Summit day on Mt. Rainier had just begun. It was pitch dark. Rita Hansen was leading a team of four, including her son and a pair of much less experienced climbers. Less than an hour out of high camp, carefully following a well-trodden boot track by headlamp, Rita suddenly plunged into a crevasse. After falling more than 60 feet, she was completely buried by falling ice and snow. Amazingly, Rita was basically unharmed. But she couldn’t move. In episode 55 of the Sharp End, Rita shares the details of her 2007 accident and rescue, a story she has never told publicly before.
