EmmonsThis is another perspective of the 2002 Mt. Rainier trip, written by Chris, a good friend and climber. Sometimes things happen in your life that change you forever. The little decisions you make end up becoming a turning point in your future and you are almost forced to become a different person because of that decision that you thought was so minor at the time. But not only is your life changed but the people around you too. It makes you ponder the thought "what if I'd gone this way instead?" Yet you wake up one day and you're on a mountain and not just any mountain, Mt. Rainier. It was a hot day and we are embarking on a journey with what starts out as a group of nine men. Brian is our main guide who has many years of climbing experience and has been up Rainier several times. Jesse and Jon are Father and Son who have also summited once before. Carl has made a few attempts but never made it all the way to the top yet. Corby has summited before but it was when he was 13 which was 30 years ago and last year when he attempted it, his calves gave out on him at 11,000 feet! Then there were the first timers; Kirk, Larry and Garth. They had been doing some training like Mt. Si but nothing close to what they were about to experience. And I'm Chris, this was my third attempt since I started climbing 18 months ago and it was to be my second successful summit. I was the other guide with Brian in this endeavor of 9 soon to be even closer friends. Like I said, it was a hot day and we started out with our 45 lb packs on our backs. It was pretty straight forward the first 3 hours. I mean we had our close calls with a couple of branches, had to step through a creek, and the typical down wind of certain climbers who will remain nameless at this time, but hardly anything else worth mentioning. Corby tried to be dramatic with a couple of blisters forming but we changed the mole skin and he was fine. Ya know it's like we were going to walk in, take a couple of pictures at the summit, and walk out. It becomes much more than that as you are about to see. The forecast was pretty good; we'd had a lot of snow fall that year so there weren't a lot of huge crevasses to go around. Things were looking great. There was the 2-1/2 hour hike up the basin -- well 3 hours for most -- that got our heart pumping but we had all day the next day to recoup at the Emmons Flats. It was definitely more than the first timers had ever done up to this point. We all eventually made it to base camp at 10,000 feet around 6:30 pm. The first timers dropped with exhaustion and one of them had pulled his groin muscle to the point that he might not be able to summit. But other than the exhaustion, everyone seemed to be ok. After setting up camp, melting snow, and filling our belly with what I like to call tasteless energy, most everyone crashed for the night except for Brian and me. We hiked up to a dry rock area and talked with a couple of guys that were from out of town. Remember when I said the little decisions you make end up becoming a turning point in your future? This was one of them. I don't know if things would have turned out any different if we hadn't struck up a conversation with them but I believe it changed the life of some of our guys forever. That night was so amazing. I slept with my bivey open and the stars were unbelievable. It's awesome how many more stars you can see without the city lights hampering your view. Oh, and just a side note, Jesse' wife Kim must be a Saint to put up with his snoring for so many years. I liken the sound to revving up a chain saw every 2 seconds. Hence the reason I saw so many stars that night. The next day was mostly wasted on transferring camp up about 500 feet because of room restraints but it at least kept us busy and moving and we would get a little head start on all the other groups that night. Brian and I made our final decisions on how the groups would rope up. Brian and Garth discussed his injury and the decision was made that he would stay back. He had tried hiking up a little snow field and it was still pretty irritated. Looking back, he definitely made the right decision. 6:00 bedtime with a 12:00 am wake up call. Again the snoring every 2 seconds, you'd think I would have learned from the previous night. I got up at about 11:30 pm. Was it the excitement of the coming day? Maybe nerves of the 'what ifs'. Possibly a premonition of things to come? Nope, it was Jesse' snoring again. I did fire up the stove and get a hot meal at least. Summit Day. Little did I think this would become a 22 hour day. We didn't start climbing until 1:30 am. Certain people, I discovered, are not morning people. My wife could have been ready faster with make-up. But no use throwing stones now . . . . Hey Kirk. The rope teams consisted of Jesse; who had many years of climbing experience, Carl, Larry and Corby. The other team was Brian, John, Kirk and me leading the way. Within the first 2 hours, Kirks headlamp went out which we never got it going again. Then mine went out even with fresh batteries in them, Duracell's I believe, but after a quick change of batteries, we were off again. The snow was so hard that we were unable to do 'kick steps'. We basically walked on the side of our crampons which proved to be very strenuous on our ankles. I think the decision to put Jesse as a rope leader was mainly because of the different strides between the two teams and we felt Jesse had enough experience to know what to do if need be. The sunrise was the most amazing one I'd ever seen. I can't even come close describing it like Brian did, so if you want the Technicolor version, read his exposition. It became apparent soon that our pace was faster than the other group. Kirk was our first timer and his ex college football physique was just enough to keep up with us. The snow was grueling, relentless and just down right nasty. It was a sunny day but the wind was picking up and the hail from the previous day was pelting us. About ½ way up, we had lost sight of the other group and our only communication with them was via our 2-way radio's which wasn't always working because of the terrain between us. At one point in our climb, Jesse was trying to communicate with us but all I could hear is "Carl's having problems." |
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