HuiYeng
Active member
My unsuccessful Rainier attempt 6/22-24
Here are the pictures I took from the climb and the rest of my vacation. Below are extracted from my journal. Please pardon my broken english if you do wish to read them. Enjoy!
Day 1
This was my first Rainier attempt, I have been thinking about climbing this mountain since the day I heard about the beauty and challenge on this mountain. Finally this year I will be trying to make that happen.
The Galvins and I stayed at Tacoma the night before the climb. Tom started his morning with some rough notes, problems with hot shower, broken waffle machine etc… We didn’t get to the Paradise parking lot until afternoon. We can see the mountain almost the entire drive to the park, I gather that as a good omen, as if we’re welcomed and guided by the mountain to her feet. How naïve.
My biggest worry of all for this trip was the weight on my back and the altitude. As it turned out, the less than 45 lb on my back was manageable. I was climbing steadily and was feeling pretty good the whole trip up to Camp Muir. We took water and sun screen break every hour as the sun was pretty strong with only occasional cloud veiled the ray from time to time.
As soon as we climbed above the cloud, we’re rewarded with the grand view of the south. With Mt St Helens, Mt Adams and even Mt Hood stretched across the clear horizon. The cloud perfectly accentuated the glorious mountains and added more drama to the breath-taken scene.
The higher we climbed, the summit appear to be further away.
We arrived at Camp Muir around 7:30 PM. The wind began to pick up significantly as soon as we arrived. Tom scouted a nice tent site where we’d pitch our tent and spend the night. Andrew and I would share one and Tom would have the other 2-person tent all to himself. We hunkered behind the shelter to stay away from the wind in order to cook and eat our dinner.
The wind was merciless throughout the night. Laying in my sleeping bag listening to the wind flapping the fabric of the tent was quite an experience. I was amazed by the thin material that made up the wall that shielded me from the element. I was feeling quite safe, uncomfortable but safe. The night felt long and cold, I drifted into asleep only to be woken up again by the wind. Around midnight, I guess, I heard climbers getting up and ready for their summit push. I prayed for their safety and that our summit night would be slightly more pleasant than this.
Day 2
We woke up to an absolutely gorgeous day. I felt good and strong.
Many climbers were already on their way to the Ingraham Flat when we woke up. About 10:30 AM, we’re finally geared up and ready to go. Llike other climbers, we would climb over to the Ingraham Flat where we’d spend another night before the summit climbed. We’d hike pass the rock fall zone beneath the Beehive, and the Cathedral Rocks wall, where many experts advised climbers to hike fast in this area to avoid being hit by the rocks. Throughout the morning their advice was validated, we witness numerous rock fall but most of them were about the size of an apple.
The climb up the Cathedral Gap was annoying. The path up the gap was sandy, rocky and somewhat steep. The footing was loose and very often the sand would give way right under my feet. I had to move quickly and my steps had to be light to avoid sliding down. Luckily the climb to the top of the gap was short, still that was long enough to exhaust my calf muscle.
The Cathedral Rock concealed the view of the other side of the mountain. Like the stage curtain that open up to a new scene, as soon as we reached the top of the rock, I was overwhelmed by the mass of the mountain in front of me, I was merely a speck of dust on this gigantic mountain. The scene was surreal.
The route leads to the Ingraham Flat goes along a huge crevasse, it was the first crevasse I have ever seen up close in person. The crevasse has the most amazing shade of blues layering on its wall. We hiked carefully along it and arrived at the flat in a short while later. Looked around I recognized the Gibraltar Rock, the Disappointment Cleaver and the Little Tahoma. Tom pointed out the various routes up to the summit. We picked a well established camp site left behind by previous climbers. Like the one we used at Camp Muir, it was in perfect shape, this one even equipped with a stoves platform and a fridge.
I felt a little light headed when I arrived at the Ingraham Flat. A couple Nelgene-full of water later, I was feeling good and strong again. We spent the rest of the afternoon resting, eating and drinking. Since we all felt pretty good so far, Tom suggested starting our summit climb at midnight tonight. Andrew and I both jumped right on board, and excited about the challenging climb to the summit. Little that we knew, the biggest challenge of all would fall upon us as soon as night fell.
We climbed into our tent at around 6 PM when the day was still bright. I was turning and tossing in my sleeping bag, couldn’t quite find a comfortable position to sleep. Hours flew by, I was finally drifted into asleep. The next time I opened my eyes I found the sky was getting darker, I guess it was around 9 PM. I was somewhat cold and very uncomfortable in my sleeping bag. I hated the feeling of not being able to stretch my arms, so I let my sleeping bag open, only later to be woken up by the cold and zipped my bag. I would do this few times throughout the hours and eventually I noticed my breathing became heavier. Every small movement I made was such a hard work, I need to breathe very hard to force air into my lungs. The hardest task of all was laying back down after sitting up for a drink. At about the same time, Andrew too was having hard time breathing, I first heard him coughing, and then breathing heavily. His condition was worsening around midnight and eventually he was panting heavily. Tom and I both checked on him from time to time to make sure he was OK. He eventually told Tom that he felt like his throat was swollen up and he wanted to descend the mountain as soon as the day breaks. Shortly after that he started to vomit. Tom got out from his tent to fix him some hot chocolate and made me a hot water bottle. (Andrew unzipped the tent to vomit and I was shivering in my sleeping bag.)
