Lessons from the Mountains part 8 – it is Family Time

Nine years, nine years living in Seattle, nine years seeing Mt Rainer daily, nine years hearing it call my name, and nine years dreaming about the day I will be up there. Deep inside I always knew that I had it in me and that I would be up there someday, but I never imagined it is going to be with my two boys and on my birthday. The best present I could have wished for.

Today, I would like to share this experience and expedition with you.

Mt Rainer, take two.

This is not the first time I attempted to climb Mt Rainer, in Aug 2022 our team turned around mid-way due to high winds (50 MPH), that was an extremely hard moment back then because I was trained a lot, I was ready, and I was making good progress. But we turned around mid-way... hard, and the right and safe choice (read all about the previous expedition here - Lessons from the mountains Part 2 – My Expedition to Mt Rainier ).

It was also that day that I decided to try again when I feel ready, whenever it will be.

Time flew by, and in Oct 2022, I got an invite to attend a talk in Microsoft by an Everest climber. Hmm... I love climbing talks and movies, and right here in Microsoft? Sure, I'll attend it.

That was the moment the story was about to unfold.

Juniper Fund

The talk was not about climbing or hearing legendary quotes which I was expecting. The talk was about an amazing nonprofit fund, the Juniper Fund which supports families of Sherpas in Nepal, families that lost their loved ones during climbs. The fund helps them stand back on their feet by providing cost-of-living grants and training to open up new businesses.

This cause touched my heart very deeply. I personally lost a close friend and my own climbing guide in an avalanche back in 1992 (Read about Beni Agor in this post - Lessons from the mountains part 3 – Expedition to Mt Adams ).

I learned that The Juniper Fund runs a once-a-year fundraising climbing trip to Mt Rainer, and that was the cue I needed to sign up to fulfil my own personal commitment. Yes, I am going to climb Mt Rainer again and less than a year after the first attempt!

A few days go by, and it all feels right and in place, I am supporting an amazing cause which I believe in, and I am getting a chance to climb Mt Rainer again!

Then I read about Melissa Arnot online, she is the climber that gave the talk and runs the Juniper fund, and OMG, she is a world-famous climber, holding multiple world records and living right here in Washington, this will be an honor and a privilege to share this experience with her. Rock and Roll.

When I tell my family about it all, my kids want to join! What? Seriously? Is this even possible? Can they do it? Can I do it with them? Do I really want a parenting job while I am climbing a hard mountain and dealing with my own issues and vulnerabilities?

Heck Yes! I do with all my heart.

The Prep

Summit is just one part of a climb. The climb itself is just a small part of the journey. It takes a good six month to get ready.

This is what my 'army style' timeline looked like:

T-6 month: The Mental prep starts.

Climbing a mountain is hard, but unlike what most people think it is not about physical abilities, it is as much about mental readiness and mental abilities, and that is a muscle and a skill that I can train.

Examples of the practices I took, starting six months before the climbing season:

• Manage fears: It can be the fear of heights, the steepness of the terrain, the fear of snow, the fear of walking on ice, fear of walking in the dark, and more. We dealt with each fear by simulating these situations and conditions outdoors, and on a weekly basis.
• Visualization: it really helped me to visualize and "put myself" on specific situations of the climb, I imagined what it is like to be on the summit, and what that would feel like, what it feels to cross a deep crevasse and what can go wrong. I visualize a hypothetical breaking point and how I overcome it, and even visualize the moment when I am back in the car once the climb is over and even what I'll eat afterwards.
• Positivity: I tried to focus on the gains and successes, and not on our failures and setbacks. During training, I compared myself only to myself.

T-4 month: Building strength.

Getting psychically ready is a combo of cardio, core muscles, and the ability to carry a heavy pack. I need to be able to walk for extended periods, on a steep slope often at 30-45%, with low oxygen and with a pack of 40 pounds.

Cardio includes various training options, mine was running and hiking. I started a weekly short hike near work (at PooPoo Point trail), then moved to twice-a-week hikes with one long hike during the weekend at 6AM.

It is fun, but it is also mid-winter and we started early, in the dark, and often in rain or snow. That commitment and cadence helped with both strength-building and mental readiness.

T-2 month: Gear check.

That 40-pound pack is all gear, mountaineering gear. I need an Ice-Axe, a 20F sleeping bag, a mat, hiking poles, helmet, 6 layers of clothes, 3 pair of gloves, mountaineering boots, and then I get into the food, where I need LOTS of calories, and those have weight.

If I error on the gear, I will fail at the climb, I cannot compromise it. So, we prepared everything in advance. We tried gear during hikes, we changed, we optimized, and we perfected it, we even tested the socks that we will use and how they fit the mountaineering boots.

