![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/P4110294.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Richard and Co. at The Flats on Mt. Rainier.<\/p><\/div>\n
Hey, Where’s your Parka?<\/strong> As the moon came up and the sun went down The guides stripped our bags of luxury and comfort So we crept in the bunkhouse and waited for dawn So we loaded the kit and took to the powder That night we fed well on IMG’s marvels Up the snowfield higher and higher Ice Station Zebra came into view Patience slowly ebbed in that frozen wasteland But we braved the elements and learnt the trade On the nights when the wind blew white and relentless Each day our clothes grew increasingly wet Day by day the toilet paper ran low And then Tapp gave the news Predawn we crunched, traversing the ice Back down we descended The Fahrenheit plummeted into the singles We knew things outside were getting bad Then a hint of blue painted the zenith And finally our bittersweet moment came to depart As we spotted Tye we all started to grin April 19, 2012 Richard Harvey put together this poem after our most recent Denali Prep Seminar on Mt. Rainier. Pretty cool stuff! Enjoy the read. Tye Chapman Hey, Where’s your Parka? By Richard Harvey As the moon came up and the sun went down We eyed each other up and dreamt of the snow Anxious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mt-rainier"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6775"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6785,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6775\/revisions\/6785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBy Richard Harvey<\/p>\n
\nWe eyed each other up and dreamt of the snow
\nAnxious but keen each went through their stuff
\nName, rank and something interesting Tapp wanted to know<\/p>\n
\nEven while the rental signature was still wet with ink
\n“Only take one pair of undies” he insisted without smiling
\n“When I’m finished with you, we’re all gonna stink”<\/p>\n
\nThe chill outside grew suddenly sharper
\nWe hoped we were prepared but only time would tell
\nSome still received the drill “Hey, where’s your Parka?”<\/p>\n
\nThe further we got the silence grew louder
\nTo camp one we made haste grunting with sleds
\nFull of fuel “not with the food”, stoves, wands and who knows what chowder<\/p>\n
\nWe thought life is good, Denali’ll be easy
\nThey set up two heads and the circus was pitched
\nIt was then that the blue bags started to itch<\/p>\n
\nTo Muir one step at a time
\nBreath getting shorter
\nWe continued to climb<\/p>\n
\nInto the freezing pit we crawled
\nUnknowing that the next days
\nEven our toothpaste wouldn’t even get thawed<\/p>\n
\nZeus’s breath blew blizzards filling every crack and pit
\nWe hunkered down and learnt of each others worlds
\nSome were sombre, others full of twisted wit<\/p>\n
\nOur masterful guides provided their best
\nKnots and anchors, crevasse rescue came next
\nAnd some of us received our first airborne arrests<\/p>\n
\nTapp’s steely eyes filled us with stories of terror and wonder
\n“On Denali Hexadecamethabiozanethanodiamox is the one you’ll need…”
\nWe knew he was right when the Doctor silently agreed<\/p>\n
\nNo doubt these were the toughest guides we’d ever met
\nBut the days of pain continued to get longer
\nAnd the howling winds grew hauntingly stronger<\/p>\n
\nSome dreamt of frolicking ladies far below
\nDuring stories of Kashmir some tended feet beginning to swell
\nWhile the military guys made notes to take back to intel<\/p>\n
\n“Bring your clothes, every last one, we’re going for the top”
\nAdrenaline pumping, our nerves never sharper
\nWe double checked out stuff “Hey, where’s your Parka?”<\/p>\n
\nExcept the more nervous, all silent as mice
\nBut in the end the freezing, circling blizzard
\nAnd avalanche danger kicked our hopes in the gizzards<\/p>\n
\nPast Ingraham’s icy jaws and crevasses
\nThe guides kept our spirits high with
\nKlemheists, Autoblocks and lashes<\/p>\n
\nStrangers came to give us their angles
\nWe bonded playing cards late into the night
\nCitizen Cope warmed our hearts like a flicker of light<\/p>\n
\nWhen Ershler was thwarted and our cookies turned back
\nSo we hunkered down and shivered and shook
\nAnd wished that just one of us had bought a book<\/p>\n
\nWe took to fixed lines and dug pits in the snow
\nAnd built a boys dream and all crammed in a snow cave
\nSmiling and happy, all dug with unbelievable gusto<\/p>\n
\nTo Paradise and showers and (thankfully) no more talk of South Park
\nWe ran, slid and fell, just getting our way down
\nThe guides skiing making us all look like clowns<\/p>\n
\nWe knew that we’d made it and were close to the gin
\nThrough the burgers, beers and our Copper Creek laughter
\nWe could still here our leader’s echo calling
\n“Hey, where’s your Parka?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"