‘Snowplace’ Like Home: A chilling tale captures winter campers on Mount Rainer

By John B. Case, photographs by Doug Wilson

Boys’ Life, December 2000, pgs 28-31.

Day had broken cold and gray. Exceedingly cold and gray… From Jack Loundon’s “To Build a Fire”

Life Scout Warren Cent shivered as he read the opening line of Jack Loundon’s short story “To Build a Fire.” It was nightfall last March on the snow slope of Washington’s Mount Rainier. Warren’s audience, 18 other equally chilled Scouts from Seattle Troop 144, wished along with him that they had built a fire, instead of just gathering in the dark around lanterns.

Undoubtedly it was colder than 50 below – how much colder he did not know.

“To Build a Fire” is the harrowing tale of a man in the Yukon winter who pays with his life for being unprepared.

These Scouts weren’t about to suffer the same fate. In fact, they came to mount Rainier to hone their cold-weather survival skills.

They made camp in the deep snow around Paradise, a recreation area about 9,000 feet below the mountain’s 14,410-foot summit. The Scouts quickly found a suitable spot where they divided into patrol to dig snow caves, erect igloos and set up tents.

Despite the cold temps, the sunny afternoon made it hot work.

“If you get too warm,” Warren warned, “take off stuff, so you don’t sweat. You don’t want to sweat, because it can freeze when you stop moving.”

The tremendous cold already had driven the life out of his fingers.

The Scouts weren’t worried about having cold, wet hands. They were prepared, with warm gloves.

“I bought them at the hardware store for $2.50,” said Jonathan Crocker, proud of his Scout thriftiness. “Waterproof gloves are great! They’re insulated too. We just put in a pair of glove liners.”

The war day brought day hikers to the snow-covered path in front of Troop 144’s campsite. The visitor’s eyes grew large as they took in the Scouts’ full backpacks, dry bags and other mountain gear.

“Are you really planning on spending g the night here?” they asked, incredulous.

Yes, came the Scouts’ answer. But not without adequate preparation – unlike Loundon’s winter traveler. He, for example, fantasized about a hot meal. The Scouts enjoy the real thing, a hearty stew, as temperatures dropped to about 20 degrees that night.

“Warm food keep you going,” said Life Scout Nick Jones, 14. Liquids help you warm up too,” added Warren. “They keep you hydrated, which can keep you warm even better than food.”

He wondered whether the toes were warm or numb. He moved them inside the moccasins and decided that they were numb.

Colin Farnsworth, 15, wore polypropylene underwear but still wondered if parts of his body were going to grow numb. “My feet are cold when I’m not moving around,” the Star Scout said, “even with polypro sock liners and wool socks.”

Jack Loundon’s protagonist got into trouble when he stepped through ice into knee-high water. It was imperative that he build a fire and dry out his wet clothing. He had nothing dry to put on.

The Scouts of 144 were well aware of such potential problem. They gave a lot of thought to what they wore.

“Wearing too many pairs of socks isn’t good,” warned Marcus Gladden, a First Class Scout. “It can cut off the circulation in your feet, then they get really cold.”

Marcus learned this the hard way, after putting on an extra pair of the second day and squeezing into his boots. The tight fit restricted blood circulation in his feet.

The old-timer had been very serious in laying down the law that no man must travel alone in the Klondike…

Poor planning and bad judgment added up to a lonely death on the trail in “To Build a Fire.” Ninety three years later, the Scouts of Troop 144 avoided those mistakes to make their winter outing both fun and educational.

Everything came together on the second day.

One group hung around the campsite to try out their sleds, toboggans and practice snowboarding.

The rest went snowshoeing. They were chilled as they started down the trail that hooks around Edith Creek Basin. But by the time they’d switchbacked again and again to Glacier Vista, high on Rainier’s Skyline Trail, everyone was warmed by the exertion.

The mountain was hidden behind a bank of clouds, and the work seemed washed of all colors but white and gray. Still, the Scouts could make out other volcanic, snowcapped Cascade peaks, including Mount Adams and, in the distance, what remained of Mount St. Helens. They also had a close-up view of the Tatoosh Range, across the valley to the south.

A few worked their way downhill the easy way, in a “sitting glissade.”

“We had fun when we lid downhill on our backs,” said Warren.

The old-timer on Sulphur Creek was right, he thought in [a] moment of controlled despair…a man should travel with a partner.

As the Scouts struck camp and paid last respects to the might mountain, they had a better understanding of both winter camping and of the careless character in Jack Loundon’s story.

The man had traveled alone. The Scouts had used the safety of the buddy system. The had been unprepared. They hadn’t.

And that the Scouts know was why they were going home not only happy, healthy and warm – but alive.