Step by step up Mt. Rainier

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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell took a fall Monday on Mt. Rainier.

We all did.

As part of our five hours of training in advance of climbing the 14,411-foot peak south of Seattle, everyone in our group had to practice our ‘self-arrest’ techniques -- stopping our slides down a snowy slope by digging in our ice axes and kicking our heavy plastic climbing boots into the hillside.

Under the instruction of Ed Viesturs and Peter Whittaker -- arguably two of the world’s best mountaineering guides -- we also practiced using crampons, working together as a roped team, and even how to walk and breathe most efficiently on the climb. The charity expedition will benefit the United Way of King County (Wash.).

Today, I will climb to Camp Muir, the 10,000-foot base camp, with the team, composed of Goodell, Seattle Seahawks Coach Jim Mora; Seahawks Chief Executive Tod Leiweke; Jon Fine, United Way of King County president and chief executive; Molly Nordstrom, United Way of King County board chair; John Thelan, Costco senior vice president; Fred Kiga, Boeing vice president, and Greg Bronstein, Wells Fargo regional managing director.

I will file a full report sometime after the climb concludes Wednesday, as dispatches from Mt. Rainier are difficult -- no cell coverage.

-- Sam Farmer