by Alex Mondau

On the Way Up from Paradise

After months of gazing South at Mt. Rainier from Seattle between the epic storms that swept through the Pacific Northwest this winter since my last visit in September, a successful summit climb with Phill and Chris, I found myself back at the gates of the mountain this past Sunday.

Click here to watch a video of a panoramic view from the summit of Mount Rainier!

At my girlfriend Julia’s prompting we came equipped with freshly purchased snow shoes, a tasty packed lunch of her creation and the extra gear, pretzels and chocolate I deemed necessary. It’s 8:40 AM and showing signs of being a classic ‘blue bird powder day,’ but we are quite literally stuck at the gates of Paradise. The road from Longmire, Park Rangers HQ, and the visitor center and alpine access point so aptly named Paradise is closed for snow removal! Luckily one of the twenty or so other ‘church’ goers sauntered over and shared with us the good word… the big guy would be available to play at 9 AM. Just enough time to pack the bags, fill the water bottles and be ready hit the parking lot at 5450 ft. running.

A Snowy Incline

Well, if you have used snow-shoes you know we were not exactly running but at least waddling quite efficiently up through snow buried meadows by 10 AM. I was envious of the randonee skiers, heading up ahead of us with their skins, free heels and fat sticks. Another day and another thousand dollars in the gear fund and I’ll join them! We stuck with our ‘big feet’ and broke trail through a fresh foot of powder for the next two hours. The land was virtually unrecognizable when compared to the summer extravaganza of flowers, marmots, deer and tourists we navigated on our previous trip. In excess of ten feet of snow buried all this leaving a lunar landscape of endless troughs and crests, only broken by the tallest of trees and wind-sculptured ice.

Taking a Breather

While taking a breather at 7,000 ft. at the base of a steep incline the thought of a destination for lunch took form in Julia’s mind. I had secretly been pining to make Camp Muir today with the conditions so ideal. This was a lofty goal, as this was the Base Camp for summit climbs and a hefty 10,188 ft above the Puget Sound where we had woken this morn. Luckily a skier cruising by asked the question for me, inquiring with Julia if we were headed to Camp Muir, as he though our progress thus far would make it possible. That’s really all it took for motivation, if it was possible to make it safely, that was our goal. An evaluation of avalanche risk, energy levels, weather stability and daylight available came back with acceptable levels in all categories.

Julia Leading the Way

With Julia leading the way, only resting to fire away with the camera, we were at 9,000 ft. by 2 PM. This is where we had bivouacked in September (Chili Bivy), and also where Chris and I had last seen Phill before he extended his trip by a couple days in the fog and took a couple weeks off my life in stress!

Click here to see a video of our September 2007 Rainier experience (This file is 65MB and it will stream if you are patient. You can also right click on the this link and 'save target as'.)

Moon Rocks looked lunar indeed. Just above us was Anvil Rock and slightly uphill to the left was the top of Muir Snowfield and Camp Muir itself. With the target locked in there was nothing left to do but count steps, control breathing and tough it out. This was a training run for Julia, as we hope to have her ready to summit this summer. She passed the test, and scored major respect points with fellow mountaineers that day by making Muir with a smile on her face.

Julia and Alex at Camp Muir at 10188ft

The views of Mt. Adams and St. Helens in Southern Washington and even Mt. Hood in Oregon were outstanding. The cloud layer rolling in from the Pacific evoked a beautiful image of life above the clouds.

The view from Camp Muir at 10188ft

Chocolate and photography time lasted about twenty minutes and we decided to book it back down. Two hours to the car and three hours of light left dictated a hasty retreat. We accelerated our decent by enjoying the age-old joys of glissading (picture the polar bear pup in the Coke commercial).

Wandering back down to Paradise

At the car prior to dusk and we on our way to beers and burgers by dark the trip was a roaring success. These past two days of work have been surreal, thinking of the land and experiences lay only a few hours away for those willing to make the journey.

Click here to go back to our 2008 trekking index page