Diamox

Anyone heard of Diamox to help fend off altitude sickness? Never used the stuff, but thought it might benefit a flat lander like me.

Gear - rent vs buy & what to bring

Ok, a few of the guys who haven't climbed big mountains as much as some of us, asked me what I was planning on renting/buying vs. bringing. Here's my first take. Feel free to comment and respond with anything I've forgotten.

Of course, the RMI site says to bring all this stuff: http://www.rmiguides.com/rainier/4_day_sc_equip.html

The stuff I am acquiring is:
- ice axe (bought last week)
- bigger gators (my gators are too short for snow)
- undergarments ( figured I'd update my long underwear to more modern, wicking, material)
- boots (my boots are old, so I'm looking at getting new one's now that I can break in by August)
- new lighter snow pants or something better to hike in than snow pants

Things I'm looking at renting are:
- crampons
- helmet
- climbing harness

Things I already have are (and no, I didn't remember this from memory -- I have a cheat list that I just copied and pasted here):
- large 5000 cu in backpack
- trekking poles
- low temperature sleeping bag
- sleeping pad (although looks like we don't need due to sleeping in hut...but I'll still bring and just leave behind if don't need)
- tent (although looks like we don't need due to sleeping in hut...but I'll still bring and just leave behind if don't' need)
- stove (although looks like ....." ....." ......" )
- titanium pots
- titanium spork
- helmet light
- wrap around sunglasses that are polarized
- ski goggles
- ski hat
- multiple layers of clothing (I'm not doing the down parka, just layers); e.g. multi-layer coat, underwear, pants, shirts, fleece, etc.
- backpack rain cover
- pillow
- rain gear
- camelback for holding water
- glove liners
- snow gloves
- whistle
- baseball hat
- suntan lotion
- toilet paper
- toothbrush
- toothpaste
- allergy medicine
- Kleenex
- cigars
- lighter (one that works at altitude -- generic bic works best)
- 5 mile walkie talkies (2)
- digital camera
- extra batteries for helmet light
- blister repair kit
- drinking cup
- knee brace (I sometimes have knee problems)
- Deet (probably won't need but I'll bring just in case)
- Liquor (something that can be ported, and drank warm)
- wash rag
- towel
- contacts
- contact carrying case & solution
- watch
- coffee packages

Al Gore?

Ah, come on. I just read that Al Gore had once climbed Mt. Rainier. That almost, but not quite, ruins it for me. Of course, that was probably just another Gore story like inventing the internet.

Anyway, here's the article. Just search for Mt. Rainier in it. Ugh.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/16/AR2008011604165.html

And then there were 9!

Ok, our last and final member has signed up for the trip. Laird, from HP in Chicago has signed up. Laird is my cousin, but hopefully you won't hold that against him.

Laird lived in Seattle for almost 12 years, but never made the climb. Now that he lives in Chicago he's finally decided to spend the money to fly back to Seattle to make the climb. Yes, we are all shaking our heads.

8th is in

Welcome Michael as the 8th person in our party. We now finally have our official sacrifice to the mountain gods if we need it.

We will need to toast the late Sir Edmund Hillary in Seattle!

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Sir Edmund Hillary, the unassuming beekeeper who conquered Mount Everest to win renown as one of the 20th century's greatest adventurers, has died, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark announced Friday. He was 88.

The gangling New Zealander devoted much of his life to aiding the mountain people of Nepal and took his fame in stride, preferring to be called "Ed" and considering himself just an ordinary beekeeper. "Sir Ed described himself as an average New Zealander with modest abilities. In reality, he was a colossus. He was an heroic figure who not only 'knocked off' Everest but lived a life of determination, humility, and generosity," Clark said in a statement. "The legendary mountaineer, adventurer, and philanthropist is the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived," she said.

Hillary's life was marked by grand achievements, high adventure, discovery, excitement - and by his personal humility. Humble to the point that he only admitted being the first man atop Everest long after the death of climbing companion Tenzing Norgay. He had pride in his feats. Returning to base camp as the man who took the first step onto the top of the world's highest peak, he declared: "We knocked the bastard off."

The accomplishment as part of a British climbing expedition even added luster to the coronation of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II four days later, and she knighted Hillary as one of her first act.
But he was more proud of his decades-long campaign to set up schools and health clinics in Nepal, the homeland of Tenzing Norgay, the mountain guide with whom he stood arm in arm on the summit of Everest on May 29, 1953.

He wrote of the pair's final steps to the top of the world: "Another few weary steps and there was nothing above us but the sky. There was no false cornice, no final pinnacle. We were standing together on the summit. There was enough space for about six people. We had conquered Everest.

"Awe, wonder, humility, pride, exaltation - these surely ought to be the confused emotions of the first men to stand on the highest peak on Earth, after so many others had failed," Hillary noted. "But my dominant reactions were relief and surprise. Relief because the long grind was over and the unattainable had been attained. And surprise, because it had happened to me, old Ed Hillary, the beekeeper, once the star pupil of the Tuakau District School, but no great shakes at Auckland Grammar (high school) and a no-hoper at university, first to the top of Everest. I just didn't believe it.

He said: "I removed my oxygen mask to take some pictures. It wasn't enough just to get to the top. We had to get back with the evidence. Fifteen minutes later we began the descent."
Hillary's life was marked by grand achievements, high adventure, discovery, excitement - and by his personal humility. Humble to the point that he only admitted being the first man atop Everest long after the death of climbing companion Norgay.

His philosophy of life was simple: "Adventuring can be for the ordinary person with ordinary qualities, such as I regard myself," he said in a 1975 interview after writing his autobiography, "Nothing Venture, Nothing Win."

Close friends described him as having unbounded enthusiasm for both life and adventure.
"We all have dreams - but Ed has dreams, then he's got this incredible drive, and goes ahead and does it," long-time friend Jim Wilson said in 1993. Hillary summarized it for schoolchildren in 1998, when he said one didn't have to be a genius to do well in life. "I think it all comes down to motivation. If you really want to do something, you will work hard for it," he said before planting some endangered Himalayan oaks in the school grounds.

The planting was part of his program to reforest upland areas of Nepal.
Hillary remains the only non-political person outside Britain honored as a member of the Britain's Order of the Garter, bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II on just 24 knights and ladies living worldwide at any time.

Inaugural post

Well, so far we've got 7 people ready to climb Mt. Rainier this upcoming August. As I mentioned, here is an easy place to update the group with

• links to Rainier info web pages
• boasts about cool new gear you've bought in anticipation of the trip
• lies about all the training you are doing so you don't get left behind at 10,000 feet
• whining and bitching about the cost of the trip, you cheap b******s
• witty comments, that probably aren't so witty

...and I'm sure more stuff I haven't thought of. Enjoy!