Just summitted Rainier via the Disappointment Cleaver route yesterday. Started w/ a 4 man team but had to drop one at Muir. Left Muir at 2:15am, last group out. Passed several groups (including an RMI one, who said they went fast?) and summitted about 8:30.

The weather was gorgeous and is supposed to remain so for several days. Only problem with this is the heat made the snow too soft on the descent, and crevasses are an issue above Ingram flats and in the Beehive. I plunged up to my knee in a hole of some sort in the beehive and a Bergschrund saved us by swallow a rockslide headed our direction. So start earlier on the hot days.

One thing to note: I was reminded of how important it is to be in excellent aerobic shape for climbing a mountain like this. I hit a ceiling of about 12,000ft, and everything above that I was sucking wind hard and getting weaker with every vertical foot. I didn't get sick or anything, I just wasn't acclimatized to those altitudes and didn't do enough running before hand to counteract that. Anyways, just a reminder to put in the roadwork before attacking a big one.

Congrats John , I've been on that route 3 times this summer and summited it twice . I am going again the 20th (I promised someone,but frankly I'm sick of it and would rather do something else)I have been leaving camp the last couple of times around 10pm to avoid that bad snow on the way down. The second time up there I left camp at 2:30 am and also found that too late of a start on those warm days.