For the New Year, I am going to try and climb Mt. Rainier in June of 2006. Just trying to search and get info about this great climb. Anyone out there who has tried to climb it either having to turn back or successfully make I would like to hear a bit about your experiences. Your training in getting ready for the climb, nutrition, specific gear that you used that worked or didn’t work.
thanks all !
I’ve climbed Rainier 7 times in 8 attempts, including one winter ascent. It’s a great climb and a great classroom for the largest mountains in the world.
Here are some photos and insights into my experiences on Mt. Rainier:
Very cool Tom!!
duh, I should actually try to answer your questions… Sorry. I got all excited about showing my photos.
Here is a link to my website that talks about climbng on Rainier:
I have climbed both with and without a guide service. I’m a tourist, not Reinhold Messner, so I want to just get in a good workout, enjoy the scenery and have a nice climb. I don’t want to worry about the logistics, permits, etc. So, even with somewhat of a poseur stigma surrounding the post-Krakauer “Into Thin Air” era I still would recommend and prefer to climb with a guide. One of only two Park Service approved concessions on Rainier is Rainier Mountaineering Inc. This is a top notch guide service, perhaps the finest on any mountain range any where in the world including the Chamonix region.
With R.M.I. you will climb with some of the finest climbers in the world: Pete Whittaker, Brent Okita, Phil Ershler and others. These guys are veterans of epic Everest climbs and have literally hundreds of ascents on Rainier. It’s expensive and worth it.
The key to a good day on Rainier during the approach march to Camp Muir at about 10,000 feet is to do what the guides say and stay at the front of the line of climbers. There is less accordian effect up there and if you stay on the front all the way up to Camp Muir you get the first pick of bunks (sleeping shelf) in the R.M.I. hut.
As for equipment, going light is the key. You certainly need to bring everything required but you don’t need a super heavy sleeping bag since you’ll be in the RMI hut and you have your heavy summit parka. I bring a lightweight 40 degree 1/2 sleeping bag and sleep in that and my summit parka. The guides like you to have good fleece pants instead of wind pants on for the 2:00 Am alpine start to the summit since the fleece has better traction if you fall on the snow. This reduces the likleyhood of sweeping your entire rope team into a crevasse or off the mountain. Be sure you know how to get your crampons on quickly and they are adjusted to fit your boots. Bring powdered Gatorade mix in the convenient single serving (1 liter for your Nalgene bottles) size to flavor your water and add some electrolytes.
Make sure you understand the rope team procedures and can self arrest. Things don’t get hairy very often, but when they do, they tend to do so very quickly. I’ve been involved in one avalanche and one crevasse fall. Three occasions when I have been climbing on Rainier there have been fatalities on the mountain the same day I was summiting, but never from our RMI group. One, a snowboarder between Paradise and Camp Muir, simply disappeared.
The effort in climbing Rainier is maybe a little more than doing doing two 1/2 Ironmans or slightly longer back-to-back. The approach to Camp Muir is long and slow. That wears on your a little. The summit day is tough. I have left Camp Muir with four or five rope teams only to have four clients and a guide reach the summit. The others simply gave up. It was too cold, too hard, too scary (especially after Cadaver Gap and on Disappointment Clever) and too long for them. by the time you get down to Camp Muir from the summit even an Ironman veterans legs are feeling it. When you get down to Paradise you are pretty hammered.
All in all, it is an epic. If you decide to go with RMI book your trip early. September is a great month, July is the worst. It is just so crowded.
Good Luck! Happy New Year!
Do
Do it.
I went in 2002 with RMI. Very humbling experience. It is really just a long steep hike on snow and glaciers. Nothing really technical at all by the standard tourist route (Ingram flats/Disappointment Cleaver). The hike down is a brutal quadbusting 9000 ft descent in about 8 hours and it totally bushwhacked me. I walked down from Camp Muir with Jim Whittaker (first American to Climb Evererest, read his book A Life on the Edge) and heard some great stories. Funny thing is a didn’t even know who he was at the time. I actually summitted with his two sons (Leif and ?) and some 13 year old girl who had climbed Aconcagua earlier that year. The youngest girl ever to summit that peak (22,000 ft, highest in the Americas). It hurst your pride to have a 13 year old girl fly up the hill as your are really hurting
You definitely need to do some endurance hiking to prep, like 14 to 16 mile day hikes at a fast pace. I did several long ones in the Adirondacks and Green Mountains that definitely helped. Even though Rainier is not technical, RMI like to go fast as there are a lot of dodgy areas in terms of crevasses and rock fall. Their philosophy is to minimize time in these areas which means haul ass.
