Mt. Rainier Take 2

After Brad's last attempt at climbing Mt. Rainier he has been anxious to get back on the mountain.  There were, however, a few things holding him back. 

Climbing mountains is not an inexpensive hobby, especially when you go with a guided group.  This was the first deterrent. Second, Brad only wanted to go back up with RMI and their openings were very limited.  Finally, Brad was very sensitive about his time away from family and making sure he could find a time that would work.  All of these factors posed a challenge but Brad made it back out there.  

He was sponsored by Sports Reaction Center.  The place where he has had physical therapy on his knee for the past 5 months. 

There were only two openings left for this summer, June 30th and July 8th.  As soon as he made the decision to not go on June 30th he commited to July 8th.  But when he called to make a reservation it was gone!  Brad was bummed and seemed to be back at square one.  He called on Monday and asked if there had by any chance been any cancellations.  The receptionist said in fact there was and it meant that Brad would be hiking on July 4th with a July 5th summit.  

After discussing it with me we decided he should go.  The weather forecast looked great and we weren't sure when there would be another chance this summer. 

The whole family drove him to Ashford where he bunked in a bunkroom.  (it was actually way nicer than he had expected).

Getting their gear assembled.

Day 1: Rest Stop

They arrived at Camp Muir with beautiful weather.  Brad didn't fall asleep and the guides came in to "wake them up" at 10:50 so they could begin their summit attempt at midnight. 

They climbed up to 12,800 feet when the guide made the decision to turn around because of unsafe snow conditions.  Brad was very disappointed (and so was I when I heard the news).  We know it is way more important to get back down but it is still hard to be so close and not get to that final summit. 

Brad is anxious to reach the summit but we aren't quite sure when that will be.  All those factors listed above come back into play.  Maybe next summer? 

He did take some great pictures. 

A bag from Sports Reaction Center (He was going to take one at the top.)