How easy it is to forget what life was like before we had continuous connectivity. The lack of any kind of mobile phone service at Paradise was one of the more challenging aspects of this climb.
Chris had borrowed Mike & Lori’s jeep and drove up to the lodge that morning, and the plan was that we would magically find each other in the climber’s parking area, but that didn’t work out so well. It was some time after nine and still no sign of Chris. The ranger at the climber’s office had told Lester about a little spot around the 4<sup>th</sup> car over down in the lower parking area that sometimes could pick up enough signal to get a text in or out. We laughed, but she was right. I sent a text to tell the lost boy where we were and got one back saying he couldn’t find us and had doubled back to Ashford to try to get a signal. Alex and Lester decided to head up the mountain to have a better chance at a good camp spot, and I took a little nap in the back of the Vue while I waited for Chris.
<a href=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/wpid-wp-14368943024151.jpeg”><img class=”alignleft wp-image-1317 size-medium” src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/wpid-wp-14368943024151-300×169.jpeg” alt=”wpid-wp-1436894302415.jpeg” width=”300″ height=”169″ /></a>When Chris arrived he was so amped about the climb, it was like listening to a child on Christmas eve anticipating the unwrapping of a marvelous gift. I’ve never climbed with anyone with so much excitement and enthusiasm. He reminded me of myself the first time I climbed Rainier. He had borrowed all the stuff that he need for the climb and I was quite impressed with his thoroughness. The only thing he needed were crampons, which I fitted to his boots while he parked the jeep. We walked up to the climber’s office and registered his jeep with them so if we didn’t return, they would know which vehicle to sell at auction.
<a href=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/lower_route.jpg”><img class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-1348″ src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/lower_route.jpg” alt=”lower_route” width=”826″ height=”446″ /></a>
<a href=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IMG_20150711_152332_542.jpg”><img class=” wp-image-1323 size-medium alignleft” src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IMG_20150711_152332_542-225×300.jpg” alt=”IMG_20150711_152332_542″ width=”225″ height=”300″ /></a>Then finally, we started our long march up the 5000 feet to Camp Muir. We were pretty socked in at Paradise and people coming down kept assuring us that it was clear up ahead, but we didn’t get above the clouds until we were a few hundred feet below camp. <img class=” wp-image-1302 size-medium alignleft” src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/wpid-wp-1436894355651-225×300.jpeg” alt=”wpid-wp-1436894355651.jpeg” width=”225″ height=”300″ />It was right about then that we caught sight of Lester too. His leg was giving him grief and his progress was on the slow side. We passed him by and met up with Alex at camp.
<img class=” wp-image-1344 size-medium alignleft” src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IMG_20150712_082444_6021-300×225.jpg” alt=”IMG_20150712_082444_602″ width=”300″ height=”225″ />The clouds were swarming by engulfing us in thick fog one minute and opening up small windows onto Cathedral Rocks and Gibraltar the next. Meanwhile, small groups of climbers were heading up Cowlitz glacier while others were coming down. It was surprisingly busy for such a cloudy day, but I think most of the activity was groups of RMI and Alpine Assents guided groups. They were busy practicing walking around with crampons on and learning the rules of being on a rope team. They have to book their climbs so far in advance, that even if the weather is bad they’ll at least go to <img class=”alignleft wp-image-1345 size-medium” src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IMG_20150712_082506_1531-300×225.jpg” alt=”IMG_20150712_082506_153″ width=”300″ height=”225″ />Camp Muir and get some training in. The folks weathered out of a climb are allowed to re-book their climb for another day, but when you’re coming from the far corners of the planet for this, the “free” re-do is a pretty expensive prospect
<img class=” wp-image-1306 size-medium alignright” src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/wpid-wp-1436894527476-300×225.jpeg” alt=”wpid-wp-1436894527476.jpeg” width=”300″ height=”225″ />After setting up camp, we cooked some dinner and curled up for the night. After five and a half hours of hiking, it wasn’t hard to fall asleep
<a href=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IMG_20150712_123824_581.jpg”><img class=” wp-image-1330 alignleft” src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IMG_20150712_123824_581.jpg” alt=”IMG_20150712_123824_581″ width=”421″ height=”318″ /></a>
On day two, we woke up to more of the same intermittent cloud situation, but people coming off the mountain were reporting success so our optimism slowly began to build. The weather report wasn’t good from the start, but since Chris had flown all the way in from San Diego just for this opportunity, and Lester, Alex and I had already taken the time off we figured it would be a worthwhile trip even if we only got to hang out on at base camp for a few days. Daren and Dave had decided to bail since both of them were pressing a tight schedule, one coming in from Alaska and one from Singapore only a day or so before the climb, and the questionable weather pushed them to the stay-at-home choice.<a href=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/wpid-wp-1436898620462.jpeg”><img class=” wp-image-1309 alignleft” src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/wpid-wp-1436898620462.jpeg” alt=”wpid-wp-1436898620462.jpeg” width=”383″ height=”291″ /></a>
