The trip began July 10th at the IMG headquarters with a gear check. The lead guide went through all the things to make sure we only carry the most important things. My backpack weighted 35 pounds!!After gear check we had nice barbeque organized by a Microsoft climber.
On July 11th we started the climb by starting from Paradise ( the Mt.Rainier visitor center) and started to climb to the first base camp at Camp Muir ( around 10,000 ft). We started with cool but dry weather. Here is a group picture of the entire Microsoft group including the 4 guides before going up.
After 6 hrs of slow climbing over the Muir snowfield, we reached Camp Muir and we camped the first night in the shelter that is reserved for guide companies.
The next day the IMG guides had another great breakfast of pancakes and coffee ready for us by the time we were up!. We then had half day training on various skills that is required. We got all geared up and learnt how to walk on steep slopes with different types of walks like duck step, cross step and plunge steps. I did not know at that time how important this training was, as this became critical to my success during the final summit bid. They also showed us how to walk with crampons at a fixed pace, working with harness, roped travel and different methods of ice axe arrests. Since I had taken multiple classes with different groups this section was pretty easy for me.
Here is a pic of me all dressed up in Mountaineering gear and ready to go:)
After a quick lunch break we started our second climb section of going to the second base camp at Ingram Flats( around 11,500 ft).
Since we were leaving the relative safety of Camp Muir we had to rope up as we would be travelling on glaciers. I was the final member of a three person rope team and our rope team was the first one led by the lead IMG guide. The guide used a long rope for this section. Throughout the climb , the guides would keep switching between long rope and short rope depending on the terrain we were on.
Pic of the Ingram glacier route in the background as seen from Camp Muir
This is a short climb for just 2 hrs however it is also one of the most dangerous parts of the climb. The route falls directly beneath the ice falls with huge blocks of ice hanging off the cliff. These ice blocks can fall at any time. That's why we are asked to cross this section as soon as possible.
Within 15 mins of walking on the route, I encountered the first crevasse with a ladder. The ladder is just a beam over the crevasse and does not have any hand rail. The green rope seen is the rope that I was tied to the person in the middle of the team. The crevasse was at least 100 ft deep.
Towards the end of the climb, we had to step over a lot of rock scree . Our crampons screeched as we stepped on the loose rock.. We were able to take a short break to take in the view Ingram Glacier.
We also got good views of Little Tahoma from the break point
After the short 2 hrs climb we reached the second base camp at Ingram flats.
The lead guide gave us instructions for how the next 24 hrs is going to fold out. We had all the gear assembled and ready to go. We had to take the food for day, all our clothes and water so our backpacks was much lighter, close to around 26 pounds for the actual summit climb.We had early dinner at 5pm and then we are asked to go to sleep!. It was so light out that it was hard to fall asleep and someone in the tent next to me was snoring loudly. After tossing and turning numerous times, I was able to catch about 45 mins of sleep..
Around 11:30 pm I was woken up by the words of my guide: " Good morning. It's an awesome day. Beautiful weather .." and " Who wants to climb a mountain ?" It was a full moon night so the moon light lit up the entire base camp so I could even manage walking around the camp without the headlamp. Once again guides had prepared breakfast!. After eating cereal and coffee, we geared up, put our helmets and headlights on. I saw a stream of headlamps from climbers coming up from Camp Muir going towards the top.
By this time I had learnt how to tie a knot to clip into the end of rope. So I roped up and hooked onto the end of the short rope. Around 1:30 am we were all ready to go on our summit bid..
Within 1 mile of leaving the flats comes the one of the hardest sections of the climb aptly named as the "disappointment cleaver". In fact the entire climb is named "Disappointment cleaver route". This is about 1 mile of steep climb of about 1200 ft elevation gain. During my climb it was a mix of rock and snow. It would get really difficult during the rock parts as the crampons would struggle to get a good holding. The route twists a lot along a ridge and any slip can be dangerous. I had to keep switching the ice axe from right side to left as it was always supposed to be on the up hill side. My other team mates had more work to do as they had to move the rope around every time there was a turn.It's a good thing that this climb happens to be at night since we cannot see the enormous crevasses and steep ridges we were climbing on. It was eerie climbing in the dark. All I could hear was the sound of heavy breathing, sound of ice axes hitting the snow and steel crampons scraping on the rock. And one particular twist was the most scariest one for me in the entire climb. That particular section was so steep that we had to use the cross step. This involves placing one leg to the side of the other while climbing up. That was the only way we could balance and not fall off the slope.! Thankfully it only lasted for very short time, for about 10 mins or so. And then after 2 hr or so later the cleaver was done.
