Rainier - depravation, sunburn, and exhilaration

by Christian Mason

This was some of the scariest climbing I've ever done. The imperative was to move fast, but absolutely not to make any mistakes.

In May 2005, Sid Wiesner, Don W. Ryan H and I went to Mt. Rainier intending to climb the Kautz glacier route. This was the first "real mountain" for all of us. We intended it to be a major learning experience, we nearly got more than we intended. Bad snow conditions forced us to abandon our route of choice and we instead went up Gibraltar Ledges. This trip saw the formation of Team Bivy with our first unplanned bivy. I was later told that Bivy is a french word for "mistake". This trip report began as an email I typed to myself in a public library.

I'm back from Rainier, and in one piece, below is a trip report that I typed in a public library outside Portland about a day after we got down.

Rainier was insane... I'm typing this from the Public Library in Portland, OR. I'm still an emotional jumble of highs and lows from my experience on the mountain, and I'm trying to hold onto some of that. We were the first party to summit in two weeks, but also had an unplanned night out and spent close to 26 hours on the move, the last 15 or so with no food or water. I'd been getting nervous for awhile leading up to this. This was the first mountain for all of us, not counting the little pimples we've climbed on the east coast. Sid has taken the mountaineering school twice, making him the most experienced member of our party in this theater. I'm the strongest rock climber, but was fresh out of the school and overly ambitious. Don and Ryan are both strong reliable guys, but have a cavalier attitude that scares the hell out of me. I didn't know how any of us would handle it if things took a turn for the worse.