Dad's Story

O’kay so I gotta say at this point that the whole scene is just a little intimidating. We are at the Whittaker Base Lodge and all the ALAWer’s (American Lung Association Washington) are congregating and laying down their equipment and conversing with one another, they all know one another, have been training and hiking together for MONTHS!!!!! Most have already been to Muir at least once, some several times. Carna is keen to ask me about my “training” and what have I been doing to get prepared.  She kinda skoffs at my lame attempt to tell her “not much actually”. My job is at a shipyard supervising a crew that has been modifying a Very Large Vessel for the last 9 months and this has required me to climb many many stairs each day. I am most concerned about the altitude. I did suffer from hypoxia once so I am familiar with the consequences. This last month I have spent in Brazil on the Amazon Basin (read SEA LEVEL!). I have jogged on the beach each morning and often in the evening before a late dinner, but carrying a pack for long distances is not something I have done for some years. So the ALAWer’s are all swapping stories and showing their well worn gear and I am at the rental shop getting someone else’s “used stuff”…….butterflies.


Training day goes very well I think; I know and have used the rest step and power (pressure) breath. This is not my first 14k mountain, however my last, Gannet Peak in Wyoming Wind River Range is many many years ago. A glacier climb like Rainier so I am confident with kicking steps, using crampons, ice axe, arrests and roping techniques, just that the skills are a little rusty but they all come back. At least I am not the oldest, Richard is here as is Geoff with a G and they look pretty confident. I am Stoked to be here with Katie and Ryan who excelled at all the training exercises.

The climb to Muir is mostly uneventful except I keep thinking to myself that the steps are too damn short. I feel like we are a line of ducklings waddling up the mountain in single file, close quarters. Never did I like formation marching and it brings back bad memories of boot camp and close order drill. Not pleasant and certainly not the way I want to spend my time on this beautiful mountain looking at the derrier of the pack in front of me, sooo I stretch the line a little and try to banter with the guides as they ask me to close up ranks. I try to double step, taking two of the kicked steps at a time so that my pace is an actual rest step, which seems to work pretty well for me but the people behind comment that I am wrecking the kicked steps and that they can’t make the larger step that I am so I let it go until we get to the last 1000 ft vertical section. The last section to Muir was becoming difficult, mostly for the size and rest of the step, it just was not working Rather than continuing at a pace that I knew was wrecking me I made the conscious decision to change my pace. I asked those behind me if they wanted to pass and that I was going to change my step, none seemed interested to pass me by, perhaps they were as tired with the waddle step as I was. So I slowed the pace to a about 1-1/2 step lengths with a real rest and pressure breath every other left foot, the gap widened between me and the pack in front. Arrived at Muir about 15 minutes behind the rest of our group in front and I could see that Win (Our guide) was a little concerned for me.

After we get settled in at Muir, Win takes a moment to speak with me and wants to know if I have reached my “personal summit” I think my immediate answer is “no f'ing way”, that the duck waddle was just not a pace that I could efficiently adapt to. I also let him know that I DEFINITELY want Team Hamkin (Hammell- Younkin, nice how the youngsters have given me the lead in the name) to be on the same rope. Katie and Ryan have deferred to Win regarding who is on which rope, I did not separately tell them I specifically requested a “Team Rope”. Win is still concerned that perhaps I will be the weak link….no way I will let that happen, he simply does not know my grit.

So around 6pm, Win comes around with the list of the rope teams and the order of climb and sure enough Team Hamkin is on Win’s rope and we will be the lead team! Ryan’s and Katie’s stories about the night before have already been told, suffice to say that I sleep about maybe 1-1/2 hours total in 20 to 30 minute naps. Altitude is not a problem, tired is not a problem, the noise is, so is the sun streaming in the window and of course I am on east coast time so it is way too early to sleep, even if we worked hard today. So when 11:30 rolls around, I am already set to go. We get fed and watered and geared up with ropes, helmets, crampons and ice axe in the line and ready with the headlamps blaring. Katie, Ryan and I are all in good spirits a little trepidation at the unknown but ready for an adventure.
I asked "What time is it Katie?", Katie said, "Summertime!".  A little game we play when nervous of an adventure, or tired, or, something to say to remember this is the fun stuff!  We have been saying this since Katie was in her teens. 

Underway at 12:45am in what I am surprised is a perfect rest step! The stride is great, the rest pace is great Life IS Good! It is all up hill, its dark, the Moon is near full and the view is subdued, but spectacular right out of the gate. There is a string of lights up the mountain of climbers who left even earlier than us. I point them out to Katie who does not want to look up or down. I can’t resist doing both with reckless abandon, sometime causing myself to trip as the crampons catch on my gaiters, I don’t care, the view is exhilarating. When we make the first stop I ask Win if we keep the same pace for the entire summit trip, I think he may be wondering if yesterday’s last hour is repeating, but he just says "Yea, that’s how it goes the whole way." I surprise him I think with; “Great, that is a perfect rest step for me and I can keep this pace for the rest of the day!” I am at at least 90%, did not mind the rocks or the scree and the view on Little Tahoma is “Jes Gran”. Even at this steady regular pace, we have passed many groups, Win does not like to follow and we have all kept up very well. Katie arrives behind me and Ryan follows, we are all in good spirits and the bulky down jacket is brilliant with food and water already in the pockets. We all confirm the summit is definitely in Team Hamkin grasp on this glorious day.

Step, rest, pressure breathe the whole way to the top one step at a time and the only real bother is some boot slap on my right shin, I have the boot outer layer as loose as possible but it is still there, ignore it. Two more rest stops and Ryan has photos of the sunrise, Katie still will not look up or down and I on the other hand have a rubber neck craning to see all and file away into the memory banks!

To put the climb of Rainier into perspective:
The Empire State Building is 1260 ft of habitable space with 1850 steps to get there, the climb from lodge to Muir is about 5000 ft, Muir to summit is another 5000ft.  Day One, climb the steps to the top of Empire State in an hour and 15, take a lazy 15 minute elevator ride down while you sit on the floor snacking and drinking, get out of the elevator and climb the steps again in an hour and 15, repeat a total of 4 times on Day One. Then turn off the lights and do it again on Day Two, add in some wind, drop the temp about 50 degrees, put on some stiff boots with heavy crampons, the air gets a little thinner as you climb….you get the picture.

The Summit is anti-climatic and yet somehow completely fulfilling simultaneously. Ryan and I set off on a hurried hike to the register and it hits me that moving fast is not appropriate at this time. Ryan goes off and I think this may have had an impact on him later during the descent.

The Summit is excellent, the view spectacular, the day perfect and beautiful, my Daughter and Son In Law are on my team and all is right in the world. Descent on the other hand is brutal, a complete different muscle set and no relief a Win is in some kind of race? Perhaps he just wants to see how hard he can push us or maybe he has a mission. Whatever, we did not slow down coming down and we are back in Muir in short order something like 2 hours descent after almost 5 hours on the ascent. The trip from Muir to base lodge is actually the most grueling for me particularly as we hit the pavement. Feet were tired and hurting, Katie had blisters, fortunately I had none but my boot slap is killer and the bottom of my feet are on fire, the thigh muscles screaming for relief. We gutted it out and got to the bottom no worries!

Great day, great guide, great mountain, GREAT TEAM HAMKIN, great views and a hot shower at the end of the day! Life is good.
-Jim Hammell