Mt. Rainier Climb - Part IV - Carolyn Power Tells All


I continue to interview Carolyn Power on the Mt. Rainier climb.

Jerri Brooker: How much sleep was allowed in your schedule?

Carolyn Power: Sleep. Well, Jerri. Let me put it this way. There wasn't any.

The night before our climb Jeri, Cindy, Nancy, Peggy and I were at the Whittakers Bunkhouse and Paradise to spend time together to do dinner and reflect on the couple of days ahead for us. It was a go for us, however nobody slept. I had my own room and kept trying to sleep; however, I would go right into a dream about the adventure. I dreamed I could jump real high and far like I was on a cloud. The dream would wake me up and it was raining so hard outside I just kept praying to God to keep this team safe. I learned at breakfast nobody slept.

At Camp Muir our leader, Winn Whittaker, told us lights out no later than 7:30 or 8 p.m. Anyway, here were 23 climbers in a room - maybe 10-feet-by-30-feet - in one layer of bunk with plywood as our mattress; it was like one big bunk bed. You were next to other climbers with no separation between anyone. A doctor was on one side of me; this was his third attempt.

From 8 p.m. until Winn came into our bunkhouse the room was soooo quiet. Occasionally someone would get up to go to the bathroom (outhouse). That was it for noise, not even snoring from the male climbers. I finally had to get up and go use the outhouse at 11 p.m. I just couldn't hold it any longer. I dreaded putting on that helmet for the light and boots again, but it was the best thing I did.

I opened the door and yelled, "Oh, my God!" I was sure I didn't arouse anyone; it wasn't that loud. I looked up to the sky and, Jerri, it was beautiful! The stars were so close, there were millions of them so close to each other. The size was ten times bigger than what we see at sea level.

There was light that came from the summit and went clear down to Paradise like a curtain. I had no idea what it was; however, I made up my own little story to myself that it was all the angels in heaven opening up heaven's gates for us to see a little better.

The next morning someone asked me what I saw and I shared about the stars. I left out the angel part; didn't want to scare anyone.

The copyright of the article Mt. Rainier Climb - Part IV - Carolyn Power Tells All in Washington State is owned by Jerri Brooker. Permission to republish Mt. Rainier Climb - Part IV - Carolyn Power Tells All in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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