We took a small break at the top of cleaver at 12,500 ft. I felt a sense of happiness since what I had read about as the most difficult part was over!.. I tried to eat a piece of cliff bar and realized it was frozen solid. After about 15 mins break , the guides started prodding us up and we started again for the next section of climb.
This section was going to be all snow, a 2200 ft elevation gain over 3 miles. While this section was less steeper than the cleaver, it was longer. And for the first time in three days my calf muscles started to hurt. The guide who was leading the second rope team was right behind me, encouraged to start using the duck step. That movement involves walking "like a duck". While it is unnatural to walk that way, it took away some of the strain on the muscles and I could carry on. . We must have climbed for at least 1 hr but it would feel like minutes. Looking back I think I may have been a little sleepy too but it did not feel that way then.
Finally around 13,500 ft we reached the "high camp" and guides gave us a short 15 min break.
This high camp is nothing but a small area where the snow had flattened out giving us a small plateau to sit on. It was around 4:30 am or so and it had become terribly cold, so we all switched into our thickest gloves and put on multiple jackets. We also were prodded by guides to eat something, so had to gulp down more frozen food. My guide said "we are just 1 hr away from the summit!" That was the most amazing thing to hear . Because it was at this time I started to believe that a summit was possible for me.
As we continued climbing we started to see the first rays of sun rise. It was the most magical view of sunrise I have ever seen.
The snow was stable , wind was low and the entire group maintained a strong pace. I kind of lost myself in the rhythmic pace of our boots pounding the snow and ice axes hitting the mountain. Then finally after another hour the guide said we are approaching the summit. At 5:45am on July 13th, 2014 I took the steps inside the crater. I could feel tears coming as 6 months of hard training was finally successful. I was ecstatic and could not stop smiling :) . The weather was incredibly beautiful. It was 32 degrees at the top.
Here is shot of me at the summit. The full moon can still be seen in the background.
From the center of crater I had to walk another 10 min to reach Columbia crest the top most part of the mountain and also sign in the summit register.
The summit of Mt.Rainier is a crater. It erupted sometime in the 1820-1850 and sulfur fumes were still visible reminding us that we are walking on a live volcano!.
After spending 40 mins at the summit, it was time to go down. As anyone who is involved in climbing knows, going down is the most dangerous part of the entire climb. It is more difficult than going up since fatigue makes slipping likely. And as the sun rises the snow turns slushy and it becomes difficult to get a good footing.
As we descended I was able to comprehend the vastness of the terrain. I had to step over many small crevasses or pass one narrowly on a side. The track was just big enough to keep one foot in front of the other and one side would have 1000 ft drops!.However since I was always anchored into the mountain by my ice axe I felt secure.
In the shot below, I am third person on the the first rope team with the red helmet and green back pack. It was shot by the fourth rope team member. This was a short rope.
We saw giant 60 story building size chunks of ice blocks and crevasses every where
The shot below shows a trail route that passes right on the side of large crevasses
As we reached the top of cleaver, the lead guide switched the route so that we did not have to go through the cleaver again. However this route was no less treacherous. I had to plunge step and slipped a few times but was able to get back up and keep going.
We reached Ingram flats at 11:30 , we packed up everything and left for camp Muir. When we reached Camp Muir at around 1 pm I finally relaxed . The realization also set in that I made it down safely.
We had another short break at Camp Muir and then we glissaded down much of the Muir snow field to return to Paradise. There the Washington National Park fund organizer was waiting for us with a big banner. Following is a shot from that event.
From Paradise the guides drove to us IMG headquarters were we awarded our certificates and we signed their yearly summit board.
I am so glad for the guides and people who went before me for breaking the trail, fixing the ladders. Big shout out for the guides for their technical expertise and for leading people safely and making it an enjoyable experience.
Over all the journey of training for Mt. Rainier and summiting it will remain one of my most cherished moments .It includes climbing on ledges with complete exposure , stepping over small crevasses, crossing ladders, carrying 35 pounds of load up a tall mountain, being on a rope team, team work, 6 month's of hard training, and so many more memorable experiences.
Big shout out to MS, my friends/co-workers and trainers who supported and motivated me in this journey and to all my blog readers!. Hope this will inspire you to train and conquer your own mountains!
