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On Aug 9th 2002, Yu,
Tao and I joined an RMI group to climb Mt. Rainier via Disappointment
Cleaver route. Yu and us have been training together for this for over
a year.
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On our way to Camp Muir, the view was gorgeous. The sky was super clear and sunny, with some lovely clouds dotted here and there. |
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A woman in black - me. Summit is right behind me. I didn't rest well the previous night due to a late emergent phone call, but the cool air coming from the snow refreshed my mind and made me re-focus on climbing. |
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Camp Muir, our base camp. At this time of the year, this place is crowded like a open market on Sunday. |
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We got to know Sherpa Phursumpa on this trip. Later, we became friend. He has great sense of humor and is full of energy. |
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Phursumpa chatting with everybody. |
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The boot trail
leading out of Camp Muir.
We have been to Camp Muir several times but never passed this point. The path ahead is totally an unknown. |
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Another view from Camp Muir |
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At 6 pm, we all crawled into sleeping bag and pretended to sleep. But how could sleep be possible? I slipped out and watched dusk gently fall on the mountain. I took this picture of Mt. Adams in the distance. Two weeks ago, we summitted Mt. Adams as a training for Rainier. |
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Colorful tents pitched besides the trail. It was so peaceful at that moment and yet I can smell the upcoming excitement in the air. |
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Sorry that there is no real photo for our night ascent. Please use your imagination. :-) We woke up at 12:30 am and started climbing at around 2 am. We reached the summit at 7:30 am. I did not take any photos during this period. It was a gusty night. At the coldest and darkest point of the night, I had to find strength from within to go on ... |
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We are inside the
summit crater ! This is the highest point I have reached in my life
and most exciting moment that I can remember.
By then, the gust died down. The morning sun was lighting up the whole mountain. |
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Yu and Tao |
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The three of us are so happy ! It has been a long way from our first hike together up to Mt. Si to the summit of Rainier. |
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A sea of cloud.
On our descent, we finally were able to see what we have passed at night. |
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Mt. Adams rising
above the cloud like an island.
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Disappointment
Cleaver It was not pleasant to pass this nasty place with crampons on. |
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Crevasses on the
glacier
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Little Tahoma,
Rainier's little sister.
Three weeks ago, I finally summited Little Tahoma after an unsuccessful attempt in June. It is the first glacier I have ever summited. |
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A lonely tent on
Ingraham Glacier
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People are so tiny Look for some dots in the right part of the picture in the enlarged photo. |
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A heavily crevassed
section Even though deadly, some crevasse are just so beautiful to watch. They are like natural ice sculpture. |
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Yu was sipping the last few drops of water during a break. We were close to Camp Muir. It was a very hot day. We all feel dehydrated. |
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The last stretch before we reached Camp Muir. The hike down from Camp Muir was very quick. We glissaded on either foot or butt all the way. After coming down from the mountain, you are much more capable of appreciating the things that seem usual, such as an ice-cold coke, the open-toe sandal and a soft bed. |