I Used My Emergency Fund On Mt. Rainier

We had spent a good half hour on the summit of Mt. Rainier, the sentinel of the Pacific Northwest.  At 14,411 feet high it soars majestically over Seattle and the Cascade mountains, a permanently glaciated chunk of volcanic rock that dominates the landscape.

After high fives and pics galore our hands and feet started getting numb so we began our descent, the most dangerous part of any big mountain climb.  Not long afterwards I heard the climber in front of me yell “falling!!” and couldn’t believe what was happening. 

It was time to use my emergency fund.

 

The Emergency Fund

What is an emergency fund?  Investopedia defines it thusly:

The term “emergency fund” refers to money stashed away that people can use in times of financial distress. The purpose of an emergency fund is to improve financial security by creating a safety net that can be used to meet unanticipated expenses, such as an illness or major home repairs.

So an emergency fund exists to pay for or cover unexpected expenses or events.  Those expenses could be home or vehicle repairs, and those events could be a job loss or a pandemic. 

Emergency funds are like the fire extinguisher behind glass in a building corridor.  We hope we never have to use it, but we know why it’s there.  And we’re glad it’s there.

 

Safety Net For The Unanticipated

Two key words in the emergency fund definition above are “safety” and “unanticipated”.  In the world of mountaineering, climbers strive to create as much safety as they can in a dangerous environment. 

Mountains have objective hazards such as rockfall and avalanches that cannot be stopped by man.  But proper training and knowledge can reduce their risk. 

Then there are subjective hazards, which can be controlled by man.  Examples are failing to place protection correctly or simply stumbling and falling. 

One of the fundamental skills all mountaineers must learn is self arrest, which is the technique of stopping an uncontrolled slide down a snow or ice-covered slope using an ice axe, boots, and body positioning. 

Here’s an example of a climber self arresting in a real scenario.

The climbers in that video were not roped together as a team.  I was roped to a team on my Mt. Rainier climb because it’s glaciated terrain.  And when you’re roped together and one person slips and falls, well….

 

The Real Deal

It all happened very quickly.  As I saw my teammate falling I immediately dropped to the snow and dug my boots and ice axe in as deep as I could, waiting for the full force of a human body to yank on me when the slack in the rope ran out. 

When that pull came it was very strong, but my anchor held.  I stopped my partners fall. 

The slope he fell on was steep and massive, and he (we) would have slid for a long time.  It could have possibly had glacial crevasses on it, meaning a plunge into the depths of a glacier and likely severe injury or death. 

I was so fortunate to have seen and heard his fall very quickly, and to be practiced at self-arrest.  If I wasn’t it could have been very bad. 

 

The Mountaineering Emergency Fund

Knowing how to self arrest and being proficient at it is the equivalent of an emergency fund for mountaineering.  It’s the fire extinguisher behind the glass.  You hope you don’t have to use it, but if and when you do, it can be a real life saver. 

As for my real emergency fund, the one that has money in it, I’ve never had to use it and hope I never do.  I don’t like unanticipated events that cost lots of money.  But I’m also not stupid, and I know that life is complex and there will likely be a time when it’s needed. 

If something sits around for years not being used it’s tempting to want to get rid of it, like an extra pen in a junk drawer.  So ditching the emergency fund and putting it in Dogecoin might seem tempting if it’s been languishing untouched for over a decade. 

Similarly, if I said “why run self arrest drills again this winter, I’ve never had to use them in a real scenario”, my skills would atrophy and go away.  Then when the real scenario does happen – as it did on the upper slopes of Mt. Rainier that day – I’d be screwed. 

So keep your emergency fund, even if it’s never been used.  And if you’re a mountaineer you better damn well know how to self arrest.

I’d be leaving you hanging if I did a post about climbing Mt. Rainier without including some pics.