On July 11th we started the climb by starting from Paradise ( the Mt.Rainier visitor center) and started to climb to the first base camp at Camp Muir ( around 10,000 ft). We started with cool but dry weather. Here is a group picture of the entire Microsoft group including the 4 guides before going up.
After 6 hrs of slow climbing over the Muir snowfield, we reached Camp Muir and we camped the first night in the shelter that is reserved for guide companies.
The awesome IMG guides in addition to guiding us also prepared us dinner and breakfast.
For day 1 dinner they prepared the most awesome burritos that I have ever eaten!. And the hot chocolate drink was heavenly. Or maybe having dinner at 10,000 ft is just too cool!
Pics of our dining quarters:
The next day the IMG guides had another great breakfast of pancakes and coffee ready for us by the time we were up!. We then had half day training on various skills that is required. We got all geared up and learnt how to walk on steep slopes with different types of walks like duck step, cross step and plunge steps. I did not know at that time how important this training was, as this became critical to my success during the final summit bid. They also showed us how to walk with crampons at a fixed pace, working with harness, roped travel and different methods of ice axe arrests. Since I had taken multiple classes with different groups this section was pretty easy for me.
Here is a pic of me all dressed up in Mountaineering gear and ready to go:)
After a quick lunch break we started our second climb section of going to the second base camp at Ingram Flats( around 11,500 ft).
Since we were leaving the relative safety of Camp Muir we had to rope up as we would be travelling on glaciers. I was the final member of a three person rope team and our rope team was the first one led by the lead IMG guide. The guide used a long rope for this section. Throughout the climb , the guides would keep switching between long rope and short rope depending on the terrain we were on.
Pic of the Ingram glacier route in the background as seen from Camp Muir
This is a short climb for just 2 hrs however it is also one of the most dangerous parts of the climb. The route falls directly beneath the ice falls with huge blocks of ice hanging off the cliff. These ice blocks can fall at any time. That's why we are asked to cross this section as soon as possible.
Within 15 mins of walking on the route, I encountered the first crevasse with a ladder. The ladder is just a beam over the crevasse and does not have any hand rail. The green rope seen is the rope that I was tied to the person in the middle of the team. The crevasse was at least 100 ft deep.
Towards the end of the climb, we had to step over a lot of rock scree . Our crampons screeched as we stepped on the loose rock.. We were able to take a short break to take in the view Ingram Glacier.
We also got good views of Little Tahoma from the break point
After the short 2 hrs climb we reached the second base camp at Ingram flats.
The lead guide gave us instructions for how the next 24 hrs is going to fold out. We had all the gear assembled and ready to go. We had to take the food for day, all our clothes and water so our backpacks was much lighter, close to around 26 pounds for the actual summit climb.We had early dinner at 5pm and then we are asked to go to sleep!. It was so light out that it was hard to fall asleep and someone in the tent next to me was snoring loudly. After tossing and turning numerous times, I was able to catch about 45 mins of sleep..
Around 11:30 pm I was woken up by the words of my guide: " Good morning. It's an awesome day. Beautiful weather .." and " Who wants to climb a mountain ?" It was a full moon night so the moon light lit up the entire base camp so I could even manage walking around the camp without the headlamp. Once again guides had prepared breakfast!. After eating cereal and coffee, we geared up, put our helmets and headlights on. I saw a stream of headlamps from climbers coming up from Camp Muir going towards the top.
By this time I had learnt how to tie a knot to clip into the end of rope. So I roped up and hooked onto the end of the short rope. Around 1:30 am we were all ready to go on our summit bid..
Within 1 mile of leaving the flats comes the one of the hardest sections of the climb aptly named as the "disappointment cleaver". In fact the entire climb is named "Disappointment cleaver route". This is about 1 mile of steep climb of about 1200 ft elevation gain. During my climb it was a mix of rock and snow. It would get really difficult during the rock parts as the crampons would struggle to get a good holding. The route twists a lot along a ridge and any slip can be dangerous. I had to keep switching the ice axe from right side to left as it was always supposed to be on the up hill side. My other team mates had more work to do as they had to move the rope around every time there was a turn.It's a good thing that this climb happens to be at night since we cannot see the enormous crevasses and steep ridges we were climbing on. It was eerie climbing in the dark. All I could hear was the sound of heavy breathing, sound of ice axes hitting the snow and steel crampons scraping on the rock. And one particular twist was the most scariest one for me in the entire climb. That particular section was so steep that we had to use the cross step. This involves placing one leg to the side of the other while climbing up. That was the only way we could balance and not fall off the slope.! Thankfully it only lasted for very short time, for about 10 mins or so. And then after 2 hr or so later the cleaver was done.
