Darren Chromey: Hiking and Climbing Mount Rainier & Other Peaks and Valleys

Darren Chromey has a passion for hiking and climbing. During our episode he explains what it is like to summit Mount Rainier.

On his first attempt to summit Rainier he was joined by his dad and sister. They were not successful. This only added fuel to the fire to one day summit Mount Rainier.

Since his first attempt he has successfully summited the mountain multiple times. During our conversation we chat about some of the things that one needs to successfully conquer the mountain.

Darren shares his passion for hiking and climbing. If you’ve ever thought about climbing Mount Rainier or any of the other magnificent peaks we have in Washington State you will find this episode to be full of inspiration.

Darren Chromey Episode Transcript

Scott Cowan [00:00:00]:

So just for a fourth of July jaunt, you, your dad, and your sister decided to go climb to 10,888 feet. Welcome to the Exploring Washington State podcast. Here Here’s your host, Scott Cowan. So Darren, welcome. Thanks for making this happen. I we had a little little technical challenges at first, but we solved them like we actually knew what we were doing. So that’s great. So why don’t you tell our listeners a little bit about this hiking and climbing aspect of your life? How’s that?

Darren Chromey  [00:00:53]:

Yeah. Right on. Thank you, Scott, for having me on and having the ability to share my stories and adventures. So, you know, I’ve been raised Tacoma Tacoma native, born and raised here in Washington State, grew up hiking, grew up hunting, fishing. Dad took me out a lot and explored the outdoors and the adventures. Early early mornings, whether or not I didn’t like it or not, you know, like, I look back on it now, and I I love them. Those early mornings were just awesome. Kind of all started back in 02/2011 now when I me, my dad, and my sister, we decided to go up to Camp Muir for the day.

Darren Chromey  [00:01:35]:

It was July 4 weekend, Saturday, super duper busy. This is one of those days where we didn’t get an early start. And so we were just kinda one with the crowd mingling, kinda exploring the area. And this is, you know, a lot of hiking, hunting, and fishing, but this is my first time, like, getting altitude and really, you know, exploring the high alpine of Mount Rainier in the high elevations. So no doubt it got to me pretty quick. And it was a bluebird sunny day, so I’m sure that was another issue with the sun beating down. No sunscreen. So very, very, amateurish right now where are what I was doing.

Darren Chromey  [00:02:17]:

But, I was really I was really pumped. I was really excited, but I got stopped.

Scott Cowan [00:02:23]:

Mount

Darren Chromey  [00:02:23]:

Rainier stopped me at 8,900, maybe 9,000 feet, and I was gassed. I was very, very tired.

Scott Cowan [00:02:33]:

Let me interrupt you for a second because for those of us that aren’t hikers, how high up is Camp Muir?

Darren Chromey  [00:02:39]:

Camp Muir is 10,088 feet. So, you know, it just depends on how active you are. Go ahead. Wow.

Scott Cowan [00:02:50]:

So just for a fourth of July jaunt, you, your dad, and your sister decided to go climb to 10,888 feet.

Darren Chromey  [00:02:59]:

Yes. 10,088 feet. And from Paradise, Paradise elevation is 5,400 feet. So we’re gaining we’re gaining just a little bit under we’re gaining a little bit under 4,700 feet. So, yeah, forty six eighty eight.

Scott Cowan [00:03:17]:

Okay. That’s still

Darren Chromey  [00:03:18]:

And in the day

Scott Cowan [00:03:19]:

that is

Darren Chromey  [00:03:20]:

that’s a good push. And especially with elevation and altitude that you, you know, people some people don’t make it. Some people get sick. You know, you lose you lose a breath or two, and it’s it’s intense just to get to 10,000 feet. You know, there’s not a lot of areas in Washington state where you can get to 10,000 feet pretty easily in a day.

Scott Cowan [00:03:43]:

Right.

Darren Chromey  [00:03:43]:

You know, you got Mount Baker. Mount Baker is a great climb. Mount Adams is a great to do. And then, you know, Little Tahoma on Mount Rainier, but there’s not a lot of other areas in Washington where you can get above 10,000 or at 10,000 pretty easily. So it was yeah. You know, we decided to go for a jaunt, and, it was very I look back on it, and it was very humbling.

Scott Cowan [00:04:11]:

Okay. How old were you, at that time?

Darren Chromey  [00:04:16]:

That was July 4. So I was nineteen nineteen years old.

Scott Cowan [00:04:25]:

Okay.

Darren Chromey  [00:04:27]:

Coming out of, coming out of doing community college back in Tacoma, doing summer work too. So not really actually hiking a lot, but still trying to get out as much as possible. And then dad Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:04:42]:

So you were in relatively good shape?

Darren Chromey  [00:04:44]:

Yes. Yeah. Relatively good shape. And then when you kind of mix the elevation gain and add a little bit of altitude since I’ve never been to altitude, absolutely. I was I was gassed and I, you know, I was a thousand feet more than a thousand feet from Camp Muir, and I was just tired. I fell asleep wherever I stopped at. I was just that’s how tired I was. Didn’t get didn’t get no nausea.

Darren Chromey  [00:05:15]:

There was no, Chantari. Sorry. Go ahead.

Scott Cowan [00:05:19]:

Alright. No. So, I think, you know, you almost you make it sound like you’re almost, like, falling asleep where you were just, you know, stand, stop for a second, you fall asleep on your feet, if you will. But just to kinda give you a a a little bit of a ribbing, and we don’t know each other, so don’t take any of this personally. I don’t mean like that. How’d your sister do?

Darren Chromey  [00:05:38]:

Oh, she Did was she gassed too, though? No. This is the funny thing. So my dad and my sister were doing great. And here I was just I was just tired. I was I was gassed. They were doing fine. They wanted to keep going. I was I was tired, nausea, sick.

Darren Chromey  [00:06:01]:

Not not, like, sick sick, but just didn’t wanna move. Major nausea. And I laid down and was like, I’m gonna stay here. So, yeah, they they beat me that day. My sister, she’s, oh, she was, third 22. She was 22 that day. So k. To be in great shape and then to mix altitude and elevation with a good you know, I had a good decent sized backpack on me too with my gear.

Darren Chromey  [00:06:31]:

So, yeah, it was it was very interesting and very, very humbling.

Scott Cowan [00:06:37]:

Okay. But you didn’t let that defeat you. You have gone back.

Darren Chromey  [00:06:45]:

Absolutely. It was very I was planning talking to dad and be like, you know, we gotta get back up there. You know, dad never dad dad and Alicia, they didn’t go up. They didn’t continue that day. They came down with me. So my sister went back to college

Scott Cowan [00:07:02]:

k.

Darren Chromey  [00:07:02]:

And I was doing a little bit more training. I was buying gear, researching gear. You know? Some people climb Mount Rainier once a week with the guide services, and people go up to Camp Muir like it’s nothing. And I’m I’m a beginner. So I’m googling, you know, how to camp how to hike up to Camp Muir, you know, and we wanted to spend the night if we had the chance to get up there. So it was, did training July the rest of July, August, and then I think it was second week in September. We decided to pack our gear up, dad and I, pack our gear up, get an overnight permit for Camp Muir, and climb up. We started a little we started earlier this time to beat the heat.

