...That's what almost happened to us on Mt. Rainier this weekend. Ok, maybe I'm being a little overly dramatic but we slept at 8,500 ft Saturday night during what turned out to be a really nasty storm. I dug out a platform for the tent around 5pm. At 9:30pm the snow had accumulated to be about half the height of the tent so I went outside and dug us out. I also dug a two foot wide, two foot deep trench around the tent to help trap drifting snow. At 2am, the snow again had accumulated to half the height of our tent, making simply getting out of the vestibule difficult. Luke took the honor of digging us out this time. Then, about 8am I got to repeat the whole show one last time. Here are some videos during the dig and from the morning after, as we hiked down.
Digging out at 2am:
Our campsite the next morning (including a peak at the summit!):
Things really start to get nice once we leave!
Even though we didn't get very close to the summit, I think the trip was a great success. We got some much needed elevation gain with our full Aconcagua packs which got us thinking some more about the logistics of getting all our gear to base camp and high camp. We also got to spoon all night through a storm (I swear I heard Luke pur) which gave me more confidence that our tent is ready for "The Broom of God" (what the locals named the high winds on Aconcagua). We also stayed nice and toasty the whole time, giving us more confidence in our layering systems. Finally, Luke had a chance to bust out his new high-mountain shades at a venue that didn't serve alcohol and where there wasn't a woman who cared just how good he was looking for well over 10 miles.
I have to say, as December 10th comes closer and closer, I can really feel the excitement build. No hablo espanol.
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