Step by step up Mt. Rainier
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
Photo: The sun rises from about 12,800 feet on the Emmons Glacier of Mount Rainier on June 15, 2009. On July 8, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Seahawks coach Jim Mora will attempt to climb the 14,411-foot peak for charity. Photo credit: Zach Schade / Associated Press.