Darren Chromey  [00:07:53]:

There was less snow on the snow field, so there was kind of firm snow, a little bit of some firmer snow. But it wasn’t it kept me going good. Everything worked out pretty good. Didn’t need no crampons or whatnot, but dad and I made it. We made it in a good solid five and a half hours.

Scott Cowan [00:08:13]:

Okay. What so I’ve obviously I mean, if you look at me, you go up, yeah, he’s never been to Camp Muir. So for the listeners that haven’t been there, which may be most of them, and there might not be, but, you know, may what is Camp Muir? Because, you know, I can paint this mental picture that it’s, like, a real nice campground, and it’s big, and it’s got everything you need, but I think I’m wrong.

Darren Chromey  [00:08:40]:

Yeah. Pretty pretty much. You know, it’s a great it’s a great it’s a great base camp for the normal main route on Mount Rainier. It is very rocky. You know, even my dad even my dad was thinking the same thing. You know? Oh, I thought the I thought there would be platforms up here. I thought there would be I thought it would be much wider. So one thing I was really thinking of, it was it’s not.

Darren Chromey  [00:09:12]:

You know? It’s it’s very it’s very rocky. It’s very rugged. There’s lots of there’s lots of snow, and then there’s lots of there’s lots of rock. There’s lots of dangers too up there. It’s a great viewing area for Mount Rainier to look up and see the new route.

Scott Cowan [00:09:33]:

Okay.

Darren Chromey  [00:09:34]:

But it’s not it’s not a normal route. I mean, it’s not a normal camp. There’s no bare poles. It is very cold, especially in the summer. Winter, I mean, if you can get up there if you can get up to Camp Muir in the winter, then that’s a feat by itself because it is barren wasteland. It’s cold and windy. But, in the springtime and summer, the crowds come out and it’s a great day hike. It’s very, very beautiful up there though.

Darren Chromey  [00:10:05]:

Some of the best views ever. But it’s a great it’s a great spot to even just spend the night. And then you’re gonna you’re even if you go on a day hike, you’re gonna spend the night or you’re gonna, you know, just on a day hike. Sorry. If you go on a day hike, you’re gonna look up at the mountain and you’ll be like, I’m gonna summit that thing one day. So it was Okay. Pretty much that September when my dad and I spent the night, you know, I kinda looked up. We we you know, we were 4,000 feet from the summit so I kinda decided in my head, you know, Matt Rainier’s not gonna beat me.

Darren Chromey  [00:10:41]:

I’m gonna keep on going, keep on training, and work hard. And it’s it’s a milestone too because every time we see it in the cities, every time we see it in the lowlands, it’s it just it sticks out, and it’s just absolutely beautiful. So, yeah, we me and my dad, he didn’t he decided not to climb with me, so I decided to kinda, grab my friends and learn from my friends, research more, and start climbing from there. But some people love to just climb Mount Rainier, and that’s totally fine. That’s awesome. You know, there’s other peaks around, and that’s what I started doing. So the next year in 2012, I got great mountaineering boots, great mountain gear, climbed Mount Saint Helens for the first time in the winter, which was that was not easy either for a gain. Oh, what’s the gain? It’s 50 about 5,656 in the winter.

Scott Cowan [00:11:44]:

Okay.

Darren Chromey  [00:11:48]:

So it’s just started off with Saint Helens, kept progressing from there. I didn’t

Scott Cowan [00:11:57]:

there’s a gap.

Darren Chromey  [00:11:59]:

Yes. Yes. I did do Adams. That was the next year in 02/2013 with a a buddy of mine. If I didn’t have my good friends to climb with me, I was on Cascade Climbers and Northwest Hikers putting my, I don’t know, application or climbing resume, and, you know, looking for climbing partners to start off. You know? I

Scott Cowan [00:12:24]:

Right.

Darren Chromey  [00:12:25]:

If, if you if I want to go climb Saint Helens or Mount Adams, you know, I’d put in my application and be like, hey. I’m looking to go climb this certain mountain, this certain date. Let me know if you’re interested, and we can link up. One one great guy came about from some of those applications, a great climbing partner. We’ve done Helen’s and Mount Hood together twice on Mount Hood. That was a great he’s such a great guy. We tried the brothers in the Olympics two years ago, and we did Shasta back in 02/2019. So, James, if you’re hearing this, you’re a great climber, and keep up.

Scott Cowan [00:13:11]:

Shout out to James. So you you you practiced and got more proficient on some of these smaller peaks, which are still I don’t mean to dismiss them at all. They’re they’re daunting. They’re not easy. These are these are you have to know what you’re doing. You have to have at least I am of the opinion you have to know what you’re doing and have gear. You’re not going to run up there in tennis shoes and shorts.

Darren Chromey  [00:13:34]:

Correct.

Scott Cowan [00:13:34]:

Yes. How long did you train, if you will, before you tried Rainier for the first time?

Darren Chromey  [00:13:44]:

So the first time was in 02/2014. So a couple a couple years for sure. Definitely didn’t want to disappoint myself. I definitely wanted to make sure I was ready and fit, whether it was climbing Saint Helens multiple times, training, weightlifting, cardio. I did Saint Helens a couple times, once or twice during 2012 and 2013. 2014, that was actually really interesting because James, my climate partner, that’s when we did Hood. And we did Mount Hood before Mount Rainier. And so we kinda we got to the summit of Mount Hood.

Darren Chromey  [00:14:34]:

And from the summit of Mount Hood, you can see into Washington and into Oregon, south of Oregon. But when you when you’re at the summit of Mount Hood looking north, you can see the Columbia Gorge, the Columbia River, and you can see Saint Helens, Adams, and then in the middle but in between those two are is Mount Rainier. And I looked at Mount Rainier, and I’m like, you know, this is it. You know? If I can if I can do a single car to car push during the night of Mount Hood in June of twenty fourteen, then I can I’m gonna give Rainier a shot. So three years later, got my buddies together. We and this was this was all independent, so no guide service. We’re all communicating through each other, through gear, making sure everything’s good, for mass rescue and training for sure. And, we did what was it? We started we climbed to Camp Muir in July mid July and spent the night at Camp Muir.

Darren Chromey  [00:15:46]:

And then we pushed for the summit the next day, and that was back in 02/2014. And it was great. So your first

Scott Cowan [00:15:58]:

time up there?

Darren Chromey  [00:15:59]:

Yep. Yep. Correct. First time up there, it was

Scott Cowan [00:16:03]:

So your first time up there, how many were how many how many people were in your group?

Darren Chromey  [00:16:07]:

So it was me and two other good friends and then one of their friends. She tagged along. She climbed, she’s climbed with us before. So I knew her before and trusted her on the rope team and whatnot. Speaking of rope team, you know, it’s not me. You can’t climb right when you’re unless you do a solo permit. If you’re really that interested in, you know, climbing it by it’s by yourself, and that’s totally fine. But usually most climbers climb with rope, and we’re all linked together.

