The Climb For Clean Water

On Friday August 19, 9 climbers set off to summit Mt Rainier. They have been training and fundraising for 6 months to a year for the Climb for Clean Water. The Climb is a Rotary project spearheaded by Sam Collins, past president of the Vashon Island Rotary and former Executive Director of Vashon Youth and Family Services. The fundraiser raised about $25,000 for clean water for 13 Guatemalan villages where the Vashon Island Rotary has been working to improve public health. Here is the description of the climb to the top by Tony Bianchi, 26, who grew up on Vashon and now lives in Seattle. He is the son of Linda and Dick Bianchi, long term Vashon Islanders.

After 6 months of training and 3 days of hiking we finally made it to the summit of Mt. Rainier! The Climb for Clean Water was a success.

It was a relatively warm evening of around 45 degrees when we climbed into the high altitude camp bunkhouse at Camp Muir (10,000’). There were 18 hikers and 6 guides sleeping in the small 15’ x 15’ cabin with three levels of bunks. With earplugs in I was able to drown out the snores and successfully get around four hours of sleep. The guides woke us at 11:20pm giving us one hour to eat breakfast and ready our packs for a 12:15am departure. Luckily I was put on the first rope group which included our lead guide, Jason, and my buddies Jeff and Joey. The night was very calm and the temperature just above freezing. With 25 pound packs and headlamps we started out across the Cowlitz Glacier and then up Cathedral Gap. Our first rest came after 1 hour and 20 min of hiking at "The Flats" where many other climbers had pitched tents and were sleeping. From this point the guides pointed out a small mountain called Little Tahoma and the "metropolis of Yakima" in the distance.This is also unfortunately where two of my fellow hikers had to turn back due to altitude sickness. We were sad to see them go but proud that they had reached a remarkable 11,200!

The second leg took us up and over Disappointment Cleaver which divides the Ingraham and Emmons glaciers. I personally felt this was the most difficult part of the journey as we were forced to climb with our spiked boots up steep terrain full of large rocks and lose gravel. At one point during this leg I felt very light headed and was nervous about having to turn back. But after using the special high altitude pressure breathing technique (take a deep breath and then try to blow out a candle about arms width away) I was able to recover and continue. Our second break occurred after another hour and 10 minutes at the top of "The Cleaver." This was unfortunately where we lost a third member of our group to altitude sickness and wished him farewell.

The third leg of our climb took us further north to the Emmons Glacier where we switched back and forth several times and gained another 1000’ in just over an hour. You can image this as the never ending up and up part of the route. With headlamps still on and drinking plenty of water we made our third and final rest stop at High Break (just over 13,000’) where we could barely see daylight appearing over the Cascade mountain range.

Tired yet anxious we then started up the final leg of the climb. This part consisted of the final 1,000’ of elevation gain with only a few switchbacks. In other words, we were going straight uphill. At this point every step was its own small journey. This journey consisted of looking straight down at your feet, using whatever energy you had left to take another step and then stopping to pressure breath. All the while I could hear Jason up front telling us to keep moving and to keep breathing. Little did we know that he had a plan to get us to the top before 6:00 am. At exactly 5:55 am we reached the summit of Mt. Rainier just in time to take a picture of the rising sun. There was plenty of cheering and high fiving amongst the three of us as we took a few minutes to catch our breath. We then patiently waited for two of our fellow climbers who were ten minutes behind and then headed for the peak. Little did I know that to summit Mt. Rainier you only need to make it to the large bowl on top. However, those who are interested can continue for another 15 minutes to the top of the bowl called Columbia Crest which is the peak of Mt. Rainier. Joey, Jeff and I decided to take advantage of this final challenge and snapped a picture at the very top of the hill.

8 hours later, after rendezvousing with our other team members at Camp Muir, we descended upon the Paradise parking lot where I was welcomed by my parents. To my pleasant surprise they greeted my buddies and me with a 6 pack of cold Rainier Beer! We drank the liquid gold with smiles on our faces and were more than happy to be done with the journey.

I am thankful for all the support I received for this Climb for Clean Water Project and to Rotary for giving me such a wonderful adventure.