First weekend in October
I heard from Ned the other day and he is committed to doing the Rainier climb (that I have been talking about all year), on October 6-9. He tore his achilles tendon last winter and I thought he might not be able to do it at all in 2011, but he is coming along well with his physical therapy and the prognosis is much better now.
Yes, I could have tried it without him but there are at least two very good reasons that I am choosing to stay on his rope. The first is that, with over a hundred summit climbs to his credit, going with him provides a measure of safety that I would be unlikely to find anywhere else. The other reason, just as important, is that going along with him guarantees a good experience, regardless of whether we make the summit or not. You can’t not have a good time when you’re hanging with Ned.
I’ll be writing another installment about the climb for visitrainier.com in the next few weeks, this one about gear requirements (you can catch up with what I’ve written so far here), but the real climbing piece will come after the first weekend in October. Now we just have to hope for good weather, always a fickle fate.
About Ken Campbell
New Release
A story of sea kayaking and science on the rugged coast of Alaska. Coming – Spring 2014.
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