Darren Chromey  [00:16:43]:

Glacier travel.

Scott Cowan [00:16:45]:

So four of you made it to Camp Muir, and then the next day, you you you you pushed for the summit. So how early did you leave in the morning? I mean, did you like start super early? I mean, a couple of my friends that are, you know, climbers have, you know, part of the reason I’m not a climber is because it sounds like you start like at 2AM, which doesn’t sound like a good time to me. But, in all seriousness, when when do you start that push?

Darren Chromey  [00:17:13]:

So usually, it just depends on the team. It depends on the beta and the research you’ve done. I’ve seen, you know, teams leave at 2AM, three AM from Camp Muir. Guide services, depending on the guides, guide services can leave at 11PM or usually midnight. But we wanna try, and we were trying to get ahead of the guide services to not get caught in traffic jams. So we left I think we left at 10:10PM, woke up at nine, left at 10PM. It’s just the earlier, the better just so that you have that much time more time to climb in the night when snow is more firm. So the route is mostly intact.

Darren Chromey  [00:18:12]:

The hazards are more low when it comes to rockfall and icefall.

Scott Cowan [00:18:16]:

Okay.

Darren Chromey  [00:18:18]:

So that’s the majority. If you’re if you’re ever if you’re ever at sunrise at night, let’s say you’re at sunrise doing astrophotography or, you know, just spending the night at sunrise and you look up at the mountain and you see these dots on the mountain, those are the headlamps. Pretty much every night from May till September, you will see headlamps on the mountain, and those are the climbers starting super duper early going to the summit.

Scott Cowan [00:18:47]:

Now being a complete layman here, it seems odd to me. You’re you’re saying and I would think that going in the dark would would have a whole another set of risks to it, like, not good visibility, not seeing what’s necessarily in front of you. And yet that’s not what everybody does. Everyone goes in the, you know, in the dark because they want to get up there. And you’re saying because the snow’s it’s a safer climb. So what sort of headlamps? I mean, what are you guys what are you guys wearing, and how good a visibility do you have when you’re when you’re doing this? Because it seems that seems scary to me.

Darren Chromey  [00:19:28]:

Yes. Absolutely. I’ve heard from guide services and people that have guided clients on top of the mountain that, you know, you can see sparks coming off of your crampons. If you don’t know what crampons are, crampons are those metal spikes that are attached to your mountaineering boots

Scott Cowan [00:19:47]:

Yeah.

Darren Chromey  [00:19:47]:

To give you more attraction, with the snow and the ice. And late at night, you can get crampons that’ll hit the rock, and it’ll spark people. It’ll it won’t spark people. It’ll just set a spark off. And that can that’s just Mhmm. One thing at night that is just very that I’ve heard people just freak out and they’re like, no. I’m done. Whether it’s on the rock or just at night, it’s just very, very daunting.

Darren Chromey  [00:20:17]:

And you gotta kinda that’s where you gotta work on your mental game, and you gotta follow the route. You gotta follow your teammates. Trust your teammates, because you’re up there you’re up there for, you’re up there for a reason. You know, you’re gonna tag the summit of Mount Rainier. You’re gonna you’re gonna go to the top. You’re gonna go to the roof of Washington. So at night, you know, we got all of our gear on. We got gloves.

Darren Chromey  [00:20:45]:

We got our headlamps. Our headlamps, they’re are super bright. Especially at night, you gotta bring a extra pair of batteries just in case because likely you may have to change your headlamp batteries. Anything from a Black Diamond to a Petzl headlamp is really good. There’s different modes, low light, high light, red light. But there’s there’s a good there’s usually there’s usually, you know, if you know where you’re going and you know the route, then there isn’t too much of an issue there. For us, independent, for me and my team, you know, we, since it was our first time up there, oh, yes. We there was definitely lots of, lots of mental issues whether it was, you know, route issues.

Darren Chromey  [00:21:32]:

Are we going how fast are we going? Are we going too fast? Are we going too slow? How’s everyone doing? Breathing wise, is everyone cold? How’s everyone doing? Are you too warm? Do we need to stop for breaks? And there’s not you know, on a mountain with glaciers, rockfall, and icefall, there’s not a lot of places to stop, for a good for a good five, ten minutes for breaks. So we had to, you know, keep going in some spots. And then, ultimately, we did find good, safe, nonhazard areas to take breaks.

Scott Cowan [00:22:05]:

So you have a team. None of you had been to the summit before, and you’ve got this route mapped out. How It’s not like Siri is going to tell me to take a turn at the next intersection. So how do you know that you’re staying on your course? Is the route marked on the mountain? I mean, help me out here. How did you know you were staying on course?

Darren Chromey  [00:22:42]:

Yeah. Absolutely. So this route is this route we climbed is the main route on Rainier, so it is heavily trafficked. And there was there are ones. There are other people in front of you or other people behind you. Just depends on if since we were going so early too, there were no people in front of us, but there was a good decent boot pack to know to allow us where to allow us to know where we were going. So we weren’t we never got lost on the mountain. The main route is called the Disappointing Cleaver Route, and, it’s it is a tough route still just because of the altitude and the hazard.

Darren Chromey  [00:23:31]:

But with the boot pack in front of us, yes, it was fairly good to know where we were at. There are definitely other routes on the mountain that do not have wands and is completely a wilderness climb where you are definitely you could take one bad turn and then you have to go back. But this is the main route. It’s fairly it’s fairly wanted. It’s fairly marked. Mount Rainier itself, the national park, has a climbing blog every year. Usually, it’s updated during the busy time, and, it’s fairly it’s fairly it’s fairly well known. But it’s it’s still a mountain, and you still gotta treat it with respect just to make sure that you get down safe, your team gets down safe, and everyone has a good time, though.

Scott Cowan [00:24:29]:

Okay. So let’s go back. So you you guys have okay. So thank you for helping me with that. So you guys are climbing. You’re deciding if you’re going too fast, too slow. You’ve got to take into account all the potential for rock or snow distraction, if you will, falling. How okay.

Scott Cowan [00:24:49]:

So about how long did it take you to go from Camp Muir to the summit?

Darren Chromey  [00:24:55]:

So the average, give or take, the average time for guide services is about five hours. And we’re independent

Scott Cowan [00:25:05]:

Okay.

Darren Chromey  [00:25:05]:

First time. And so we made it to the summit in about seven hours. So definitely longer than a normal average time, but this was our first time up there, our first climb on Rainier. And so we’re definitely gonna take it a little bit slower, kind of enjoy it, you know, taking the views and taking taking our breaks too when we need to. If someone if we take a break and then a couple of minutes later, someone needs to take a break again, that’s totally fine because we’re we wanna be safe and we don’t wanna rush things, and we wanna make sure everyone is okay.

