Jake, Trevor and I depart Seattle and head south
to Ashford to meet with the rest of our team for the pre-trip orientation. The
mood was anxious with excitement about the climb, we discussed the ridiculous
weather we were encountering this late in the climbing season.
The three of us met Ron in Ashford and pick up
our rental gear from RMI.
We tried on mountaineering boots and other gear. We were watching the set up
for Mountain Fest which is an annual festival that dons climbing celebrities
from all over the world. Including live music (blind guy cover band with two
hairless cats), cold beers, burgers and other vendors selling climbing gear. As
we watch the set up process and wait for Casey and Nolan to show up we see the
other group milling around. The other climbers didn't know each other and for
those of you reading this and thinking about doing a trip like this I highly
recommend taking on this adventure with a group of friends that you enjoy and
trust with your life. The group dynamic we had was incredible. Not everyone
knew each other but that quickly changed as we made quick introductions after
Casey and Nolan finally showed up 30 minutes late. We also meet Tripp Callan
who signed up for the climb less than 10 days prior. Tripp is from NYC and will
be the last member of our group, a daunting task no doubt but Tripp was up for
it and fit in nicely.
We then met JJ Justman who would be
our lead guide for the climb. After one look at this guy I knew we were going
to get along. JJ is dressed up much sharper than you'd expect a mountaineering
guide to wear. You can tell JJ is a strong minded guy whole has thrown his fair
share of weight around.
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JJ
Justman
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We
begin our Pre-Trip Preparation and Training with a welcome and introduction of
team members and guides. This includes a detailed personal equipment discussion
and gear check, an introduction to safety practices including use of helmets,
harnesses, and avalanche transceivers, and instruction regarding Leave No Trace
practices and environmental considerations. More details about Mt. Rainier can be found here.
We then have the rest of the night to ourselves.
We then roll out to our cabin that we've rented for Friday and Saturday night.
This turned out to be a pretty sweet place.
We then head out for dinner and we decide to hit
up the Wild
Berry Restaurant that has traditional food from Nepal. If we're
going to climb this mountain we need to eat like the Sherpa eats. Between the
group most of us got Yak (burger or rib eye). Pretty tasty stuff believe it or not.
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