We've had snow storm after snow storm hit the Cascades recently, here in the Great Northwest. But, two weeks ago the weather cleared, and it coincided with a flight I had out of Seattle. I feel quite lucky that I picked the correct side of the plane to sit on, and that our route took the airplane so close to Mt Rainier. I had my little digital "point and shoot" snapping away as we approached the mountain from its northwest side, passed it along its west face, then banked at the southwest corner revealing a quick peek at its full southern face, before we were headed away from the mountain.
This particular shot is of the southwest face. If your look carefully to the right side of the summit, you can pick out the pointed, rocky outcrop that is Mt Tahoma. And, you may also notice to the left side of the summit, the frozen over Mowich Lake. I figure the plane was around 20,000 feet when I took this shot, maybe less (the height of the mountain is 14,410').
Great shot...were you on a 737 and where were you flying to?
yep ... 737 (i was on Southwest, which is all 737) and I was flying to Salt Lake. I've been on that trip a couple of times, and I really like the route it takes over the state of Washington ... Fly-by Mt Rainier, continue through central Washington (over the wine country), then exit the state somewhere near the Tri-Cities. If the weather is clear, lots of good scenery to see.
I was a ranger at MORA for 10 years and we landed on the summit either for training or SARs in Chinooks or real SARs, once flew to about 16,000, no oxygen, but the view was terrific. The pilots were of course on O2. These pilots were terrific. We trained for and did hover lowering on the cable system using a jungle penetrator for a seat. Prettyu cold and windy at times but it was all more than worth it.
Write Congress to restore what the Mission of the USNPS is.