What an adventure!
Began 8:54pm Friday, August 5th at Billy Frank Jr National Wildlife Refuge with a foot below sea level and then began the 75 mile run to Paradise. Headed up the Nisqually River watershed using Old Pacific Highway, Reservation Road, Yelm Highway, Highway 507, Highway 702, Mountain Highway, and National Park Highway to Paradise. The first phase totaled 76.9 miles and cumulative elevation gain of 7,174ft.
I then slept six hours in Henry, my F-150 before beginning the climb to Tahoma’s top. I climbed solo and unsupported carrying 84oz of water + electrolytes in my Osprey 48L ruck. I hiked the Skyline Trail onto the Muir Snowfield, rested at Camp Muir, climbed to Ingraham Flats then onto Disappointment Cleaver and gradually, very gradually, reeling in Rainier’s summit at Columbia Crest at 6:49pm Sunday, August 7th.
Climb from Paradise equalled 8.1 miles and cumulative elevation gain of 10,675ft. It took 11h32m and I was really exhausted by the summit push… Napped on the summit for twenty minutes before beginning a six-hour descent on very tired legs!
Total elapsed time for Rainier sea-to-summit = 46h55m.
Phenomenal conditions the whole way, most notably up high on the mountain. 100% visibility, gentle 10mph winds, solid ice, and 37F temps on top. I felt safe solo’ing the whole way and was super stoked on the views throughout.
I wore Brooks Glycerin 20 Puget Sound to Paradise then rocked Brooks Caldera 6 from Paradise to the summit (slipping on crampons at the Muir Snowfield).
Big shoutout to Andrew for pacing me on 25 tough miles leading into the park. And massive thanks to Savannah for driving Henry and providing support all the way from Puget Sound to Paradise. Couldn’t have done it without her!
Grateful to Jason Hardrath for inspiring my sea-to-summit effort with his crazy fast bike ride to Paradise :-)