A Failed Attempt to Ski Mount Rainier

all last week i kept my eye on the weather forecast for mount rainier. we had planned to summit and ski the mighty beast in one shot. car to summit and back on skis. 5,400 feet to 10,410 feet. years ago i summited in a 17hr non stop push to the summit and back sans skis with my adventure racing teammates on DART-nuun.

we left the car at 11:30pm. 4hrs of skinning in the dark while weathering 60 mph winds with likely 80mph gusts was tough. it was by far the hardest trip i've ever had to camp muir, which had become a simple and mundane trip to me at this point. turn the lights out and the fan on high and things get interesting. of the 10-15 teams on the mountain only one attempted to climb past camp muir. they made it to 12,000ft and returned. the weather was insane, they were smart to turn around.

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