A week ago I reached the summit of Mt. Rainier with the instruction of RMI Expeditions! My first foray into mountaineering. It was an absolute blast and one of (if not the most) physically demanding things I’ve ever done.
Me at Columbia Crest, 14,410′ (highest point on the crater rim of Mt. Rainier)
Sunrise at our rest stop at 13,300′ before making the final push to the summit.
The mountaineering school and climb was an amazing experience. If you’re looking to get into mountaineering, check out rmiguides.com. They were tremendously professional and took the utmost care and attention to detail in teaching us and getting us safely up the mountain.
This was quite a new world for me as a Texan (not many people around here know what an ice axe is), but one I’ve dreamed of for awhile. The climb took two days and one night (during which I did not sleep, resulting in 38-hour period of being awake for me). We climbed 9000′ from Paradise to the summit, 4500′ feet up the Muir Snowfield to Camp Muir, where we spent the night in the climbers’ hut and then awoke at 11:15PM (yes, PM) to start the actual climb around 12:30AM. Reaching the summit took another grueling 7 hours, but it was well worth it. The experience and scenery were amazing, but even more unforgettable will be the many new friends that I met that were in my team with RMI.
Getting outside is a wonderful thing. Far from all the noise and ranting on social media and the bustle of everyday life, you can immerse yourself in the canvas upon which God painted just a hint of His tremendous creativity and beauty. These sabbaticals into the wilderness are refreshing to soul and spirit, and point out that there is something bigger to life than just ourselves, and I think there’s something to that.