One of the perks of living in Tacoma, Washington is the spectacular view of Mt. Rainier that we have on clear days. It dominates the skyline, and even people who have lived here their entire lives still admire it.
I’d done some hiking and camping around it, but never considered any actual mountaineering until my friend Jeff suggested a hike up to Camp Muir. The summit of Mt. Rainier (or “The Mountain” as it’s known locally) is 14,400 feet, and Camp Muir is at the 10,000 foot level. Considered by serious mountaineers as the “easy” part of the climb to the summit, my friend Jeff assured me that it was still a strenuous hike. As it turned out that was a bit of an understatement.
We started at the Paradise Visitors’ Center at about 8:00 AM and began our ascent. Until we got to the first snow field, the hiking was maybe a bit steep, but not too challenging overall. As an added treat, we saw lots of cute wild life- marmots, picas and even a couple of mountain goats.

Once we reached Pebble Creek and the snow fields, things got steeper and a lot more challenging. If you want to know what hiking up a snowfield is like, imaging going up a really steep hill while wearing roller skates. It’s pretty much a struggle up three paces and then slide backwards two paces kind of situation.
As we gained more altitude our ascent was made even more interesting by the presence of crevasses that we had to cross. There were little sections of them that were still covered by ice and snow called “snow bridges” that we very cautiously crossed over. Luckily, the presence of bootprints told which ones were safest to use. Even so, it took every bit of what little courage I have to make it across them.

After about 5 hours of struggling up and sliding back, we arrived at Camp Muir. Not exactly a tourist attraction, Camp Muir is where the people who are going to go all the way to the top (or “summit” the mountain) camp overnight before getting up at about 4:00 AM to complete the climb. We were lucky to have clear weather and were rewarded with spectacular views. And while hiking up to Muir can’t really be considered mountaineering, after doing it I did understand the satisfaction that real mountaineers get when they summit their mountain.
This summer a few friends and I are planning on summiting Mt. Saint Helens. I’m not super confident that I’ll make it all the way to the top, but it’ll be quite a hike, no doubt.