Most of you know I have prepping to climb Rainier on August 20th with one of my best friends, Tilghman, her great friend Amy from Nashville and Amy's marathon running buddy, Joy. We were quite the motley crew and crammed all of our gear in my car and headed down to Ashford, WA on Monday afternoon for our four day RMI trip up to the top. . . that afternoon we had a four hour orientation with the other climbers and our senior guide, John Lucia. John kicks arse, and has climbed Rainier over 200 times. Needless to say, we adored him!
We got to Muir around 3pm, freezing, a bit freaked out, but safe. We all crammed in, and went through an orientation with our guides about the summit attempt. They were not optimistic, and told us the weather had to really turn around to attempt it. I must admit, it was crazy sleeping at 10,000 feet during a blizzard/whiteout, but definitely a life experience. We got up at 2am on Thursday morning, prepped for a hour, and the first team went out on the glacier, only to turnaround within 25 minutes . . .John decided that it wasn't safe and aborted the summit climb. Thus, the climb down from Muir around 9am on Thursday was just as tricky/scary as the way up. . . . .and we were all a bit let-down from not making the summit, but it was an experience I will never forget.
This experience definitely makes you re-evaluate life - and what really counts when things get tough. The courage, heart and faith was inspiring of everyone on the trip and I am that much more excited to make another attempt in the future. Maybe this year, but definitely next year. I also plan to spend as much time as possible in the mountains, because I have never felt more alive. I have been a bit emotional today about it all, but really it was a life-changing trip.
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