I climbed Mt. Rainier in 1984 on a whim, that is I was heading to the Pacific Northwest and was reading about how you could climb it with guides from Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. I called and they said sure, they had an opening, just show up the week before and we’ll give you a list of what equipment you would need to either rent or buy.
Anyway that trip went well so fast-forward 28 years to 2012 and my son Heath says, hey, we should do a big trip together before I’m out of college as options will be limited for us after that. I agreed so in 2012 we booked another trip to Mt. Rainier. I had gifted some equipment to Heath the previous Christmas which would be souvenirs of the trip as well.
It was actually the 3rd summit Heath and I did together. We had backpacked to and climbed Mt. Whitney in 2004 when Heath was 12 years old and later in 2006, when climbing was allowed on Mt. St. Helens, climbed Monitor Ridge to its summit. Heath took the picture below on the descent after a successful climb.
Photo credit: Heath Brandner
After 28 years, I summitted Mt Rainier for the second time. This was a memorable father son trip and we had a great time.