T-2: Climb for Clean Air
In a few hours, I’ll be heading out to Ashford and meet the rest of my climb team. Rainier Mountaineering Inc. (RMI) is the chosen guide services for this climb. They have been around for years founded by Lou Whittaker, which is the pioneer and legend on the mountaineering world. Lou also serve as honorary chairman of American Lung Association Washington for this event. There are total nine of us on this climb team and we will be divided into three rope team. Today’s agenda is gear check and orientation.
Gear Check
RMI guides will ask us to lay all of our gear in the ground so they can go over it and make sure we have everything that we need. I went over the list multiple times and pretty sure I have a complete gear. They will give us helmet, harness and avalanche receiver but other than that, I own pretty much all the gear. For a complete list of the equipment, visit RMI check list here.
Orientation
After the gear check, we are going to hang out by the fire pit and chat with Lou Whittaker. This is when you get to hear the story from the legend and he will ease up your worry, calm you down and let you know what to expect. If my memory serves me right, the climb lead guide would be there as well to answer all the questions.
This is it. My 15 weeks of training lead up to this moment. I’m so excited, yet very nervous. I have a lot of people that is rooting for me and will follow my progress live. I can’t let them down. I’m going to do this.
I’m going to summit Mt. Rainier.
I cannot wait to watch your ascent from afar. Awesome, awesome job Yanni!
E