As a child I dreamed of climbing “My” mountain. We lived in Federal Way with a wonderful view of Mt. Rainier. My great grandfather’s proudest achievements was climbing that mass of rock, snow and ice.

In 1982 I created an opportunity to make a go of my childhood dream. I trained all winter, hiking the hills of Berkeley CA, I was completely wired to the task when our little team of three started out of Sherman on the Eastern flank at 11:00 p.m.

Eight hours later at 12,500ft. we were passed and became the last rope heading up the mountain. As a result of our slow pace, not because of me, but our leader, we had to go back down. I was heart broken. My despondency led to 30 minutes of unbroken tears in the tent at base camp. – That day I learned a lot about disappointment.

On Wednesday I experience disappointment, nearly the level of that day on Rainier but having many more opportunities for disappointment over my life I have grown a bit and Wednesday I smiled all day long. While I wanted to fly big on the biggest day and was in the air at the right place and right time, that I didn’t go big didn’t result in tears.

I have had so much joy flying the past 10 days and with two yet to come I just couldn’t get upset. The cause of my poor flight was the loss of my vario due to a software glitch. – I will be flying with a back up from now on.

The day was as massive as expected. Steve P. went 90 miles off Baldy South. The 90 mile task much of which was into the wind was completed by 4 pilots one of whom did it within the time window, validating the task. – Amazing, the biggest task in US history.

After my short 10k flight with quick retrieve I did another tandem, number 10 of the required 25.

Thursday was called due to winds and today should be very nice though not as big as Tuesday and Wednesday.

Below I inserted a bunch of photos from Tuesday for your viewing pleasure. – Top for me on Tuesday was over 12,000ft – very high.

P.