saxybrian

I'm going to be up in Seattle for business and want to get a go on Rainier again. Been on the mountain 5x, to Muir 5x, summit 2x, blown off in a blizzard once, and ski'd from muir once and the first time I ever went, I just wasn't prepared for it. Know my knots, my pulley systems, safety stuff, have the 10 essecentials, etc. If anyone wants to tag Rainier with someone who's been up it before, with someoene who's got some experience and on pretty much anything that doesn't require 2 tools (No I'm not considering people tools in that sense) let me know via email brianwthomas (at) gmail.com. The only thing I lack is a vehicle and a stove for the trip so that I will depend on you! I've been up the DC and ID routes on the Mountain, would prefer something different, but I'll do with just getting on the mountain. Brian

That second to last picture reminds me of supermans ice crystal home!

I've always been under the impression that if you wanted to do something like that, get a climbing pass from the ranger station and head down to the Nisqually Glacier and find one of the monsters there to play with. Just be careful as once you're on the glacier it is glacier terrain and you'll want to be ropped up and probe everything before setting up your spot to climb in. Last thing you want is a buddy to take a 50+ ft dive into a crevasse that requires superman to pull him out. Good luck and have some fun.

Booked a flight up there this weekend going with a buddy on Sat. skinning up to Muir then gonna boot it to summit and back, and ski to paradise.

Anyone want to skin up to Muir climb the ledges and back down whatever dog route (ID/DC) and then ski back to paradise? I'm a decent skier not great, but would love to do some real mountain skiing and make a fast decent rather than a few hour slog on snow. Been on Rainier 4x, 2x Summits via ID/DC routes both times. I've lead 2 trips up, been stuck in a blizzard with 90mph wind. So I've been in some gnarly stuff and can handle my own pretty well. If anyone is interested send me a PM.

I'm down if it's Gib Ledges or Nisqually Icefall. They're both loaded with snow now, so should be pretty safe. Let me know if you're interested as I need to book a flight out there.

CascadeClimber, update your webpage! I enjoy reading your old TR's assuming that the domain name with your name is it~ The ones of you and Hannah always crack me up. More TRS!!!!

Kautz route really isn't in until late June/July. And What Void said, Resume is prob the most important thing, if you haven't done any big stuff yet, you prob need to slog up the DC/ID/Emmons/Gib Ledges route first.

pm sent on shovel / coozie

just talked to you on the phone earlier

Hey folks, Names Brian, I'm from TX and wanted to get on the GIb Ledges / Nisqually route some time here soon if anyone is interested in doing any of these routes. I've been on Rainier 4x, on the summit 2x and stuck in a blizzard on the mountain once so I've seen pretty much every aspect of Rainier that it can throw at you. I know all the pulley systems for crevasse rescue. If you don't mind having a fun entertaining Texan partner who loves to have a great time, fart in the tent and just enjoy the wonders of that mountain then shoot me a message. The dates that would work for me are Sun-Tue on the climb, the exact dates (minus march 15th) I don't care. I'm also going back in May/June and July to get on some the Emmons / Gib ledges or ID Routes so I'd prefer the nisqually if you're interested in it or another route minus the DC / ID slog Thanks, Brian

Mt Rainier is like a sexy redhead to me, it just doesn't get any better. I just love that mountain so much. I'm thinking maybe if we can do a super early trip to do Gib Ledges or possibly Nisqually if there's enough snow to make it able to be done with a single axe. I think Gib Chute would be wicked fun, but that route just seems really prone to Avy Danger to get on. My friend is coming with me early this next year who's never done anything like this so I want to keep it to a some what easy route. However when I head back in July we're gonna head up the Emmons. After that I'm not doing anything on that mountain unless it's a new route I've really wanted to head up Liberty Ridge, but my lack of ice climbing experience (Damn Texas) will make it so I have to go with a party who have experience and don't mind taking a newer ice climber on the route.

Franchise Fees (from climbing guide services) $19,000.00 Centennial Initiative Funding $26,500.00 Alpine District Ranger $99,000.00 Chief Ranger (10% of total costs) $12,000.00 Backcountry Carpenters $15,000.00 Backcountry Facilities Manager $30,000.00 Concessions Manager $20,000.00 Entrance Station Bluebags $3,000.00 Wilderness Reservations $5,000.00 White River Staffing (4 out of 7 days) $20,000.00 Radio / Telecom Support $10,000.00 Miscellaneous Support $10,000.00 Total: $272,000.00 The Climbing Cost Recovery fees augment the base funding and cover the salaries of the climbing rangers and the field supervisors staffing the upper mountain and the Climbing Information Center, and the salaries and related support costs to manage human waste on the upper mountain. 8. Do the climbing rangers provide services to visitors other than climbers paying the Cost Recovery Fee? Yes. While climbing rangers focus their attention on the upper mountain and the climbing public, they do provide services to all visitors. Climbing rangers provide roadside and low-country EMS, assistance to day and overnight visitors, human waste removal for all who visit high camps, SAR response to all visitors regardless of the activity in which they are involved. While the Climbing Information Center (CIC) focuses its services on climbers, their staff serves every visitor who drops in by providing general park information. The CIC is the only information center open during the early morning hours of 6:00 am to 7:30 am. The specialized training of climbing rangers, their exceptional fitness, and skills and expertise in the areas of aviation, EMS, SAR, high angle rescue and snow safety (avalanche) make them a highly valued and versatile staff resource for a variety of non-climbing related operations.

