Mt. Rainier September Summit!!
Back in June of this year Z, Ed and I set off to climb Mt. Hood Oregon and Mt. Rainier in one epic trip. We summited Mt. Hood without issue, but on the way down Z ended up tweaking his knee (later he found out it was his ITB). We started up Rainier with the hopes that it was just a small sprain and that he could keep going, but by the time we got to first camp it was apparent he wasn’t going anywhere. So, Ed and I decided to attack it fast and light and made it to the summit on June 9th while Z stayed at camp. This was the second time Z had attempted Rainier without making it to the top, needless to say he was frustrated by the whole ordeal. He ended up not doing much for the rest of the summer in order to let his knee heal properly (definitely the right call, even it was made for some boring weekends).
Fast forward to September and we decided to hit Kings Peak UT. After 26 miles Z’s knee felt solid so we knew he was good to go and started talking about other trips to take before winter hit. We ended up getting a wild hair on Tuesday September 21st and decided to check out the weather at Paradise Inn WA (closest civilization to Rainier). Much to our liking we found that weather was beautiful!! After a quick look at the Mt. Rainier route blog we decided to give it another go…plus we had already paid for climbing passes for the year.
Here is the AAR of our climb along with pics. Enjoy.
Mt. Rainier facts:
• Mt. Rainier is the most prominent volcanic mountain in the Cascade Mountains
• Elevation is 14,411ft, 4th tallest state high point in the US (AK, CA, CO peaks are taller)
• Elevation gain from Paradise Inn is 9,100ft. That’s about the same gain as Mt. Everest!
• Mt. Rainier is a class 4 climb (ranked up there with Everest, Denali, etc) and contains the largest piece of American glacier south of Alaska.
• About 50% of the attempts are successful each year
Wednesday September 23:
Z and I loaded up and left Boise around 10:30am and headed towards Washington. The drive went fairly quick and we were in Paradise early that evening. We tried to talk to some park rangers to get some info on the most recent route conditions since the blog we read was last updated on Sept 12 and things can change greatly over the course of a week. Initially we were worried we wouldn’t be able to climb since all the rangers we talked to made it sound as if the route to Camp Muir (1st camp) was to treacherous to climb. Thankfully Z and I ended up going in to Ashford to get gas and stopped by the RMI (Rainier Mountaineering Inc – a guide service) shop. They squared us away with the best and most recent info…which was that the mountain is still totally climbable! The guy we talked to, Scarface had just brought a guided group down on Monday and would be heading back up later that week. All this to say that Z and I were totally excited that the climb was still a go! After talking with the RMI guys we headed back up towards Paradise and camped in one of the lower campgrounds. Before hitting the sack we made sure the packs were good to go. Don’t want to forget any piece of vital gear on a mountain like this!
Thursday September 24:
We woke up around 06:00, loaded up the car and went to the Paradise Inn parking lot (5,400ft), donned the packs and started climbing at 07:00. The trip up to Camp Muir is a good pull…you gain 4,500ft of elevation over the course of about 4.5miles. The difference this time around compared to June was that there was no snow; it was all rock for about half the way up until we ran into glacial ice. Once we couldn’t skirt around the ice anymore we strapped on the crampons to help get better purchase in the hard and slick ice. We reached Camp Muir at 11:00 that morning and were very happy to find that we had the climbers shack all to ourselves. Since this was truly a mountain assault we packed only essentials to keep it light and left the tent in the car since we planned to stay in the hut (a stone building available for climbers that are not with a guide group to stay in. During the peak of the climbing season these buildings can be full, but in September only the Billy B.A.’s are out!
) We spent the early part of the afternoon melting snow for water, constructing our summit packs and getting the rope and harness gear all lined out. Doing all this the day before makes the next day that much easier as you’ve done all the thinking and work already. We went to bed at 4pm that afternoon and set the alarms for 11:30pm.
Friday September 25:
Alarms went off right on schedule…thanks to Simply Sleep and Tylenol PM we slept pretty well for going to bed as early as we did. We got all harnessed up and rolled out the door at 12:30 to a windless, clear and relatively warm night sky. The route we were taking is known as the Disappointment Cleaver which is a massive rocky spine that juts out of the mountain. This late in the season the cleaver rises far above the glacial ice and can be a bear to navigate in the dark with head torches on. On our way to the DC and after the DC we ran into several sketchy crevasse crossings that had fixed hand lines stretching across them. At one point earlier in the climbing season I’m sure these fixed lines were much more secure, but at this point the crevasses have opened up significantly so in some cases you feel as if the hand line is too far of a reach to be effective.
