Day 3 (Summit)

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Sunrise from 12,200 ft.

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The guides came in the bunkhouse with our wake up call around midnight.  Everyone was pretty much awake already primarily due to the anticipation.  My group would be the first group of 9 to head up so we had to rush to pack everything and get all our gear on.  Suprisingly, our guides told us it was only 45 degrees outside and that we needed to wear only minimal clothing.  After getting our boots, crampons and packs on we were roped to each other in a 3:1 climber to guide ratio.

We started out around 1:30am in complete darkness.  We each had to use head lamps to see our way up the Cowlitz glacier.  The sky was perfectly clear and you could see thousands of stars.  Similar to the day before we were to climb for at least an hour before we could stop for a break.  This had added value to it because of the dangerous nature of climbing on glaciers.  Some of the hazards include crevasse's hundreds of feet deep, falling rocks, falling ice and avalanches.  We needed to maintain a quick and steay pace so that we could rest in relatively safe areas.  The climb to the summit would consist of 4 sections and three breaks.  The second section being the "crux" of the climb due to it's steep and lengthy nature.  By the time we reached Disappointment Cleaver we were already getting reports that several people in groups behind us were turning back.  Once we made it passed this section we knew it would be more likely that we would reach the summit.  Around 3:30am the sun started to rise and the skyline was simply beautiful; however, I barely found the energy to pull out my camera and snap a few pictures.  Three hours later we were approaching the summit and everyone was getting excited.  Once we crossed over the crater rim and looked down on to the top of Mt. Rainier's volcanic crater we were all elated.  We took pictures, rested and drank some water before we started back down the mountain.  It took us 3 hours to get back to Camp Muir where we only had an hour to pack the rest of our belonging which we left in the bunkhouse.  I ate some more beef jerky, changed into a pair of dry socks and rested my feet for as long as I could.  From Camp Muir it took us 3 more hours to reach Paradise.  The descent of the Muir Snowfield was not easy but many of glisaded down on our butts and "boot skated" down as fast as we could.