Whiteout in Paradise Get in the best shape of your life and then go climb a mountain. This phrase circulated throughout my mind on the on the morning of July 23, 2014. For the last six months I had been preparing for a four day summit climb of Mt. Rainer. This adventure required hiking with a 35 to 45 pound load, steep climbing with a 20-25 pound load, and a 10-14 hour summit day. Mountaineering techniques for this climb required excellent physical condition, core strength, and flexibility. The demanding degree of physical stamina and mental toughness required didn’t hit me until the morning of the climb. At 8:15am, I realized the challenge of climbing 9,000 feet in the next 18 hours. Would my fitness and training be enough? Helmets, harnesses, avalanche transceivers, ice axes, sleeping bags, backpacks, and layers of mountaineering clothing scattered the floor at the Mt. Rainier basecamp. The morning was focused on specifics of the climb and review of the skills we had learned. All of us were prepared regarding techniques of efficient climbing, safety, and our route up Rainier. The main concern was the unpredictable Northwest weather swelling around us. Could we really reach Paradise? Jake Beren, our mountaineering guide, stood outside fearless and comfortable in the gloomy weather. A darkened sky creeped in around basecamp and the intensity of rain picked up. Jake was communicating on his radio to guides a few thousand feet higher addressing route conditions and avalanche concerns. As news came through, Jake walked over …show more content…
Having food that we genuinely enjoyed kept our energy levels up and moral high. Our guides checked in with everyone of us and made sure we were mentally and physically ready to proceed on. “Are you drinking enough? Are you eating enough? How do you feel? Hang in there.” Jake was a lifeline. He was there to support and look after us. His advice, jokes, and persistence inspired us
"Mount Rainier Introduction." National Park Services U.S. Department of Interior. Nps.gov, 27 Dec. 2004. Web. 6 Feb. 2010. .
Mount Rainier is a volcano that is located in the Cascade Range in Mount Rainier National Park, Washington. This volcano is 14,411 feet (4,392 meters) in its elevation. This is the highest mountain in Washington. This volcano is in the same mountain range as Mount Adams, Mount Baker, Mount St. Helens and Glacier Peak. It is known as a stratovolcano which is a large, steep volcano built up of alternating layers of lava and ash or cinders. This volcano is an active volcano and the last time it erupted was in 1894. The largest eruption this volcano has had was 2200 years ago. It has been recorded that the areas has had a lot of small high-frequency earthquakes. Some of them occur daily. According to geologist the cause of this is hot fluids moving inside the mountain. It is composed of two overlapping volcano crater that are 1000 ft. around. This volcano has three different summits; they are Columbia Crest, Point Success and Liberty cap, the highest which is 14,411 feet and the lowest which is 14,112 feet. It lies on the Juan de Fuca Plate. This is a divergent boundary. It was formed by the subduction of the Juan de Fuca Plate and the North American Plate. This volcano also has lahars which are large mudflows that happen in the deposits of sediments that surrounds volcanoes; they can be hot or cold. This volcano includes but not limited to the rock andesite.
After a great night of sleep we headed out to the world renown mountain of Jackson Hole. It is known for being the steepest mountain on which a ski resort is set up. It is also know for having a great view of Grand Teton, one of the highest peaks in the Rocky Mountains. We could not have asked for a better day of riding. there was a fresh 14” of snow under our boards and after a little bit of exploring we found some great out of bounds and woods riding.
Climbing Mount Everest is no easy task and is a dangerous expedition. This is not a sporadic decision and takes lots of training and preparation. When researching I assumed and discovered that you should train for months. Climbing Mount Everest is strenuous and in order to climb it a person needs to be in good shape. Although it is costly it is important to find a tour group. Saving up and signing up is the most ideal because it is dangerous and the guides do know what they are doing. Packing light is not a good idea because climbing Mount Everest requires many materials. However, over packing would wear you down and become too heavy on your back. Similar to the activity we did in class what seems necessary to pack might not be useful
Standing at 8,850 feet above sea level is Mount Everest, one of the most astounding mountains on Earth. There have been numerous attempts to reach the summit of Everest, yet none of them was successful until Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzig Norgay’s expedition on May 29, 1953. In excess of 100 individuals made it to the summit of Mount Everest by the 1980’s and by the mid 90’s 846 people had accomplished this feat. Unfortunately, there was upwards of 148 deaths up to that point.