Scott Cowan [00:25:44]:

Right. So it took you about seven hours. And how long did you stay at the summit?

Darren Chromey  [00:25:52]:

This is it’s just it’s unbelievable. When you get to the crater rim so the main route takes you to the south side on the crater rim. So you’re you’re at 14

Scott Cowan [00:26:01]:

Mhmm.

Darren Chromey  [00:26:02]:

Let’s say fourteen three 14,300, 14 thousand three hundred 50 feet. You can do it get you to create a rim, and you’re just so ecstatic and so happy. And, besides being ecstatic and happy, you are tired, you are hungry, and you are most likely cold. And so this is kind of like a kind of a turning point, you know. You the the true summit is on the other side of the crater. So you have a decision whether or not to walk across the crater and touch the summit. Maybe maybe a twenty minute walk maybe, or just or start descending depending on depending on your time too. If it’s, you know, if the sun is up and, you know, it’s been kinda it’s been warm for let’s say the sun’s been up for an hour or two.

Darren Chromey  [00:26:55]:

You might wanna start end down so you can get down safe before the snow gets really, really soft. But we got up there just a little bit before sunrise. Sorry, after sunrise. And we decided to we we all felt good. We we were we were tired. We were exhausted, but we just, you know, we felt good. And that’s the main thing. No one had a headache.

Darren Chromey  [00:27:19]:

No one was nausea. No one was sick. So we decided to walk across the crater and touch the summit. Touch Columbia Crest for the first time in, it was me and my friend’s friend’s first time, but then my main two friends, it was their second time.

Scott Cowan [00:27:39]:

So Okay.

Darren Chromey  [00:27:41]:

They were they yeah. They did the Emmons in 02/2013. So they were kinda guiding me and my friend up. So it was great for them to help me guide to the summit, me and my friend. I was tired. I I remember some of it. And so, besides the summit, maybe just, maybe just a few feet lower as they call it Register Rock. And that is where your summit register is.

Darren Chromey  [00:28:07]:

It’s kinda protected from the wind and the cold. So we signed the summit register there, and I remember putting the book back in the summit register box and falling asleep right on the summit register. I do remember that.

Scott Cowan [00:28:26]:

Oh, really? Okay.

Darren Chromey  [00:28:28]:

That’s how tired I was.

Scott Cowan [00:28:32]:

So how is the view up there?

Darren Chromey  [00:28:35]:

It’s tight. In I don’t know.

Scott Cowan [00:28:40]:

In

Darren Chromey  [00:28:40]:

all my adventures and climbs and explorations, it’s sometimes it’s tough to get words in, and it’s trying to it’s hard to find those words of how beautiful something can be from a different angle because, you know, we we don’t see that every day. We, you know, we can look down. If you’re looking from the summit, if it’s a clear bluebird day, you know, you can see down into the Puget Sound. You can see you can see Commencement Bay. You can see the islands. You can see Vashon Island. You can see Bainbridge, and you can see three beautiful three hundred sixty degrees. You can see Mount Stewart.

Darren Chromey  [00:29:22]:

You can see Baker and Glacier Peak. You can see a great view of Adams and Saint Helens and Mount Hood. And if it’s a super clear day, you can see Jefferson into Oregon. And, it’s just that’s one reason why I do these climbs and push myself is to see these views because we don’t see these views every day and to see them and document them is just amazing. It’s it’s unbelievable what mother nature has out for us. You know, if it’s if it’s a mountain far off in the distance or the sun coming up on the roof of Washington, It’s just beautiful. Total totally amazing. Just incredible.

Scott Cowan [00:30:13]:

So that first time when you fell asleep, maybe you weren’t up there very long. I know that. It’s not like you took a four hour nap. But how long were you guys up there in the crater area?

Darren Chromey  [00:30:25]:

Probably probably an hour. A quick quick twenty minute or a walk. It’s really

Scott Cowan [00:30:30]:

So that’s a that’s a pretty good amount of time.

Darren Chromey  [00:30:32]:

Yeah. Yep. Yep. It’s it’s funny because we all we climb for seven hours, and we’re on the summit for about around an hour. Even in the summer when it’s 80 degrees down in the lowlands, the Summit Of Rainier is cold. It is usually around freezing, if not, maybe slightly above. You can have great great weather up there with no wind, but this one I know was a little cold. And it was it was probably freezing, if not, slightly below freezing.

Darren Chromey  [00:31:10]:

You had to have you had to have gloves on. I remember that, though.

Scott Cowan [00:31:16]:

Okay. So you’re you’re we’ll call it the summit, you know, in layman’s terms. The the you know, you’re up there for basically an hour, taking in the views, catching your breath, and then you have to go back down. That sounds like it’s the easy part. Maybe I’m oversimplifying. I know I’m oversimplifying this whole process. But when you go down, do you do you go all the way down to past Camp Muir, or do you do you stay at Camp Muir the second night?

Darren Chromey  [00:31:51]:

So let’s so going down is probably probably, I would say, is a little bit harder. Because usually, the day before or the night before, it just it depends on how you do it. Some people climb up to Camp Muir and then some at the next day. Some people climb up to Camp Muir, spend the night, go up to Ingraham Flats, spend another night, and then go to the summit. That was my recent climb back in July, just just this last month. That’s what I did. The first time we went up to Muir and then went to the summit the next day. The amount of sleep you get on the mountain is probably next to zero, especially if you are getting up at 9PM or 10PM.

Darren Chromey  [00:32:50]:

You’re probably just, you know, taking a small nap here and there or getting little to no sleep. And, you’re you’re you’re at altitude maybe. Maybe you’re at altitude for the first time or, you know, maybe you’re really anxious to hit the summit and get up and go, and you’re not gonna sleep. You’re gonna lay in bed, you know, either really warm in your sleeping bag or just really, really anxious. Your heart’s beating because of the altitude. So you have no you probably are are you’re probably not next to no sleep, and that’s going up and then you’re going down. So going down depends average, maybe three, four, I’d say four four hours going down maybe. Just depends on the route too if you need to.

Darren Chromey  [00:33:45]:

Let’s say you need to end run a crevasse. End running a crevasse is just finding the smallest part of it and then stepping over it or walking all the way around it. If there’s a traffic jam, maybe going down. Maybe there’s a maybe there’s a a ladder on the route and people are waiting to get down. That usually occurs on that right here. And in the mid season or late season, nowadays, it seems to happen almost in the early season too. So there’s probably a ladder on the route, and you might have to wait in the traffic jam. You might.

Scott Cowan [00:34:24]:

So what do you mean a ladder? I mean, do you mean a like a ladder like yeah. What do you mean by a ladder?

Darren Chromey  [00:34:32]:

So not the National Park Service, but the guide services that are the commercial guide services on Rainier. Usually, there’s three main ones, and they will eventually in the early season, April and May, they will work together in pioneering a establishing a route on Rainier. Either they will be they could be the first ones to be climbing Rainier, to guide to help their clients and whatnot. So us independent climbers, you know, we’re kinda just following in their footsteps and thanking the guide services for help establishing the route.

