Have you ever climbed Mount Rainier? Well, there are plenty of people who climbed Mount Rainier once, especially through the “easiest” DC route. But can you imagine to climb this mountain 520 times?!
Mountain Rainier is a 14,411 ft stratovolcano in State of Washington, the highest mountain in Cascade range of Pacific Northwest.
There are 27 major glaciers on Mount Rainier and numerous unnamed snow or ice patches, which cover about 35 square miles (90 km2). Mount Rainier’s glaciers are important indicators of climatic change and essential sources of water, supporting six major river systems. The Emmons Glacier has the largest area (4.3 square miles) and the Carbon Glacier has the lowest terminus altitude (3,600 feet) of all glaciers in the contiguous 48 states.
–National Park Service
Brent Okita, the guide from RMI Expeditions guides, has been guiding since 1986, after he graduated from University of Vermont. He was raised in Switzerland and Italy and he started climbing the mountains at a very young age.
His climbing resume looks pretty impressive. Brent has logged over 9,300,000 vertical feet on Mt. Rainier. He summited Denali 23 times, climbed Alps mountains – Mont Blanc, Matterhorn, Monte Rosa, Jungfrau and others.
Brent has also reached the top of Mount Everest in 1991. While not guiding, he works as a ski patroller at Crystal Mountain resort.
Last year, June 2016, he recorded 500 successful climbs of Mount Rainier, being the second person who holds the record after George Dunn, International Mountain Guides.
According to press-release by RMI Expeditions, this year, on July 4th, RMI guide Brent Okita made record 520th climb of Mount Rainier!
He became the first person to climb Mount Rainier so many times!
Congratulations, Brent Okita!
