"Only on top can you see the whole view - can you see what you've done and what you can do - press on follow your dream."

At 6:39am Saturday morning 12 of 18 CFCA team members made it to the summit of Mt. Rainier... Mandy and I were two of them! Let me rewind here and begin the story with our first two days in Ashford:

Wednesday July 14h we packed up the car with all of our gear and headed out for Ashford, WA where we would be staying for the next two days in preparation for our climb. We arrived at Jasmers, which is run by my Uncle John and Aunt Tana. My Aunt and Uncle generously donated one of their vacation rentals to us to stay in while we were prepping for the climb. I cannot tell you what a blessing that was! The East Echo Chalet was not only less than one mile away from the RMI basecamp but had a full kitchen and a hot tub where we were able to rest our bodies in before our climb. I think all climbers need to seriously consider staying in one of these cabins. It truly was the PREFECT space to simultaneously rest and prep for a summit attempt.

After settling in, we went over to RMI for orientation. Here we met our guides Win Wittaker and Mike Haugen. Win has summited Rainier 144 times on various routes in addition to leading trips to Mt. McKinley (20,320') and Aconcagaua (22,841') Mike has an Everest summit under his belt and also has led trips to McKinley and Mt. Vinson in Antarctica. We were going to be in good hands.

Thursday July 15th- the group met at RMI headquarters at 8:15am. From here, we boarded the shuttle and went up to Paradise for a day of 'snow school'. Mike and Win guided the team roughly an hour up the mountain where we spent the next few hours practicing mountain safety and climbing techniques. Here the guides make sure the climbers are aware of RMI expectations to traverse the glaciers and to make the summit. It's also a time where the guides evaluate each climber's ability, physical strength, and confidence. My favorite part of the day was practicing 'self-arrests'. If I, or someone else on my rope team was to fall, the goal is to yell 'falling!' and then have everyone one else on the rope team drop to a knee and dig their ice axe into the snow as fast and as hard as possible so to hopefully stop the fall. It gets you into a position where you and the rest of the team could save one another. After practicing these and other techniques we hiked back to Paradise where we boarded the bus at 3pm.

After school, Mandy and I went back to the cabin and began to pack our food for the next two days on the mountain. For our summit attempt we essentially will be hiking for 15+ hours. At orientation we were told that we'd be given a break about every hour- where it was our responsibility to drink a half litter of water and consume between 200-500 calories each time. Basically we were told to plan for 12 breaks and two main meals equalling well over 5,000 calories. Here is our menu that we wrote out to make sure we were packing enough:

After we got our meals together it was back to RMI. It was a gorgeous night as the CFCA team gathered around the grassy picnic area at Whittaker's Bunkhouse to listen to Lou Whittaker (Lou, a legend on Mount Rainier, has over 250 summits while leading thousands of novice and experienced climbers to the 14,410' summit of Mount Rainier. He has also climbed in Alaska, the Himalaya, and the Karakoram. In 1984, he led the first successful American summit of the North Col of Mount Everest.) This is a special evening, being that Lou only ever does this for the CFCA climbers, before their summit attempt. Lou had us introduce ourselves and afterwards began telling us a little about his background and his love for the mountains... most specifically Mt. Rainier. It was a casual but an organically genuine time with a mountain legend. We spent most of the evening in awe of the stories he told and laughing, really laughing. Lou is full of personality and pretty much one of the coolest 83 year olds that I know.

After our conversations with Lou we were able to take a couple of photos with the group documenting our success in raising $200,00 for the ALA!

Friday July 16th we woke up at 6:30am. It was hard to sleep that night knowing that everything we had worked for, fundraising and training alike, was all because of this day. We had to bring so much gear, so we spent most of the early morning packing and checking off the long list of needed items.

We arrived at basecamp by 8am full of nerves and excitement. Mandy ran into Ed Viestures which was a very cool way to start the day. Ed is pretty much a big deal:

Ed has repeatedly proven himself as America's leading high-altitude mountaineer, having ascended many of the world's most challenging peaks, many of those without the aid of supplemental oxygen. He has made the summit of Mt. Everest seven times, most recently on May 19, 2009, with the RMI/First Ascent Team. Ed also became the first American and one of only five people to climb the highest peaks on all six continents, yet again without supplemental oxygen.

His latest quest is to climb all fourteen of the world's highest mountains with elevations over 8,000 meters without the use of supplemental oxygen. On May 12, 2005, he successfully completed his quest when he stood on the top of Annapurna. Only nine others have done so, seven of them forgoing oxygen. Ed is the first American to top all fourteen.

Before we departed basecamp, I ran over to my aunt and uncles to drop off our cabin keys. My Aunt Tana said a brief prayer for me and as I left reminded me of this quote,

"Only on top can you see the whole view -

can you see what you've done and what you can do -

press on follow your dream."

It was the perfect send off. Before we knew it we were at Paradise getting ready to embark on an amazing adventure.

With packs on, and our guides leading the way we began our accent to Camp Muir.

The weather was perfect during our climb of nearly 5 hours. We climbed slow and steady as to conserve as much energy for the summit attempt. Arriving at 3pm, we got to the bunk house and prepared for the evening's rest. Mandy and myself were two of only four girls in the bunk house. The rest of the climbers were comprised of 14 men. Compared to the windy 4th we spent at Muir, the weather was warm and calm as we rested before dinner and pre-summit talk from our guides.

