Reflections from Guide, Curtis Fawley

From Head Guide, Curt Fawley:

Last year was Camp Patriot's first annual climb up Mt Rainier. We brought veterans Capt. Scott Smiley, US Army, and Lt. (RET) Ed Salau, US Army, (2nd & 4th from  left).

This year, Camp Patriot founder, Micah Clark and myself, Curt Fawley (Far West Log & Timber Construction, Inc. & former Rainier Guide), (3rd & 1st from left,) again put together our second annual climb up Mt Rainier. Guest veterans (shown below) were US Army SSgt.(Ret) Chad Jukes, Navy (Ret) SEAL Special Operator 2nd Class Ryan Job, and US Marine Sgt. Joey Martinez. The injuries sustained by these three, left Chad with a leg amputation below the knee, Ryan with 100% vision loss, and Joey with approximately 98% loss of vision.

 

Pre-climb events began directly after our veterans arrival at Seattle's SEA/TAC airport. First on the agenda was a private tour of Qwest stadium/field with Mike Flood, the VP of Community Relations for the Sea Hawks, and Jeff Kemp (ex Hawks, 49er, Rams - QB)! Jeff's stories of the behind the scenes, locker room activities kept us all laughing. Jeff even tossed the ball around with the guys and ran a few patterns with Ryan, Joey and Chad.

From Qwest, we traveled down to the Port of Tacoma for the "Tall Ships Festival" where we had a private "meet and greet" party on the deck of the USCG Eagle. The local Seattle/Tacoma support for Camp Patriot was incredible to witness.  See: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/406509.html

Our 2nd day was spent in Ashford, at the base of Mt. Rainier National Park, organizing the group and gear at the Rocky Mountain Institute facility. The picture below shows me giving Joey, Ryan and Chad some basic climbing instructions. The gear for a team of 20 for 4 days can seem overwhelming. But you can't look at it too long, just need to pack it up and go!

 

The 3rd day we set off with full packs and great weather on the trail to Camp Muir, where we made our base camp for the next three nights. We were supported by a small team of hikers who helped carry some of our food and gear up to Camp Muir (10,000'). The support group included my family: Colleen, Keegan, and Beth! Their help and great attitudes were indispensable in assisting us climbers with the long 4,500 vertical, 4 mile slog up the Muir Snowfield to camp.

After a brief rest at Camp Muir, this support group made a quick turn around and descended the 4 miles back to the parking lot at Paradise. They all had a long day, arriving back to their cars at 9:00p. The rest of us climbers got busy setting up camp in the evening light, re hydrated, fueled up our bodies with some yummy freeze dried food, then retired to our tents and bags for a well deserved rest.

Day 4 again brought us fantastic weather, and a great opportunity to train with the group around our Camp Muir base camp. The guides spent the day working with the climbers on such skills and techniques as; ice axe self arrest, cramponing, team rope travel and team arrest, etc.

Our group bedded down by 6:00p that evening in preparation for an early am (or late pm) departure. The weather pattern was solid H pressure with fairly strong upper level winds (40mph) and a relatively high freezing level (14,500'). Knowing this, the guides planned for a 11:00p departure out of Camp Muir, with hitting the summit hopefully by 8:00a, and descending before snow conditions became too sloppy. In reality we struck out from camp at 11:30p with headlamps on and made solid, steady progress up the mountain, reaching the summit shortly after 8:00a. Joey, Chad, and Ryan all climbed exceptionally well and were an inspiration to watch.

Most people assume that descending is easier, but the reality of it is that the descent can be more strenuous and dangerous than the ascent. Warming temps can soften the snow bridges across the many crevasses, rock and ice fall become more prevalent, and the snow in general becomes less stable, making footing on steeper slopes more difficult. Our strong team rallied, maintaining our focus and concentration, and after exactly 15 hrs on the mountain, the last rope team of our group returned back to camp successful.

After a short rest, the team regrouped around our camp's kitchen area and feasted on more yummy freeze dried, and gulped down gallons of water. For me this was a time to finally relax a bit as I just sat back and watched the group's interaction. The team's energy was at a high. Stories and tales were swapped all around. It was fun to watch as these three amazing heroes joked around and the whole team was engaged in relaxed conversation.
A huge success! And then a great night's sleep. Many of us had been up and moving without any real sleep for over 36 hrs.

Awesome F-15's
 

Our final morning on the mountain, July 10th, brought us a fitting end to our climb. Two F15's from the 173rdFW out of Klamath Falls, OR, flew over us on the face of Mt. Rainier at precisely 8:00am in honor of Chad, Joey and Ryan and all combat/disabled veterans. (Photo taken by Mark Seacat of Mystery Ranch Backpacks)

This fly-by was all prearranged with the help of LTC's Casson, Erickson, and Asay, who all fly with the 173rd and were with us on the climb. LTC Erickson ("Leif") had direct communications with the pilots via FM radio which he packed along for the trip. The whole team stood on the ridge at Camp Muir (along with many other climbers from other groups), as "Leif" talked his F15 buddies in for a direct fly over. Once the pilots had a sighting on us, they spent the next 20 min. flying all around and over us, at times only 300' directly above us. What a great salute to our three vet's successes - not only on this trip, but in life.

It was difficult to leave the mountain, but a prearranged BBQ of smoked pork, ribs, chicken, cornbread, coleslaw, Blue Bunny ice cream, and all the fixin's was waiting for us down in Ashford. Three days of yummy freeze dried is about all a person can take when one is faced with the prospect of home cooking, so it did not take much for us to shoulder up those heavy packs and head down the Muir Snowfield to a very receptive crowd in Ashford. The ensuing party was well deserved and we were pleasantly treated to a private "un-plugged" concert by Keni Thomas, who was also a strong member of our climbing team.
      (see: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=34098928)
 

Just like last year, so many people jumped on board to help us make this happen. Many of these people, just spur of the moment. We give our never ending thanks to:

     *Beth Wolf and Kim Roscoe for arranging the Tall Ships event and many other local logistics and support.     
     *RMI and IMG, the guide service(s) I worked for back in the "old days", for their incredible on and off mountain support.
     *My wonderful wife Colleen and sis-in-law Kim for all the yummy BBQ (and it wasn't freeze dried)!
     *Mark Seacat of Mystery Ranch Backpacks, who shot the great photos attached and about 2000 more!
     *Alex Quade from CNN, who along with the CamoUp video crew (Dale, Jake, and Gabe), documented the climb for future production.
     *The 173rdFW and Capt. Ritter who in face of bureaucracy, persevered and got us a fly-by.
     *John Fay for your legalese.
     *My great on mountain guide support: Art Rausch, Anne Keller, Ashley Garman, Dave Conlan, Jake Beren, and Steve Sinor.
     *Micah and Camp Patriot for sparking the fire that created this vision.
     *ALL our great climb sponsors; Seattle Sea Hawks, Native Eyewear, Sitka Gear, Leki Poles, Sportsman's Warehouse, LithoFlexo, Mystery Ranch, Blue Bunny, Sun West, and Go Pro.

Wow, what a trip! Joey, Chad, and Ryan are the greatest. Let's never forget.

The Seattle Times also wrote a wonderful story of our climb and can be accessed at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008045927_rainier11m0.html

As a side note, Capt. Scott Smiley just received the ESPN - ESPY award for Outstanding Outdoor Athlete due to his achievements last year with us on Mt. Rainier! http://www.army.mil/-news/2008/07/14/10863-wounded-warrior-gets-espy-nod/

Thanks again for all your support... Curtis Fawley