It started early Monday morning when the Explorer Post and I went to Mt Rainier for 3 days. We drove up to Paradise parking lot and began our climb in light rain. Just as we entered the Park entrance Dave Weiss, a stellar member of our group, asked me if I got him a sleeping bag at High Mountain Rendezvous. I said, no Dave, we didn't go by there this morning like we have on our many preparation overnighters. Dave did not have a sleeping bag and this was in April, which for Rainier is middle winter weather.

We found a good suggestion from the guide at Lou's Bunkhouse which is run by RMI (the office guide service for Rainier). At Paradise there was 15' of snow left from the winter snows. We ran into numerous problems in the first two miles. Winter climbing and travel is always much slower and challenging than other seasons. The weather was also a small factor in the first day. Those on the climb were Josh Cadd, Adam Robinson, David Weiss, John Overbaugh, Brett Hodson, and Ryan Powell. The guys were challenged by pulling sleds up steep terrain. We didn't start the climb until 11:15 AM and then we climbed for 7 hours reaching an elevation of 7300' just below McClure Rock.

We had a good time. By the evening of the second day the my Lightspeed North Face tent was mostly buried and I didn't feel it wise to have anyone sleep in it. So we all slept in the North Face Himalayan Hotel tent that has a 4+ capacity. It was pretty tight, but we all survived - all 7 of us. The wind was still quite bad and I worried about getting the tents down safely the next morning in that kind of condition. While Adam and I were out it was amazing to see how the tent could hold up in such ferocious conditions. My Kichatna or Karakoram North Face Goretex suit was excellent. I put it on at Paradise and didn't take it off for 3 days. Well I did once for John Overbaugh to try it out. He liked it a lot. I loved it totally. I could withstand the wind and snow and not feel the slightest bit cold or affected. It was fantastic.

We prayed that night that we might have better weather. When we woke up and ate breakfast the wind was still going strong. Then the winds stopped and the clouds parted. We broke camp and even had a few moments for some playing in the snow. We took pictures and we did some flips on a nearby snow bank.

We began our descent after getting everything packed up and put away. Almost as soon as we began, a serious problem occurred. Adam's sled broke loose and sailed for about a mile by itself out of sight and heading down hill towards the Nisqually glacier below. The sled had half of our expensive North Face tent and all of Adam's gear including many expensive items. I split the group up and John Overbaugh took the Ryan and Brett and the rest came with me to check the condition of the sled. On the sled was half of our troop's tent and some of my climbing gear as well as all of his gear which included his brand new sleeping bag. We were concerned about the avalanche danger of the area as it was high even before the snow hit and left another two feet of snow on the 40 degree terrain (which is prime avalanche angle). We tracked the sled to a steep area that soon became a cliff. It was in a pretty bad spot and just dangling over the cliff. I set up an anchor station in the snow and belayed Adam out to the edge to get his sled which was hanging on by the tip of a dead tree. He got it and we were back on our way down although we had altered our course considerably.

We rejoined the trail at the middle and steep section of Panorama point. We sledded down this steep section with great joy. We all got back together and descended the trail to Paradise. It was really a good trip. We got some great video, although I wish we would have got some of the windy conditions. I was very pleased with how well I did, and this I attribute to this to God as my knees nor my back was in pain on this trip. We didn't get home until Wednesday at 7:00 pm.