Yesterday at 8:00 am, Phil and I stood on the summit of Rainier again together. A beautiful clear summit morning. I have a goal to summit Rainier once for every year I have known Phil. So this makes 20. Every time I am humbled by Phil's Rainier summits, he now has 444!
As we walked down, we met up with a ton of people we know and great guide friends all while viewing the blue sky, snow, and then wild flowers. I almost forgot about the heavy pack. This is a tough sport; carrying a heavy pack, climbing all night, and feeling the effects of altitude. But the harder the work and pain the higher the reward and fullfillment. I guess this means to be really happy we must hurt first.
