Rainier Training

I’ve been training to climb Mt. Rainier for the last 4 months. It’s been a long, grueling, but overall satisfying experience. Today marks the day before I leave for this adventure. I’m feeling mostly excited but understandably anxious when you consider in just 3 days I’ll be (hopefully) standing at the 14,417 ft. summit. Rainier is considered one of the most dangerous mountains in the world because it’s still very much an active volcano. It also is the most glaciated peak in the lower 48 states. Basically that means a substantial amount of ice and crevasses make climbing to the top particularly treacherous.

 

I knew back in December when I decided to take on this adventure that it wasn’t something to take lightly. There were several reasons I really didn’t think it was a good idea at all:

I hated hiking: Or so I thought. You know those foods you pick out as a kid to hate and you end up “hating” them for the rest of your life just because you never even considered trying them again? Hiking was my spinach, my brussel sprouts, my broccoli.

 

 

It’s not cheap: Having never seriously hiked let alone crossed a crevasse or had to use crampons, a guided trip was a must. I’m going with a group called International Mountain Guides, or IMG. The guided trip alone costs $1200. That’s not including any gear purchases or gear rental. There are a lot of other things I can think of to do with that money…like take a vacation that doesn’t involve hiking.

 

It’s time consuming: I work out regularly. But this is a different kind of work out. IMG’s website says you should be in “the best shape of your life” before climbing. I ran a marathon last year and consider that to be the best shape I’ve ever been in. So you’re telling me I need to prepare like I’m running two marathons…uphill? That’s a lot of hours pounding the pavement and the stairmaster.

These are some pretty solid reasons a trip up a steep, icey mountain may not be the best idea for me.

 

But alas, there were obviously some reasons this was a GOOD idea:

 

Can I do it? I’ve always been plagued by this question. It’s often the motivation behind many of my actions. When people asked me why I wanted to run a marathon my answer was always: “I wanted to know if I could.” No matter how much I told myself I didn’t want to do this, I knew I would always wonder if I could actually accomplish it if I didn’t try.

 

A picture is worth a thousand words: I’m going to be really honest here. You already know the outcome of my decision – I’m going up the mountain. But I’d be lying to you if I told you that I suddenly love hiking and can’t wait for the 3 grueling days I’m about to embark on. True, hiking is no longer my arch nemesis. I sometimes even enjoy it now. But 3 days of it isn’t my idea of a fab time. Nope, a large part of my motivation comes from the fact that I want to be able to say I did it. I want to say I kicked that Mt’s ass…All to get one picture of me standing at the top.

 

The best reason of all: I made a bet with my brother. Patrick is my adventure partner. From childhood we have pushed each other to go farther and harder in every task we embark on. This was one adventure, however I was willing to let him go alone. UNTIL: I had recently gotten a very small tattoo on my foot that says my last name. Patrick claimed he would never get a tattoo. And here we came to an impasse. I would never climb Rainier, he would never get a tattoo. So obviously I proposed that if I climbed, he’d get inked. Done deal.

So here we go, off to Rainier in one day to hold up my end of the bargain.
Cheers! – K-Nols