Mount Rainier

In June 2005, my very good friend Johann Melillo and I met in Seattle Washington and set off to the tiny village of Ashford, where we would start off our adventure on Mount Rainier.




Mount Rainier, is located 87 kms southeast of Seattle, Washington (Pacific Northwest) is potentially the most dangerous volcano in the Cascades because it is very steep and covered in large amounts of ice and snow. Mountain climbing on Mount Rainier is difficult as it includes climbing on the largest glaciers in the U.S. south of Alaska. It generally takes a minimum of two to three days to reach the summit and climbing teams require experience in glacier travel, self-rescue, and wilderness travel.


The Expedition Seminar was a week long expedition that combined climbing up Mount Rainier whilst at the same time undertaking training snow and ice climbing, self and team ice-axe arrest (which comes in very handy if one slips and starts hurtling down the mountain), cramponing (how to wear and walk with crampons on ice/snow) belaying, abseiling (or rappelling as it is referred to in the US), roped glacier travel, route finding, anchors and crevasse rescue.

This was my first experience to all of these activities except for abseiling, since I had spent a couple of years working part time as an abseiling instructor for an outdoor activity company.

The first thing that hit me on this seminar was the weight of my backpack. Apart from carrying our personal stuff (kept to a bare minimum as much as possible) we had to carry tents and food, for ten people (three instructors and seven participants) that would last us for the seven days we would be on the mountain – although I strongly believe in equality I understand that I have physical limitations especially where the carrying of weight is concerned and although I tried my best to carry an equal share it was not physically possible and after two hours the guides had to relieve me of some of the weight.

Starting off from Comet Falls Trail, we started walking gradually uphill through lush forest trails. Our snow trek started half way through the day and deep snow would be our terrain for pretty much of the trek.




Our daily routine would consist of a total trekking time of eight hours, starting around 8am and stopping briefly for lunch at mid-day. Short stops every two hours enabled us to drink and snack on energy bars, nuts and chocolate. Around 5pm we would stop and setup camp for the night. Our evenings would be spent in the main kitchen tent where our guides would prepare a hot meal which varied from fajitas, rice and pasta. Little energy was left in us except to, literally, crawl into our sleeping bags and sleep!. I must admit that for me sleeping on Rainier was a problem. That was traumatic for me since I rarely have problems to sleep but the cold was too much for me and kept me awake for most of the night :(




Each day would see us learn some new technique – ice axe arrest was practiced almost every day since it could save your life should you slip on the ice (you could fall into a crevasse and that would not be very nice).

















One day we remained in our previous night's campsite and spent the day learning crevasse rescue techniques as well as rappelling. This was quite an experience since they did not make use of what we normally use here the figure of eight but used a knot called the Munter Hitch which serves the same purpose as the figure of eight which allows a controlled descent.


On Rainier I got my first taste of altitude and its effects – how important it is to walk slowly and the importance of learning how to breathe properly. Looking back I realise that I had suffered the minor effects of altitude sickness – headaches, nausea and lack of appetite - I thought it was due to the yucky energy bars.

Weather is very unpredictable on Rainier and on our descent we found ourselves caught in this heavy snowstorm, in which we could barely see people within a few metres in front of us. Our guides divided us into three teams, each team led by a guide, and started our descent each tied to each other – it was here that one appreciates the knowledge of certain techniques like the ice-axe arrest which came in handy a couple of times whilst sliding on our butts to lower altitudes.

During the descent, the weather had become so bad that together we agreed to head down to base camp and do the final leg of training at the company’s headquarters. Ending our expedition where we started, at Comet Falls Trail, we found an Rainier Mountaineering company van waiting for us and were greeted by the driver with a cheeky grin and equally cheeky comment……You ain’t exactly smelling of roses are you?...well what does one expect of a week out in the wilderness with no modern conveniences! Getting home that night, to a huge cheeseburger (when I say huge I mean HUGE!) to a warm shower and cosy bed was heaven and I savoured every moment!

Watching the National Geographic one evening a couple of weeks after my return from Rainier, I came across a documentary focusing on Mount Rainier. It started by stating Mount Rainier is one of the most dangerous mountains in North America. Thank God I was viewing this programme after I actually went for a week long Expedition Seminar on Mount Rainier!

I went up on Rainier with RMI Guides (www.rmiguides.com) – no they are not paying me to do this advert, but I would recommend them, for their professionalism and friendly approach, any time!