Rainier Summit July 16, 2013

Well, I started this blog post in July and I never finished...until now in September...

Dave Hahn has summited Mount Everest 15 times.  People ask the question, "Why??".  Well, I'm not quite sure, but he says that every time he climbs the mountain there is something new.  I can definitely agree to that statement.  I personally would be content with one summit of that mountain and appreciative that I made it down alive.  I suppose I could feel this same way about Rainier, but I can't.  It's visible from my front yard, it's cheap to climb,  and I can summit and eat dinner at a nice restaurant all in the same day.

Climbing Rainier for the 2nd time in as many years has no comparison to Dave Hahn, but on my puny scale it was a unique experience and was very fun.  The journey from Paradise up to the Ingraham Flats was mostly the same, but from the Cleaver on it was a new mountain for me.

The journey started as it has many other times.  Alarm clock goes off around 2:30AM and I hop out of bed.  The coffee is prepped so I just turn it on.  I pour a bowl of granola cereal and enjoy a cup of coffee.  Now I'm awake enough to shower for the last time for 2 days!  I put on all my gear including boots and gaiters.  The car is ready to go and Preston and I meet up and head for McDonalds.  McDonalds changed their breakfast hours to 4am so we could enjoy a sausage egg McMuffin instead of a double cheeseburger (who eats burgers at 4am anyways?).

Early Monday morning on Mt Rainier is pretty peaceful.  There are no crowds and the check-in process with the climbing rangers is painless.  They are always happy to share the latest route conditions and wish us a safe climb.

"Start".  The stop watch begins at Paradise and we begin our trek to Camp Muir.  We are climbing at around 1100ft/hr making great time.  I've learned to keep ahead of my thirst and energy levels by eating and drinking as I hike.  My food and water are conveniently located on my pack so I can access as I keep hiking.  Eating and drinking after you feel the need means you're too late and you're going to feel much more fatigued.  Somewhere around 8,000 ft we stop for a break and chat with a skier.  I'm looking at my watch and my hopes of making it to Muir under 4hrs are diminishing.  The conversation ends and I kick it into high gear and finish my climb in 3hrs, 48minutes with 55lbs on my back.  Preston finished his climb at just a few minutes over 4hrs for his personal best time too.

A proud sweating thumbs up

The camp is pretty open and we setup in the public shelter.  The afternoon is spent leisurely eating and chatting with all the climbers.  We wander over to the Ranger hut and get their input on the DC route.  They describe the route as having two variations from the top of the cleaver (left or right).  The left route has a crevasse with a large snow bridge separated by a 2 ft gap to step across.  They said the bridge was somewhere around 25ft long and a huge cavern was visible at the gap going down 300+ ft!  They said keep good spacing on your rope cause you'd have quite a ride when that bridge breaks!  The right route is brand new and the guide service had just finished shoveling a boot path up to the summit!  The decision was simple for us!  Right on!

We got our ropes and glacier gear all prepped and got in bed around 7pm.  Midnight came pretty quick and I was eating my breakfast and saying a few short prayers for God's protection.  For some reason we were really slow that morning and ended up being one of the last parties out of camp.  Something didn't agree with Preston's stomach and he was going slower than normal.  I was in the lead and I kept the rope pretty tight the whole way.  Bowel movement #1 occurred at the base of the cleaver.  I thought I was safe 20ft away, but the uphill wind brought a terrible aroma my way!  Preston feels "good as new" and we keep going.  It was a little difficult navigating up the cleaver this year for some reason.  We got off course a few times and wound up scrambling up some really lousy loose terrain.

Sunrise at approximately 12,500ft

At the top of the cleaver we approach the route junction.  We head right and see a party of 4 ahead of us.  It was still dark and we began to hear a roar on the mountain.  It was a ways off and we were not sure of the ice fall location.  We didn't think too much of it and kept hiking.  The crux of the whole route was ahead of us.  A short 30ft, 45-50deg, wall was ahead of us above a crevasse ladder.  We wait probably 30-45 minutes before our turn to ascend the wall.  The guide service placed a fixed line and it was comforting to hang onto that rope and sink in the ice axe for 4pts of contact with the mountain.

The wall just above the cleaver on the "right" route

Above this we crossed a snow bridge and passed between a couple spectacular crevasses.  We experienced nothing near this cool last year.  The route traversed out onto the Emmons Glacier before switch backing all the way to the summit.  Several more crevasses were to be crossed with a small stride.  The wind coming down this side of the mountain was pretty fierce at times.  More than once we had to stop and hunch over on our ice axes to stay glued to the mountain.  The wind gusts were very strong and very sudden.

Crossing a snow bridge next to some spectacular crevasses

Preston crossing the snow bridge

Looking into a crevasse

Despite all the delays and stomach issues, we managed to reach the summit only 30 minutes later than last year.  The air temperature was not too cold and we enjoyed another summit.  The wind was probably 40-50 mph.  My trusty iPhone 5 came in strong and I place two phone calls:  one to my wife and one to my mother.  I sign my name in the summit registry (the best alibi I can think of) and we head back down the mountain (after BM#2 in the crater!).  Both of us are a bit apprehensive about going down that wall just above the cleaver.  We attach a prussic knot on the fixed line and work our way down to the bottom without incident.  We make it to the top of the cleaver and BM#3 kicks in and all the blue bags are gone.  I'm lucky my stomach was cooperating since I gave all my supplies away!

Summit time

We glance over to our right to look at the left route.  That's when we realize where all that noise came from earlier that morning.  A large ice chunk broke loose and covered a section of the trail.  Fortunately nobody had traveled that direction that day and we were sure happy about our decision to go right.

The "Left" route was hit by ice fall at 4am

The trek down the cleaver is as miserable as I remember it but I do a better job keeping myself fed and hydrated this time.  We get to Muir and take a short break before packing up all the gear.  The weather began to turn and we watched a cloud surround the upper mountain and dump rain (maybe snow).  The weather forecast was accurate and we hit our pleasant weather window just as the forecast predicted.  Unfortunately, the storm worked it's way down the mountain and we got caught in some of that rain before reaching the car.

Notice the cloud development above

Another successful summit with great new memories.  The route was much different than last year and made for a great trip.  Last year was a "Walk up" and this year was not.  It gave us a new sense of accomplishment going through that small amount of technical climbing.  Good times.

Thanks for reading.