July 29, 2013

Mt. Rainier. (Photo by Tye Chapman)

I had a chance to catch up with Greg Vernovage after his last Rainier climb.  Yes, Greg managed to get a Mount Rainier climb in between his Denali and Bolivia climbs.  It was a busy weekend on the mountain so I thought I’d pick his brain a little.

Tye: Sounded pretty busy up high on your climb over the weekend – how busy was it?

Greg:  There were definitely a lot more people on the mountain than I typically see, but it’s not like we didn’t see it coming – we’re right in the thick of the season and a July weekend with nice weather is always a popular time on the hill.

Tye:  You guys managed to get through that tough section and make it to the top and back down in a reasonable time.

Greg:  Yeah, about 5 hours from the flats to the summit, respectable on a busy day.

Tye:  How did you get by everyone?

Greg:  When I got out of the tent, there were already people on the Cleaver, but the guides and I had chatted the night before about the crowds and I think we had a good plan going into the day.

Tye:  What was the plan?

Greg:  Beautiful, busy July weekend on Mount Rainier means we gotta think about the route and the team you’re climbing with.  With those variables in mind we figured out what we thought was a good departure time and what we needed to do to have success.

Tye:  That tough section has been a bit of a bottleneck this season – how did it go for you guys?

Greg:  It is a fun section on the route this year, but can jam things up. We just stuck with our plan and worked as efficiently as we could. It’s a good section for guiding, but I can see how it could get a little backed up on a busy weekend.

Tye:  Why are some groups slower than other groups in that section?

Greg:  Million dollar question.  There are a few obstacles to work through and there are a number of ways to get through them, but knowing that the ladder and fixed line were up there really helped with formulating our plan, credit the good communication amongst all the guides on the mountain and the three guide services as a whole. From there, CJ, Dallas and Heidi and I had a couple of good chats about ways to work efficiently though that section and at the end of the day it all worked out.

Tye:  I bet the Cleaver was pretty packed for the bulk of the day then eh?

Greg:  Oh yeah, we were around people all morning.

Tye:  How did you you handle the other teams?

Greg:  The Cleaver is a pretty good time to assess the teams who will be around you during the climb.  I watch how teams handle the rocks that are loose and the spacing of their rope and how efficient they are while traveling.  I talk to most of the groups and find out how they are moving and if they are aware of the route. The bottomline is that it’s in everybody’s best interest to communicate and work together.

Tye: Good climb all in all?

Greg:  Hell yeah!  We got the summit and had a great day!

July 22, 2013

I was never particularly convinced that climbing a mountain was a good idea, nor was it something I felt compelled to do.  When I told my boss I was leaving for a week to climb a mountain, he looked at me, puzzled, and said “I always imagined you as more of a sitting on a beach with a margarita kind of gal” – my response: “me too.”

But one night, after 5 years of dating David and hearing him talk with increasing sincerity about a taking a big adventure trip, I drank too much wine and agreed to attempt a climb of Mt. Rainier via the Emmons Route.

My first hurdle was the issue of training.  I’ve never been athletic or even necessarily fit.  I’m more of an accidentally-skinny-even-though-I-often-substitute-candy-for-lunch type person.  But as not dying is very important to me, I signed up at the local gym and took every spinning and boot camp class they offered.  We live in the middle of downtown DC where there aren’t a lot of mountaineering opportunities, so per IMG’s great advice, David and I repeatedly climbed up and down the stairs in our 14 story building, complete with packs and boots, regularly to the total dismay of all our neighbors.

And then we arrived in Seattle and I got my first peek at Mt. Rainier.  Oh dear.  It was much bigger than the staircase.  As we gathered at IMG, all of the other (all male) members of our group were sharing their previous climbing experiences with enthusiasm.  When it came my turn I noted that I’ve taken a hike before…in Virginia…and smiled nervously, wondering, as everyone else likely was, what I was doing in the mountains.

IMG’s guides were amazing.  Despite my constant and regularly voiced concerns, the guides were perfectly calm and encouraging.  After 5 hours of what the guides misleadingly call “walking” on the first day, I asked lead-guide Aaron Mainer if now was the time when we got to glissade back down.  He laughed and encouraged me to consider a summit attempt before sliding down – I gave him my best “eh, close enough” shrug and he just smiled and reiterated that it’s “just walking.”  Then, following in the steady footsteps of guide Peter Dale, I miraculously found myself at first camp, followed by Camp Schurman.

I was never super confident that I was even going to attempt a summit.  Camp Schurman seemed nice enough, I thought I might stay a while.  But I followed every piece of advice offered by the IMG guides while at camp (eat, drink, sleep), and when Aaron woke us up in the early morning (read: 10:30pm the night before) for our summit attempt, I felt weirdly prepared.  So off we went – “just walking” – toward the top of this beautiful mountain.

Having never seen a crevasse before, there were a few moments of intense panic (on my part) while we made our way to the top (I may have yelled “we’re all gonna die!” at one point…we weren’t), and I definitely claimed that I was going to turn around more than once, but to my surprise (and prompted by the steadfast confidence of our guides), I found myself safely at the summit.  As the picture reveals, David then pulled out a ring offering a lifetime commitment and a promise that our next vacation can involve less “walking” and more wine-tasting – and while my initial response “but I’m eating Gu!” may seem less than romantic, it truly is thrilling to have our engagement begin with what I can only hope will be the first of many adventures together.

Jennifer Cronenberg