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PARADISE, Mount Rainier National Park – He came. He eventually saw. He ultimately conquered.

Despite the expected pre-ascent concerns over the unknown and not being able to see the cloud-shrouded mountain at the start of the climb on Tuesday – and because of some soul searching at 11,000 feet – NFL commissioner Roger Goodell made it to the summit of 14,411-foot Mount Rainier on Wednesday morning.

More importantly, Goodell made it back down the mountain later in the day, and was able to smile about an adventure he labeled “a lot more challenging than I thought – both physically and mentally.”

Goodell’s effort was part of a United Way fundraiser – “Climb for the Community” – that also included Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke, Seahawks coach Jim Mora, United Way CEO Jon Fine, United Way chairwoman Molly Nordstrom, Costco senior vice president John Thelan and Wells Fargo regional director Greg Bronstein.

All made it to the summit, and back.

“It’s a very important group, so we worked very hard to make sure everybody got to the top,” said a smiling Ed Viesturs, a veteran climber who helped lead the party.

“A lot of people put a lot of effort into not only raising the money, but showing up to climb the mountain. So we made a really solid effort. But they had to do it themselves. We didn’t pull them. We didn’t drag them. We didn’t carry them. We maybe coached them a little bit and motivated them. But they had to do the climbing.”

Goodell’s coaching and motivation included what guide Peter Whittaker calls “the discussion.”

This one between Whittaker and Goodell took place on the Ingram Glacier at about 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, after the commissioner gazed into what would be the first in a series of crevasses as the team made it way from Camp Muir to the summit. Even under full-moonlit conditions, the 180-foot deep crevasses looked bottomless.

“That was scary,” Goodell said. “I’ve got to tell you, when you look down and literally you can’t see the bottom, and then they ask you to step over it. You just say, ‘Well, I don’t know about this. Let me think about this.’ ”

That’s when Whittaker stepped in to first check and then challenge Goodell’s inner strength.

“I think for Roger, that was the point when he really realized where he was and what was going on,” Whittaker said after completing his 227th trek up and down the majestic mountain.

“He was very apprehensive and reluctant to step over the crevasse. We ended up having to help him get over it and then I realized we needed to have ‘the discussion’ because there were a lot of crevasses we were going to be stepping over like that. So we had a little talk.”

Whittaker was the lead on the three-man rope line that included Goodell and Bronstein.

“It was pretty poignant,” Bronstein said of the high-elevation discussion between Whittaker and Goodell. “It was a very vocal heart-to-heart about how badly he wanted it.”

Badly enough.

“Peter was great,” Goodell said. “It wasn’t just getting over that first (crevasse). I said, ‘Listen, am I going to ruin this climb for everybody else if I’m not prepared to do this? Tell me right now.’

“He said, ‘No. You can do this.’ So I said, ‘Let’s go.’ And there was never a doubt from there.”

Whatever works – and their discussion obviously did.

“We had ‘the discussion,’ and he’s super-competitive,” Whittaker said. “Yet at the same time, I could see it. He was like, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ But we talked through that and continued to climb.”

Just what did ‘the discussion’ involve? “I just told him, ‘Look, we can all want this. I want you to get to the summit, and there’s a lot of pressure and media and all that stuff. But, Roger, do you want to do it? It’s up to you,’ ” Whittaker said.

So up Goodell continued to go – crevasses be damned. He made it to the summit, but then there still was the return trip.

“I feel pretty tired,” Goodell said. “The hardest part – not the hardest part, the hardest part was getting there. But they put a great emphasis on you have to get down to the bottom to make it a successful climb.

“So you have to through all those same runs and same terrain. That was difficult.”

Difficult, but not impossible.

“He went to places – emotionally, physically, psychologically – that he had never gone before,” Viesturs said. “But that’s what I love about this mountain, it’s a life-changing experience for people. And the harder you struggle, the more it changes your life.

“It’s not just about climbing up and down a mountain.”

Goodell actually led the group as it arrived at Paradise, where the party was met by a group of two dozen well-wishers that included Seahawks president Tim Ruskell.

“Hard and relentless,” said Mora, who then pointed to Goodell before adding, “That’s him, right there.”

When asked the best part of the adventure, Leiweke offered, “Watching Roger. Obviously, we were all raising money for United Way. But watching Roger fight his way up there to make it to the summit, I’ll never forget it.”

Mora and Leiweke had expressed concerns on Monday that Goodell had come all this way and might not see Washington’s most majestic peak because of the heavy cloud cover. That changed Wednesday morning, when the group got up to complete the ascent from Camp Muir to the summit.

“We left Camp Muir this morning at 1, and it was clear skies all above,” Viesturs said. “It was beautiful. Full moon. Not a breath of wind until we got close to the summit.

“A perfect day.”

Later, at the post-climb celebration at Basecamp Grill in Ashford, Goodell admitted it wasn’t all perfection.

“There’s some fear involved,” Goodell said. “You’re looking up the side of a mountain and, literally, if you make one misstep you’re going down. So there was a fair amount of fear involved with it, too.”

When asked the best part of the adventure, the climbers pointed to the camaraderie that had developed during the trek. It was apparent during the presentation of certificates to commemorate the climb, when the climbers exchanged hearty handshakes and hugs after accepting their hard-earned mementoes.

“I know this sounds like a complete suck-up,” Mora said, “but Roger was, well, I just have a newfound respect for the guy. The guy is a stud, man. He just powered through it.”

The post-climb party even included a cake for Fine, who celebrated his birthday in a very unusual way.

“This is the first time I’ve nearly been hospitalized on my birthday,” he cracked.

The worst part of the climb? “You’d have to ask Molly Nordstrom,” Leiweke said. “She’s the one who had to spend the night in the hut with a bunch of fellas.”

Countered Nordstrom, “There all such gentlemen and nice men, it wasn’t like the ‘guys’ trip’ that everyone was planning this to me. Tod Leiweke is such a visionary, and he is the one who orchestrated this whole thing. And he wants no credit. He’s just an amazing human being. And Jim Mora, do they make them any more down to earth? Same thing with Roger Goodell.”

Yes, a good time was had by all – especially when everyone was finally down the mountain. 

The real winners, of course, are those who will benefit from the United Way’s “Response for Basic Needs” program connected with the climb. Donations are nearing $400,000, and pledges still can be made at unitedwayofkingcounty.org/climb.

“Having Roger Goodell here, it was just a huge treat,” Nordstrom said. “United Way was lucky to benefit from this. It was a win-win.”