Andy began, "Day 1 began on the south side of Mount Baker. After our pre-trip orientation and gear check, we packed the van and headed up to the trailhead. The snowline is finally receding, and it was my first trip up the Easton Glacier this year during which we were able to camp on dirt at base camp (aka Sandy Camp - 6,000 feet). We spent that night at Sandy Camp and practiced snow skills the next day. Before traveling far on the glacier, everyone had to learn to self-arrest and, because they would be leading their own trip soon, to understand the dynamics of placing snow protection. Our group excelled at this, and we could see this was going to be a productive and fast-moving course.

Day 3 dumped rain and we hung out in the tents a lot and thought dry thoughts. To prove our sincerity and devotion to the climbing cause, we suited up and went climbing anyway. We headed out onto the ice of the Easton Glacier to practice crampon skills, knowing the whole time that hot drinks, hearty meals, and warm bags were within arm's reach. We savored these after a couple hours of snow school. The schedule dictated that we attempt Baker two days from then, rain or shine, and we hoped that there would be enough time for a change in the weather. Unluckily, the rain lasted for two more days. We did crevasse rescue on Day 4 - a very cold day with the rain and all the standing around we had to do - but everyone was thrilled to build pulley systems and to lower down into a crevasse and prusik back out.

On summit day, I realized we were blessed with the craziest and most eager group of climbers I've ever been matched up with. We had the iciest and most foul conditions I've ever experienced on Baker, and our group wanted to brave it! Despite 40 mph winds and ice that froze our eyelashes together, coated the rope as well as the entire Roman Wall, and froze our jackets and pants into suits of armor, we made it to the summit dome. We didn't walk to the true summit because it was too much at that point. We couldn't see from one end of the rope to the other, so we decided it was time to go back and get warm. It took us seven and a half hours round-trip from the time we left to make it back to camp, which is incredibly fast. We couldn't really stop on account of the weather, and the thought of pizza in town spurred us on as well. We packed up camp in no time and were on our way to Washington Pass after that pizza dinner everyone was talking about.

Washington Pass was beautiful. Days 6 through 9 were spent in the sun on the Cascade crest, climbing multi-pitch routes on an assortment of granite towers. The group split up each day to climb a new route with one of the three guides that were there to accompany them. We did several routes during the time where we there, and each climber had a chance to choose a route that presented an ideal degree of challenge for his or her climbing level. From a 2,000-foot 5.8 route on the South Ridge of Cutthroat Peak to the Beckey Route on the Liberty Bell, there was something for each climber on the course. On our last day at Washington Pass, Evan and I took five climbers up the South Arete on South Early Winter Spire and let them practice placing pro, building anchors, and basically integrating the whole climbing system.

On Day 10, we hopped back in the vans and headed back to the west side of the mountains and into North Cascades National Park. The students led this portion of the trip, starting at the vans once we arrived at the climbers' trail for Eldorado Peak. Their objective was the East Ridge, and they led the way from 2100 feet to the mountain's summit at around 9,000 feet. We camped that night in the grassy meadows at 5400 feet, beneath the Eldorado Glacier, and we left camp at 5:00am the next day to attempt the summit. We broke up into three rope teams with Evan and I bringing up the rear. It was a great pleasure to watch our group apply what they had learned and move with confidence over the glacier to gain the summit ridge. We spent two hours on the summit, napping in 65-degree heat and taking in the views. We found an ice slab on the way down and practiced placing screws and building V-threads, since we didn't get to cover that on account of all the rain on Baker. It was beautiful today on the hike out, providing a fitting conclusion to a trip that just kept gaining momentum. The energy and motivation this group possessed was contagious, and we had an awesome time out there."

Mark and Danny enthusiastically recounted their trip's itinerary and standout moments. Both said all students had improved their technical leadership skills immensely and had several chances to lead on technical rock, snow, and ice terrain.

The group went first to Leavenworth, a rock-climber's mecca located just east of the North Cascade crest on Hwy 2 which is known for its diverse climbing, excellent rock, and great weather. Mark said, "We spent the first three days at an area known as Icicle Canyon. We were very curriculum-oriented and focused on technical skills. Since all the students came into the course sound on their basic skills and ready to lead climb at some level, we did a couple of mock leads and then had the students do some real leads. On the fourth day, we went to an area called Castle Rock where we climbed Saber, a 3-pitch 5.4 climb. This was entirely student-led." Since the weather was pretty hot each day, Mark said the group went swimming in the river after climbing several times.

After leaving Leavenworth on the morning of the fifth day, the group drove north to the icy slopes of Mt. Baker. With two days worth of gear, they hiked for four miles to the base of the Coleman Glacier on Baker's north side. Mark said, "We basically went through all the same curriculum as we did in Leavenworth, but this time our medium was steep ice instead of rock. We worked on ice climbing technique, setting up belays, leading and placing ice screws, and multi-pitch transitions. We also worked a bit on steep snow travel, snow anchors, and belays, and practiced transitioning between glacier travel and steeper snow or ice climbing." After two packed days and two nights, the group hiked back to the van early in the morning on Day 7 and drove east on the North Cascades Highway to Washington Pass, where they planned to climb Silver Star Mountain.