We took a small break at the top of cleaver at 12,500 ft. I felt a sense of happiness since what I had read about as the most difficult part was over!.. I tried to eat a piece of cliff bar and realized it was frozen solid. After about 15 mins break , the guides started prodding us up and we started again for the next section of climb.
This section was going to be all snow, a 2200 ft elevation gain over 3 miles. While this section was less steeper than the cleaver, it was longer. And for the first time in three days my calf muscles started to hurt. The guide who was leading the second rope team was right behind me, encouraged to start using the duck step. That movement involves walking "like a duck". While it is unnatural to walk that way, it took away some of the strain on the muscles and I could carry on. . We must have climbed for at least 1 hr but it would feel like minutes. Looking back I think I may have been a little sleepy too but it did not feel that way then.
Finally around 13,500 ft we reached the "high camp" and guides gave us a short 15 min break.
This high camp is nothing but a small area where the snow had flattened out giving us a small plateau to sit on. It was around 4:30 am or so and it had become terribly cold, so we all switched into our thickest gloves and put on multiple jackets. We also were prodded by guides to eat something, so had to gulp down more frozen food. My guide said "we are just 1 hr away from the summit!" That was the most amazing thing to hear . Because it was at this time I started to believe that a summit was possible for me.
As we continued climbing we started to see the first rays of sun rise. It was the most magical view of sunrise I have ever seen.
The snow was stable , wind was low and the entire group maintained a strong pace. I kind of lost myself in the rhythmic pace of our boots pounding the snow and ice axes hitting the mountain. Then finally after another hour the guide said we are approaching the summit. At 5:45am on July 13th, 2014 I took the steps inside the crater. I could feel tears coming as 6 months of hard training was finally successful. I was ecstatic and could not stop smiling :) . The weather was incredibly beautiful. It was 32 degrees at the top.
Here is shot of me at the summit. The full moon can still be seen in the background.
From the center of crater I had to walk another 10 min to reach Columbia crest the top most part of the mountain and also sign in the summit register.
After spending 40 mins at the summit, it was time to go down. As anyone who is involved in climbing knows, going down is the most dangerous part of the entire climb. It is more difficult than going up since fatigue makes slipping likely. And as the sun rises the snow turns slushy and it becomes difficult to get a good footing.
As we descended I was able to comprehend the vastness of the terrain. I had to step over many small crevasses or pass one narrowly on a side. The track was just big enough to keep one foot in front of the other and one side would have 1000 ft drops!.However since I was always anchored into the mountain by my ice axe I felt secure.
In the shot below, I am third person on the the first rope team with the red helmet and green back pack. It was shot by the fourth rope team member. This was a short rope.
Shot of people walking down. The pic does not accurately capture how steep it is.
As we reached the top of cleaver, the lead guide switched the route so that we did not have to go through the cleaver again. However this route was no less treacherous. I had to plunge step and slipped a few times but was able to get back up and keep going.
We reached Ingram flats at 11:30 , we packed up everything and left for camp Muir. When we reached Camp Muir at around 1 pm I finally relaxed . The realization also set in that I made it down safely.
We had another short break at Camp Muir and then we glissaded down much of the Muir snow field to return to Paradise. There the Washington National Park fund organizer was waiting for us with a big banner. Following is a shot from that event.
From Paradise the guides drove to us IMG headquarters were we awarded our certificates and we signed their yearly summit board.
I am so glad for the guides and people who went before me for breaking the trail, fixing the ladders. Big shout out for the guides for their technical expertise and for leading people safely and making it an enjoyable experience.
Over all the journey of training for Mt. Rainier and summiting it will remain one of my most cherished moments .It includes climbing on ledges with complete exposure , stepping over small crevasses, crossing ladders, carrying 35 pounds of load up a tall mountain, being on a rope team, team work, 6 month's of hard training, and so many more memorable experiences.
Big shout out to MS, my friends/co-workers and trainers who supported and motivated me in this journey and to all my blog readers!. Hope this will inspire you to train and conquer your own mountains!
