A View Worth the Climb – by Regina Scott

When I look out my backdoor and catch sight of Mt. Rainier, I know I am one fortunate gal. Something about that mountain, one of the tallest in the Continental U.S., draws me in. I’m not the only one. The first white men reached the summit in the mid-1800s. The first white woman reached it in 1890. And the heroine of A View Most Glorious, Coraline Baxter, is determined to climb it in 1893 as a way to raise awareness of a woman’s right to vote. After all, if a socialite like her can climb a mountain, why shouldn’t she be able to vote?

Today, safely reaching Rainier’s summit at more than 14,000 feet requires months of training, special equipment, and an experienced guide. Journals, letters, and newspaper accounts from the 1800s show that many climbers had no such advantages. Why, young Len Longmire, whose grandfather built the first hotel at the base of the mountain, was said to have reached the top in his shirtsleeves! Fortunately, most climbers were more prudent.

But as challenging as it was for a man to climb, it was even harder for a woman. For one thing, most expected a woman to climb in skirts. Pretty hard to jump a crevasse or clamber up a glacier with ice crusted on your narrow hem. While a few hardy lady bicyclists and sportswomen had dared to try bloomers, the loose trousers were still considered scandalous. When Fay Fuller, the first woman to reach the summit, was photographed after her climb, the photographer carefully took the picture to avoid any appearance of the flannel bloomers she’d worn.

Then there was the matter of simply getting to the mountain. Few roads led from Tacoma, Yelm, and Olympia, the cities closest to the peak, and those that did petered out just past Elbe, some twenty miles from Longmire’s Springs at the base. James Longmire, his sons, and his grandsons built a private road to his hotel and the hot springs there. When they opened the road in 1893, it still had a few stumps standing. Most people came in by horse or mule, and more than one traveler got a dunking or worse trying to cross the rivers of glacial runoff at the wrong time of the season. Other travelers complained of poor food, stinging yellow jackets, freezing temperatures, ice falling from glaciers, and crevasses so deep it was impossible to see the bottom.

But none complained about the view. Then, as now, reaching the summit of Mt. Rainier was a major accomplishment. Groups affixed plaques they had made beforehand to rocks to commemorate the occasion. Others carried a flag to be planted on the heights, only to watch the wind whip it away, sometimes before they’d even taken a step back to admire it! Individuals left mirrors, bullets, and other mementoes to prove they had made it.

After all, the best view comes after the hardest climb.

In honor of Cora’s climb, I’m giving away two print copies of A VIEW MOST GLORIOUS, U.S. only. Answer this question in the comments to be entered in the drawing:

What would you have wanted along for the trip to the mountain and the climb?

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BIO:  Regina Scott started writing novels in the third grade. Thankfully for literature as we know it, she didn’t sell her first novel until she learned a bit more about writing. Since her first book was published, her stories have traveled the globe, with translations in many languages including Dutch, German, Italian, and Portuguese. She now has more than fifty published works of warm, witty romance. She currently lives forty-five minutes from the gates of Mount Rainier with her husband of thirty years. Regina Scott has dressed as a Regency dandy, driven four-in-hand, learned to fence, and sailed on a tall ship, all in the name of research, of course. Learn more about her at her website at http://www.reginascott.com