At just under 9000 feet, Silver Star Mountain involves an ascent of a small glacier and several hundred feet of 3rd class scrambling. The plan was for the climb to be entirely led by the students, with guides watching out for any safety considerations. Danny recounts: "We first hiked up to the Burgundy Col, which is right at the base of the Silver Star Glacier. We started hiking at 5pm, so we arrived at the col around 8:30 or 9pm where we set up a bivy and went to sleep. Since the climb was intended to be student-led, we (the guides) didn't set our alarms and relied on the students to wake us up, which they did. We then made a fairly quick ascent up to the summit of Silver Star in light snow and low-visibility conditions. The students did a great job leading the climb, and there were no problems. After summiting, we descended and hiked all the way out to the van parked on Hwy 20." The group then drove west to Marblemount where they spent the night in a "stellar" RV park that allowed them long, hot showers and a nice spot to pitch their tents. Before crashing for the night, they packed for the next day's travels to Boston Basin.

The next morning, which was Day 9 of the course, the group woke and traveled to the trailhead for Boston Basin. Boston Basin is a popular climbing area, lying at the heart of North Cascades National Park. It is known for the classic climbing routes that tower above on peaks such as Forbidden Peak, Mt Torment, Sahale Peak, Sharkfin Tower, and Boston Peak. For Danny and Mark's group, several of these peaks were objectives. From the Cascade River Road, the climbers hiked in to the basin and set up a high camp at 6400 feet. The next day, they woke and left camp at 5:30 for a classic route: the West Ridge of Forbidden Peak. Forbidden involves a variety of climbing skills, including ability to negotiate rock slabs, a glacier, a 60-degree snow slope, 3rd and 4th class scrambling, and one pitch of 5.6 climbing. The group made the summit in good time, then made several rappels to descend. This climb was partly led by students, and partly led by guides.

The next morning, the group split into two climbing teams. Danny and three students (Ryan, Mark, and Spencer) went to climb Sharkfin Tower. As was on Silver Star, the students were to lead the entire climb and, according to Danny, they performed well yet again. Danny said, "There was first a somewhat tricky loose gully approach to an exposed traverse across the top of some cliff bands. After that, we reached the col between Sharkfin and Boston Peak, and did one pitch of low 5th class traversing to get to the base of the southeast ridge, one 100-foot pitch of 5.0 climbing on an exposed ridge, and one last full rope-length traverse to gain the summit."

The rest of the students went with Mark to climb Sahale Peak. Again, this was student-led. They had a successful climb, and on the way up, both teams were able to see each other across the basin on their respective climbs - one team on Sharkfin and one on Sahale.

On Day 12, the course's last day, the group broke camp, walked out of Boston Basin to the van, then drove the two hours back to AAI's headquarters where the course officially ended. Both guides said this was an extremely full and rich course, with lots of climbing and learning about technical leading on alpine routes. Two students, Ryan and Miguel, have gone on to Part 3 of the Alpine Mountaineering and Technical Leadership program, and they are currently rock climbing the Bugaboos region of British Columbia, Canada.

On June 9th, AAI Guide Jonathon Spitzer relayed the following:

Day 1: After meeting the evening before for an orientation and gear check, we left Seattle around 6:30 am and drove towards Mount Rainier under clear skies. We stopped and completed registration procedures at White River Ranger Station, continued to the trailhead, and then made our approach to Glacier Basin.

The backpack in to Glacier Basin Camp is 1,400 vertical and 3.1 miles, and we reached our camp within two and a half hours. We arrived around 12:30 pm, set up camp, and then reviewed snow climbing skills, crevasse rescue, and glacier travel technique. It was a great day, and we went to bed early that night knowing that we had some big days ahead of us.

Day 2: The group woke up around 4:30 in the morning to ascend the Inter Glacier and move camp from Glacier Basin to Camp Schurman (9,460 feet). The weather was clear and calm, with low valley clouds. We ascended the Inter Glacier with ease, finding no difficulty with the snow conditions, and arrived at Camp Schurman around 12:15 in the afternoon. The weather remained good, and in light to moderate winds we set-up camp and started the process of melting snow for our water supply. Looking forward to our bid for the summit, team members went to bed with the high spirits and clear skies over their heads.

Day 3: We set our alarms for 12:30 am and planned to leave for the summit around 2:00 am. We headed up the Emmons Glacier at 2:15, towards the Corridor and reached the top of it at 11,600 feet around 3:30 am, just in time to watch the beginning of an amazing sunrise. Winds were stronger than the day before and gradually picking up, but everyone felt warm and comfortable. It was a beautiful scene above a sea of clouds resting at about 7000 feet in all directions.

Above 12,000 feet there was no evidence of previous climbers. There we no remnants of a trail in the snow all, so the team really enjoyed participating in the route finding. Conditions underfoot were almost perfect. We used crampons all the way and only occasionally would break through a crust to the tops of our boots - that was tiring but fortunately limited to some short sections. Up high it was all wind-scoured and perfect cramponing.

