Months of training by toting a weighted pack up hills and 50 flights of stairs in and around the New York area proved enough training for Roger Goodell. The 50-year-old NFL league commissioner successfully ascended the 14,411 peak of Mount Rainier Wednesday morning, along with Seattle Seahawks head coach Jim Mora, Hawks CEO Tod Leiweke and the rest of the group – eight climbers and four guides in all – led by world-renowned mountain climbers Peter Whittaker and Ed Viesturs.

Viesturs took the photo of Goodell here and two more below, which include a shot of Goodell and Mora heading up the mountain, along with a group shot on Rainier. The photos are provided courtesy of the Seattle Seahawks.

Called the Climb for the Community, the event served as a fundraiser for the United Way.

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Mount Rainier is enveloped in a haze of clouds in this photo by TNT photographer Janet Jensen.

Seattle Seahawks head coach Jim Mora, league commissioner Roger Goodell and the rest of the climbing party are scheduled to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Both are scheduled to talk about their climbing experience this afternoon. We’ll have a report from that press availability later today.

For those wanting more information on the Climb for the Community, which benefits United Way, you can follow their progress here, or check in on daily updates from league spokesperson Greg Aiello.

NFL writer Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times also is on the trip, and provides a short interview with Goodell here.

Clare Farnsworth of Seahawks.com writes about the trip up Mt. Rainier here.

ESPN’s Mike Sando breaks down some of the main story lines of the NFC West.

John Morgan of Field Gulls weighs in on the Deion Branch trade three years later.

ESPN’s John Clayton talks with ESPN 710’s Brock and Salk about the importance of Colin Cole and Brandon Mebane in establishing Seattle’s ability to stop the run in this audio link.