Climber summits Mount Rainier for 500th time

I saw this on The Adventure Guys blog. Pretty amazing.

At 6:10 this morning George Dunn stepped onto the 14,411-foot summit of Mount Rainier and into the record books.

The 56-year-old guide and director of Ashford’s International Mountain Guides became the first person to successfully climb the mountain 500 times.

Dunn and the six other members of his party left Ingraham Flats at about 11,000 feet shortly after midnight and battled less-than-optimal weather conditions on the way to the summit.

Completing the summit with Dunn was his 16 year-old son, his wife and Phil Ershler. This was Ershler's 440th time summiting Mount Rainier.

Dunn holds the record for the most summits of Mount Rainier and becomes the first to reach 500. Ershler, who completed this summit with Dunn, is number two with 400.

Only eight people have ever made it more than 300 times. The other five people are:

Brent Okita, 405
Craig Van Hoy, 378
Paul Maier, 371
Jason Edwards, 314
Gary Talcott, 304
Robert Link, 301

You can read the full story over at The Adventure Guys blog through The Tacoma News Tribune.

Enumclaw guide summits Mount Rainier 400 times

The Tacoma News Tribune ran a great article yesterday about Brent Okita.

Under clear, sedate skies, mountaineering guide Brent Okita ushered a party of five to the top of Mount Rainier on Thursday morning.

It was their first time reaching the summit. It was his 400th.

The 49-year-old from Enumclaw hit the peak about 6:30 a.m., becoming the third climber to summit Mount Rainier 400 times.

“I had a great group of climbers with me, great weather … all my dreams have come true,” said Okita, who has been a guide for Rainier Mountaineering Inc. since 1986. At first, he viewed the milestone as “just another number,” but the enthusiasm of co-workers, friends and strangers rubbed off on him.

Read the rest of the article on the Tacoma News Tribune site.

America's Best Adventures

National Geography Adventure ran a post featuring the best adventures in America.

It was a great list. But guess what. Three of these adventures were located in Washington state.

Here's the top five of the list:

1. Biking the Continental Divide Trail: Multistate
2. Kayaking Lake Yellowstone: Wyoming
3. Rowing Down the Grand Canyon: Arizona
4. Climbing Mount Rainier: Washington
5. Canoeing the Adirondacks: New York

The other two Washington adventures to make the list were:

17. Transect the Olympic
30. Hike Glacier Peak

You can view the full list, as well as an interactive map, over at National Geographic Adventures.

(This is from Just Northwest)

Summit on the Summit

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Summit on the Summit documentary that would be airing on MTV on March 14.

Here's your reminder that Sunday is March 14.

For the Summit on the Summit, a number of celebrities climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to create awareness of the growing global clean drinking water crisis.

Here's another look at the preview. The show airs at 9 PM Eastern/ 8 PM Central.



(This is from Just Northwest)

Climber's body found on St. Helens

The body of climber Joseph Bohling has been recovered from Mount St. Helens.

Apparently Bohling fell into the crater of St. Helens while posing for a photo near the edge. The snow he was standing on gave way and he plummeted 1,500 feet into the crater.

Rescue teams were immediately called into the area but high winds and increasingly bad weather conditions forced them to delay the search until today.

According to the news site, his body was found on a ledge of the south crater, nearly covered in snow.

This is a tragedy on many levels. I feel for the climber's family and my heart goes out to the them.

This is another warning that cornices (snow overhangs) are not stable and at no time should be approached. All over the Mount St. Helens climbing site there are warning after warning about not approaching the crater of the mountain.

Cornices are unstable and prone to sudden failure. Extreme caution is advised! Do not approach the crater rim unless you can find a wind-scoured area where the surface of the rim is visible. The crater rim is unstable and is subject to frequent rockfall and collapse. Stay back from the crater edge, it is potentially hazardous at any time of year (especially during the period of elevated avalanche danger and rockfall during the spring thaw).

Especially during avalanche and spring thaw.

While it may only be mid-February right now, the weather outside is like mid-spring. It was almost 60 today just outside of Seattle. Not your typical winter weather.

That means the snow is becoming less stable and the spring melt isn't far away.

It is truly sad that the search ended the way it did.

(This is from Just Northwest)

Summit on the Summit

A few months ago I heard about how a number of celebrities would be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa, to raise money for the global clean water crisis. Their expedition, called Summit on the Summit, was successful as the group reached the summit in January.

The list of celebrities was very diverse with different levels of outdoor knowledge. The celebrities included:

• Jessica Biel, actress
• Emile Hirsch, actor
• Lupe Fiasco, musician
• Alexandria Cousteau, adventurer (oh, and the granddaughter of Jacques Cousteau)

And a number of other celebrities.

