SATURDAY:
Food and gear prep.
I try a new recipe to make my own granola bars.
I feel anxious all day thinking about the ranger who has just died on Rainier and about the horrible Rainier weather forecast.
At about 7pm, we decide to call it off because it looks like weather will be both miserable and risky.
Back up plan: Mt. Shasta in Northern California...where the weather is supposed to be lovely.
SUNDAY:
10-hour drive to Shasta with beautiful views all the way down.
Note that the wind is blowing snow off the peak: the first sign of impending doom.
MONDAY:
We awake to see that a cloud has descended upon the entire mountain.
We start the climb up to Helen Lake - about half way to the summit - where we will camp for the night.
No one we pass who is coming down has been able to summit that day due to high winds.
As we climb, we see scary dark storm clouds following us up the mountain.
Once we reach Helen Lake at 10,400 ft, we dig a snow shelter for our tent.
It starts to snow.
We hunker down into our sleeping bags at about 4:30pm wearing every item of clothing we have brought with us including down coats, snow pants, wool hats and gloves.
It is too snowy and windy to melt and boil water for our dehydrated mountain meals, so we eat the rest of our snack food for dinner inside our tent: I had a cup of tuna.
TUESDAY:
We awake to find that the inside of our summer tent is covered in snow: it came through the vents.
The water that was inside my Nalgene bottle that was inside the tent next to my head has turned to ice.
Outside the skies are perfectly clear, but the wind is still fierce.
In the fifth picture down, you can see the outline of Michael's body in his yellow tent as the wind squashes down his shelter.
We brace ourselves against the wind to melt some water to eat our dinners for breakfast and to melt the inside of our water bottles.
I wander along the camp to see how other campers fared the night and meet two men (7th picture down) who didn't have a tent but SPENT THE NIGHT IN THEIR BIVY SACKS!
They said that they got warmer once the snow piled up on their bodies.
After waiting a few cold hours for the wind to die down, we decide not to start the final ascent.
The wind is still whipping off the peak, we are too cold to wait it out any longer, and it is getting too late in the morning to start.
No one who camped at Helen Lake attempted an ascent that day, but a small group of 3 who started further down the mountain earlier in the morning did. We don't know if they made it. I was back home in my warm Seattle bed by 10pm that night.
NEXT RAINIER ATTEMPT:
July 7-10
And if weather is bad on Rainier that weekend, we will be going back down to Shasta!
I'm more excited than ever now to actually reach a 14,000+ summit.
