Mt. Rainier Climb

This post is a little late but I thought I should put down something about my recent climb of Mt. Rainier. The climb was significant mainly due to the fact that I have wanted to climb the mountain ever since my first unsuccesfull attempt over 10 years ago. It was also significant because Matt Heller and I were finally able to find a time when both of us could be at the mountain!

Our climbing trip started with a relaxing 3 mile walk to Glacier Basin camp on the northern side of the mountain on August 22, 2005. We camped in the trees at Glacier Basin and left for our high camp around 9 AM on the 23rd. We hiked up to the base of the Inter-Glacier where we put on crampons and started up the icy glacier. The inter-glacier presented few difficulties with only a few crevasses. It did however, present some risk of rockfall near the base. The inter-glacier was relatively uneventful except for the clouds/fog which periodically obscured the route. We de-cramponed at the top of the glacier and started hiking up the dirt/rock ridge passing Camp Curtis and getting some great views of the lower Emmons Glacier below us. At this point we had to decide whether or not to drop onto the Emmons and hike up to Camp Schurman or to climb over Steamboat Prow. We had received some warning that the drop onto the Emmons might just be a little too fast for us as it reportedly consists of ball-bearing size gravel on top of a hard and steep dirt slope. We decided not to chance the dirt downclimb. Instead we hiked to the top of Steamboat Prow and downclimbed a couple hundred feet of loose rock (4th class). At least for me, this truly was the hard part of the climb as there was significant exposure and I was downclimbing on really crumbly rock and gravel with a heavy pack (on the way out going up was much easier). After quite a bit of swearing on my part and some waiting on Matt's part we finally stepped into a windy and sometimes cloudy Camp Schurman.



At Camp Schurman we met a large guided group from Alpine Ascents who were also planning on a summit attempt on the morning of the 24th. We ate an early dinner around 4:30 PM and prepared for a start at 1:00 AM. Then we went to bed around 5:00 hoping to get some rest before the early start. I had a terrible time trying to get to sleep with the blinding light on the tent walls and the gusting winds. I really wished I could have slept in the ranger's hut which looked so cozy in contrast to our wind exposed perch between two glaciers. Just about the time I started to fall asleep, around 7 PM a noisy group stumbed into camp. They immediately set about making a racket until one of the neighboring guides asked them to keep it down. I awoke from my 2 to 3 hour nap around 12:15 AM when the guided group was preparing to leave. I got up and convinced Matt that we should leave early since there was no way I was going to get back to sleep until after the others left.

So we left camp at 12:45 AM and started hiking up the Emmons glacier under a clear but windy sky. Matt led us quickly through some of the lower crevasse fields and onto the "corridor" where we came upon the guided group (AA). We passed the AA group as they sent three climbers back down the hill. About this time the view was spectacular. Off to the northwest we could see some lights from the southern Seattle metro area and in the north we could see the aurora borealis. We trudged alongside the other group for awhile before temporarily losing them as we took a traversing route. As dawn started to lighten the mountain it became obvious that our traversing route was taking us into a labyrinth of crevasses. So we angled back a different direction and ended up far above the other group. After taking a short break probably somewhere around 13,000 feet we started a long traverse to make an end run around the bergschrund. We stepped across the bergschrund onto a saddle and realized we still had a long ways to go to get to Columbia Crest. We had both slowed by this point, but Matt was moving extremely slow now and it was 10 AM. To make a long story short we had an argument about whether or not to continue. I admit I said somethings which were mean and unfair. Since then I have apologized for my bad attitude.

Suffice it to say that Matt wanted to continue to the summit. So we took what we thought would be an easier route up a talus slope and finally made the summit at 11:11 AM. We spent just enought time for a few pictures on the frigid summit before starting our descent. It still amuses me that when we arrived at the summit Matt immediately sat down. All the pictures he took were from the sitting position. He didn't get up until we left! The view from the top was brilliant as we could see a relatively large area before the haze obscured the view. We could see Mt. Adams, St. Helens, Glacier, Stuart and I believe Baker.



The trip down was relatively uneventfull except for the fact that we were dog-tired and took far more time than the route required. We arrived back at Schurman sometime around 3:30 PM. We chose not to go home that day. Instead we passed out for about 12 hours before starting the walk home on August 25.



The climb was a great adventure and a significant learning experience for me. I was glad I had the chance to climb with Matt and hope that the bad feelings we both had as a result of our argument will stay on the mountain.

I can't wait to explore another place as awe-inspiring and beautiful as Mt. Rainier.