Most people have to cancel climbs because of weather or scheduling. We were the lucky ones to be turned back because of a wildfire. Of all the millions of forest acres, this little fire just happened to be at our departing trailhead. All the roads up to the Mt. Adams trailhead were closed. So, there we were, six days before we were supposed to climb, needing a plan B. The obvious choice was Mt. Rainier - just needed to get Eric some alpine air. I was really disappointed not because we were going up Mt. Rainier, but because we weren't going up Adams. I just been wanting to experience Adams for a long time and I thought the day was finally arriving. Also, this change of plans dropped our climbing party from 8 down to 4. Eric, Luke, Kristina and me.
I got off to a late start Saturday night. I didn't get to the Paradise parking lot until 1:00 AM. I don't sleep well in cars and only got a couple hours of sleep. However, it was nice to wake up to the sun shining on Mt. Rainier. The weather was already perfect. Not even a breeze or a cloud. I was worried about the winds being a problem up at Muir, but as long the weather held it was going to be great. The helmet I ordered did not get to my house in time before I left so I ended up having to rent one , which required going down the Ashford and getting one from RMI. I left Paradise at 5:30 AM and got to RMI 40 minutes later. Eric had arrived there a few minutes before me from Portland and was walking through the grassy area as I pulled up.
The rental shop wasn't open yet so we hit the little café and had a fake egg and cheese bagel (meaning it was pre-made and then warmed up - that makes the bagel… chewy). Gear shop opened so I grabbed the helmet, looked around the gear shop and picked up a picket and a couple 'biners. After that, off we were to Paradise. We decided to leave my car down there and just take one car back up since I had to come back down to return the helmet anyway - a crucial decision later to be regretted.
We got up to the visitor center and immediately spotted Luke and Kristina driving around. They were following me the night before after we met up in Yakima but I lost them after entering the NP. We got our permits and busted up to the Inn's parking lot. We took about 15 minutes to do last minute packing and head out. After a bathroom stop and quick picture we were off. The snow started immediately. I've never hiked up there with so much snow still on the ground, so I was a little lost in the direct route (besides heading north). There were foot prints leading in all directions and I wasn't in the business of wasting energy by going the long way. So when in doubt just wait a few seconds before a regular blows past you and follow them. After about 15 minutes it all came back to me and I started recognizing most of it.
It didn't take long for us to get winded. As the day went on this was a recurring event too. The snow slowed us down a bit. The hard part about not getting out much is the desire to stand around and look at the scenic backdrop with amazement instead of getting to work and get the goal achieved. I fell victim to the lust of the eyes as I daydreamed about seeing this mountain every day. The other hard part about not getting outdoors much is not being in shape. I was pitiful. It took a while to find a pace that I could keep up with without having to stop too much. Luke and Kristina went up to Camp Sherman the weekend before so they were a little more prepared. All the hard work of working out makes these days so much more easier.
After a few rest stops and some slow going we finally reached Pebble creek. This is where the snow usually starts. After entering the snowfield, the pace slowed down even further. The steps were shorter, the rests were longer and the air was thinner. This thin air started to have its effect on Eric. Give the guy credit for flying in from the mid-West a few days before, day hiking up to Hood's hogsback 2 days before and giving it his all on his first alpine attempt. But by 9,000 feet and ½ mile below Muir he had to call it a day. He started with a headache in Ashford, which is never a good sign and made it this far with one. The appetite was gone, the panicky breathlessness was well set in and the rest is history. After a long rest and deciding what to do, Luke, Kristina and I set back out to get to Muir, with the plan of Eric staying behind. When we got to Muir we would drop our packs and come back down to see how he was doing. However, ½ hour after leaving him I turned back around since the more I thought about it, the more I figured his symptoms wouldn't get any better by continuing, especially through the hardest part the hike so far. So I gave Kristina my stove since they didn't have one and set back out to catch back up with Eric and figure we'd both descend together or maybe camp on the snowfield just to extend the weekend as much as we could.
Understandably (from experience), the mind makes certain decisions when confronted with questions of survival - whether it's a real threat or all in the imagination. Being 9,000 feet up on the Muir snowfield with the sun blazing down on you for the last 8 hours with trouble holding food down and the feeling of not being able to breathe completely gives you the right to decide when you head down. Justly, Eric did that before I was able to meet back up with him. At that point I descended a little more and decided to wait for Luke and Kristina since they radioed and said they decided just to head back down to Paradise too. After descending a little past Pebble creek, thirst (I ran out of water on the ascent at Moon rocks) kicked me into overdrive and I booked it back to Paradise leaving Luke and Kristina behind. Too bad the main water line broke and Paradise was completely without water when I got down. All that work for nothing. I ended up having to wait for them to get down since they had water in their car.
Eric had decided to head back to Portland and left a note on Luke's car that he put all my stuff back in my car down at RMI. He wrote that he had left the keys in the gear shop. Too bad the gear shop was closed by this point. So we ended up sleeping along the road after I had a little dehydration-turned migraine-turned nausea-turned hyperventilation to prevent puking-turned loss of feeling in my whole body episode. Yeah, that was freaky. That's another story for another time but in the end we got my keys in the morning and headed home.
By the end of the day on Sunday I had accomplished a couple things that I've wanted to do. First, was to get up into the mountains to remind me of what I've been missing the past few years - and hopefully convince me that the money spent to get there (which is hard to come by) is well worth it. Second, was to get some good pictures of Rainier or whatever mountain we were on. Now that I have a little bit more gear, hopefully it will be a little easier to get back up there. Thanks to Luke, Kristina and Eric for providing a chance to get out of the desert. Hopefully these events start happening more often.
As for Mount Adams… there's still a bull's eye on it for me.