Alpine Adventures

This is one of my favorite views of Mt. Rainier. From the road to Paradise, it's a wonderful turn-out, and provides a full view of several routes, including ours - Fuhrer Finger.

At Glacier Vista, we are about to descend onto the Nisqually Glacier. Our route is just above Chris's head, appearing as an 'S' shape snow gully.

Across the Nisqually, and now heading up towards our first camp. We've had great weather, and in fact, it's almost too warm!

Once we get into the rhythm, kicking steps is an efficient way to ascend quickly.

Chris pauses while waitng for me to take this photo. We'll continue up and to the left, just beyond the large rock out-crop.

Ahhh. At camp. This tent is up and I relax, soaking up the remaining sun.

Behind Chris in the upper right, is our route, in the shadows. We will be threading through the narrow gully, once past the 'shrund at the bottom,

So far, so good. We'll be making dinner in a bit, then prepare for bed.

OK, enough of the poser pics -- but we just can't get enough of the fantastic views.

The other side of the campsite shows Eagle Peak and the start of the Tatoosh range. In the distance, is the stunted summit of Mt. St. Helens.

As the sun sets, Mt. Rainier's shadow begins to extend to the horizon.

Chris is all geared up and begins the first traverse in the early morning (well not that early, because we have plans to summit and then make camp at the top).

The warmer weather has consolidated the snows and we find solid (but icy) footing amid the sun cups.

Behind and below us, lies the Nisqually Glacier, and Mt. Adams looms above all.

Chris is emerging out of the hourglass and into the full strength of the sun. From here, we'll get no relief from the brilliance until it sets later tonight.

More sun cups -- and here they are getting taller. Though it means the snow pack is safe, navigating them is tedious.

We attempted to continue up the Wilson Headwall, but the snow and loose gravel was unstable. Instead, we found passage through a crevasse field and onto the upper Nisqually.

Chris leads on and picks his way through the crevasses.

Behind Chris is the Wilson Headwall, and the route we should be on. Note the loose gravel on the snow from a break in the snow bridge.

Yup, that's a crevasse. And it's stinkin' HOT out here! Temps on the glacier were over 70, until we reached over 12500'.

And this is where are... over 12000 feet. The winds are picking up, the temps are cooling us off but we both are exhausted, out of water and have only one thing on our mind .. the summit and rest!

At last, the summit is finally in sight. Though visible, it's still about an hour away, and we are calling on our reserves to get us there.

When we arrived at the top, I was pretty sick and focused on getting the tent set up so I could rest and gain some strength. Here is a pic of the sunrise on the next morning.

Another sunrise shot...from the door of the tent.

Time to get up! The winds were very gusty early evening and later died down, but we slept well.