ADKMan

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But you can use the battery from the kindle to create a spark to light your partners novel.

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I think you might be a bit overpriced on this. It is available new at Mountain Gear for $419.98 Mountain Hardwear EV2 at Mountain Gear

How much are you looking to get for the pack?

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Sounds like we should be fine with 2 liters or 3 max with no stove on summit day. I'm sure we will make conservative decisions relative to weather conditions so it's unlikely we will get pinned down unless someone gets hurt or in the event of a crevasse fall.

Trip specs: 2 person team Mid July Emmons Route We will have a stove at Camp Schurman

I know that conventional wisdom and the most conservative approach would have you pack a stove, pot and fuel in your summit pack but I am curious how many actually do that on Rainier? For those that don't pack a stove how much water do you generally bring? I would assume that 2 liters (the most I usually like to carry) won't be adequate for summit day. Thanks again for your collective and infinite wisdom!

One thing that I have always found to be true, if the boots don't fit near perfectly out of the box it is not likely to get better. I would strongly suggest to search for a pair of boots that fit really well. A good shop / bootfitter should be able to help fine tune with foot beds and lacing techniques.

We have been up Mt. Washington and Mt. Marcy (New York) in the winter, winds can get fierce, whiteout conditions are common. The basic difference with Mt. Rainier is the glacier travel and altitude. Also, generally Washington / Marcy are 8 +/ - hour day trips not multi day climbs. I'm sure this experience will come in handy in July though.

Well said DPS - The closest thing to Mt. Rainier we have here in the Northeast is Mt. Washington (New Hampshire) which gains 4200 feet in about 4 miles. This has a whole different set of challenges and although it can be a good training ground for mountaineering in general it's completely different than what we will encounter in July. Thanks again to everyone for their help!

ScaredSilly - While I appreciate your message I don't think the content of this thread has been anything but useful. Not only to me and my partner but anyone else who may be planning a similar trip. Unfortunately my trip isn't scheduled until July so I can't just go out and climb the mountain. My partner and I are coming from the East Coast so unfortunately it takes time, effort and expense to plan and execute the climb. As far as I am concerned my original questions have been asked and answered. If additional comments or questions are raised on this thread I will respond accordingly. Otherwise I appreciate all of the feedback everyone has given.

To a large extent that is what we will end up doing. My goal though is to have 90% of the process under control and the final 10% will be trailhead decisions.

I suppose a shovel can make a relatively good tent anchor but if that is it's primary purpose I can think of a number of better options. I realize that the decision to bring any certain piece of gear can be right or wrong based on the specific conditions we encounter. So the best we can do is make the most educated decision based on the best beta we can get. If we approach our planning in this way at least we stack the odds in our favor.

Bronco - Unfortunately we have had record warm temperatures this winter in the Northeast so our "snowslope" options are very limited. This being said, we have plenty of opportunities to climb 2500-4000 feet over 4-6 miles with heavy packs. So even though we won't have the snow advantage we can still get the uphill workout. We will try to do at least one climb a week (including a few overnights / multi day climbs) in addition to our gym work. Hopefully all of this will give us a reasonable chance to get to the top.

I never thought about the snowclaw, I have one of those as well. I will discuss it with my partner but that sounds like a reasonable compromise.

All sounds good, I think we're getting pretty close to having everything dialed in. Now we have to hope for a high pressure system to come in between July 12-14.

We are planning on bringing a total of 48 wands (24 in each pack) is that adequate?

DPS - I completely agree. In this case I'm not sure my "experts" even know where Mt. Rainier is. I really appreciate all of the information presented here. It has been extremely valuable to me. If any of you guys are at Camp Schurman on July 12-13 maybe I can say thanks in person.

That was my thought as well but a couple of self proclaimed " experts" i climbed with today thought differently.

Another question that came up on my training climb today - is there any need for a shovel on the Emmons route in July?

We'll see how we feel at camp Schurman and assess our physical state. Doing this for the first time it's hard to predict how our bodies will react to the altitude.

I'll admit it, I'm a wimp. I will try to spend a full day at camp Schurman before making a summit attempt.