http://mountrainierclimbing.blogspot.com/2010/11/proposed-mt-rainier-climbing-fee.html I'm usually not a big fan of fee increases however, I think with the grand scheme of things Rainier has a pretty low fee and this could be a really good thing for the park. Get the word out and cast your vote.

between 6-8 from what i've normally seen my 4 times up there.

it'll be next year. I'm too out of shape and have no vacation time left to even think about it this year

I think I like the idea of starting the Kautz and doing a push to summit and over in 1 push, sleep on the Emmons then decend over to Lib and head up that and down DC/ID or even Nisqually/Furher if it's intact that time of year.

I was thinking next year of doing 2 goals in 1. Trying to hit the Liberty Ridge Route over the mountain, down to Muir, cross the Nisqually over to the Kautz, up that and down the Emmons back to car. Has anyone here ever done anything like this and did you use a food/gear cache or just lug up 5-6 days of food and go for it like a crazy person!

Thanks guys, Never thought of Furher Finger always see that as a ski line so never think about the climb. I was thinking the Kautz due to the lil ice you could hit on the and I've been wanting to dable in that a bit to learn and tackle Lib Ridge in a few years.

So I'm looking to head that way from Texas again next year between Late May to mid July and I'm looking for a fun route to climb. I've done Ingraham Direct and DC so far which are great routes, just looking for something a bit more technical but not liberty ridge technical. I was thinking Kautz or Ledges if they're still in but wanted some opinions on the route. I'd like to avoid crowds so really trying to stay away from 2 high camp shelters. I've never done any ice climbing but would be comfortable following someone on something up to about a 60 degree climb w/o any issues, however I think past that I may want to have a solid foundation before trying anything. Any suggestions or ideas on a fun route? This would be my 5th time on Rainier 08 (Made it to Muir woke up late and couldn't make summit run) 09 (Made crater through DC) 10 April got socked in by a blizzard in April on the snowfield and made it to muir next day 10 June perfect summit on the ID route which I lead our team. So that's my mountaineering experience

La Sportiva Trango's! They are awesome!

PS to those who suggested I get new boots from my last trip report with the ginormous blisters on my feet, thank you. Only a tiny blister on the side of my toe this time and I can actually walk normally the moment I took my boots off!

Trip: Mt Rainier - Ingraham Direct Date: 6/20/2010 Trip Report: So we had our trip to Mt Rainier this year. Friend and I flew in from TX and 2 buddies from CO drive to Mt Rainier and had our trip. On the way up from the parking lot it was a bit cloudy, visibility was probably bout 1-2k feet with the mountain coming into view here and there through the clouds. By 7,500ft the mountain was in full view and we were in the sun as we had punched through the clouds. At this point my friend Curt was getting some pretty bad cramps in his legs, and I told Brenna and Chris to head up to Muir (10,200ft) and I'd take care of him on the way up since he was moving a bit slower. By 8500-9000ft Curt was hurting so bad he couldn't move, I spent time trying to massage his legs but he could only go a few hundred feet then have to sit back down. At this point, I did something I didn't want, but knew was the best thing. I left him there, hiked up to Muir dropped off my pack, got some water and took my empty pack back down the mountain to get him with Chris. We reached him at about 9,000ft, the rangers had dropped off some water for him. We empty his pack into ours and helped carry his stuff up. He made it to Muir, but in some serious pain. We had our tents setup and a nice snow wall around most of our tents. The next morning Curt woke up was feeling a bit better, however was still hurting bad and decided to head down the mountain and get a hotel for the remainder of the trip. At this point, Brenna, Chris and I decided to head up to 11,200 fet to the Ingraham Flats (through the steep part of the previous picture and around that rock face onto a flat part of the Ingraham Glacier. On the way we saw a few crevasses and some great picture shots. The tents in the 2nd picture would be our stopping point that day and we would turn around after 20-30 minutes of admiring the view on this beautiful hot day. We headed back down, got our gear ready and were in bed by 7pm. We slept 5 hours, woke up at 12am and were on the ropes and snow by 1am. We didn't really any pictures on the way up as you can't really see much w/o the sun, so the pictures were taken on the way down so just imagine this really dark but with the same background We hiked back to the flats from Muir for our first break. Sat there 10-15 minutes, eating and hydrating and started back up. Up and up we went heading up the Ingraham Glacier were just a few weeks earlier there was an avalanche that burried someone who was never found. As we continued up we could smell a sulfer vent which had a horrid oder and this lasted for about 800 veritical feet. We peaked out around that large rock on the left side but about 3/4th the way to the right on this picture. At this point we treverrsed the mountain to the right headed up a bit to navigate some crevasses that were too large to cross, we started the switch backs to the summit. Around 12,500ft we hit a team that was slower than snails and they would ignore us all the way to 13,800ish feet. They wouldn't let us pass, ignored us when we talked to them. All in all were complete assholes and cost us about an hour of time on the way up. They finally breaked at 13,800ish, we took a break there too, but a short one and were out before they were settled down. We continued up another 45 minutes or so and finally hit the crater rim of the mountain. We rested here about 10-15 minutes, drank some water and the question was finally asked. "Do you want to hike across the crater to the true summit?" I was blown away, wanted to sleep and almost out of foot, almost gagged about 5x and just watned to relax, but I knew it would get the best of me if I didn't go. We dropped our packs off, unropped and headed across the crater to the true summit and within 30-45 minutes of hiking we finally made it. Picture on the true summit with Mt St Helens in the background. Once we got there, we turned around and started down the mountain. We finally hit Camp Muir by about 10:30-11am and were greeted with a Helicopter dropping off supplies for the Rangers. We headed down the mountain later that day and were post holing in the snow up to our waist at times but were left with a awesome shot. So all in all, a great trip, and was very tired when we finished. Approach Notes: Be prepared for some serious post holing if you leave in the heat of the day.

