The most common approach is from the town of Paradise on the south side of Rainier, up to Camp Muir, over Disappointment Cleaver and across the summit crater to the true summit at Columbia Crest. This main route is used by independent climbing groups and organized outfitters, most notably Rainier Mountaineering Inc. (RMI)., who is the offical outfitter for summit climbs in Rainier National Park. Unfortunately, this approach is also (as you might guess) heavily travelled, and can have many dozens of people on it at any one time. I didn't want to be part of the 'cattle drive' per se, so I turned to my outfitter of choice, Alpine Ascents Intl. AAI is granted 3 permits a year by the Park Service, and the route they use is the much less-travelled north-east route, which starts at White River Campground and progresses through Camp Schurman on the way to the summit. Early in the year, I managed to secure a spot on the July 21-24 climb and spent the next several months training (mostly hauling heavy packs at altitude).

Finally the day to head out came. I flew into Seattle on Saturday the 19th of July, during one of the biggest heat waves in recent memory. In Seattle, hot = 85 degrees, which was a welcome break from the 100-degree heat of Denver. On the 20th there was a gear check at the AAI offices, just to make sure the everyone had the appropriate clothing and gear for the 4-day trip (a few folks who were missing items had the rest of the day to make the pilgimage to REI).

And then it was the morning of the 21st. The group met at the AAI offices at the crack-of-dawn hour of 5am. A van and accompanying trailer would take us to Rainier National Park and our trailhead at the White River Campground. The group was made up of 8 of us, plus three guides, which is a pretty good ratio. Most folks caught a few last winks during the uneventful drive out of Seattle through Enumclaw and the National Park entrance to the White River Campground. White River is one of those campgrounds where 'camp' is what you make it...tents, car-camping, full RV's, you name it. After maneuving our ungainly van into a parking spot, it was time to sort group gear. AAI supplies tents, technical gear and food for trips like this, and everyone is responsible for carrying something aside from their personal gear. I crammed some tent stakes and poles and a few bags of food into my pack, then lashed a couple shovels to the outside. Didn't seem like a lot of weight....until I picked the darned thing up! Whew! Probably ended up with 70~75 pounds on my back, which was a little more than I was used to, but really wasn't too bad.

About 9:30 or so we struck out along the Glacier Basin trail, which would eventually lead us to our first camp high on the Inter Glacier, a place called Camp Curtis. The Glacier Basin trail is the eptiome of a national park trail...wide, well maintained, smooth...a pleasure to hike on. As we made our way up into Glacier Basin, one of our party, Jim, fell back aways, and after a short while he came to the conclusion that it wasn't a good idea for him to go on. He just wasn't feeling well and wasn't able to keep up, so only a couple hours out he elected to turn back. We distributed his group gear amongst the rest of us, and one of our guides, Ben, broke off from the group to take Jim back to Seattle. I felt bad for him that he had to turn back so early, but I could certainly respect his decision...knowing when to say when is just about the most important thing you can do.

It was somewhere around noon that we paused at the head of Glacier Basin, at the toe of the Inter Glacier - one of the smaller glaciers on Rainier, sandwiched in a valley called "The Wedge" between the more massive Emmons and Winthrop Glaciers. Swapping trekking poles for ice axes, we began the slow and steep climbing on the ice and snow that would be our world for the next few days. A very well-established track switchbacked gradually up the glacier making the need to break trail unnecessary. Multiple glissade tracks streaked the soft snow. The bottom of the I.G. is a great place for glissading...no crevassing at all, and an excellent wide runout at the bottom. Something to look forward to on the way down...

The trek up the I.G. to Camp Curtis took about 5 hours, including a number of rest breaks, which were well-appreciated by everyone. The trekking wasn't too hard, but the combination of the hike in, altitude approaching 8,000 feet, steepness of the slope and heat of the day were making it more difficult. A number of these folks came from low-lying areas, so 8,000 counted as high-altitude for some! One of the areas I counted myself lucky was my altitude training...living at 6,000' and training at 10,000' plus was a definite plus! It was about 5:00 or so that we approached Camp Curtis.

Camp Curtis sits high on the Inter Glacier, pretty much on the ridgeline seperating the I.G. from the Emmons Glacier (on the climber's left). The "camp" consisted of one melted-out camp ring on the ridge. Since we had 4 tents to pitch, that meant that we'd need to construct some platforms on the edge of snow. As if the day's hike wasn't enough exercise, we all took turns shovelling out from the slope until there was enough flat space to line 3 tents up. The 4th tent, which happened to be the guides' tent, went to the avialable camping ring. While we dug out, they set up and got hot drinks and dinner going. Ramen never tasted so good...even after my 4th helping!

As the evening wore on, we ate our dinner and watched the sun set over Rainier, turning the mountain-covered horizon yellow and crimson. Rainier's shadow stretched off to the east, a distinctive point stretching over a cloudless sky. By 8:00pm, everyone was fed and exhausted. We all crawled into our tents for as much of a good nights' sleep as possible. Me, I was out almost immediately, and slept soundly....except when my tentmates (Gene and Owen) would grumble at me to turn over because I was snoring.

On to Day 2...