Late this past fall, head physical therapist and personal trainer, Brian Diaz summited Mt. Rainier, with good friend David Olson, in the State of Washington. It took the three of them, including their guide whom they nicknamed “El Toro”, a little over 48 hours to get from Paradise Inn and the Visitor’s Center to the top and back. They started out on a Monday afternoon and settled in a wooden shelter at Camp Muirthat evening.
After practicing some basic mountaineering and iceclimbing techniques with crampons and ice axes, they pushed a little farther up the mountain and stayed in a tent on the Ingraham Flats near Disappointment Cleaver, stopping early Tuesday evening. They woke up after only three hours of sleep (Brian, less, since David was moaning and snoring all night!) and started the summit climb at 10:00 pm on Tuesday. Brian’s team was the first to summit at 6:00 am on Wednesday, after several others that started ahead of them had to turn around. Brian suffered from dehydration on the final push, but was able to make it to the top and then down before celebrating this lifelong dream backin town with some of the others that summited that day. What atremendous experience and beautiful part of the country!
