Mt. Rainier - Disappointment Cleaver Route with the Three Musketeers plus Juan

About a month ago, I came down with a serious case of FOMO (fear of missing out). Kyle and Liam had signed up to go to Mt. Rainier with a few other ACC members and although I was trying not to let it get to me, I was definitely jealous. I asked a few questions about switching shifts at work and managed to weasel my way onto the trip with less than 2 weeks to go! It was a bit of a mad scramble to get the necessary permits (I was able to just add myself onto the camping permit but had to get my own climbing permit). I had to learn how to send a fax and wait for the permit to arrive by snail mail but luckily it all arrived with days to spare and I was incredibly excited to be going along! At the last minute, our trip leader Juan had to pull out from the trip, causing his friend to also bail. Suddenly it was down the the three musketeers: Liam, Kyle and Jenny (the three amigos as Juan would say). Some trip planning and beer drinking sessions occurred and we were feeling ready to tackle the mountain on our own. At the final hour however, Juan was able to come on the trip again. A few recalculations of gear ensued and the pre-trip faff was complete. Onwards to adventure! We met in Fernie BC on the morning of Saturday June 14th loaded up with Tim Horton's donuts to make our way Mt. Rainier National Park. 

Welcome to America! It smells like freedom down here

Valleyview (5.9 Sport)

As part of the ACC Calgary Section annual rock review, I got a chance to get out climbing with Ken, Allen and Orvel for the first time! The original plan was to climb Dan's Delight on Bankhead Buttress of Cascade but after talking to others and checking the weather it sounded like a recipe for an epic so we settled on the much shorter Valleyview, a 6 or 7 pitch (depends on which topo you use) 5.9 sport route also on Cascade. We got off to a leisurely start of 10am and struggled up the steep scree approach. Once at the bottom of the climb, we were able to scramble up to an anchor station and Ken started us off by leading the first five pitches.

Ken leading us to victory