For some reason, Mt. Rainier is the only mountain that I claim as mine. I’ve been higher than Rainier (We climbed Mt. Elbert in Colorado which is 14,439 ft as opposed to Rainiers’ 14,411 ft) but it just isn’t the same. Every day that I’ve stared at Mt. Rainier for the past 5 years, my love for her has grown.

When we moved to WA in 2012, we looked at the mountain and jointly said – Let’s climb every summer we are out here! Summer of 2013 – Brice led a 5-man summit climb. Summer 2014 – I led a 2-man climb (Brice & I – most amazing experience in my life). Summer 2015 – It was a bad climbing season so no bid was made. Summer 2016 – I led a 5-man climb. Enter Summer 2017 – Brice has 2 climbs planned for July and I have my own Mt. Rainier Challenge planned for June 26th.

For the past 4 summers our process has always been the same:
Oct-Dec —> Form team
Jan –> Finalize team & make sure everyone is fully committed
Jan – June –> TRAIN, TRAIN, TRAIN – in my opinion this is the crappiest part. You start with an initial hike or workout to see where your base fitness is currently at. Then you begin building your base fitness for about a month – 3-4 workouts a week. It’s a total sweat fest. You regret everything you ate at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. You ask yourself over and over, “Why am I doing this?” “Do I really want to climb Rainier?” “Maybe I climb Rainier next year” “Working out suckkkkkkkssss!!! (not really a question, but you get the idea)”
July – Glorious July –> In the two weeks leading up to your climb, we typically summit Mt. Adams as a final train for Rainier. It’s beautiful because it’s steep but the reward at the summit is amazing. On a clear day you have a perfect view of Rainier and your heart & mind get giddy with anticipation of being on the summit of Mt. Rainier in 2 weeks!! The night before you leave for your summit bid we have a ritual. We go to a local restaurant called the Hub, drink a brew, lots of water, and order carb heavy meals in prep for the early morning awakening and drive to the mountain!

It’s one of my favorite experiences because it’s the final bonding time with the team and is filled with laughter, shared feelings of anticipation and sometimes nervousness, funny training stories, final mental gear run through, and last weather review! It’s also the last ‘turn back now’ opportunity. When you pile in the car the next morning at an ungodly hour – it’s go time.

Brice and I have always been on the same page with every climb. We both tell our teams the exact same thing usually at dinner and then also right before we lock the car and start up the mountain – “The summit of Mt. Rainier isn’t the goal, our goal is the parking lot.” The summit is purely an amazing destination on the way to our ultimate goal. As much as we love the mountain and want to stand on the top and experience the exhilarating feeling of having the past 6 months of training pay off as you see an incredible view, ultimately if you are unable to come home, it’s not worth it. As a leader we will asses the risks as they come up, but will not put lives in danger for a mountain that we can always return to.

This year my Mt. Rainier isn’t 14,411 feet tall. My ‘summit’ is 10 cm and a brand new healthy baby girl that, together, Brice and I will work our way to the ‘parking lot’ for the next 18 years as we raise her and keep her safe until she is ready to be on her own.

Hopefully she’ll share in our love of the outdoors and continue on adventures of her own!

Next up – training!

-Beka