Larre and Jan Egbert: July 29 to July 31, 2010 Parris and Lisel Climbing Mt. Rainier

On July 29, 2010 our son Parris and his daughter Lisel began their climb of Mt. Rainier in Washington state. They had been training and practicing for about 6 months including winter climbs of Mt. Timpanogos and Spanish Fork Peak. The Mt. Rainier is a volcano whose summit is at 14,411 ft and is glaciated all year.

Mt Rainier (14,411 ft)

Parris and Lisel at White River Campground

The climb began at the White River Campground at 4,400 ft elevation.

This is the group from the Utah Valley Climbing Club that Parris and Lisel climbed with.

After they began their climb to base camp, Jan and I drove to the Sunrise Lodge located at 6400 ft elevation. There was still plenty of snow at this altitude. We enjoyed hiking some of the trails and taking a lot of photos. On this day the weather was clear and warm, this is exceptional for Mt. Rainier which is usually coverd with clouds.

Mt Rainier from the Sunrise Parking lot.

Notice the snow bank in back of us, this is at just 6400 ft.

We were staying with Cam and Erin and their family in Bellevue, Washington. Parris and Lisel climbed on the 29th, 30th and then summited on July 31. The weather on Mt. Rainier turned for the worse, with a lightening storm and 5 inches of snow on the night of the 30th. On the 30th, they practiced their crevasse training and left for the summit at 11:30 pm. Their entire party of 15 made it to the summit. They then turned around and hiked out the 10,000 ft descent to the White River Campground, arriving at about 9:30 pm on the 31st.