
They would be in camp soon so I jumped up and started head for the rocks closest to them and then ventured out on the snow to wait. I could hear their voices.
Then they were here. Back from their grand adventure. I couldn’t wait to hear about their day after I gave Jim a congratulator kiss.
I asked how the climb was since the Ranger and the other party said it was more difficult than normal. Brooke jumps in with a smile on her face, “It wasn’t that bad. We only punched through 3 times.”
My jaw dropped. Since this was her first glacier climb, I wanted to give her a little perspective. “In all the years, your dad and I have been climbing together, he has never punched through. I punched through for the very first time last year.” Dan added “That was the most ice I have ever climbed.” Jim finished with “That was the most difficult snow decent I have ever done.”
Brooke thought the whole thing was a lot of fun. Ice from camp to the summit. Several sections of front pointing. Down climbing 1000 feet in icy conditions. Punching through a snow bridge (she punched through 1 and Jim punched through 2). Traversing around cavasses that could hide several school buses. 8 hours to the summit. Another 5 hours to get back to camp. Hiking for hours in the dark. Tied to a rope. All alone in your thoughts. This was FUN! She is definitely her father’s child.
Some of you might be thinking, Brooke doesn’t understand the dangers of mountain climbing. I assure you she does. She has been a sponge. Listening to everything Jim and I say. Asking tons of questions. She said the whole climb she could hear us telling her what to do. She even reminded herself before the descent that this is where most injuries happen and to take it slow. Be methodical. She understands the risks but loves the adventure. Watch out Peru! Here she comes!
Back to the story…
After discussing the climb for 10 minutes, I asked what they wanted to do now? Eat? Lay down? They all looked at me with that exhausted climber gaze. They had a choice. They could actually stop moving. No one could answer the question so I suggested we start by going back to the tents, un-roping, and taking off their crampons. “Good Idea!”
As we were rummaging around the tents, Brooke came over to ask if we could hike out. Her knees were starting to swell and she was afraid hiking out in the morning was going to be difficult. We took the next half hour to think about it. In the end, we decided to descend the Inter Glacier together since that section required us to rope together. Then Jim and I would camp at the first flat spot with water while Brooke and Dan hiked out to the White River climbers parking lot where their van was parked and their bed.
So after an hour of packing up, they roped up again. Since I was the only one with more than a hour sleep in the last 36 hours, I took the lead. We un-roped at the bottom of the Inter Glacier. Dan help us find a fabulous camp spot next to a creek. They said their goodbyes and headed out around 7pm. They were nice enough to offer to fetch our car from the Sunrise parking lot so we didn’t have to get it in the morning. No one could figure out why both Dan and Brooke still had so much energy. Adrenaline was the only answer. We heard they hit the wall and collapsed around 11pm which was good because they were in their van by then.
Jim and I spent the evening talking about the climb. Jim made me feel like I was there. I can’t wait to see their pictures. Our camp spot was perfect. The Emmons Glacier could be seen above the Inter Glacier. We had a family of mountain goats cross above us in the rocks. Kids and all. The sounds of running creeks filled the air.
We crashed around 9:30pm. I woke up a couple of times during the night to pee. I swear Jim was in the exact same position most of the night. Sleeping hard. Not even stirring when I would get in and out of the tent. He slept like that for 9-1/2 hours. Proving that if you are tired enough, you can get a good night sleep in a tent.
We poked around camp, packing and eating breakfast. When we finally shouldered packs for the last time, we were both so happy to have less than 4 miles of trail to get to the car.
Our hike out took us through Glacier Basin. A coveted camping area for many backpackers. You could see why. The green grasses and mountain views. We have so many places to explore when we decide it is time to give up the climbing ropes and become backpackers.
