8-9-98...Mt. Rainier is rated #2 in difficulty right behind Mt. McKinley in Alaska of the mountains in the 50 states. June 13 of this year an avalanche killed one climber and injured many others as a 26 member group descended the 14,410 ft. Mt. Rainier. Jeff's team consisted of 9 members. Jeff and 4 others made it to the top. On "Summit Day" they left Camp Schurman, 9,500 ft., at 2:45 a.m. "The idea is to cross the 'ice bridges" in their most frozen state", Jeff said.

Much training and conditioning preceded the climb. One of the biggest problems is falling into a crevasse. A crevasse can be invisible from the top. "Most are at least 30 feet deep but they can be several hundred feet deep.

Here team members practice pulling Jeff up out of a crevasse. Experienced climbers rope together in "rope teams".

On the Mt. Rainier "hike out" one group member did fall waist deep into a crevasse. The only visible sign was a thin crack in the snow about an inch wide and 5 feet long. He was not roped. Jeff could not get over voluntarily going unroped.

"With ropes and proper technique, most falls would be a mere inconvenience. Unroped and they would most likely be fatal", Jeff said.

Summit Day.."We continued what seemed to be an endless uphill climb for hour after hour. Lew was getting slower and slower and the third rope team was no longer in view. We could not wait any longer for them as the snow bridges get weaker and weaker as the day goes on. At about 9:00 and an elevation of about 12,500 ft. Lew called it quits. Bob and I continued up the mountain. Without having to wait for Lew, we moved more quickly and caught up to the first rope team at a very tricky crevasse crossing. From this spot, we could see that the third rope team had made it up to Lew and that they were not moving".Click for all of the story. Five pages of typed text.

P.S. to Jeff...Congratulations....Email the entire text and I will attach it. Click for 3 more photos.......