I thought I was staying home this summer...

I thought I was staying home this summer, you know, work and making bank, going fishing, skiing and hiking. I guess I'll be able to do some of that stuff too. It just seems like there is always something that comes up in June for me. Whether it's going on a camping trip or long distance trip, it's always something. I'm not complaining about it, I'm just laying down the facts for you. 

I'll just say it. I going to Climb Mount Rainier this summer. 

Ice climbing is actually something I have been really curious about, and the curiosity never just came out of blue. Our family has quite a bit of climbing history in them going back to my grandparents generation.

Originally, the grandparents on my dad's side of the family are from Slovenia. Now they may both be slovenia, but keep in mind that they didn't meet each other until they were in Austria in a refugee camp leading up to WWII. While my grandmother was there, she ended up climbing the highest glaciated peak in Austria, know as the Großglockner. Carrying on the sport of climbing were my dad and his brothers, who ended up spending a good chunk of their earlier years climbing mountains around North America, more notably my dad and his brother Dan. The pair have ended up climbing in Northern Canada, Colorado, the Washington Cascades, the Tetons in Wyoming, and Most of Western Montana. 

Grossglockner Mountain in Austria

Now enter my brothers and I. We all learned from our Dad starting young. Most often we would climb in, you guessed it Glacier Park. Now I am a bit younger than my brothers, so I was a little later jumping on the bandwagon. In that time though, they had gotten good enough and ended up climbing the Grand Teton in Wyoming. I did manage to get on and was able to climb with him on his 50th peak ascent in Glacier National Park. We've also managed to so climbing up in Canada recently, and I have grown a love for the sport of mountain climbing. 

Climbing the Grand Teton.

Anyways, back to Rainier. The climb is going to a 4 day expedition, which will include about 20 miles of trekking, and 10,000 feet to ascend in two days. The first part will be to haul all of your gear into camp Muir, which you might be able to see on the map. The next day will be to climb the Disappointment cleaver route up the glacier into a large no-fall-zone, and then make our war to camp 3. 

The third day will be the longest, at an estimated 14 hour day. We will end up traversing along disappointment cleaver up to the ingram headwall, and then make our summit at the Columbia crest. After some time up there, we head down. All of the way down. We will end up packing all of our gear back to the car in one day from the summit. Sounds like a fun day to me!

Here are some stats, if you care. 

-14,411 feet high.
-has 26 major glaciers
-36 square miles of glaciation
-Highest mountain in Washington and Cascades.
-too lazy to write more. I'll post more stuff later.

Pray for Snow!

The S-Jenk

It refuses to die.

8:05 as I'm parking my car a mixture of sleet and snow pitter patters against my windshield. Falling. Skies begin squeezing the little morning light left in the sky. A farewell gesture.

10:25 am and I sit history class. Suddenly a crack and over the intercom a voice speaks: the track meet has been cancelled. As I stare outside I see flakes slowly drift downward. Falling. The instant they hit they melt into water,and turn the ground wet. My mind tunes out the mixture of responses from team members as i begin to think. It's looking pretty grey out there.

11:08 walking back from the math building I notices a thin layer of slush forming on the ground. Flakes still melt as they hit, but not without sticking for a second to showcase their white brilliance. Still Falling. Heading to the door I take a look out again. It's looking pretty white out there.

1:17 heading to the weight room and its coming down hard, and flakes begin to thicken. Climbing up the hill to the building and snow starts staying to the ground. Continuously falling. Looking down I see snow on cars and buildings, yet the ground stays clean. It's getting pretty thick out there, wonder how track practice will go.

3:20 and it's coming down hard. Outside the locker room snow continues to battle the ground for control. Falling and fighting. Coach says we are running hallways today, a well known tradition for track runners. As I leave for warmups I step outside to check up. It's beginning to dump out there.

3:46 Sprint. Turn the corner. Avoid hitting the janitor. Sprint. Try and not get squeezed through the doorway. Hear the slam out a body against lockers. Sprint. Turn the corner. As I run down the last stair well I look out the window. Snow is piling up fast, and it's still coming down hard. Falling. Hot and humid hallways make us even more sweaty. Sprint. Look out the window again. It's not letting up. Falling as fast a we run. Falling. Still falling.


The S-Jenk