Just before 8 a.m. Monday, Gary Talcott became the eighth person known to have reached the 14,411-foot summit of Mount Rainier 300 times.

The 55-year-old Rainier Mountaineering Inc. guide from Olympia has summited the mountain an average of 12 times a year since he started working for RMI in 1984. RMI co-owner Joe Horiskey confirmed Talcott’s climb. Talcott could not be reached by The News Tribune.

In an interview with the newspaper last month, the Olympia resident said his greatest thrill in mountaineering is helping others reach the top of Rainier.

He said he fell in love with the mountain as a kid.

“It’s so easy to get to,” Talcott said. “I even love driving through the park and all the old growth forest.”

Some of Talcott’s other mountaineering accomplishments include seven expeditions to Alaska’s Mount McKinley as well as summits of Argentina’s Aconcagua and Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro.

“The outdoors have always been a big part of my life,” Talcott said. “I still think it’s great that I get paid to do this.”

The other guides known to have summited Mount Rainier 300 times or more are Craig Van Hoy of Tacoma; Brent Okita of Enumclaw; Paul Maier and Robert Link of Bend, Ore.; and Jason Edwards of University Place.

Two men, George Dunn and Phil Ershler of International Mountain Guides, have climbed Rainier more than 400 times. Dunn has climbed Rainier a record 492 times and could reach the 500 landmark as soon as next summer.

Eric Simonson of IMG is believed to be the next closest to 300 Rainier summits. Simonson is in the Alps and could not be reached Monday. As of Sept. 3, 2007, he had 280 summits.

Craig Hill: 253-597-8497

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