This last Saturday 10 friends joined together for our last formal training and equipment shakedown for our planned attempt to summit Mt. Rainier in August. “Summit” in this case was both a verb and the subject (or is it object) of our focus. Mt. Rainier is an amazing mountain that seems to be the place where a lot of aspiring climbers, a disproportionate number from the Pacific Northwest itself, cut their teeth. The mountain boasts a greater topographical prominence than the much higher K2 mountain in the Himalayas. That’s a fancy way of saying it stands out prominently from its surroundings, jutting into the sky and grabbing the attention of any on-looker from hundreds of miles away. The verb, “summit” in this case describes the gargantuan effort to successfully scale its slopes to the top successfully. Over 50% of those who try to climb Rainier never reach their goal. I need to plant myself on the top in a few weeks to match that percentage. I’ve attempted 3 times and summitted once so far, when I was much younger. I want to move to 2 for 4 instead of 1 for 3.