**Allow me to be colorful for a moment: Imagine being on an ice ledge, roped to your partner in the dead of night and having to step straight down about 3-4 feet onto an icy step no bigger than your standard mouse pad. On three sides of this mouse pad sized platform you have a gaping crevasse that you can’t see the bottom of no matter how hard you try…not your head torch, Surefire or even the sun itself can cast light to the bottom of the icy crypt below. From this step you must leap about 5 feet across to the opposite side of the crevasse landing on the top corner edge with nothing more than the front few points of your crampons. You pull yourself safely to horizontal ice….now you prepare to arrest for your partner to do the same thing. Congratulations, you have navigated one of a dozen crevasse crossings along the Disappointment Cleaver/Emmons Glacier route today
**
We continued up at a good steady pace, we were the first ones up the mountain this morning. All the guided groups that were heading up were a good hour behind us. We reached the edge of the crater at 06:30…almost exactly 6 hours from when we left Camp Muir. Once we were inside the crater rim we were able to drop our packs, un-rope and make the stroll over to the true summit of Mt. Rainier, Columbia Crest! Lucky for us we were able to see the sunrise from the very summit, very cool! We hung out long enough to take some pictures and get some video, got something to eat and drink and then roped backup to begin the descent. On glaciated mountains timing can be everything, we wanted to get off the summit early so that the sun didn’t have as much chance to soften up the ice and snow around the various crevasses we would have to cross on the way back to Muir.
During the descent you are really able to appreciate the size and power of this mountain. You see how far you’ve come in just 6 hours and realize you have a long way to go. Thanks to having a terrific clear day you look around to see Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson and Mt. St. Helens all in the distance and you realize that although you’re just starting on the descent you are still higher than any of those mountains. Z and I made it back to Camp Muir in about 4 hours (11:30) and were anxious to take off the boots, get something to eat and drink and even tried to take a quick nap before heading back down to Paradise. I slept for a good 45 minutes before other climbers on their way up began checking out the shack and wanting to make it home for the day/night. So we packed up, gave some beta to the climbers that showed up and were planning to summit the next day and then headed down towards the parking lot at Paradise Inn. This leg of the trip is by far the worst! All of the cool scenery is behind you, you’re fatigued and sore and really just looking forward to a delicious victory burger at whatever local joint you happen upon first. The only thing that makes it a little better is seeing all the other climbers, most with guide services, on their way up (why they are heading up to Camp Muir in the middle of the afternoon is beyond me…some people don’t know there are better ways, aka hiking in the cool of the morning!) and giving them a quick trip report on how awesome it was, the dangers to watch out for and then seeing the fear in their eyes!
The closer we got to Paradise the more people we encountered as there are multiple trails for people of every shape and endurance level to enjoy. Its great getting the looks from the nature walkers…they stare at you (probably ready to vomit from our mountain man aroma) with that look that says “oh boy, those are mountaineers! Stay clear!” We reached the car around 4pm, dropped the packs got a fresh set of clothes out and headed straight to the restroom at the visitor center where we proceeded to take a quick whore bath and change into normal clothes. Ahhh, how refreshing. Then it was off to find our victory burger which we found at a sweet cottage looking place just outside of Ashford. Of course we ordered their famous Summit Burger!
Now on to the part people are actually interested in…the pictures!
Just starting out, barely out of the Paradise Inn parking lot
Up the Muir Snowfield…not much snow this time of year!
Crevasse towards the top of the Muir Snowfield. This is very rare that there are crevasses on the way to Muir
Melting snow for water outside the shelter
Looking out towards Cathedral Rocks from the shelter. If you look closely you can see two teams on their way back to Camp Muir…that gives you some size reference to the Muir Glacier and Cathedral Rocks.
Inside the shelter…all to ourselves, yeah!
Cubby’s for our gear
Thursday night around 8pm we both ended up needing to take a piss, went outside to use the latrine and saw this
Using the ‘French step’ technique…used to walk up very steep grades
After dropping the packs in the crater we headed up to the true summit. In this shot you can see other climbers making it in to the crater
Sunrise
Benchmark at the top
Shadow of Mt. Rainier in the distant smoke
Couple Billy’s on top
On the way back down
Bottomless crevasse
Ice seracs
Taking a quick break towards the bottom of the Disappointment Cleaver
Here’s a good shot of the Ingraham Flats camp on the Ingraham Glacier. The rock on the right side of the photo is the backside of Cathedral Rocks. Notice all the sweet crevasse on the left also. There is rock fall from the Rocks 24hrs a day meaning that between that and the crevasses on your other side you don’t want to be hanging out there very long while moving through!
We are almost back to camp at this point and all we can think about is getting some food and then bailing off the mountain with a fury to get that victory burger and get back home!
Hope you all enjoy this post. It’s WAY more than I generally type for an AAR, but this is an extraordinary mountain in my mind and deserves a detailed documentation. Call me a hippie, tree-hugger, queer, whatever but out of all the adventuring I’ve done and mountains I’ve climbed NONE of them have spoken to me like Mt. Rainier has. Ever since my first summit in June 2009 I have felt a very strong urge to go back and climb her again. Almost like it was absolutely necessary for my well being to stand on the summit again, as if my life wasn’t complete without doing it again. I can’t explain it and won’t try to I guess, just one of those things. At any rate, enjoy! Feel free to post comments or questions regarding Mt. Rainier, the trip, pictures, gear used, etc.
