August 6-7 and August 17-18, 2016
I had some loose plans to climb Glacier Peak with 12 oz the weekendish of August 6, but then I ended up climbing that 4th of July weekend with Daybreaker and Catherine. When 12 oz found out I’d already climbed Glacier Peak, her response was, “So how about Rainer?” A year or two ago, I’d never have imagined myself climbing Mt Rainier without a guide, and paying money to climb a mountain…??
Welp, here goes nothing. So, we scheduled a climb for August 6-7, but the weather didn’t look fantastic. Not terrible, but not ideal, weather scheduled to move in sometime on Sunday, August 7. We set out in the early afternoon for the climb up to Camp Muir, at 10,080′. We took our sweet time going up and arrived around 6:00pm, setting up our tents and attempting to get some rest before waking up at midnight to climb. The ranger in camp told us the updated forecast was for weather to move in early Sunday, so we should plan to be back down to Camp Muir by 9am, much earlier than we had anticipated when we set out on the trip.
Til we got ready and geared up (harnesses, ropes, crampons, etc), it was a little after 1am. We thought we were keeping a good “slow but steady” pace, but turns out we were just too slow. We really struggled with the loose, rocky scrambling up the Dissapointment Cleaver while roped together and wearing crampons. Just before sunrise, we were at ~13,100′ and realized we were still probably 2 hours from the summit. The skies were still clear, but we resisted the summit fever and turned around like responsible climbers. We got back to Camp Muir just before 9am, under still sunny skies. We were a bit annoyed with the forecast. After resting an hour, we packed up and headed down. Immediately we were in a cloud, 40 degrees and raining and miserable, and so, so glad we weren’t still higher on the mountain.
Having each paid $46 for a Mt Rainier climbing pass, which is good til the end of the calendar year, we obviously had to get our and try again! I decided if a weather window appeared when Stagg and 12oz were both available to climb again, even if mid-week, this would be a climb worth taking off work for. And so, 10 days later we found ourselves back at Paradise heading up the mountain once again.
We learned some things from the first round, and this time decided not to carry camping gear with us (we had one emergency setup among the three of us), and instead just eat dinner and rest up at Camp Muir for a couple hours before leaving at 11pm for the summit. This time, we also enjoyed a full moon!
Though still far from setting any speed records, we did a lot better on the cleaver (we took off our crampons and figured out better rope management). The route had actually changed a lot on the past 10 days, the streak of hot weather accelerating the movement of glaciers. We had 3 ladders to cross and a couple places where we clipped our rope into pickets buried in snow as we crossed thin spots. We ended up being the first ones on the summit, arriving just before sunrise. It was so cold on top, we really couldn’t just stand around and wait for sunrise, so after snapping some photos we got on our way back down.
The return was uneventful, just a long slog down, the snow quickly softening in the intense sun. Back at Paradise, we wanted to celebrate with cans of Rainier beer from the visitor center cafe, but just couldn’t bring ourselves to pay $7 for a 12oz can, so we ended up going out to Ashford for our celebratory post-climb feast. We struggled to stay awake through our meal, feeling the exhaustion of a nonstop overnight climb. But it was totally worth it.
Glad you were able to complete the summit hike – beautiful but soooo cold looking!!
I love how you don’t let one failed attempt stop you. Glad the second attempt went so well. And of course, that you three made it safe. Kudo’s!
You know you scare your poor mother half to death! – Dad
Magnificent, D’nR!
Congratulations!
Bravo, and as always, thanks for the great pics too 🙂
Great adventure and great photographs.
Beautiful pictures, an accomplishment to be proud of !