Mount Rainier

[lilbitmo]

I posted this on another board but I'm looking for as much imput as I can get.

Has anyone been to Raineir this year? What were the conditions? What problems has anyone encountered in the past.

We are going up to Camp Muir on this trip but I will be scouting things for a return in the future to do the summit.

Thanks in advance.

Lilbitmo

[kevin trieu]

I have not been to Rainier this year but was there last July. I remember 80% trail and some snow patches closer to the camp Muir.

It is a hike to camp Muir provided that you stay on the trail. Just follow the hundred of hikers and you'll be fine.

IMO, the hike to Camp Muir and the climb to the summit are two totally different things. The former you can bring your grandma and the latter you want a competent partner with knowledge of crevasse travel.

Just curious, what exactly are you scouting?

[lilbitmo]

Kevin, thanks for the tips and other information. I posted this trip report over on the San Gabriel web site but the link is attached.

http://sangabrielmnts.myfreeforum.org/viewtopic.php?p=7506#7506

Had a great time hope you enjoy the pictures.

lilbitmo

[pdforeme]

lurking and had to chime in on Camp Muir (to post 2 earlier).

NO. muir is not easy as in grandma easy. Physically its medium to tough; its about 5 miles one way, and 5,000 vertical (hmmm makes Skyline not so unique), and of course starts at 5,000 ft.

More importantly, you run a real risk of white out. Fog rolls in often in the summer. JUst last year we had to resort to the old GPS to get down safely. And the park service publishes all the compass settings/routes. There's a great article (too lazy to post) about a guy w/ lots of gear, who sacrficed his week by helping the couple who (in summer) got in trouble and went way off course, w/ bad storm). He had tarp and gear, and they survived..ouch

[lilbitmo]

I agree it's medium hard but on a clear summer day it reminds me of Ice House Canyon - nothing but people on the way to and from the saddle.

I did notice all the real climbers carrying "Stick Flags" to mark the route in white out conditions.

I will be taking a complete class on mountaineering this winter to be prepared for any summit attempts I try on any mountain that has the exposures like - Shasta, Adams, Rainier or Hood. Doing the lower approaches are one thing, hitting the summits are another.

I was not trying to give the impression it was always easy, just the day we were there.

[pdforeme]

point on you going on sunny day; i too have departed on bright sunny day only to be "caught" by the fog that rolls in. so 100% of people need at least navigational gear. (and while the compass settings from the NPS are great, you'd far rather have wands or a cookie dropping GPS route to follow (cuz the compass headings don't help much amidst the piles of rock and stuff that will slow you waaaayyy down as you try to navigate.

only good news is you can glissade or even ski down much of it

[Cy Kaicener]

http://www.wta.org/trail-news/signpost/604 -- The Carbon River Road was a huge mess

[pdforeme]

about the couple who failed badly on camp muir trip (and about good guy who helped)

compelling reading

http://mountrainierclimbing.blogspot.co ... -muir.html

[Kevin]

about the couple who failed badly on camp muir trip (and about good guy who helped)

compelling reading

http://mountrainierclimbing.blogspot.co ... -muir.html

That was a very sad story. The husband used his body as a pad to shield his wife from the cold and died as a result.

The slope below Camp Muir looks deceptively easy, and on a sunny day it is. But over the years several deaths have occurred there as a result of storms, wandering off course, etc.

A few years ago a friend and I did Rainier via the DC route. On the way up we had blue-bird skies. On the return ... the weather shut down after Muir, and we navigated from wand to wand which are set by the NPS snow rangers. The Cascades have the most variable and unpredictable weather changes of any range I've hiked or climbed in.

[lilbitmo]

I was surprised by a few individuals while heading up and down the snow field. One (very attractive) young lady was wearing "Hot Pants" and a tee-shirt, one group of guys had one bottle of water and were in jeans, one group was headed up at 3 PM in tennis shoes and was just getting to the snow fields at that hour with no gear except two bottles of water and as my post stated they tought they would make the Muir Camp in one hour flat.

I'm surprised more people do not die on that particular mountain. I don't care how nice it looks - especially a mountain that has it's weather coming from the side opposite to that which I'm approaching from - I carry extra cloathing, gear and provisions for at least one-to-two days.

Free standing mountains always present more challenging changes in the weather at any given time. I just don't get why people risk it or do not prepare for that possibility?