Emmons Glacier (Mt. Rainier)The sky is soon illuminated with a brilliance of sunlight and reflected light. I put my sunglasses on and call out to Kirk to do the same. He yells back to me that he does not have his glasses and "he'll be fine without them." Now it's time for me to become a bit irritated because sunglasses are a MUST and without them, especially on a cloudless day such as this, snow-blindness is a serious certainty. Fortunately, I had spare sunglasses with me and climbed up to Kirk to give them to him. Later in the day, he was very thankful that I had them.From here we continued upward. The snow never became soft enough for the leader (Chris) and other climbers to solid steps. Each step caused our feet and ankles to bend according to the angle of the slope. Cutting across the glacier in long traversing switch-backs, our feet soon ached after bending in one direction. At each switch-back turn, our feet experienced a short reprieve and rest as the angle and pressure changed from foot and ankle to the other, only to resume anew after only a few steps. This continued on and on, as we slowly and methodically continued toward our goal, the summit. As a result of the ever-increasing altitude gain, the monotony is frequently broken by the changing views and perspective of the land below us. Fog and low clouds filter in through the valleys below as if gliding along a predetermined path to the base of the mountain. As the morning light becomes brighter and warmer, the clouds below us begin to thin and dissipate. The ice crystals in the snow reflect the light as if covered with thousands of diamonds, which from time to time are whisked up and scattered upon the snow. The winds never diminish and gusts pummel us with almost every step. By the time we reach the upper aspects of Mt. Rainier, the wind becomes a steady blast causing us to lower our heads and force our way through. Near the top, we reach the famous bergschrund, which is where the summit ice cap breaks from the glaciers that hang from it and create a large, and often deep, horizontal crevasse. This is the last obstacle that we must navigate over, through or around. Each year the route changes slightly and this year is no exception. Rather than moving to the right in search of a snow bridge, we mover to the left. The 'schrund is huge and we traverse for almost an hour before finally meeting up with the Disappointment Cleaver Route, which originates on the south side of the mountain. Over one more crevasse, up one more section of hard steep snow, we reach the outer rim of the summit crater. The snow is now hard ice from the constant pounding of the wind, but once inside the crater, we are afforded some protection from the gusty blasts. Chris enters first, followed by Jon , then Kirk and finally myself. Once inside the crater, we gather together for hugs, high-fives, some photos and a well-deserved break. We unroped and left our packs there. It was apparent from looking at Kirk's face that he was tired had almost reached his physical limit. Jon, normally one of our strongest climbers, was unusually tired. He elected to stay behind and keep Kirk company at the crater rim while Chris I and continued across the crater to the true summit. This took us almost 40 minutes to travel the flat wind-swept interior of the mile-long crater. I could feel my strength diminishing and I fell further and further behind Chris, who seemed rejuvenated at the prospect of reaching the top. At last, Chris ascended the final 100 feet and was first of our team to stand on the top! We could see several parties arriving and leaving the summit. However, by the time I arrived at the top, Chris and I had the summit to ourselves! We congratulated each other, took a few summit photos which included a couple to prove we still had energy left over - Chris did a few push-ups while I managed a handstand or two (not easy wearing climbing boots and crampons!) We spent about 30 minutes at the top, looking all around - from the peaks of the Tatoosh Range and beyond to Mt. Hood in Oregon. To the north, Glacier Peak, Mt. Baker and Mt. Stuart stood above all others. We saw the lush green of the lower Paradise Valley. Far to the west, the sun reflected brightly off the waters of Puget Sound, contrasting sharply with the deep blue of the skies above. When Chris and I joined again with Jon and Kirk, who were still waiting and resting (and beginning to get cold fingers and toes), we took a short break then tied back into the rope. Once assured that all was ready, we departed and began the long trip back to camp. We contacted the other team and found they were close to the top and we should see them shortly. We were perhaps two ropengths along when we met with Jesse, Corby and Larry. Carl was not with them as he could only make it to 13, 250 feet. At that point, another team of two that we met a day earlier at Camp Schurman agreed to let Carl travel down with them. We appreciated this because it meant that they would be traveling slower than they would otherwise. We found out later that Carl experienced some vision problems and needed the extra care to get him safely to camp. Examples like this show how climbers look out for one another. Now the remainder of our team can finish the climb and feel comfortable that Carl would be resting in camp when they return. The return trip was uneventful with the exception that the sun was rapidly warming the snow. We reversed our direction and followed the same path for the return. The lower we descended, the softer and slushier became the snow. Snow began to ball up under our crampons so that the points were no longer effective. We had to regularly use our ice axes to knock off the clumps of snow from our feet. Nearing the camp, the slope became safe enough where we had the enjoyable opportunity to remove the crampons and finish out with a soft and pleasant glissade. When arrived in camp, we calculated that it took some six hours to summit, with an hour and half at the top, and about 4 hours after leaving the summit, for a total of about 12 hours of climb time. |
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