Wrangle skis onto backpack. Hit the trail. Here we go.
The guys are both 6’ and taller. I’m 5’1”. River crossings nearly required me to do full-on splits with my short little legs.
Going into the climb, I’d warned my then-”friend” Tim, about my severely lacking ski skills.
I was totally down with the pack weight - fighting my way through endless trees on the approach, my skis and boots getting snagged all the way - but the whole skinning thing proved to be challenging. Turns out Tim is a great ski coach.
Drew, Tim and I took in gorgeous views of Moraine Lake, Klawatti Peak, Klawatti Lake and more! This was shortly before we began climbing the ridge and Drew’s lime green socks added to our view- they’re so great!
Drew and I swung leads and Tim dutifully played the role of middleman/brotographer. I was so happy as Drew belayed me up the exposed west ridge and over the sheer drop. I love that Tim captured the moment which is guaranteed to make my mother uncomfortable with my life choices;-) But, this life is SO amazing and lucky!!
Our weather timing was perfect: we set a 4pm turnaround time and were on the summit at 3:45pm. Just as we stood on the summit, the blue sky to our left allowed us the last views of the mountains that surround Forbidden Peak - a KAVU kind of view. But as we began our descent, clouds quickly rolled in and swallowed those views. KAVU none the less!
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After we took in the views, we split a celebratory Rainier three ways.
We rappelled down to a ledge before scrambling and traversing back to the steep snowfield. We had decided to avoid rappelling off of boulders, given the potential for rock fall.
The exposure was fantastic and gave us a sense of how grand this adventure was!
Drew cruised the down climb, but before leaving he mentioned that he’d never down-climbed something like this — “that’s what skis are for.”
I like to think that Tim was trying to decide how steep/flat the snow had to be before asking me to be his girlfriend. Meanwhile, I was just kicking my way down with my giant ice axe.
And that’s how it happened. Car to car, we spent 15 hours on the move. We celebrated our summit and our new relationship with Russian dumplings and drunk people in Bellingham around 2am, intoxicated in our own way by our mountain high. If that’s not a KAVU day……
I don’t know what is.
Clicky here to see more of Tim Blacks adventures.
© 2026 KAVU
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