http://mountrainierconditions.blogspot.com/2010/06/ingraham-direct-2010.html Ingraham Direct 2010 Ingraham Direct - June 13th Ok, folks. Here's the deal! Camp Muir has been getting some sun for the last couple of days. Temperatures were creeping up into the 40s today. There was very little wind until midday. Philippe and I went up onto the flats at around 10:00 a.m. and up onto the first hill above the flats at around 11,500 feet. There hasn't been a whole lot of new precipitation on the upper mountain in the last two days. Today the first independent groups headed up above the top of the Disappointment Cleaver. A few folks braved the winds near the top and summited. Philippe and I dug a pit and did a pretty complete profile. There is that pesky layer of graupel down about 35 cm, but we couldn't get anything to move with a compression test or an extended column test. We did do a fully isolated rutschblock, and we did get it to fail on the first hop (rb4), but the failure was very poor, Q3, broken, and only the partial block. This was a 35 degree slope. Granted, there's a great amount of spatial variability on the glacier... The ski penetration, even during the heat of midday, was only an inch or so. The boot penetration was about 15 cm. The top 10-15 cm was sun-affected and starting to get a little wet. Crampons were balling up. The guide service (RMI) went by us when we were digging our pit. Two guides were doing a reconnaisance to establish a new route up the Ingraham. Here's a pit profile. There's been a lot of these snowpits dug up high lately. In all my time at Mt. Rainier, I can't think of when I've known of so many people really worried about the avalanche conditions in June to this extent. This alarm is well warranted, indeed, it may be time to start making these pits a little more part of the operation while we're climbing. However, it's difficult to put these data into perspective because not many of us have made a habit digging full snowpits above 11,000 feet this time of year. It's hard to say what we've been climbing on all these years anyway. Stick with what we know and fundamentals we've learned in training. It's been a cold and wet spring. The upper mountain has received a lot of snow in May and early June. We need to be wary of avalanche conditions. However, after a few days of warm, clear weather, it's time to start thinking about getting up the hill. If you take a look at the historical data and compare it to the current snowpack at Paradise, you'll quickly see that we're almost 140% of normal. This is a huge snowpack for this time of year. We really made up for the drought this winter. As we've placed the glacier stakes this spring for the mass/balance studies, we've observed that there is at least a meter more snow than usual for this time of year (7.5 meters compared to 6.0 meters in the standard places). This means that the less common / non-standard routes that so many of us love to climb may stay in shape longer. Gib Ledges look great, which is crazy for this time of year! The Ingraham is largely unbroken; this is about the time of year when we go over to the DC, but we'll be on the ID for a while yet. The Kautz looks sweet. Nisqually Ice Cliff is doable still. The Emmons-Winthrop looks awesome! The Finger looks nice. The weather over the next 48 hours looks good. The snow got baked today up to about 12,000 feet. This is good. Over the next 48 hours, colder air is moving in, and there will be a marine layer in the sound. So be cautious, but be out there! Take a shot, but take it all in and consider all the variables.

Ok, you guys convinced me to get a pair of boots. Getting them at the REI in Tacoma when I fly in. Looks like they're gonna be about 1.1lbs lighter per boot So should save a LOT of weight and should be more comfortable.