T-1 month: Simulate the climb!

We needed to know if we were ready, really ready, so we went on two big hikes with full gear on. A hike to Camp Muir (Mt Rainer base camp) and a hike to Mailbox Peak , these are two of the steep hikes around WA and if we can manage those in a good timing with full gear, then we are ready.

T- 1 week: Eat well, sleep well, rest

The last week before the expedition is rest week, sleep well, eat well, no alcohol, no major exercise and trying to not get injured.

Well, that is all theory I guess, since I got a cold in that week!

Yes, three days before the climb I felt like crap and had a runny nose. Such a stressful moment for me and I couldn't afford it. Six months of prep work will end like this? What do I do? What can I even do?

Gladly it was not Covid, and I had a bit more time to recover.

I remember thinking to myself, I still have buffers in my training, even if I am not at 100% prime.

So, we had the family talk, the elephant in the room talk of what happens if.

What happens if I am not recovering well, what happens if I need to turn around mid-way on the climb, and what happens if one of the kids have to turn during the climb? What do we do? What should we do? it's a family decision and we wanted to make it right for all.

The Climb

Mount Rainer is that white snowy mountain we all see from Seattle. It is rooted so deeply in the PNW culture that it's even part of its slang, we say: "The mountain is out" when the weather is nice outside, and many places around Seattle are named after the glorious Mt Rainer.

But it has even deeper and longer roots, way before a British Admiral named it after his friend, the native tribes worshiped it for many years and the Nisqually tribe sat on its grounds and gave it her real name Mt Tahoma.

Standing at an impressive elevation of 14,410 feet, Rainier may not be the tallest mountain in the United States, but its prominence sets it apart. Prominence refers to the height of a mountain's summit compared to the surrounding terrain. Mount Rainier's prominence is significant, making it a prominent feature of the PNW landscape.

The mountain's glaciated nature adds to its allure and difficulty for climbers. Glaciers cover a substantial portion of Mount Rainier, making it a challenging and technical climb. The vast ice formations and crevasses require mountaineers to possess advanced skills and experience.

This mountain is wild, and it plays mind tricks on you. Patcha Mama Tahoma can get angry and furious, and I’ve seen it happen, conditions change hourly from a beautiful snow angel that makes me feel fluffy Cottonballs, to the angry place with a total whiteout, sudden snow, rain, wind, thunders, lightings, and other changing elements. The mountain will accept you or will spit you out.

Day 1 - We meet the team.

Team meetup is always a special day for me. We gathered in Ashford, WA for an orientation and a gear check-up. I never really know who I'll meet, and what's my place in the team. Will I be the weak or the strong link? Do I belong and am I up for it? What will the next 3 days look like for me? Everyone is overly excited.

Day 2 - Snow school.

Next day is the first real action day, its snow school. We learned how to walk in crampons, the usage of "rest steps", and "pressure breathing", how to walk with a rope and "self-arrest" or "group arrest" and how to stay safe on the mountain with ice and crevasses all around us.

That was an intensely long day in the snow, and it was awesome. We came back feeling good, ready and excited about the climb.

Day 3 - Climb to base camp.

This is the day! The team is ready, and we all met at Paradise parking lot excited and ready to go. Nine climbers and three guides, all eager to start, all eager to test themselves and get their payback from their long training days and weeks.

But before taking the first step up the mountain, I stopped for a prayer, I do that on every mountain I climb. I ask the mountain to show our team the safe way up and down, I am not here to conquer the mountain, and I kindly ask the mountain to protect us.

This was my prayer:

And we walked, one rest step after the other, gaining 4500 feet and all the way up to Camp Muir. We walked for an hour, then stopped for 10-15 min for rest and mainly self-care. These breaks are the fastest ten minutes of my life, we have to quickly re-apply sunscreen, eat a snack of 200+ calories, pee, drink, and rest the feet, all on snow. These ten minutes of rest seem much shorter than they are, and the sixty minutes of walk seem much longer than they are. A mountain classic mind trick.

We reached base camp at camp Muir in the early afternoon, got into our tents, and started preparing the pack for the summit.

Early evening the team met for dinner, which is hot water (via melted snow) over dry food where we heard the details and latest conditions for our summit attempt.

7:30 PM, we each went to our chambers (aka tent) to sleep, that is if we can sleep at all at this high altitude, I couldn't, but resting laying down with no boots feels great, and I decided not to panic if I don't sleep, I can pull two days in a row climb, we all can, our body is just amazing.

Day 4 - (A long) Summit Day

We "woke" at midnight and got ready with breakfast, layering, gearing up, and roping.

At 1AM, we split to our "rope teams" and started climbing, keeping a distance of twenty feet of rope between each climber.

