I hear we got one of Boeing's top test pilots. I wish I got his name, but the crew was saying that he's the only one who loves getting close to mountains. Not too risky. I hear even at the closest point we were a mile or two away from the mountain, but when you're next to a 14,500 foot high mountain that seems really close. The only way to get closer would be to climb it.
I've got news for you, Robert. You need to go for a glider ride in the mountains. Instead of being a mile away, you can be flying just off the peak at 100 miles per hour with no engine noise at all. You'll never go back to the noisy way. ;-)
I'd be glad to take you up next time you're near Lake Tahoe.
Posted by jzawodn at July 21, 2005 10:50 AM
Just don't try flying through the trees.
"The sky is a vast place, but there is no room for error."
Ditto Jeremy's comments - I've been in a glider (tandem) and waved to people on top of the foothills here in Boulder, Colorado ... and had 'em wave back.
I'm surprised all the bloggers got super-duper excited since I've gotten tons of nice views of Mt. Rainier when you fly in/out of Sea-Tac from the South - while that isn't as close (nor a circular orbit as it appears was done here), go up in a light plane and you'll have one heck of a view - just be sure to wander on over to St. Helens why you are at it. But did sound like a darn nice trip (courtesy of Boeing) and I definately would not have turned it down.
Finally, if you want the REAL experience, go CLIMB Mt. Rainier - you need to be in decent shape, but if you go with the guide service, it's a two day climb (talked about on one of the video's) and quite impressive. Best part for me was climbing at O-dark-30 outa Camp Muir as the sky started to light up and a solid cloud layer at 11,000 feet below us - I have a few Mt. Rainier pictures from that climb a decade ago, and for grins, here's my Longs Peak, Colorado saga.
Ooops - the HREF's got eaten in my post above - here's the URL's I was referring to:
http://www.komar.org/faq/mt._rainier/
http://www.komar.org/faq/longs-peak/
