sjhbos
New member
Although a frequent user of the VFTT website, I don’t post very frequently but always enjoy reading the trip reports and so thought that I would do a write up of a recent hike I did up Mt. Rainier in Washington state.
I was able to arrange a family vacation in the North West for Seattle and Vancouver and so went a few days early for some hiking. Although I usually keep my hiking to the White Mountains I had wanted to climb a mountain a bit bigger and Rainer seemed to fit the bill well. Had some difficulty recruiting from my usual hiking circle and so signed up for a two day summit climb with a guide service in that area called RMI guides. As I had not hiked in the area before I took a day of climbed training, crevasse rescue etc….before spending the night in Ashford. This was a pretty easy day but useful, I tried to get to sleep early that night but this proved difficult as it was July 4th and there was a frequent sound of fireworks until just before midnight.
The next day we drove about 45 minutes from Ashford to the Paradise parking lot to start our climb up Rainier. Paradise is at about 5k and there was snow on the mountain as soon as we left the parking lot, I had thought that we would not reach snow until the higher elevations as the weather was pretty hot. The plan was hike up to Camp Muir which is at about 10k and about half way between Paradise and the summit. It was about a six hour climb. It was a hot day but a nice climb with great views along the way towards Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens in the distance. Most of this trail is not so steep, it is a gradual climb but with the warmer clothing needed for the following day, my climbing equipment, food, water etc…it made for a pretty heavy pack to carry. We arrived at Camp Muir about 4.30pm. Relaxed for a while, made some dinner and then went to sleep about 8.
The following day we got up about midnight, I sorted out my pack, headlamp on, crampons on and then roped into the team for a summit climb that started about 1am. Shortly after leaving Muir we walked across a lot of loose rocks that were not cover with snow and were not so good for my crampons but I decided to leaving them on rather than stopping. After a couple of hours we reached Ingham Flats, a large snow covered area of the mountains that can be used as an overnight stop. We pushed on and reached Disappointment Cleaver. This was one of the more difficult parts of the climb, not ultra steep but an unrelenting gradual steepness that lasted for a couple of hours and I found difficult as I was feeling tired from lack of sleep, we were climbing in darkness and the air was starting to thin out a bit.
After the top of the cleaver it did not take too long to reach the crater rim. A few crevasse’s to navigate before the summit but as we were roped together I felt better about the potential dangers. The sun came up as we approached the top and this made the going a little easier as in the darkness the temperature had dropped very low and with the high winds some the group had been feeling a bit cold. It was clouded over at the summit with no real views to speak of. The conditions cleared on the descent with fine views in all directions. We were back at Camp Muir by about 11, collected the rest of the gear and then started the descent to Paradise, getting back to the parking lot by mid afternoon.
It was a pretty solid hike and climbing 5k for the summit and then immediately descending 10k is not for everyone. Although it was a great trip that I enjoyed very much, if anyone reading this has the opportunity to climb Rainier I would recommend they plan it as a four day hike to put a little less stress on their body and also to enjoy a mountain with breathtaking scenery. (Day 1-To Camp Muir, day 2-Camp Muir to Ingraham flats, Day 3-Ingraham to summit and back, Day 4-decend to Paradise) - just my two cents worth.
Here are some pictures that I took on the hike.
http://community.webshots.com/album/552733249tGMAqL
sjh
I was able to arrange a family vacation in the North West for Seattle and Vancouver and so went a few days early for some hiking. Although I usually keep my hiking to the White Mountains I had wanted to climb a mountain a bit bigger and Rainer seemed to fit the bill well. Had some difficulty recruiting from my usual hiking circle and so signed up for a two day summit climb with a guide service in that area called RMI guides. As I had not hiked in the area before I took a day of climbed training, crevasse rescue etc….before spending the night in Ashford. This was a pretty easy day but useful, I tried to get to sleep early that night but this proved difficult as it was July 4th and there was a frequent sound of fireworks until just before midnight.
The next day we drove about 45 minutes from Ashford to the Paradise parking lot to start our climb up Rainier. Paradise is at about 5k and there was snow on the mountain as soon as we left the parking lot, I had thought that we would not reach snow until the higher elevations as the weather was pretty hot. The plan was hike up to Camp Muir which is at about 10k and about half way between Paradise and the summit. It was about a six hour climb. It was a hot day but a nice climb with great views along the way towards Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens in the distance. Most of this trail is not so steep, it is a gradual climb but with the warmer clothing needed for the following day, my climbing equipment, food, water etc…it made for a pretty heavy pack to carry. We arrived at Camp Muir about 4.30pm. Relaxed for a while, made some dinner and then went to sleep about 8.
The following day we got up about midnight, I sorted out my pack, headlamp on, crampons on and then roped into the team for a summit climb that started about 1am. Shortly after leaving Muir we walked across a lot of loose rocks that were not cover with snow and were not so good for my crampons but I decided to leaving them on rather than stopping. After a couple of hours we reached Ingham Flats, a large snow covered area of the mountains that can be used as an overnight stop. We pushed on and reached Disappointment Cleaver. This was one of the more difficult parts of the climb, not ultra steep but an unrelenting gradual steepness that lasted for a couple of hours and I found difficult as I was feeling tired from lack of sleep, we were climbing in darkness and the air was starting to thin out a bit.
After the top of the cleaver it did not take too long to reach the crater rim. A few crevasse’s to navigate before the summit but as we were roped together I felt better about the potential dangers. The sun came up as we approached the top and this made the going a little easier as in the darkness the temperature had dropped very low and with the high winds some the group had been feeling a bit cold. It was clouded over at the summit with no real views to speak of. The conditions cleared on the descent with fine views in all directions. We were back at Camp Muir by about 11, collected the rest of the gear and then started the descent to Paradise, getting back to the parking lot by mid afternoon.
It was a pretty solid hike and climbing 5k for the summit and then immediately descending 10k is not for everyone. Although it was a great trip that I enjoyed very much, if anyone reading this has the opportunity to climb Rainier I would recommend they plan it as a four day hike to put a little less stress on their body and also to enjoy a mountain with breathtaking scenery. (Day 1-To Camp Muir, day 2-Camp Muir to Ingraham flats, Day 3-Ingraham to summit and back, Day 4-decend to Paradise) - just my two cents worth.
Here are some pictures that I took on the hike.
http://community.webshots.com/album/552733249tGMAqL
sjh
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