Well, their trek to the summit of the mountain was filmed for a 90 minute documentary that will be airing on MTV on March 14 at 9 P.M.

Here's the trailer for the show. Looks pretty good to me. I don't have extended cable, so I'll have to see if they post it online.



(This is from Just Northwest)

Mount St. Helens permits for July

On Sunday I wrote about how the Mount St. Helens climbing permits went on sale on Monday, February 1.

Well thanks to a super busy summer (backpacking trips, several weddings to attend, etc.) I only had two weekends that would work for the trip.

July 3 and July 10.

Our first choice was July 10 but that day was sold out. I wonder why that day was the fastest to go? Maybe there is something I don't know.

Anyway, we got our climbing permits for July 3.

And yes, there will be a Northern Rangers video for the trip.

(This is from Just Northwest)

Mount St. Helens climbing permits

Just a heads up for any of you out there thinking about climbing Mount St. Helens this summer.

The climbing permits go on sale tomorrow, Monday, February 1, at 9 AM through the Mount St. Helens Institute website.

Here's what the site says about permits:

Mount St. Helens offers an exciting and challenging climb. While it is not a technical climb and does not usually require special equipment or previous mountain climbing experience, it is a strenuous experience. Be prepared for snow, ice and changing weather conditions.

Permits are required year round. From November 1 through March 31, you can obtain permits at no charge from the Lone Fir Resort in Cougar, WA. From April 1 through October 31, you need to purchase a permit in advance from this site. From April 1 through May 15, there is no limit on the number of permits available. After May 15, permits are limited to 100 per day.

(This is from Just Northwest)

Everest: Beyond the Limit

In April I wrote a post about Washingtonians that were going to attempt to summit Mount Everest and that the Discovery Channel would be documenting their climb.

International Mountain Guides, based out of Ashford, Washington will be the focus of the 5 episode series called Everest: Beyond the Limit. This will be the third season of the show for Discovery.

The series will run from December 27 to December 30. Here's the complete schedule on the Discovery Channel. But it all starts on the 27th with these showtimes:

• Dec. 27, 8:00 PM - Episode 1: First Summit

• Dec. 27, 9:00 PM -Episode 2: Impossible Dream

• Dec. 27, 10:00 PM - Episode 3: Deadly Countdown

International Mountain Guides’s 2009 expedition put 30 climbers on the summit of Mount Everest. Oh, and also the film crew from the Discovery Channel.

Since 1991, International Mountain Guides has led 209 climbers up Mount Everest.

(This is from Just Northwest)

Local leaders to climb Rainier

I just came across this story on seahawks.com:

Beginning July 5th Seahawks CEO Todd Leiweke, head coach Jim Mora and six other community leaders will climb Mt. Rainer to raise money for the “Response for Basic Needs” fund.”

Since last July Leiweke has been campaign chair of United Way of King County and has been instrumental in getting Seahawks and SoundersFC players and coaches involved in numerous United Way fund raisers and activities.

“The entire nation is feeling the weight of the economy,” said Leiweke. “Here in the Northwest, when people are hurting we rally together and do something about it. It is our hope that the community will join us by making a donation to our basic needs effort upon which so many of our neighbors rely.”

Leiweke and Mora will be joined on the climb by Jon Fine, CEO United Way of King County, Fred Kiga Vice President, State and Local Government/Global Corporate Citizenship, The Boeing Company, Molly Nordstrom incoming Board Chair, UWKC, John Thelan, Senior VP of Depot Operations of Costco and Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner.

The group will be served by three guides led by legendary mountaineer Ed Viesturs and Pete Whittaker.

“I’ve been looking at Mt. Rainier since I was 12, coach Mora said, “It’s about time I climb it.”

I think this idea is just awesome. I really hope the site will post some pictures and even video from the climb.

Just like Mora, I have wanted to climb that mountain since I was a boy. And someday (probably next year) I will. I think it will be an incredible accomplishment. It's just great that local leaders are climbing Washington's most recognized landmark for charity.

From JustSON good luck in July climbers!

Plans change. Roll with it.

If you've been following the blog, you know that this weekend Jeff and I are going to be climbing Mount St. Helens. Well, nature wins sometimes.

Our plans for climbing the mountain have been put on hold. There is too much snow up at the trailhead and the route that we'd have to take is different than our original plans.

I spoke with a ranger today, and she said that they highly recommended snowshoes with spikes, skies, and/or crampons. Oh, and that every member of the party have an ice axe.

The snow also adds extra dangers. As in snow cornices along the edge of the rim. (Pictured above) These snow cornices make the edge look further away than it really is. You walk near one of these, and you're heading to the bottom.

In other words, more that what we were thinking about to begin with.

So now, we're not sure what we'll do for the weekend. I'll keep you posted once we make our plans. Perhaps a mountain bike trip. That would be fun.