Be careful. Getting high can be addicting. I did Grand Teton this year (more technical climb) and now am trying to figure out how a trip to Mt. Kenya and a winter ascent of Mt. Washington is going to fit into my trainining schedule in 2006 or early 2007. Actually passed Conrad Anchor (Found Mallory’s body) when I was walking down from the saddle on the Grand. I guess I have a knack for running into famous climbers when I am on the mountain, even if it is not till later that I know how famous they are.
I’d just add the following thoughts on climbing. I’ve climbed extensively in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, including summitting Denali (commonly known as Mt. McKinley). Mt. Rainier is a beautiful mountain with some of the best climbing routes in the lower 48. Liberty Ridge is considered a classic. However, Mt. Rainier is also a crowded mountain. RMI is a good guiding service, but they do have their detractors. They essentially have an exclusive license to climb on Rainier, so they face little competition from other guiding services. RMI’s focus is really on getting people up and down the mountain (albeit they do have a good safety record which shouldn’t be underestimated). They are very good at getting people to the summit, but the groups tend to be big. Climbing the novice routes on Rainier will not be a wilderness experience. Imagine standing on the summit with 40 other people, which is not uncommon. As an alternative to Rainier, I’d recommend Mt. Shuksan (considered to be one of the most beautiful mountains in the world), El Dorado, Glacier Peak, or Sahale. While these might lack the cachet of Rainier, they are wonderful climbs and would offer a great experience.
Also, I’d recommend North Cascades Mountain guides. Great small company. Steve House, considered by many to be the finest alpinist alive today, guides for them. http://www.ncmountainguides.com/index.html Alpine Ascents is another great guiding company that offers trips around the globe. Final thought, if you do take the plunge into climbing and have a good time, definitely find your way to the Alaska Range at some point. You don’t necessarily need to climb Denali, but it really is one of the most beautiful places in the world.
“Climbing the novice routes on Rainier will not be a wilderness experience.”
I agree with this 100%. It is totally true. I wager there are no other significant alpine ascents in the world with their own freeway exit. Rainier does have its own freeway exit.
denali2001’s comments do ring true, and there are “traffic jams” on Rainier in July especially. If there is a way to schedule your climb outside of peak season you may have a little nicer experience.
LB,
Mt. Rainier is a great hike and worthwhile. June will be a good month to go and the RMI army is top notch. I have done Mt. Rainier both with success and without - don’t let the goal of the summit lure you into something stupid. I play in the mountains and err on the conservative side every time.
Try to go on a full moon or a new moon as they are two different and completely cool experiences. If you need anything when you come to town look us up as I have all the toys. Meteor shows are spectacular from Camp Muir and the Mt. Adams Lunch Counter.
My dad, younger brother and I went to Rainier in the summer of 1976. My climbing experience up to then amounted to going upstairs to my bedroom but obviously, at least back then, the only requirement the guide service had was that your (or your dad’s) check cleared.
My little brother wimped out at about 12,000 feet (actually, he was pretty sick). My dad had to stay with him but I went on for the summit with the group. A little later, it was still dark and we were crossing a rocky swithcback section. A group ahead of us knocked some rocks loose. Everyone started screaming “rock” and shining their fashlights up the slope. All of a sudden this rock about the size of a volleyball came out of the dark and hit the guide leading my rope. I was next in line on the rope.
It’s been almost 30 years but I still wake up at night with a vivid image of him in mid air spread eagle against a backdrop of cloud tops. I dove on my ice ax like a pro and waited to get yanked into oblivion. Luckily the guide hit the snow before he got the the end of the rope. I doubt I could have held up my end of the rope team bargain. The guide ended up with a broken arm. He walked himself back to Camp Muir and we went on with the remaining guide.
Pay attention during the climbing school . . . .
I made the summit but only after I tried to quit about an hour after the flying guide incident. I was physically and emotionally drained. The remaining guide pulled me off the snow and told me I could quit if I wanted to but since we were down to one guide, if I stopped everyone else was done too. They were all adults and had ice axes so I sucked it up and went on. It actually did end up teaching me something about perseverance.
Do they still let you climb in jeans and cotton shirts???
whoa. That is awesome. I’m glad you didn’t get clobbered. Cool photo.
Which route are you taking? Disappointment Cleaver?
I have never climbed Rainier, but I just received a video for Christmas called Alpine Mountaineering, filmed on location on the DC route. (So, I might as well have climbed it, right? 
It’s a good instructional video. I’m thinking I’ll probably go climb Mt. Shasta’s Avalance Gulch route before I try Rainier, as supposedly Shasta’s tourist route is substantially easier than Rainier’s tourist (DC) route.