Scott Cowan [00:35:10]:

Right.

Darren Chromey  [00:35:11]:

Through my climbing history and whatnot, they do great work out on Rainier. They do great work off Rainier. So, yes, you know, definitely give a little thanks to the guide services because it would be a little bit tougher if they were not establishing the route. So it just depends on the guides and what they think of. They may place a ladder. They may plus they may place a horizontal ladder, and then maybe, later in the season, they may place a vertical ladder when the crevasse is open up a little bit more, and there’s less, zigzagging that the route can impact the that the route can have. So they may place a vertical ladder. We did not have a vertical ladder.

Darren Chromey  [00:36:00]:

I do remember what we did have a horizontal ladder at about November, ’11 thousand ‘3 hundred. They call this area high crack.

Scott Cowan [00:36:11]:

Mhmm.

Darren Chromey  [00:36:12]:

And this is where usually, usually a a normal, area of the glacier, it would fold down just like just imagine a brownie or a piece of cake falling off, you know, going vertically down. But this one kind

Scott Cowan [00:36:28]:

of

Darren Chromey  [00:36:28]:

splits uphill. So the guide the guides place a, normally place a ladder, and it it just depends on year to year as well. I know this year is there is no ladder, a eye crack as far as I know. So, there was a horizontal ladder, and usually they’re not much of a traffic traffic jam or not much of a difficulty. But then it also depends on your skill level and how comfortable you are on a horizontal or vertical ladder crossing over a crevasse. And how’s, you know, how’s your mentality? You know? And going down to it’s absolutely a little bit difficult, much more much more cumbersome. One thing to do is always when you come across a ladder, you know, you wanna double check it. If the picket is in place, if the handhold is good, you know, just double check everything because the the majority of the accidents do happen on the way down.

Darren Chromey  [00:37:30]:

You’re very, very tired, hungry, thirsty. You know, you could easily trip on the rope. You could slip and fall, and then we may have an issue on our end. So, you know, safety first. We all wanna have fun, but let’s let’s keep our rope taught. You know, let’s keep our ice ax in our right in in the correct hand, and let’s get down safe. So it probably was about since this was our first time getting down, we were very tired and very exhausted. So I would say a good four, five hour descent back to Camp Muir from the summit.

Scott Cowan [00:38:05]:

So that’s a twelve hour round trip. Yes. Correct. You put twelve hours in.

Darren Chromey  [00:38:11]:

Yep. Absolutely.

Scott Cowan [00:38:13]:

Okay.

Darren Chromey  [00:38:14]:

You could probably say minimum at the average, eleven or twelve for guided or independent too.

Scott Cowan [00:38:21]:

Oh, okay. So you got to Camp Muir. Did you guys stay there a second night, or did you go all the way down that the the

Darren Chromey  [00:38:28]:

first trip? No. We decided to go down and go back to civilization, grab a hamburger, celebrate

Scott Cowan [00:38:38]:

How long did it take you to get from here to all the way down? Celebration.

Darren Chromey  [00:38:44]:

So if no one has ever tried glissading, I would highly recommend it. Glissading is literally just sliding on snow on your on your behind. It is very, Uh-huh. If you can, let’s say you most people just walk down, but there’s these glissade chutes in, you know, popular areas. You know, if you start sliding down, these glissade chutes, they will become almost like bobsledding chutes where you can just slide on your behind and just cruise down. And I tell you that is one of the more funnest things you’ve ever done. If you want

Scott Cowan [00:39:26]:

That sounds awesome, actually. You

Darren Chromey  [00:39:27]:

want a quick way to get down. If you don’t know how to if you don’t know how to ski or snowboard, and if you want a quick way down, just find a chute and start sliding on your snow. Start sliding on the snow and enjoy it.

Scott Cowan [00:39:39]:

So how long are these how long are these chutes?

Darren Chromey  [00:39:42]:

It just depends on the angle of the hill too. The angle, you know, if it’s 35, 40 degrees or twenty, twenty five, the steeper the better because you get down quicker, but some of the steeper ones kinda mellow out at the end. So some of those shallow ones, maybe fifteen, twenty degrees and that can be that can go for quite a quite a distance. Couple hundred feet, definitely. Mount Adams, if anyone’s climbed Mount Adams has a great great, glacage chute on the south side. You can descend 2,000 feet in about five, ten minutes. Yeah. Exactly.

Darren Chromey  [00:40:23]:

Oh. Yep. Obviously, you know, with your ice

Scott Cowan [00:40:27]:

ax, so

Darren Chromey  [00:40:28]:

you’re breaking. But, yeah, that’s a quick way down.

Scott Cowan [00:40:33]:

So we we got you safely down your first trip. You celebrated. So a couple of questions come to mind. You were in shape, but how’d you feel the next day?

Darren Chromey  [00:40:47]:

Oh, I was I was dead. Just exhausted. Very, very, very sore, very tired.

Scott Cowan [00:40:59]:

Mhmm.

Darren Chromey  [00:41:02]:

So I, you know, just took relaxing, rested. Didn’t wanna didn’t wanna climb it again, right, the next day, obviously.

Scott Cowan [00:41:13]:

Oh, that was my next question. Okay. So you didn’t wanna climb it. You were done. At that point, you’re like, okay. I got this. Got I’ve got the t shirt, if you will.

Darren Chromey  [00:41:21]:

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yep. I was, you know, I had my goal.

Scott Cowan [00:41:24]:

But we know that that’s

Darren Chromey  [00:41:27]:

go ahead. Go ahead. You’re fine.

Scott Cowan [00:41:30]:

But we know that that’s not you didn’t stop. So we know you’ve kept going. So the question I have is, so you’re tired, you sore as as you well deserved. You were satisfied. It wasn’t like you didn’t wanna climb. I’m not gonna say, like, I’m never gonna do that again, but you’re, like, content. You were enjoying the the moment, if you will. When did the bug bite go do it a second time?

Darren Chromey  [00:42:00]:

Gosh. That’s I want I would wanna say, honestly, I would probably say a week later.

Scott Cowan [00:42:08]:

Okay. Alright. So it really wasn’t that long.

Darren Chromey  [00:42:12]:

Being being a young boy, you know, I was sore and exhausted, but healed up pretty quickly. You know, I got back out there, and I kinda I kinda I kinda questioned myself. And I’m like, okay. Now so what’s next? I mean, for Rainier, if you wanna if you wanna enduring challenge, if you want a physical, mental challenge and see some of the best views and see some of the amazing landscapes that mother nature has to offer, go mountain climbing.

Scott Cowan [00:42:45]:

Mhmm.

Darren Chromey  [00:42:46]:

You can have some of the hardest challenges in your life and be rewarded with the most beautiful landscape ever. And that’s where my that’s where my passion comes from. It’s, you know, once just wasn’t enough, you know, even if it was even if I climbed it with the same route, it was it was a different route. It was a different angle. If it was a different if different climb, it was with different people. So it didn’t stop there. Rainier was just honestly, Rainier was the tipping point.