We ate a hearty breakfast of re-hydrated Mountain House and then packed up our gear and headed out onto the Cowlitz glacier in search of a suitable crevasse for a little self rescue practice. It was good to rope up and let Chris practice walking around in his crampons. The first crevasse was on the small side, but the next best one farther down the glacier had a dozen siblings pressing along side it so we elected to stay with the smallish one
<a href=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/wpid-wp-1436898647112.jpeg”><img class=” wp-image-1310 alignleft” src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/wpid-wp-1436898647112.jpeg” alt=”wpid-wp-1436898647112.jpeg” width=”383″ height=”508″ /></a> <a href=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IMG_20150712_125458_620.jpg”><img class=” wp-image-1333 alignleft” src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IMG_20150712_125458_620.jpg” alt=”IMG_20150712_125458_620″ width=”386″ height=”512″ /></a> <a href=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IMG_20150712_130140_481.jpg”><img class=” wp-image-1334 alignleft” src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IMG_20150712_130140_481.jpg” alt=”IMG_20150712_130140_481″ width=”418″ height=”554″ /></a><a href=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IMG_20150712_124513_316.jpg”><img class=” wp-image-1331 alignleft” src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IMG_20150712_124513_316.jpg” alt=”IMG_20150712_124513_316″ width=”413″ height=”548″ /></a> <a href=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IMG_20150712_132138_922.jpg”><img class=” wp-image-1337 alignleft” src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IMG_20150712_132138_922.jpg” alt=”IMG_20150712_132138_922″ width=”419″ height=”317″ /></a> After probing the area for hidden crevasses, we gathered up on the lower edge of our practice Glacier Splitzen and set up two columns of snow anchors each leading towards the edge of the crevasse. We centered the rope, clipped each half into it’s own set of anchors and threw the ends over the edge. Chris had been to Boise many years before and did some rappelling with us, although I don’t really remember it. That was the only rope work he’d ever done so Lester guided him over the edge while I rappelled down the other line.
The crevasse was fairly narrow so we could only go down about twenty feet before we were wedged in. Just enough room to wrangle into our prussic slings so we could begin hoisting ourselves back up the rope. I showed Chris how to set up the slings and demonstrated the technique. He picked it up quickly but was hesitant to put his weight on the knots. I forgot what it was like to look at that knot and doubt it’s ability. It’s a pretty cool knot because you can put all your weight on it in one phase of the move, and then once you’ve transferred your weight to the other knot, you can easily push it up the rope and it’s ready to take your weight again. I didn’t even occur to me that he might be questioning the sanity of trusting his life to that funky knot until he explained his thought process later on. After a couple moves up the rope he began to get the hang of it and was soon pulling himself over the lip of the crevasse.
Then it was Alex and Lester’s turn. They quickly rappelled over the edge, set up their slings and climbed their way up the rope and over the lip. Obviously not the first time for either of them on prussic slings, but it was the first time in a crevasse for both of them. When you enter a crevasse the rope cuts into the soft snow on the edge of the opening, so you have to free up the rope before you can climb out and this is the most challenging part of self rescue, but everyone manage to get themselves out without too much trouble. Of course, we picked the easiest crevasse to get out of with a vertical wall all the way to the top. A lot of crevasses, maybe the majority, are narrow at the top so the rope would cut into a snow ceiling making the job of self-rescue a much more challenging endeavor.
While practicing our maneuvers, we had knocked enough stow down into the crevasse that it buried the end of one of our ropes and it froze in place and Lester couldn’t budge it. That was okay though because we planning on setting up a z-pulley system anyway and this was the perfect opportunity to see if it worked. A z-pulley is used to hoist an unresponsive or hurt victim out of the crevasse. In our case, the victim was the stuck rope
After a couple failed attempts to set it up, we finally got it right and it still took three of us on the line to free the rope below. Lester pulled the freed end out of the crevasse and held it up like a prized catch from a fishing derby… it was a knotted mess, which explained why it was so hard to free it.
So after hours of glacier fun, we headed back to camp, cooked another freeze-dried dinner and melted enough water for the next day’s excitement. We laid out our gear and went to bed around 5:00pm
<a href=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/lower_route.jpg”> </a>
<a href=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/upper_route.jpg”><img class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-1349″ src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/upper_route.jpg” alt=”upper_route” width=”950″ height=”445″ /></a>The alarms went off at 11:00 and we quickly climbed out of bed and geared up. We broke down one of the tents and packed it up with us as a backup plan for Lester. If he wasn’t feeling it by the time we got to Ingraham Flats we would leave him there and pick him up on our way back.