We were also able to make direct line to the summit. Usually there's a bergschrund at 13,600, but it was filled in nicely, and we didn't have to take a round-about route. We hit crater rim just ten minutes from the summit, which was good because it was even windier up there. It was blowing at least 50 mph - enough to knock you over if you didn't take care. So we just spent ten minutes on the summit picking out peaks like Mt. Baker to the north and then ducked down into the summit crater where the wind immediately dropped below 10 mph. We enjoyed snacks and some hot tea I had brought as well as great views of Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Hood, all poking up through the clouds to the south.

In summary, it was an excellent climb and the team did a great job. We summited in seven hours and twenty minutes from camp which is good time for a 5000-foot ascent with some altitude mixed in. It was an amazing summit experience because it was so beautiful and we had it all to ourselves. No one else was on the Emmons with us the whole day and we didn't see any guided or unguided teams arriving from the Disappointment Cleaver Route either. It's unusual to feel like you have the entire mountain to yourself. We weren't sure why no one else was climbing.

We completed our descent to Camp Schurman by 12:30 pm and enjoyed eating, drinking more water, and resting. Everyone was feeling very happy after making the summit.

Day 4: We go up at 5:30 am, packed up camp, and descended the Emmons Glacier back to the Inter Glacier and then hiked all the way out to White River. The team reached the parking lot around noon, and it was high fives all around. We were back in Seattle by mid-afternoon. The drive went fast as climbers started thinking about and discussing their next climbs. There are lots of plans being laid for Denali and South America. These climbers have a lot of exciting peaks ahead of them.

"On the first day, we made our way from the trailhead at 4400' to our base camp in Glacier Basin at 6080'. Half way up, the trail became snow-covered, and we wound our way through hemlock, cedar, and Douglas fir before emerging into the sub-alpine zone beneath the Inter Glacier. We arrived at camp in time to set up the tents, cook up a nice dinner, and enjoy some pleasant conversation and a change of perspective with Rainier's summit floating in the sky above us.

"On Day 1, we climbed the 1,600 plus feet from the van to our base camp in Glacier Basin in two hours. The sun was pretty hot on the first day - so we decided to amend the schedule for our climb to ensure that we get off the glaciers before the sun got too high in the sky.

In keeping with that plan, we woke at 3am on Day 2. Incidentally, this was the latest we woke up for the rest of the trip. We left Glacier Basin at 4am, crossed the Inter Glacier, and got to Camp Shurman at ten in the morning. We spent the rest of the day going over knots and cramponing technique, resting, enjoying the great views, and adjusting to our alpine schedule.

Day 3 was summit day, and we woke up at midnight and left camp at 1:20 am. The team was quite efficient in its preparations, and we quickly set up our three rope teams. The climbing went extremely well, and we were on the summit six and a half hours after we left camp. We reveled in our time on top (about forty-five minutes of relaxing, taking photos, and enjoying the views) and then headed down.

It took eleven hours total to summit and return back to Camp Shurman, and we enjoyed a pretty direct route to the top. The glaciers are still in good shape but not for long I'd say. In another week, some of the most convenient snow bridges will start to get sketchy and glacier travel will become much more circuitous.

Keeping this warming trend in consideration, the group got up today at 2:30am to descend the Inter Glacier and hike all the way out to the van. We got back at around 10:15am and headed back to town to celebrate with big meals and cool showers. This was my second trip on Rainier in as many weeks, and it's been incredible to share the summit experience with so many qualified and motivated people."

Day 2:
Day 2 was a full day of skills review and practice. Stephen, Chris, and Josh had learned many skills already in a 6-day Intro to Alpinism course they took in 2002, so we mainly reviewed the essentials for glacier travel: team roped travel, cramponing French technique, building snow anchors, and the many forms of self arrest.

Day 3:
We woke, packed, and left camp at 8am and headed over to the east side of the Sulphide Glacier in search of worthy practice crevasses. We found some great candidates that were perfect for practicing crevasse rescue and for discussing glacier navigation. After wrapping up the instruction, we then found another broken-up area on the glacier so that Stephen, Chris, and Josh could put their new skills into practice. After one more round of crevasse rescue practice, we ended a long day. We also had the pleasure of witnessing a Brocken Specter (also known as a Specter of Brocken). [Editor's Note: A Broken Specter is an optical phenomenon that occurs when the image of an observer who is between the sun and a cloud is projected onto the cloud as a highly magnified shadow that is often surrounded by rings of color.]

Day 4:
We left camp at 5am for the summit. After two and a half hours of negotiating the Sulphide Glacier we were at the base of the 500-foot summit pyramid. The pyramid, which is all rock later in the season, was covered in snow for most of the route so the five pitches of climbing to the summit mostly consisted of 40 to 50-degree snow slopes with several 4th class rock moves. After being in the clouds all morning, we finally broke out 300 feet from the summit and were treated to an amazing sea of clouds down below with only the 9000-foot and greater peaks of the Cascades visible. We snapped a few summit shots, prepared to descend, and five rappels later we were back on the glacier and walked back to camp where we packed up and walked out to our van.