Day 1 – Paradise to Camp Muir I June 27th, 2025 I 8:00 a.m
Day 1 Stats:
- Starting Elevation: 5,400
- Total Mileage: 4.10
- Total Vert Gained: 4,695 feet
- Elapsed Time: 5 hours, 49 minutes
If you want to check out a video of our climb, Shannon put together an amazing recap here!
The nerves and excitement really kicked in on the drive over to International Mountain Guides (IMG) Headquarters. Up until that morning, Rainier had felt like an abstract, romanticized idea. Shannon and I talked about what it felt like now that it had shifted – that it was no longer just a concept. In that moment, I think we both really felt the full weight of the endeavor, and I tried my best to navigate what felt like at least 9,000 different emotions on that five minute drive.
We arrived at 7:45 along with the rest of the group for our 8:00 a.m call time. It was super refreshing how punctuality among our crew was a common theme through the entire expedition- aside from the day before when Shannon and I got caught up rage-yapping about the state of the world over gummy bears at Snow Lake and were 5 minutes behind for gear check.
As usual, we had overpacked our food caches. I had also tossed in a few luxury items which, along with the two full nalgenes of water, made my pack feel much heavier than it did the day before. IMG handles breakfast and dinner for us (so nice) so we all carried ingredients for communal meals. I was grateful that the black beans and pineapple I chose were double bagged as I kept replaying the hypothetical nightmare of them exploding in my pack. My final pack weight was an obnoxious 41.5 lbs, the heaviest (naturally) of our entire team. To compare, Shannon was a few lbs behind me and Vysakh had an svelte 28 lbs (equally insane & impressive).
After packing our camp food, we walked over to the van and ran through some quick introductions before boarding the IMG bus for the 45 minute ride to Paradise. Shannon and I knew this beautiful road well, having driven it a few times in and out from our campground at Cougar Rock and for hiking sidequests the two days before.
We arrived to Paradise (elevation: 5,400′) around 9:15 a.m and it felt surprisingly cold at 64 degrees with the wind and overcast skies. Most of us donned puffy jackets or hardshells while the group got their gear in order and used the bathrooms (which were well maintained, but the hand washing water was FREEZING). Everything felt pretty efficient from van to trailhead and we got going pretty quick.
I run warm, particularly at effort, so stripped down to my sun hoody (this blog feels like an advertisement for sun hoodies) to start. Paradise generally has jaw-dropping views of Rainier through the entirety of the Skyline (the trail that our ascent to Muir starts on), but it was cloudy and overcast and we couldn’t see anything at all. This felt like a curse when we started, but we quickly realized that it was a blessing, as the sun would’ve cooked us, particularly with the uphill effort (spoiler: we got COOKED coming back).
Our guides immediately paced us at a very conservative effort that helped us gain confidence. The aim was roughly 1,000 vertical feet per hour, with anticipated breaks at the end of each of those milestones (or every hour). We started our approach in mountaineering boots, and were only on the well-paved and heavily trafficked Skyline Trail Loop for about 20 minutes before reaching snow. The energy was super high amongst our traveling group, and the constant yapping between my guides and teammates made it feel like an early morning long run with friends.
At some point during the stretch, we passed the same IMG group we’d chatted with the day before during Shannon’s and my failed whiteout attempt to reach Camp Muir. It felt like a good omen to congratulate them on their climb and have them wish us luck on ours.
After Pebble Creek (roughly the halfway point between Paradise and Muir), it got pretty steep – enough that I probably would’ve felt intimidated not using crampons had I been a complete beginner. I was concentrating very hard on the 3×3 box in front of me and tried to block out everything else. Thankfully, falling at this point would’ve caused more embarrassment than death, but I was still very intentional about each step, making sure to spray snow in front of me and have a solid step before moving the other foot to the next indentation in the bootpack. Our guides told us to use the ‘rest step,’ which I’m sure I used on Baker but didn’t know it had a name, which helped to keep pacing smooth and deliberate.
Even a few hours in, the pace still felt great. Aside from a few hotspots I kept adjusting my pack to switch on and off from, I felt solid – despite not being as conditioned as I was for Baker (more on my sea-level training in another post). At our second break, my watch showed 8,000 feet, so I figured we had about two hours to go. I mentioned it out loud, and someone (maybe Travis?) said we were actually at 8,800. My watch was wrong and it felt like a magical Christmas miracle that we were only an hour from Camp Muir, not two.
We continued onward with the glee and satisfaction that only underpromising and overdelivering can provide, and after a few minutes, the universe tossed us another bone – sunlight! We finally got to see Rainier through the cloud cover and she looked so beautiful. I cried.
That last stretch went by super quickly and we were all grateful for the break in precipitation. Once we got up to the rocks at Muir camp, we quickly tossed our packs (the greatest feeling in the world) by our accommodations for the night and took in the view – Mt. Adams was peeking out through the clouds in front of us and climbers crossing the Cowlitz Glacier at our backs. Shannon and I shared our high altitude pizza leftovers from the day before and took in the views.
We were to stay in the Gombu shelter (named in honor of legendary mountaineer Nawang Gombu Sherpa, who was the first person to summit Everest twice) that night, which is a stone hut shared by the Guide services for lodging – it’s composed of two levels of wood with sleeping pads – bare bones, but protected well from the elements and much more spacious than the tents. We set up our little sleeping nooks (mine looked like a raccoon moved me in) and tried to nap before heading to the IMG weatherport for dinner.
Getting to the weatherport was rough – it’s a pretty steep climb from the bunkhouse over and I was huffing and puffing by the time we got there. But dinner was so nice and such a far cry from dehydrated camp food. The weatherport was cozy AF: warm and toasty, strung with lights with Lorde was playing over the speakers. The vibes were 10/10 while we yapped.
On the menu for dinner was pork burritos. It’s not a secret that everything tastes better after a long hike, but these were next level – black beans (the ones that didn’t explode in my pack), pork, guac, and pineapple all toasted with hot sauce. Paired with a hot drink, it all felt like ~*actual magic*~. We spent two hours yapping and getting excited for the day ahead. We tried to press Lindsay, our lead guide, for information about our summit push, but she kept us grounded and present for the next day, which was meant to be restful with some “active recovery” in the form of glacier training.
After dinner, we made our way back to the bunk and got ready for bed, but Shannon and I sacrificed a bit of sleep to stay up and catch the sunset. Super grateful for that decision, because the brilliant pastel hues and quickly changing cloud formations felt like something out of a dream. We spent a good half hour basking in the feeling of accomplishment for getting to Muir and getting to experience something like this. One of the coolest moments was watching the cloud formations shift and expose Mt. Adams, like a toddler playing peek-a-boo.
I woke up at some point to go to the bathroom (which probably took 15 minutes of internal negotiation to finally commit to leaving my sleeping bag) and was immediately awarded with the most beautiful night sky I’ve ever seen in my life. I didn’t bother trying to get any pictures and there are not enough words in the English language to explain how stunning and powerful the celestial canopy looked in that moment.
I gravitate towards mountains to feel small and connected to something greater than myself, and I was deeply aware of myself as stardust in that moment. It felt special getting to share the moment with Vysakh and Thankam who were out there also, and kindly pointed out the Milky Way. I am not embarrassed to say that this trip to the bathroom was seriously one of the highlights of this climb and I’ll remember that view as a core memory forever.
After a few more hours of sleep, I woke up pretty well rested and excited for coffee and the day ahead!
MonicaSteps 
Leave a comment