"As in any alpine region, the weather is changeable, protection questionable, route-finding bewildering, rockfall frequent and descents tedious. In short, it's everything you could ever ask for." — from the Canadian Alpine Journal, 1993.
Liberty Ridge, Mt. Rainier, 4-4-06 to 4-10-06
Day 4. It’s now day two on the Ridge, and day four on the trip and we are still on Thumb rock. The day breaks clear and calm with beautiful blue skies. We melt water, hydrate, eat some small snacks and Isaac’s left over meal from last night before going to sleep. We discuss start times and decide to get up at 4AM. Isaac is feeling much better and Neal, as usual, is out cold in about 2.5 seconds flat, give or take a millisecond or two. Isaac and I have a hard time sleeping, however. At some point I figure climbing in the dark would be better than not sleeping, and I can tell Isaac is not sleeping either. "Dude, you asleep?" I asked. "No, too excited" he replied. We get up at 3:00 AM rather than continue to toss and turn. We wake Neal and he agrees to start breaking the site down. Neal is faster at this than we are, and finally Isaac and I get it done and are ready to climb out onto the slope.
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| Here are some photos from the trip |
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