At 6pm, our guides gave us our pre-summit talk.

Announcing our rope teams at this time, Mandy and I were happy to hear to that we'd be on the same rope alongside my friend from college, Brett Martin. We were told that they'd be checking the weather conditions round 11pm and depending on that would be waking us up somewhere between 11:30pm and 1am for the summit attempt. They said to make sure and get a good meal in before bed and that everyone needed to be 'horizontal' by 6:30pm. They explained while that it may be impossible to get a full night's sleep or even sleep at all, it was necessary for us to lay down and rest our bodies and by simply doing that for a couple of hours we would be rested enough. Mandy was able to sleep some, but do to all of the snoring, I wasn't able to catch any shut eye. At 11:30pm, the guides came in and woke everyone up and announced that weather conditions were perfect. We had one hour to get ready. By 1am we were fed, and with crampons, headlamp, helmet and pack on, the guides roped our teams together.

The stars were AMAZING! We began climbing in the dark with nothing but our headlamps guiding our feet along the glacier. An hour into the climb we had our first break at Ingram flats. I certainly felt the altitude- feeling nausea and not wanting to eat. Nevertheless, after getting my parka on, I did my best to consume the needed calories and water. The guides came over to each one of us looking us directly in the eye and asking how we were feeling. Mandy and I got the thumbs up to continue on but Brett told the guide that this would be his personal summit. An old injury was acting up, and he knew that there would be no way he continue on. I felt awful for him, but as the same time very proud of him for knowing his limit. Brett and three others went back to Muir with one of the guides. Meanwhile, we packed our bags back up and continued on.

The next section was Disappointment Cleaver, one of, if not the hardest stretches of the climb. The exposed rock made climbing with crampons extremely difficult. It seemed impossible to climb without the use of pressure breathing and rest steps. Occasionally, I'd look down and realize the depth of the crevasses we were crossing and the steepness of the cliffs. My heart would began to speed up in fear, but I tried my best to counter-balance it withpressure breaths. After another hour and half of fear, exhaustion, and extreme effort- we made it to the next break. "Ok, guys... we're at the top of Disappointment Cleaver," Win announced. Mandy and I looked at each other, our eyes got big as did our smiles. "90%!" we shouted. A few days before we left for the climb, one of our training guides emailed us some tips and number eleven on the list said this,

"REMEMBER that when you get to DISSAPOINTMENT CLEAVER 90 % of the people who get to that altitude (12,300) make it to the summit. At the CLEAVER is where your brain will try to tell you to stop......keep going ...you're almost there !!"

Three more climbers decided that this was their personal best and turned back for Muir. Twelve of us remained. Another hour of climbing the glacier had us arriving at High Break, 13,000'. Sitting on our packs, eating and drinking, the sun began to rise.

We had one last leg of our accent. The altitude was taking our breathe, our appetite. Even with our parkas on we felt cold and exposed. As the sky grew lighter we could see where we stood like specks on this giant mountain. I felt small but big all at the same time. Our breaks never lasted for more than 15 minutes and with 4 hours into the climb we continued on.

With one last push we made it into the crater. At 6:39am we summited Mt. Rainier! Hugs were shared between the team and the guides. High fives and gasping breathes were the only sounds that echoed between the crater walls.

According to our guides, the summit constitutes as anywhere in the crater however... Columbia Crest is the highest point on the mountain. We were given the choice based on both our need for rest and our desire to continue on whether or not we wanted to take a 45 minute break or go up to Columbia Crest. The team decided that rest was needed, but I had an itch to continue. So guide Zeb, and I began the 30 minute trek to Columbia Crest. Here you can see the team resting inside the crater from CC.

I wrote my name in the registry here, "Katie Osterhaus CFCA 7.17.10 tacoma, WA"

Once back to the team, we got our gear together and headed back down the mountain. I fully expected the descent to be the hardest part- it certainly was. As the sun continued to rise we could really feel the heat radiating off of the glacier. The footing between with rock, glacier, ice and snow was less than inviting. At the first break down the mountain, Win reminded us that as the day warmed we had to increase our pace to get over opening crevasses and bypass rock and ice fall.

Three hours into our descent we braked for the last time. Win took a moment to talk to the group. He reminded us that while we had all made the summit- not everyone back at the camp had. We had to remember that those who had not made it- had instead made their personal summit and that in itself is a huge accomplishment. We needed to be prepared for their reactions to their disappointment and our excitement and pride. It was a good reality check remembering that not everyone was able to see and do what we had done that day. As we made it back into Camp Muir- exhausted, excited, humbled, and happy we were met by the other member of the team. They graciously welcomed us back full of congratulations. We spent the next hour packing up Camp Muir and getting adequate food and water into our bodies. From there we made our way back to Paradise. At pebble creek we were surprised to have welcoming committee headed by none other than Bronka and other members of the CFCA. Brokna had Rainier beers cooling in the creek, Oreo cookies, and watermelon. I don't think beer and Oreos have ever tasted so good:) It was awesome to have such a welcome!

Back at the base of Paradise, our adventure had finally come to an end. We had done it. Raised nearly $9,000 for the ALA and reached the summit of Mt. Rainier. What an awesome adventure it was.

k&m