Scott Cowan [00:43:29]:

Okay. So how many times have you summited Rainier?

Darren Chromey  [00:43:34]:

So I just finished up my third summit this past July. From all three summits were from the same route, but they were all different because the mountain changes every single year. The first route

Scott Cowan [00:43:53]:

Mhmm.

Darren Chromey  [00:43:53]:

When I did, it traversed up. So it kind of circled the mountain. It went from so we’re on the east side of the mountain climbing up, and we kinda dipped down southwest, and then we pretty much started going west across the mountain because the crevasseurs were so bad and the dangers were a little bit elevated. So that’s kind of the normal route. The normal route does zigzag a little bit. So that was 02/2014. Two thousand ’17, I went up with with, kinda like a volunteer group. So the, the crater scientists were doing observations and were doing research in the crater.

Darren Chromey  [00:44:37]:

Due to Mount Rainier’s activity, the steam has kinda carved out these types of ice. What do you call them? I’m trying to find the word. There’s there’s a map. The create the research scientists have mapped out, these walls and these kinda, like, taverns underneath Mount Rainier’s ice, in the crater. And so the Mount Rainier Scientists, they go up. They didn’t this was 02/2017. I don’t think they’ve been up since. But they needed they, you know, they bring all their science gear and their research equipment.

Darren Chromey  [00:45:21]:

So this was the year, you know, they were asking for volunteers and be like, hey. We need help. Can we we need volunteers to help bring our gear down. So that’s what we were part of a team. It was me, one other climber I’ve climbed with, and then two other people that I’ve met with and climbed with a little bit before, and they’re great. And that was 02/2017, but that was on the same route, but that actually connected with the Emmons Route on the Northeastern Side. If people are familiar with the routes, they’re not supposed to connect like that. That was a very long, long climb.

Darren Chromey  [00:46:01]:

That added an extra mile, onto our climb on the mountain and, extra time too. So if I if you thought I was tired in 02/2014, this one in 02/2017 was probably double that because we had to lose more elevation. We had to gain more elevation, and we we, we didn’t go on the south side and jumped into the crater. We traversed the east side and then the northeast side and then met up with the true summit that way. So that was very interesting. And then we had to descend with not a lot of not a lot of research gear. The research and their scientists, they divvied out with many teams were volunteering, so we had no issue. You know, it was either Mhmm.

Darren Chromey  [00:46:57]:

Big batteries or just heavy, heavy gear. So it wasn’t too it wasn’t too bad. And then we went down the same route, had to regain our elevation and come back to camp and whatnot. 2017 was where we camped at Campmere 1 night and then went to the flats the second night. And the flats is they call it High Camp at 11,100 feet. That’s, you’re camping on the Ingraham Glacier. There is no, there’s no rocks that you can camp on. There’s no rock surface.

Darren Chromey  [00:47:37]:

It’s all glacier. The same with Camp Muir too. Camp Muir, you’re there’s a there’s a public shelter there that is first come, first serve, but most people, tend to camp at Camp Muir on the snow.

Scott Cowan [00:47:53]:

Let’s let’s let’s shift gears just because I’ve got curiosity about some things here.

Darren Chromey  [00:47:58]:

Absolutely.

Scott Cowan [00:48:00]:

How much gear are you taking? How how much weight is your pack on a trip like this?

Darren Chromey  [00:48:09]:

So it does it tends to be an average of forty, forty five pounds for an independent, group.

Scott Cowan [00:48:19]:

K.

Darren Chromey  [00:48:21]:

My first summit in 02/2014 was about 50 pounds because I didn’t have maybe the best gear. Maybe I took a lot of extra clothing just in case. And there’s always that just in case scenario. So, you know, bring it just in case. You never know if you get cold or too warm and whatnot. So I wasn’t I was not I was not against, you know, a 50 pound pack because you got you sometimes you have to bring it. The 02/2017 was a little bit lighter because, I was climbing more, hiking more, less weight, less, different type of clothing, so less weight there. With me and my teammates.

Darren Chromey  [00:49:10]:

You know, we divvied up all of our gear, so it was probably forty, forty five pounds. And then in 02/2009 February just this past month, sorry, it was probably about 42, 40 three pounds. And that was me and two other climbers.

Scott Cowan [00:49:34]:

K. And so your gear through the years, you’ve probably found, you know, lighter weight things. Maybe your ice axe is a little lighter than the the first generation when you had things like that. You can save weight by using higher tech tools, maybe, like, versus, you know, I’m thinking your axe could be something that could be made lighter and every bit as reliable using something like, you know, carbon fiber or something like that. It was will that work up there? I mean, does that work? Or

Darren Chromey  [00:50:08]:

Yeah. That can be that can be,

Scott Cowan [00:50:10]:

How much tech is involved?

Darren Chromey  [00:50:11]:

Yeah. That can be, that can be a factor, definitely. A lot of it is either clothing, lightweight lightweight stoves, lightweight gear. A lot of it is food, a lot of food. Nowadays, you know, we’re using free dried freeze dried food, water. Water’s definitely an a big fat weight factor too, from even from your sleeping bag to your your 30 degree sleeping bag, maybe, you know, three or four pounds when it’s packed in. But when, you know, when you when you’re doing all this hiking, climbing, and venturing, you know, you kinda want a lighter, lightweight, sleeping bag. So my the the one that I use is from Western Mountaineering.

Darren Chromey  [00:51:05]:

It’s a five degree antelope sleeping bag, great sleeping bag to use. And that’s just packed packed weight is a little bit over two pounds. So

Scott Cowan [00:51:16]:

Oh, jeez.

Darren Chromey  [00:51:17]:

Yeah. You know, a little bit of little bit of difference there and what Wow. And before you think about it, when Yeah. When you’re when you just get into this, you’re thinking about, okay, pounds. You know, what can I get rid of here? What can I get rid of there? When you’re think when you’re when you’re when you’ve been doing this for ten plus years, either mountaineering, climate, or hiking, you know, you’re starting to think of ounces. You’re starting to think of, okay, what can I get rid of? What do I not need? What what, you know, can I diminish my food? Can I not bring my water? Because you can boil water up there. You know, can I lose this piece of clothing? Maybe I don’t need that extra base layer. Maybe I don’t need those extra socks.

Darren Chromey  [00:52:03]:

You know, there’s always that just in case scenario. But then if you’re comfortable, you know, you can with losing a little bit more weight and being a little bit more, I don’t want I don’t wanna say happy, but, you know, you’re still gonna be tired with 35, 40 pounds on your back. But just losing a little bit weight can help and then just, you know, bring unnecessary items too. That can definitely cut out, the weight factor, definitely.

Scott Cowan [00:52:33]:

You’re not bringing a Sudoku book or anything like that with you?