After few minutes, he was claiming down and he felt the throat was getting better. Tom told us to get some sleep and we’ll discuss our plan the next morning. The hot water bottle from Tom was a life saver, I was feeling warmer and my breathing was getting better, so was Andrew.
In retrospect, I think a chain of mistakes I made this afternoon contributed to my misery on this long cold night. When Tom was setting up our tent this afternoon, he noticed the tent platform was not perfectly flat and noted that Andrew and I might want to sleep head to head instead of head to feet to each other. I wasn’t aware of any possible bad consequence, so against his suggestion, I volunteered to sleep with my head on the slightly down slope side.
And later that night, every time after I sat up for a drink, I was having difficulty laying back down. The feeling was like doing a back flip head dive into a void, it was a very difficult and somewhat scary feeling. Needless to say I was grasping for air after that. I was scare, I did not want to get into trouble at 11,000 ft, so I better think of something, and my solution was don’t drink water. Good thinking heh. Mistake #2, which fed to mistake #1, since we decided to push for summit at midnight, I packed my Platapus into my backpack so that I’d be ready to go in the middle of the night. So I took the Nelgene into the tent with me that night instead of the Platapus which I could keep myself conveniently and adequately hydrated without having to move much at all.
Day 3
The next morning I woke up at about 7 AM, as soon as I sat up, I felt a twist in my stomach and immediately I searched for the zipper of the tent entrance and it was my turn to vomit. The miserable 8 Oz of water that I consumed the entire night poured right out of me onto the beautiful mountain. Tom got out of his tent and asked if we’d like to descend today, without much thought I was all onboard. The feeling of grasping for air was still very vivid in my mind, and that fact I just vomited did not help to encourage me. I was disappointed at myself and feeling relieve at the same time when we all decided to descend. That is what defeat feels like.
We packed up and left Ingraham Flat at around 10:30 AM to avoid the traffic, we got back to the parking lot by 2:30 PM. I felt empty in me. I diverged my thought to the feast and comfort that I’ll be indulging myself as soon as we got back to the city. A reward to my failure. Hail to the loser!
After that for the rest of my trip, when I was looking at the mountain from every corner I went, I felt like I was being challenged by the mountain. Will I ever be strong enough to climb Her ever again? I have no doubt in my mind. Will I ever succeed? I can only guarantee myself I’ll not cease trying.
Here are the pictures I took from the climb and the rest of my vacation. Below are extracted from my journal. Please pardon my broken english if you do wish to read them. Enjoy!Day 1
This was my first Rainier attempt, I have been thinking about climbing this mountain since the day I heard about the beauty and challenge on this mountain. Finally this year I will be trying to make that happen.
The Galvins and I stayed at Tacoma the night before the climb. Tom started his morning with some rough notes, problems with hot shower, broken waffle machine etc… We didn’t get to the Paradise parking lot until afternoon. We can see the mountain almost the entire drive to the park, I gather that as a good omen, as if we’re welcomed and guided by the mountain to her feet. How naïve.
My biggest worry of all for this trip was the weight on my back and the altitude. As it turned out, the less than 45 lb on my back was manageable. I was climbing steadily and was feeling pretty good the whole trip up to Camp Muir. We took water and sun screen break every hour as the sun was pretty strong with only occasional cloud veiled the ray from time to time.
As soon as we climbed above the cloud, we’re rewarded with the grand view of the south. With Mt St Helens, Mt Adams and even Mt Hood stretched across the clear horizon. The cloud perfectly accentuated the glorious mountains and added more drama to the breath-taken scene.
The higher we climbed, the summit appear to be further away.
We arrived at Camp Muir around 7:30 PM. The wind began to pick up significantly as soon as we arrived. Tom scouted a nice tent site where we’d pitch our tent and spend the night. Andrew and I would share one and Tom would have the other 2-person tent all to himself. We hunkered behind the shelter to stay away from the wind in order to cook and eat our dinner.
The wind was merciless throughout the night. Laying in my sleeping bag listening to the wind flapping the fabric of the tent was quite an experience. I was amazed by the thin material that made up the wall that shielded me from the element. I was feeling quite safe, uncomfortable but safe. The night felt long and cold, I drifted into asleep only to be woken up again by the wind. Around midnight, I guess, I heard climbers getting up and ready for their summit push. I prayed for their safety and that our summit night would be slightly more pleasant than this.
Day 2
We woke up to an absolutely gorgeous day. I felt good and strong.
Many climbers were already on their way to the Ingraham Flat when we woke up. About 10:30 AM, we’re finally geared up and ready to go. Llike other climbers, we would climb over to the Ingraham Flat where we’d spend another night before the summit climbed. We’d hike pass the rock fall zone beneath the Beehive, and the Cathedral Rocks wall, where many experts advised climbers to hike fast in this area to avoid being hit by the rocks. Throughout the morning their advice was validated, we witness numerous rock fall but most of them were about the size of an apple.