From Camp Muir up to the summit, it is all glacier travel, so we are always attached to our rope (even when we have to pee) and we wear glacier protection all the time (Crampons, Gaiters, Gloves, Ice-Axe, helmet, glasses/googles).

This is also where the mountain gets high and steep, high altitude and my own personal attitude kicks in extraordinarily strongly.

It is hard, I will not lie or sugarcoat it for you, it is extremely hard! We each had our moments thinking to ourselves what the heck am I doing here, it's dark, I'm alone, I am hot and then I am cold, I don't have oxygen, I'm tired, and is it really all worth it and for what?

Muir to Ingram Flats, then up the mighty Disappointment Clever (aka Hell), this is the point I turned around last year, so taking that one extra step beyond it felt good, then we go up the high mountain area and it's all open and beautiful during the sunrise, and finally the (long) stretch to the Summit Crater of Columbia Crest.

We did it! We are climbers, and we belong to this elite group. It feels God damn good!

To summit or not to summit

It was decision time, we had options up there, stay at the crater and rest, or go another five minutes to the climber registration box (pen not included!), sign our names, and hit the most "tipi top" point.

Off course I go to the highest point, I worked so hard for it, I earned it, and it is our time now!

But during those five-minute walk, it all came back to me clearly, I am not here to conquer a summit, it is and always was about the journey and connecting to the mountain and myself, so I stopped, I stopped five meters from the summit. No, I do not need to be up there.

The team was surprised, and Melissa then told me that Nepali Sherpas do not summit, they stop before the summit, so that the mountain invites them back again. I love that and I will be back, the mountain invites me.

Leaders and Followers

We are not done yet, we need to go down! This is where 80% of accidents occur since we are not focused, we are tired, downhill is harder on the knees than uphill, we are 30 hours into this crazy trip with no sleep and now that it's daylight we can see all those deep crevasses that we passed during the night. OMG.

So, we reversed the rope, the last person on the rope team now leads us, and the first person is last. No leaders, no followers, we are all one team that takes care of each other by changing our roles and positions, everyone is a leader, and everyone is critical at this stage.

So what keeps us running?

During a climb I get to think a lot. a) I have a lot of time alone. b) it's hard and I need a distraction.

So, I start asking myself questions, many questions.

Why am I climbing this mountain? Should I turn around or keep going? Am I happy now?

Realted questions to the what I ask myself at work...

The initial motivation for climbing a mountain may be reaching the summit, just as the primary motivation for working may be earning a good salary. However, this initial motivation often proves insufficient to sustain the journey. I start seeking deeper meaning and purpose.

In climbing, the mountain represents a personal challenge, an opportunity for growth and self-discovery, and a connection with nature. In the workplace, the company's vision and principles serve as a guiding force, providing me with a sense of direction and shared purpose. Aligning with these values and finding fulfillment in them contributes to my happiness.

But I understand that even this alignment may not be enough for the long run. To find lasting satisfaction, I realize the importance of personalizing my journey and establishing my own vision and principles. This individualization allows me to tap into my unique strengths, passions, and aspirations. When I fully embrace and pursue my own path, it brings me a sense of fulfillment and a deeper connection to my work or climbing, this is my Ikigai (read about Ikigai in previous post ).

By continuously asking myself these questions and engaging in self-reflection, I navigate my journey both on the mountain and in my career, fostering personal growth and finding a sense of purpose and fulfillment along the way.

What is next?

Embarking on new family adventures and challenges is a wonderful way for me to bond, create lasting memories, and discover new aspects of myself individually and as a family unit. Just like each mountain offers its unique beauty and lessons, each new endeavor we undertake together has its own set of experiences and meanings.

Exploring new territories and facing challenges as a family strengthens our relationships, fosters resilience, and provides opportunities for personal growth. Our shared experiences and triumphs create strong bonds and a sense of accomplishment that will be cherished for years to come.

And most importantly, we will embrace the journey, both the highs and the lows, and be open to the lessons and insights that emerge along the way.

See more lessons for the mountains articles and let me know what you think.

See you on the trails.

#mountaineering #leadership

Specail thanks to:

• My family - Climbing mountains is optional, and you make it worthwhile to get back down.
• Mom back home - For letting us all do our crazy things; I can't begin to imagine what it feels like having your family connected to a rope, on a remote mountain, during the night and with no connectivity.
• My Kids - For sharing this amazing experience together, so proud of you.
• Melissa Arnot Reid and the guiding crew - You are an inspiration for me, and I hope to get more chances to climb with you.
• Cristina Hass and The Juniper Fund - I feel honored to take a small part in your big cause.
• Maria Faires, RD , and Lisa Thompson - For helping me figure out nutrition and how to prep for a climb.