Darren Chromey  [00:52:38]:

No. I mean, some people some people love to bring that, and I have Do

Scott Cowan [00:52:41]:

you take

Darren Chromey  [00:52:41]:

nothing against that. You know, I just I just I love to just stare out into mother nature and then just enjoy whether it’s a a rockfall happening far away or watching the clouds come in. So even seeing the people come into camp and talking to them and, you know, sharing their adventures and stories. I’ve met amazing people with great stories and seeing where they come from and be like, oh, you know, where how does how do you get drawn to Mount Rainier? It’s just they share their stories, and it’s it’s very humbling how we’re attracted to mother nature and the mountain.

Scott Cowan [00:53:18]:

You know, it’s interesting you said you’re drawn to Mount Rainier because recently, guests on the show and it’s funny. Things come in in on what I’m what I’m learning about when we record these episodes is things kinda come in in waves for a while. Right? And right now, I’ve got a few people talking about Mount Rainier, and you just said drawn to Mount Rainier and somebody else just had said drawn to Mount Rainier. So it’s interesting because I grew up in the kind of Puyallup area. So the mountain was there whenever it was quote unquote out, you know, obviously clouds kept it from being seen every day. But, you know, I just took it for granted. It’s there. And I never really felt any noticeable pull to it.

Scott Cowan [00:54:05]:

Like, it was just in the backyard. It was just always there. I had I I did I had a house for a while, really in my adult life with had this giant picture window in the back of the house, and it looked out unobstructed at Rainier, and it was like a painting. It was really cool. And I just took it for granted when I think about it. I mean, I think about it now going, that was really cool. I just didn’t appreciate it. So I’d like the fact that you say people are drawn to it because it is an absolutely magnificent and stunning it’s it is.

Scott Cowan [00:54:39]:

It’s just it’s magnificent and stunning, and and I think we shouldn’t take it for granted, and we should appreciate it. So I think those of you that are getting out and hiking it or climbing it to the summit and are are and coming back to report on it to us that are vicariously living through your hikes and your climbs, you know, that’s pretty cool. And, so when you’re up there, do you take a camera with you? Do you take any you know, do you do any photography while you’re up there?

Darren Chromey  [00:55:08]:

Oh, it’s it’s incredible how many people live vicariously through me and whatnot. Yes. I do I do have my camera. I got my iPhone 12, but I also have Sony a 6,000. I bring it I almost bring it everywhere Mhmm. With me, whether it’s, I bring it to me to work. And then sometimes after work, I’ll go shoot photography either at the waterfront or somewhere. But, it’s it’s it’s yeah.

Darren Chromey  [00:55:38]:

I’ll you know, I take these pictures, and then I upload them onto my computer. I upload them to my phone, and then I share them with my friends and family. And I’m sharing these stories and whatnot, And it’s it’s very it’s very humbling to just bring back that memory, but then it’s also very interesting because, you know, pictures pictures do not do justice. Just to be there in person and to see it, to see a glacier cracking or to see the rock fall, you know, to be at the summit, you know, freezing cold, but just the smile and the overcoming of joy. You know, it’s it’s very interesting. It’s it’s it’s unbelievable because this process, my first process of climbing Rainier took me three plus years. And, you know, you’re on summit for maybe an hour. And so just that small, small time of achievement, but you have that with you forever.

Darren Chromey  [00:56:42]:

And you shouldn’t take that for granted because, you know, some people are not drawn to it, and that’s totally fine. You know, some people are drawn to other activities, and that’s great. I mean, that’s amazing that other people, you know, have other activities to explore and share. And so for those people that are climbing to the summit and sharing that memory with not only me, but others. I mean, that’s just that’s just beautiful. And to see it through a picture and to be able to take it, take the photo, and then share it with friends and family, you know, it’s it’s pretty amazing. No. It’s it’s definitely you know, I’ve been up there three times.

Darren Chromey  [00:57:26]:

I would hope to get up there next year. It’s very you know, we have the whole we have our work and we have our lives, but something about mother nature, whether if it’s a hike or a climb, you know, to do one of the hardest things in your life and to achieve it and to explore and to share it with people is just amazing. And that’s what I that’s what I love to do. I I love this passion of climbing and and exploring the outdoors and then sharing it with everyone. It’s it’s really great.

Scott Cowan [00:57:59]:

I always try to keep it Washington state based, but I’ll give you a pass. You don’t have to answer in Washington state. Where where’s a mountain you wanna try? Is there is is there another mountain that’s kind of calling you?

Darren Chromey  [00:58:16]:

Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I I would be lying out of my pants. My pants would be on fire right now if I wasn’t lying.

Scott Cowan [00:58:26]:

So what is it? What what if if if I could snap my fingers for you and say, okay, you can go and go here, where would you wanna go?

Darren Chromey  [00:58:36]:

I only have one option?

Scott Cowan [00:58:39]:

Yeah. You only have one.

Darren Chromey  [00:58:40]:

Oh, goodness gracious. So this is oh, it’s a mountain for sure. I would say so Everest Base Camp is a trek, so I can’t that one’s excluded. So I would say Kilimanjaro.

Scott Cowan [00:59:00]:

Okay. Okay.

Darren Chromey  [00:59:03]:

If you YouTube if you have chance, see if you can find snows of Kilimanjaro on YouTube. That’s an old, old documentary, but to climb up to 19,000 feet on the roof of Africa and with the safari below.

Scott Cowan [00:59:21]:

And Couple of my friends a couple of my friends have done it.

Darren Chromey  [00:59:24]:

Yeah? Yeah. That’s awesome. Yeah. That’s only one.

Scott Cowan [00:59:30]:

Yeah. Back back in the day, someone I knew so back in the day, someone I knew climbed Kilimanjaro in February and was stuck in Africa for a while because of of nine eleven. So they had to stay over for a while before because flights weren’t you know, they were not allowing international flights back into The States. So that was a really very surreal period of time where they were able to do Kilimanjaro, but they weren’t able to come home. And another friend of mine a few years ago did did Kilimanjaro and had a blast. They they enjoyed it a lot. But I’ll give you another one because you know? What else? Do you wanna do, like, Denali?

Darren Chromey  [01:00:18]:

Denali. That’s that’s a funny one. So it was my senior year of college up at Western in Bellingham. I’m at Mount Saint Helens has been great. Sorry. Backstory. Mount Saint Helens has been great because I’ve met great volunteers, through their, climbing institute and whatnot. And so one of the volunteers I met was wanting to go climb Denali.

Darren Chromey  [01:00:47]:

And he was like, hey, Darren. What are you doing next year? Do you wanna go climb Denali? And I graduated in the winter, and we’re leaving in the spring. So I kinda looked at him, and I was like, yeah. Sure. You know, let’s go climb Denali. Denali is Mount McKinley in Alaska. It’s America North America’s highest peak, 20,310 feet.

Scott Cowan [01:01:09]:

Mhmm.

Darren Chromey  [01:01:10]:

They consider it to be one of the coldest places on Earth, and it is in some areas besides the altitude. It is harder than Everest because you are doing everything yourself. You have maybe forty forty forty forty five pounds of gear in your backpack and roughly maybe seventy, eighty pounds on your sled. So each individual has the backpack and the sled. So do the math there. That’s a lot of weight. That’s a lot of food. That’s a lot of gear.

