The lighter is climbing Rainier

I got an email from my old friend "the lighter". He wanted advice about climbing Rainier. He has me all full of memories about accomplishing the climb of Mt. Rainier. Here is me - on top - exhausted. I still can't believe I made it. In the spirit of laziness, here is the email I wrote him back about training for it - in case anyone else is up for the challenge.

That is awesome that you are going to do it. I am kind of jealous and feeling really lazy and overworked - so I guess I am not jealous. I started March 1st I think and climbed august 3rd. I started with the 5 months prior on the training guide below. Just remember slow and steady wins the race. Learn the rest step. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rest_step

This is literally the guide I followed. I saved it in my file of important papers and it is still online.

http://alpineascents.com/pdf/denali-train-chart.pdf

Buy your boots now and train in them. Don't rent the boots. Splurge on them. Train in your pack - even at the gym. Splurge on that too.

Pack funny foods that you like. Candy was the only thing I could stomach. Eat little bits of food all the time. I packed pizza in foil for the night on the mountain and breakfast (at midnight)before climbing on the mountain. Use a camelback even though it says the mouth piece freezes. If it does you can dump the water out into a Nalgene. Don't expect to sleep at all.

It is amazing what your body can do when you are in shape and train for it.