The climb up the Cathedral Gap was annoying. The path up the gap was sandy, rocky and somewhat steep. The footing was loose and very often the sand would give way right under my feet. I had to move quickly and my steps had to be light to avoid sliding down. Luckily the climb to the top of the gap was short, still that was long enough to exhaust my calf muscle.
The Cathedral Rock concealed the view of the other side of the mountain. Like the stage curtain that open up to a new scene, as soon as we reached the top of the rock, I was overwhelmed by the mass of the mountain in front of me, I was merely a speck of dust on this gigantic mountain. The scene was surreal.
The route leads to the Ingraham Flat goes along a huge crevasse, it was the first crevasse I have ever seen up close in person. The crevasse has the most amazing shade of blues layering on its wall. We hiked carefully along it and arrived at the flat in a short while later. Looked around I recognized the Gibraltar Rock, the Disappointment Cleaver and the Little Tahoma. Tom pointed out the various routes up to the summit. We picked a well established camp site left behind by previous climbers. Like the one we used at Camp Muir, it was in perfect shape, this one even equipped with a stoves platform and a fridge.
I felt a little light headed when I arrived at the Ingraham Flat. A couple Nelgene-full of water later, I was feeling good and strong again. We spent the rest of the afternoon resting, eating and drinking. Since we all felt pretty good so far, Tom suggested starting our summit climb at midnight tonight. Andrew and I both jumped right on board, and excited about the challenging climb to the summit. Little that we knew, the biggest challenge of all would fall upon us as soon as night fell.
We climbed into our tent at around 6 PM when the day was still bright. I was turning and tossing in my sleeping bag, couldn’t quite find a comfortable position to sleep. Hours flew by, I was finally drifted into asleep. The next time I opened my eyes I found the sky was getting darker, I guess it was around 9 PM. I was somewhat cold and very uncomfortable in my sleeping bag. I hated the feeling of not being able to stretch my arms, so I let my sleeping bag open, only later to be woken up by the cold and zipped my bag. I would do this few times throughout the hours and eventually I noticed my breathing became heavier. Every small movement I made was such a hard work, I need to breathe very hard to force air into my lungs. The hardest task of all was laying back down after sitting up for a drink. At about the same time, Andrew too was having hard time breathing, I first heard him coughing, and then breathing heavily. His condition was worsening around midnight and eventually he was panting heavily. Tom and I both checked on him from time to time to make sure he was OK. He eventually told Tom that he felt like his throat was swollen up and he wanted to descend the mountain as soon as the day breaks. Shortly after that he started to vomit. Tom got out from his tent to fix him some hot chocolate and made me a hot water bottle. (Andrew unzipped the tent to vomit and I was shivering in my sleeping bag.)
After few minutes, he was claiming down and he felt the throat was getting better. Tom told us to get some sleep and we’ll discuss our plan the next morning. The hot water bottle from Tom was a life saver, I was feeling warmer and my breathing was getting better, so was Andrew.
In retrospect, I think a chain of mistakes I made this afternoon contributed to my misery on this long cold night. When Tom was setting up our tent this afternoon, he noticed the tent platform was not perfectly flat and noted that Andrew and I might want to sleep head to head instead of head to feet to each other. I wasn’t aware of any possible bad consequence, so against his suggestion, I volunteered to sleep with my head on the slightly down slope side.
And later that night, every time after I sat up for a drink, I was having difficulty laying back down. The feeling was like doing a back flip head dive into a void, it was a very difficult and somewhat scary feeling. Needless to say I was grasping for air after that. I was scare, I did not want to get into trouble at 11,000 ft, so I better think of something, and my solution was don’t drink water. Good thinking heh. Mistake #2, which fed to mistake #1, since we decided to push for summit at midnight, I packed my Platapus into my backpack so that I’d be ready to go in the middle of the night. So I took the Nelgene into the tent with me that night instead of the Platapus which I could keep myself conveniently and adequately hydrated without having to move much at all.
Day 3
The next morning I woke up at about 7 AM, as soon as I sat up, I felt a twist in my stomach and immediately I searched for the zipper of the tent entrance and it was my turn to vomit. The miserable 8 Oz of water that I consumed the entire night poured right out of me onto the beautiful mountain. Tom got out of his tent and asked if we’d like to descend today, without much thought I was all onboard. The feeling of grasping for air was still very vivid in my mind, and that fact I just vomited did not help to encourage me. I was disappointed at myself and feeling relieve at the same time when we all decided to descend. That is what defeat feels like.
We packed up and left Ingraham Flat at around 10:30 AM to avoid the traffic, we got back to the parking lot by 2:30 PM. I felt empty in me. I diverged my thought to the feast and comfort that I’ll be indulging myself as soon as we got back to the city. A reward to my failure. Hail to the loser!
After that for the rest of my trip, when I was looking at the mountain from every corner I went, I felt like I was being challenged by the mountain. Will I ever be strong enough to climb Her ever again? I have no doubt in my mind. Will I ever succeed? I can only guarantee myself I’ll not cease trying.
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