Day 3 was the start of the big day. There were two teams of 9 that set off on the RMI shuttle to Paradise. Our team guides Pete, Zeb and Ben led us up from Paradise to Camp Muir. The elevation gain was about 4700 feet and about 4.5 miles of hiking up the Muir Snow field. All of us on Team Bonda did really well for this first leg. The weather was overcast and cloudy. It actually felt good to be on a cooler side. We stopped every hour and rested and we made it to Muir in 5.5 hours and in good shape. We were feeling optimistic and excited for the night to come. Once at Muir, we huddled into our bunkhouse with the group of 17 other climbers and guides. We got a summit overview session from the guides and got ourselves organized for the late PM/early AM climb to our summit attempt. The guides mentioned that they don't specify a time for the start and it would depend on weather. That evening we were all sent to bed at 6 pm after an early dinner. I didn't sleep much and went to use our the stinky restroom at Muir a couple of times. I caught great sunset views during this break and also had sudden moments of light headed breathing due to the higher elevation. After practicing some of the pressure breathing and drinking lots of water, I felt better.
Day 4 -We got woken up at 12 midnight and had exactly one hour to eat, get all our climbing gear on including harness, avalanche transceiver, helmet, headlight, crampons and get our layers organized and packed up. It was definitely stressful and exciting to be doing all this in the dark at 10000 feet!
Once set up and checked, we got set up on our individual rope teams. I was with Reshma, Stephanie and Zeb as the guide. We set off after Team A group got going with Brent as their lead guide. It was the most surreal experience in my life, walking gingerly over the Cowlitz glacier in a single file roped up following the RMI guide pace. During our summit talk, the guides had 3 expectations out of us on the roped teams - 1. Follow their Pace. 2. Be Safe by not tripping/falling. 3. Take care of ourselves at rest breaks. They told us explicitly that if we couldnt follow one or more of these expectations then we needed to be honest with ourselves and them. As we got going on the first leg, my immediate thought was - HOLY SMOKES. This is nothing like any of my training hikes. It was dark, the trail was only a foot wide, we had to keep our ropes with the appropriate slack and keep their pace with the crampons and gear that was not entirely familiar. It was hard. As we went across the slowly inclined cowlitz glacier and onto Cathedral rocks, my heart rate and breathing increased. I immediately went into frequent pressure breathing mode and tried not to think too hard about how alarming things were. Reshma was ahead of me on the rope and when she slowed, I would take the opportunity to gasp in big breaths to catch up. After we went up the rocky and somewhat sandy uphill section of Cathedral Rocks, we continued our ascent around the ridge and finally to Ingram Flats at 11,200 feet. Here was were I started to question and wonder how far I would manage on the climb. Zeb's pace was not declining and he was giving us heads up that after the upcoming break things would just get more challenging on the cleaver. Disappointment Cleaver portion to be precise. After crossing a baby crevice and peering into its deep blue depths, we arrived at our first rest stop. While I was getting in some water and snack, Zeb asked me about how I felt. I knew at this point that based on his description of upcoming 1.5 hour difficult course, the harder than average pace and my unsure stepping that I was done. I told him that I was and he thanked me for making the right choice. At this point, 5 of the 9 team members had also made the same decision. We all got roped into our new rope teams and Miley the guide from Brent's team was chosen to take us back to Muir. Going down and back was just as daunting as coming to the first break. The stepping downhill at the guides pace in the dark was challenging. I fell a couple of times as did some of the others on the return. We were asked to not stop at some sections of the return and at the exact moments people were falling around. It was hard not to be stressed and stay calm. At last, we reached Camp Muir again in about the same time it took us to get out. A sure sign that we had made the right decision.
At camp, Team Bonda girls commiserated about our return, we talked a bunch about our decision and we were very excited for Stephanie who had moved ahead. About 6 a.m, another set of climbers from our team returned. They mentioned that after break 2, they could not continue further and had made the decision to turn back. Only Michael and Stephanie from our team continued to summit that morning and they successfully summited. We were extremely proud that one of our friends got to the summit. After our challenging morning and description of the trail & climb from the other returning climbers, we all agreed that the safest decision we made was to turn back when we were not burnt out.
After resting a few hours at Camp Muir, we packed up and were asked to wait for the other team members to arrive back from their summit climb. When they arrived back late AM, we cheered them on for their success and started our way down the snow field to Paradise. We all met up as two unified teams at Pebble Creek and returned to Paradise at 3 pm on Day 4. We trekked back to Ashford for a final certificate & ceremony from the RMI guides for our ascent attempt and success. It was an emotional trip from start to finish.
Although it was disappointing not to summit after all these months of hard work, I feel so blessed and lucky to have had the opportunity to try something that I had been dreaming about for years past with Saikat's support. Also, this climb gave me the opportunity to get to know some amazing women in my life and more time in the woods than I normally would have. For these things, I do not regret the end.
I lost my father this June and a week before his death he had promised me to come see me return from the summit climb. Throughout the week, I felt his presence with me and I know he is happy that regardless of my outcome that I went out there and gave it my best. To my father for guiding me through all this.
