Rainier

As if I hadn't been tortured enough by this man during graduate school, he's come to the sound for a visit! Phil emailed me the other day and said that he and his wife Linda would be in town. So, I suggested we do a couple of day hikes... and they turned out to be very nice!

Did the whole Rainier thing (well, a couple miles of it anyway) and got some half way decent pics. It was basically a ski slope. There was still over 60" on the ground in most areas. The hike back down was awesome one could basically ski it w/ hiking boots!

We didn't make it all the way to the base camp, matter of fact we didn't even get close... but it was a fun hike, i'll be back after I get some good mountaineering gear (cramp-ons, gators, etc..)

The climb to the peak starts at 2:30 am the morning after the hike to the base camp. The group leaves from there to start scaling the glaciers to the more than 14K foot peak. Rainier is basically a proving ground for anyone planning on major climbing expeditions (K2, Denali, Everest).















Here's a shot of Phil on the hill :)


His wife Linda...


one more of Phil...


There was a neat scale topography map at the visitor's center...