Seven Weeks to Rainier:

This week's training didn't have the on edge excitement of the last two weeks...whew!  This week consisted of gym workouts, neighborhood walks and a finale hike in Boulder.  I have received more photos to share from our crevasse training the prior weekend form our instructor, Jeff Brown:


Me suiting up to go over the cornice edge

Jeff and Billy hauling me up

I'm cresting the cornice.

Help me Jeff, help me!

Almost there...


Stats on our Boulder hike:

Bear Mt (8,461 ft) and South Boulder Peak (8,549 ft)
Trailhead:  NCAR
Start time: 6:30 am
Finish time:  1:23 pm
Travel time:  6 hours, 48 minutes
Elevation gain:  3,751 ft
Mileage:  9.8 mi

Boulder Mountain Park is the best Front Range training ground there is for elevation gain and mileage.  Parking at the South Mesa Trailhead is ideal, however I refuse to pay $5 parking fee for being a non-Boulder resident.  So, Billy, Ben and I decided to meet at the NCAR trailhead at 6 am, another early morning rise at 4:30 am.  Billy and I rode together and met Ben and his dog Guinness.  We all were carrying approximately 50 lbs packs.  Even Guinness had a pack on.  We hiked on the Mesa trail to Fern Canyon and up the North Ridge of Bear.  The temperature was perfect, in the 50's with overcast.  As we reached the North saddle we witnessed the low cloud ceiling move up the nearby canyons and engulf the Flatirons.  It looked a lot like the maritime cloud cover around Mt. Rainier and how the volcanoes spike up through the clouds.

Climbing up Fern Canyon 

 On Bear's North Saddle

Ben and Guinness

We made it to the top of Bear Mt shortly after 9 am.  We took our packs off to climb the rock pitch and even Guinness made the final summit scramble.  We hung out to admire the view and enjoy the solitude, being the only four on top.

Summit of Bear

Clouds engulfing Green Mt.

Our next objective was to traverse over to South Boulder Peak.  After down climbing Bear's summit around 9:40 am, we skirted the West side of Bear to the saddle between Bear and South Boulder Peak.  South Boulder Peak was not open to us for training last year.  It was closed due to the 2012 fire.  The hike up was in a charred landscape.  We reached the summit at 10:20 am.  There were a number of hikers on this summit, so much for solitude.

Summit of S. Boulder Peak

 Summit of S. Boulder Peak with Indian Peaks background

Billy on S. Boulder's summit

 Looking back at Bear Mt.

 Guinness on S. Boulder Peak

Walking through the charred forest down toward Bear's West Ridge

 After some pictures we headed back toward Bear and took the West Ridge trail down to Bear Canyon.  This route would give us more mileage and a somewhat gentler descent.  We encountered some deep snow pockets on the initial descent.  As we made our way down Bear Canyon we encountered the residual destruction from the September floods.  The trail was eroded in places and there were many more stream crossings than normal.

Billy negotiating one of the many water crossings

A look back at Bear Mt (left) and S. Boulder Peak (right) from Bear Canyon

We made it back to NCAR with our knees and feet aching.  We headed to Neptune Mountaineering, a fine local outdoor store, for some window shopping (for me).  Billy and Ben picked up a few items.  A gear swap was going on and Ben got 3 Black Diamond ice screws for $45- nice deal!

More training stories to come...