Darren Chromey  [01:01:41]:

The average time on Denali is about twenty one days on the mountain. So I climbed Denali.

Scott Cowan [01:01:48]:

20 1 Days?

Darren Chromey  [01:01:49]:

Yep. Yep. Twenty one days of food. Wow. Much people people climb it, much faster than that, but that is just kinda the average whether you’re acclimatizing, going up for hikes and whatnot, resting, definitely rest days for sure. So I climbed Denali in 02/2018 with me and my buddy. It was me and three other people, a New Zealander, Andy. He came on from another team, and he was great.

Darren Chromey  [01:02:24]:

It’s a mistake that I did not climb Denali. I went to 17,200 feet at high camp, and we were all great. It was a bluebird day, but one of my buddies was not feeling good. He was very, very sick. So I elected to stay behind and make sure he was good, kept an eye on him. And my three other buddies went to the summit on a bluebird zero degree day. I don’t regret that that day at all because there can be other days for me to come back and try for the summit of Denali again.

Scott Cowan [01:02:55]:

Sure.

Darren Chromey  [01:02:56]:

It was it was a great k. It was a great journey. We spent eighteen days on the mountain. So, yeah, that’s another mountain I would wouldn’t mind coming back and exploring someday for sure.

Scott Cowan [01:03:10]:

Okay. So then to wrap it back to Washington, is there somewhere in Washington that you wanna climb that you haven’t climbed yet?

Darren Chromey  [01:03:20]:

New climbing peaks and new objectives come up every year. Okay. It’s gotta be something in the North Cascades, or Mount Olympus. Mount Olympus is a good in the Olympic Peninsula is a great one, but I think something in the North Cascades, either Mount Redoubt or Spickered, Just that remoteness too. Being out there long, long ways from civilization and the North Cascades, you know, you can park your car and take a boat, or you can hike the trail, and you can just be out there in the remote wilderness. And, there’s a lot of great great peaks remote peaks in North Cascades that I would like to some someday get a chance and climb.

Scott Cowan [01:04:17]:

So one of the questions I always ask people, and we’ll wrap this up so we can get get on with your day and all that. I’m a coffee fan. Do you drink coffee?

Darren Chromey  [01:04:30]:

I do drink coffee, but not on the mountain usually.

Scott Cowan [01:04:35]:

Okay. Alright. Where in so in your world where you work and live and play, you know, typical every day, where’s a where’s a place I should go try a cup of coffee in your world? Where’s a good coffee shop that you you think is a pretty cool place?

Darren Chromey  [01:04:53]:

Oh, I got the one for you. So it’s just on Cole Street. Because

Scott Cowan [01:05:00]:

that’s what we do the show for, so I always find coffee shops.

Darren Chromey  [01:05:02]:

Absolutely. It’s called so it’s called the local coffee house on Cole Street right downtown. K. It’s a, it opens up usually opens up at 8AM. They have they have coffee. They have great coffee. They have, little pastries. They have donuts.

Darren Chromey  [01:05:24]:

They also have in a map in there, little pins, you know. If you, you know, if you’re visiting there for the first time, you can drop a pin on the world and, you know, see where you’ve come where you’re coming from, where you’re where you’re traveling from.

Scott Cowan [01:05:42]:

Right. That’s a great idea. Yeah. I like that.

Darren Chromey  [01:05:45]:

That’s a good one.

Scott Cowan [01:05:46]:

I like that. Okay. And then the last opportunity here is so you’ve mentioned you, you know, you take photographs and you share them with with friends and family. Do you do you put them online for people to see? Is there do you have a is there a place people can go and check out some of your, mementos from the trips?

Darren Chromey  [01:06:05]:

Yes. So I usually, I usually post them on Instagram. You can look up,

Scott Cowan [01:06:14]:

And what’s what’s your handle? Share your handle so people can find it.

Darren Chromey  [01:06:18]:

You. My my Instagram handle is d c h r o m e y two five three. Two five three, obviously. Area code for Tacoma.

Scott Cowan [01:06:29]:

Okay.

Darren Chromey  [01:06:31]:

You can find my website there, and it’ll take you, it’ll take you to photos and prints. And not just Washington, it’ll take you to Alaska and Montana and other past adventures that have been great. But that’s where I’m usually super, super busy connecting with people, sharing pictures, making plans, met met great people through Instagram, and, yeah, it’s been great.

Scott Cowan [01:07:02]:

Okay. Do you have any more climbs planned for the rest of this year? I mean, we’re getting towards the tail end maybe of the season, but any plans?

Darren Chromey  [01:07:09]:

Yeah. The climbing, first, it just it doesn’t stop. I hope to go down to Oregon in a couple of weeks, go climb Broken Top with one of my friends and possibly do a sister’s traverse going from south, middle, and north.

Scott Cowan [01:07:26]:

Okay.

Darren Chromey  [01:07:27]:

That could be done in August or September. And then one other one other planned is Luna Peak in the North Cascades. Very, it it sparked my fantasy last year Just looking it up online, very remote in the Cascades, and it’s got great views. And, so, yeah, Luna Peak and a couple couple trips in Oregon. Couple climbs. Couple climbs going. The adventures keep going, but the climbing the climbing’s always there too.

Scott Cowan [01:08:03]:

There you go. Well, I appreciate you hopping on and and sharing the story with us because it’s it’s pretty darn cool. And, I have a feeling you’ll you’ll be up on Rainier at least once next year, if not more than once. Sounds like that’s kind of the place that you like to keep going to. And, but I also I also think doing the North Cascades stuff sounds kinda cool because you just gave me peaks that I’ve not heard of before. And not that I’m not by no means I mean, I barely know where our rain there is, let’s be honest. But I love the fact that you’re naming, you know, these peaks that I haven’t heard of before. I’m going to go look them up and check them out.

Scott Cowan [01:08:37]:

But the fact that you’re gonna go in and and hike your way in and and just do something that’s more off the beaten path, if you will, is that just sounds very, very exciting. And, I’m looking forward to checking out those photographs and vicariously, getting to some altitude with you.

Darren Chromey  [01:08:57]:

Yes. Yes. Definitely looking forward to future adventures, future climbs. It’s a I’m I’m excited and looking forward to sharing some memories too.

Scott Cowan [01:09:11]:

Awesome. Well, thanks for being on. I appreciate it.

Darren Chromey  [01:09:14]:

Yes. Thank you, Scott. Thank you, audience, for listening.

Scott Cowan [01:09:20]:

Yeah. We’ll we’ll have you back on. We wanna hear some of these North Cascades stories. How’s that sound?

Darren Chromey  [01:09:25]:

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I’ll keep you in touch for sure. And if I do a a climb or some type of adventure, I will definitely let you know, Scott.

Scott Cowan [01:09:35]:

Perfect. Thanks a lot.

Darren Chromey  [01:09:36]:

Yes. Thank you.