Another early rise after a not-so-soundly night of sleep. I got out of bed at 4:45 am. I was still tired from Friday. I packed my gear and bags the night before into my vehicle. I rolled over to Billy's house to rendezvous with him and Ben. All of our gear fit nicely. We headed to my dad's house so that he could drop us off at the airport and leave my vehicle at his house for the week.
Our group met up with Derrill and Jeff outside at the passenger departure. We reorganized our gear to make the weight limits and size as dictated by Frontier Airlines. Check in, security and boarding went smooth. Our flight was also very smooth. I managed to get about a hour of rest on the plane. As we got close to Seattle you could see Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams and, of course Mt. Rainier. Rainier was being quite shy in the clouds.
After landing, we had an uneventful time gathering our gear and making our way to the hotel to stash our gear before heading on the Link to downtown Seattle. Wow, did we do some walking! We headed to the REI flagship store, but stopped off at Feathered Friends first. Feathered Friends is an outdoor clothing/gear shop specializing in down products. A great store! After spending time at REI we trekked over to the Seattle Center. There was a color fest going on where people would buy dry paint for $20 and throw it all over one another while dancing to the live band. Certainly a crazy mess. From here we headed to Alpine Ascents International headquarters. Jeff and I felt compelled to give our condolences for the tragic losses of their guide Matt Hegeman on Rainier and the climbing Sherpas lost on Everest this year. It was good to talk to the people at AAI who warmly received our wishes. They also gave us good beta on the mountain's weather and DC route. There was a climbing group going through a gear check for the three day DC climb. It brought back memories of last year. There were a bunch of perspective climbers among the group who looked like they were in thier 60's-70's. We should see them on the mountain at high camp. I bought a set of
authentic Sherpa prayer flags (whose proceeds go to the Sherpa families involved in this year's
horrible event) to watch over our team and give us safe passage on the mountain.
We grabbed the monorail back to Pine St. and visited both the Mountain Hardware and Columbia stores. Fatigue was setting in for me and I again found myself exhausted. It was 5 pm now and I fell spaced out and nauseated. We guessed that we walked around 8 miles today. So much for a rest day! We sat down to eat on the waterfront at The Fisherman restaurant. I, of course, opted for chicken Alfredo. The rest and food enabled me to walk back to the train and make it back to the hotel. We caught breathtaking views of the evening sun lighting up Rainier while on the train.
I'm in bed currently as I sign off today. A good night's rest will do the body good. Tomorrow we leave for the mountain!
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