February 10, 2018
If you ever want to feel like you are standing on top of the freakin' world, I highly recommend snowshoeing up to Panorama Point at Mt. Rainier.
From the Paradise parking lot, snowshoeing towards Panorama Point is gorgeous with gradual elevation gain. You have a view of Rainier the whole time and large snowfields to explore with no cliffs to fall off for the most part.
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| Momma Nam catching up |
Andy's mom was able to join us on this trip. It was such a lovely, sunny day. Lucky for us, Rainier was out the entire time. Mrs. Nam did a great job keeping up. She ended up finding a flat spot with great views to set up "camp". We had lunch together before Andy and I headed off to Panorama Point.
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| Lunch break |
As we approached the hillside up to Panorama Point, it really didn't look that ominous. As I surveyed the amount of people on the hill, I wondered why so many of them were stopped and not continuously climbing up.
I'm not sure if it was this particular day with these particular conditions, but climbing that hillside was so difficult. There was so much sliding. The layers of snow and ice kept breaking off in chunks or layers and sliding under foot. About that time I understood why everyone was taking it slow. We saw this one couple attempting the climb in sneakers. They were both clearly struggling and I'm quite certain they turned around. There were many people stuck on the hill because they just couldn't get their footing.
During my 40 minute climb up, I was continuously squashing my fears of heights, steep slopes, sunburns, avalanches, wondering how the heck I was gonna get back down, having the earth give way right under me, losing footing, and potentially ungraciously rolling down a steep slope in front of 50+ other people struggling up the same climb. So, you see, in my head I was a mess. On the outside, however, Andy said I looked like a beast haha :D
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| Making my way up. Too scared to take my phone out for pictures. |
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| Notice the drop off behind Andy. |
There was part of the climb where my kickstep technique was spot on. I was able to quickly ascend and passed some folks. But, towards the last third of the climb the snow beneath me kept shedding off in sheets, bringing my footing with it. It was terrifying and at one point I swear I was doing the splits. So, every time this happened I would stop and assess my surroundings. Every time I stopped, I would look back and every time, I got scared. So scared that my legs started to shake. At one point I was on the left side of the slope and Andy was all the way to the right. I looked at him and told him I wanted to go back down. We were SO close, though, so I shook it off. I knew I could do it, it was just my mind holding me back. I carefully shimmied over diagonally to the right towards Andy and was able to maintain my footing again.
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| Beat Andy to the top to take a picture of him |
It was glorious at the top. Standing on Rainier with Hood, Adams, and Helens clearly in the distance was awesome. It was too hazy to see Jefferson this day, though. We spent some time taking in the views. Some skiers and snowboarders continued on to Camp Muir (another 3 hours or so), but with boards you can get back down within an hour.
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| View from Panorama Point |
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| Other folks at the top. There's also a summer toilet up here, but it's closed now. |
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| View from Panorama Point |
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| View from Panorama Point - looking down the way we came |
After basking in the sun and taking pictures, it was time to head back down. Andy descended like a madman and I couldn't keep up. Talk about a quad burn!
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| Had to take a rest while heading down. Phew! |
About two thirds of the way down, we again reached a part where the snow and ice was sheeting off. I watched as Andy kept sliding and before long, he decided it was safer to sit and slide down the slope on his butt. Another guy followed his lead and once I reached that area, I sat down and decided if I really wanted to do it. I changed my mind and tried to get back up, but with the snow sliding out from underneath me I couldn't get up. At this point I had no other option but to follow suit. I am not one who has the need for speed, but I made it down without taking anyone out!
We returned to camp where Momma Nam had a relaxing time chilling out. Clouds began to roll in as we were nearing the parking lot. We ended up taking a lower route back and saw some cool patterns in the snow.
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| Like a snowy blanket |
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| Hehehe.... |