In addition to numerous trailhead hikes prior to the Baker climb and to present day, I have adventured on six northwest active volcanic mountains obtaining seven summits in nine attempts. Following Baker was Mount Rainier in 2013, and though our entire expedition of 11 climbers fell short of the summit by 800 feet due to poor weather, we spent three nights and four days traversing high along two of Rainier’s massive glaciers, the Inter Glacier and the Emmons Glacier. In 2014, Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams were my third and fourth climbs respectively in which Tim and I accomplished both in a span of four days. Tim and I left the State of Washington in 2015 for my fifth climb traveling to northern California to conquer Mount Shasta. The year 2016 turned out to be a busy season for summits six, seven and eight as we climbed Mount St Helens a second time, Mount Adams a second time, and a lengthy three night, four-day adventure of Glacier Peak near the Snohomish/Chelan County
The hike down Steens Mountain Canyon began on a chilled Tuesday morning. 20 girls packed in an old and dusty military tent that trapped the freezing air. It was 5:00 in the morning and we were getting ready for Big Day: hiking down into a canyon for 21 miles and back up. We would have to run along rivers and cross multiple streams. It started on a steep terrain overflowing with bushes and weaving through the obstacles.
But for my experience with climbing a mountain, the level of difficulty was enough.
Because of health risks and low oxygen levels that come with high altitudes, defining rules and charting courses of action for different possible situations while the group is under lower physical and mental pressure is highly valuable. Unfortunately, Fischer lost planning time to logistical complications and would also disrupt the group’s progress by escorting a personal friend back to base camp in lieu of sending a supporting guide or Sherpa (Roberto and Carriogia 5,9). The team forewent the most important rule of descending the summit before early afternoon, with Hall waiting for Hanset till 4:00PM and a specific return time never even specified (Roberto and Carriogia 10). Groups with differentiated elements operating in dynamic environments, such as a dangerous expedition, call for a higher level of formalization to reduce error and maximize efficiency of routine tasks. Where reliance on rules and procedures could reduce flexibility, the task of scaling Everest has few innate structural challenges and derives most of its complexity from idiosyncratic environmental factors.
In 1996, three leaders attempted to climb Mt. Everest. Rob hall, Scott fischer and Makalu gau went on, separate, expeditions each with their own team of somewhat well known climbers, all 33 climbers in total. One day 19 climbers were on the mountain close to the summit when a frightful storm hit the “death zone”. 19 people trapped on top of the worlds biggest mountain, it wasn’t about climbing anymore it was about survival.
At this moment, schoolwork was irrelevant and all I could think about was playing in the wilderness. Others in my class anxiously waited for their release to go to lunch, while I was lucky enough to be freed into the start of a four-day escapade in the desert. … Beeeeeeep! I rushed out the doors and found my dad waiting for me in his 2005 Land Rover LR3 packed full of camping gear. My dad, brother, and I fled our ordinary lives and homely abode of Telluride, Colorado to embark on a backpacking trip to the Golden Cathedral in the Escalante, Utah area.
The climate on top of the peak was chilling to the bone, even through our winter clothes. The route we had to take on was no short of any challenges, full of steep snaking climbs, strewn with pebbles all along the
What I Learned From Mount Everest “Do it! Do it!” Alex and Jessica yelled. I gulped and looked down at the tall hill, wondering if I would get hurt. 5 minutes before that, my mom dropped me off at Alexandra’s house.
I felt the crisp winds and thin air, observed the bright moonlight shimmering down on the icy snow and a sky full of stars. There I stood, at an elevation of 10,000 feet in Northern California, on the side of Mount Shasta. Excited yet terrified, I was geared-up and ready to summit the snowy beast. We commenced the accelerating climb, and attempting to stay optimistic, I repeated to myself, “You can do this.
Mountain day was created for more than a day off from school, it was a time for the students of Berkshire to make a connection with the mountain. I had not yet made this artificially sounding “connection” with the mountain. So for the remainder of the hike, I decided to take it all in. I began talking to my friends and listening to their stories regarding adventure and the outdoors. One friend, who I will not name, started to tell his story about his first hike at Berkshire.