Fitfully rested - we were ready to hit the "trail".  For those of you convinced about the glamour of mountain climbing - here it is - going straight up into the night, only being able to see about 20' ahead with little sleep and thin air...

But after 8 or so hours of that, we were rewarded with a fantastic sunrise.  Wow.

That was also nice because we were able to see a little bit more of what we were climbing on.

Er - maybe this would have been better done in the dark. 

Everywhere we went - we found fields full of these "pinneals" which are little snow lumps that poke up about 2 feet high.  It makes for a feeling that you have really arrived at some place different.

And then just when you think you have reached the summit - well - ha!  Rainier is a volcano.  The top is a crater.  And you arrive on the low side, have to drop down into the crater and traverse over to this high side and climb again.  A welcome exercise after 10 good hours of climbing. 

But once you get to the top - the view is pretty nice.  Here Stuart (left) and Zoe (right) gaze southward.  Hard to believe that on a day where the temps broke 100 degrees in Seattle we were all bundled up.

But we were happy - and had a fantastic trip - thanks to the rest of the team - Zoe (left) and Steve (right)!

The reason that they are smiling is that they have not realized that we still have to walk all the way back down.