A really good source on Rainier is by Mike Gauthier, called *Mount Rainier - A Climbing Guide. *It has detailed information on just about any route on the mountain, and there are many.
Go for it - Rainier is a great mountain!
I’ve summited via Liberty Ridge late season - one of the best climbs I’ve had. I’ve also had two early season shots via the easy glacier route on the same side (Edmonds Glacier Route?). Even though I didn’t hit the top, I still have great memories of the trip.
As others have noted, it won’t be a wilderness experience, but I suspect you won’t mind too much.
Be safe, it is a real mountain and people do die up there. Leave the ego at the car and just enjoy a great trip. If you pass through Green Water - be sure to hit Buzz’s Green Water cafe for some great breakfast.
To answer your training question - I suspect that your tri training will provide a solid base - I would just layer in some hikes with a full pack over broken ground.
If the mountaineering bug bites you, be sure to go to Alaska - Denali is a must. Just getting out of the ski plane Cessna on the glacier run way is amazing.
Drop me a line if you are in the Denver area - I can give you more details/stories.
John
I would agree with most of what was said above and add a few things. For perspective, I did Rainier as a novice who had done lots of basic hiking 10-15 years earlier but in the year before Rainier just did some moderate running (never more than 6 miles) and a few training hikes in the Blue Ridge Mtns. I did the Emmons route with RMI. Of course, being fitter would have made the climb easier, but it was not that hard even at that fitness level.
Rainier is a serious mtn in terms of weather, crevasses, avalanches, and vertical gain. Very easy to die or have a serious epic up there. Not sure of your background but unless you’ve got quite a bit of experience in snow travel and a solid partner, I’d use a guide service. On the day I climbed we hit a total whiteout on the descent and there’s no way I could have made it down safely without a guide.
RMI will tell you what gear you need – it’s not much besides crampons, a mtn axe and other basics. I doubt that many triathletes would fail on Rainier due to lack of conditioning. RMI hikes a slow but steady pace. To me, when guided the key is the altitude. Not sure where you’re from, but a few extra days at Rainier/Paradise or a stop over on some other mtn or Colorado or Wyoming, for example, would make a big difference. Three people on my trip (out of 25) failed to summit and I’d guess that altitude was the major problem for all three.
Enjoy.
I have had really bad luck on Rainier: 2 unsuccessful attempts- one bad weather, and one sickness in the party (Liberty Ridge & the cattle route, respectively,) and about 5 weathered-out planned attempts.
I don’t climb anymore, BTW, but when I come back to the sport, Libery Ridge is top 10 on the list. Rainier is a really, really beautiful peak, and well worth climbing.
It’s a big mountain, and if you are climbing the cattle route, (and in reasonable shape,) summitting is a bit of a crap shoot; in good weather you can climb that thing in your tennis shoes. In bad weather, you ain’t getting up, period. For me, this was frustrating. I had all the right “stuff” to climb it, but the weather gods hated me. I had better luck climbing in Alaska, fer chrissakes…
As Tom suggested, Rainier is a textbook fast and light mountain, because you just aren’t getting up it if the weather is bad, and it’s only a 2 day climb. You won’t find yourself bivying while you wait for a window to make the summit, so you essentially climb with a dayclimb/disaster pack. (I’m assuming you will go up through Camp Muir.) Day 1 to Muir is nothing but hiking, and you go down if things look iffy.
Gear for the climb is pretty easy, and previous posters pretty much nailed it. Make sure you have spent a large quantity of time in your boots & pack (at the weight you will be carrying.) I always carry more sleeping bag then my partners because I sleep cold - you should try and figure out how you sleep, and bring the right bag.
If you wear contact lenses, and haven’t climbed at altitude with them, make sure you have a backup plan (like, well, glasses.) Some people just can’t keep lenses in when they get up high, and it is a serious nightmare.
Make sure you are up on glacier travel and rescue skills. A climbing buddy of mine went waaay deep in a crevasse on Rainier, and it would have been super-epic if he hadn’t known what he was doing.
If you are going the guided climb route, I would second the recommendation of North Cascades Mountain guides. Steve House is an old friend and mtn. bike buddy, as well as a great guide and the ultimate climbing stud. He is also one of the most experienced guides in North America, which many people do not know. He’s not just the guy who scared Dr.Doom, he’s the guy who was the youngest certified Mtn. Guide ever to come out of this country.
…Of course, RMI is great, too, and I have known/climbed with a bunch of their guides over the years, and all have been extremely good at what they do.
MH