Day 1: Gear Check and a little more

Reminder:  we are 3 hours behind of our followers in Indiana.  Just finished our dinner, and we try to get our posts up as quickly as possible.

Day 1:  With gear rentals starting at noon and Gear Check at 3 PM, we took the morning to drive up to Paradise (basecamp, elev. ~5200 ft) to see what we could see.  As you can see, you saw as much of Mt Rainier today as we did at that time.

A bit foggy in Paradise

On the way back, the sun did pop out and gave us a teaser glimpse of The Mountain.

Yeah, we're gonna climb that.

We then loaded the gear we brought and took off to the outfitter for rentals, intros, and orientation.  We met our lead guide and the rest of our climbing group.  Here's both of us with all our gear laid out for consultation with the guide.  Thankfully, he saved each of us some space and at least a couple pounds.

How is all this gonna fit?

Now where did I put that ice axe?

The anticipation is building.  We are spending the evening packing our gear and food for tomorrow's training.
8 AM start for tomorrow's training class on the lower snowslopes of Rainier ~6500 feet.  Stay tuned for tomorrow!

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support for us and the Alzheimer's Association!

--Joey and Jen