Threxx

Great info everyone. Thanks! I will definitely take tons of pics and post them here when I get back. I'm choosing to ignore the people that say I'm already fit enough to make it up the mountain. I'd rather prove you right by continuing to work out and dominating the trip to the summit than prove you wrong by failing. But you've at least made me less nervous about the whole ordeal. The thing that concerns me is I have a friend that's already been up the mountain and he was saying something like 30% of the people on the trips he saw failed and some of them were pretty young. Anyhow... unfortunately because it's 5 to 7 hours each way to any trails I can't work out on any actual mountain trails with regularity... I'd be lucky to get out there 2-3 more times in between now and August. But I've got a precor elliptical at home that will run up to 40 degrees of incline and very high resistance. I've found that by setting it to the highest incline and resistance and putting 50 pounds of weights in my hiking pack I seem to get a burn and intensity very similar to being on the trail. I'm going to start pushing my sessions up to 40 minutes doing this and keeping my heart rate around 170. I'm afraid to do any more than that for fear of burning muscle. I did the performance test on my elliptical last night, which I'm sure isn't 'that' accurate but it's as good as I've got. Anyhow it told me my VO2 max was 46. From what I've read online that's considered 'very good' but not excellent. Hopefully I will continue to improve on this in the next few months.

Thanks for the info so far, everyone. I didn't mention it until the second reply in this thread, but we are definitely going up there with a guide... RMI. www.rmiguides.com They say from a technical perspective their 4 day or 5 day disappointment cleaver summit is perfect for beginnings with little to no technical skill. I've got tons of experience hiking and some with rock climbing but of course with no significant ice or snow less than a plane flight away from me... I don't have any technical experience with steep ice/snow climbing... especially around glaciers. I already have most of the gear I need... just need the ice climbing stuff. I'm got some La Sportiva Glacier boots that are cramp-on compatible and have a nice 3-layer jacket and pant system that has served be well into the slightly below zero range several times in the past. I guess I'm less worried about the technical stuff since I've got the guides and am a pretty quick learner. The main point I'm worried about failing on is strength and cardio. I have to say my natural heart rate recovery isn't as good as most peoples'... but HIIT seems to have helped there a bit.

Seriously? I haven't read about anyone using oxygen on a 14er. Is that a performance enhancer or just a precaution in case I react badly to the lack of oxygen? We will be acclimating at Muir for a day, for what it's worth. By the way we're planning on going up there with RMI. Is that a good way to go for noobs like us?

Hi all. I'm from Memphis, TN, though for a few years when I was a kid I lived in Astoria, OR. Anyhow... I have a serious addiction to hiking... especially when combined with high elevation, but of course I live in almost the worst part of the country you could possibly live in for somebody wanting to hike up high. I've got the smoky mountains a 7 hour drive to my east, and I go there a couple times a year. Then I've got the ozarks a few hours to my west, but those are about half the height of the smoky range. Anyhow... point being I've been wanting to summit Rainier for a couple years now but have never been on any hike over 10k feet in my life and have no idea what to expect, and am very nervous as to whether I'm physically prepared enough for this or if I'm going to be wasting my time and money in the attempt. I'm currently planning to go with a friend in August to attempt the summit from Camp Muir via disappointment cleaver, etc. (the easiest way as I understand it) I know this is very subjective and varies from person to person but could you guys give me some rough idea of what sort of things I should be able to do at home if I've got a good shot of making it to the top of Rainier? Currently for physical conditioning I do (and have been doing for the last 6 months, and will continue to do leading up to Rainier in 3 more months unless advised otherwise) -25 minutes of high intensity interval training on my elliptical with the incline set to 40 degrees and resistance cranked up... I often wear a 40 pound pack as well. Basically just 6 or 7 very intense (180+ bpm) 95% intensity intervals with 1.5-2 minutes in between each one, and a warm up and warm down. I do this 2 times per week. -Lower body weights once per week. (I do this less often because the HIIT seems to conflict with it if I don't take a day off between this and HIIT) -Upper body weights twice per week. -High protein diet. I've got a pretty low body fat percentage. What else should I be adding to this regiment and what sort of fitness tests can you recommend that I could use to evaluate myself? I'm 27 years old, 6'1", 175lb. I would describe my lower body strength to be very good compared to the average person, though maybe not compared to the average mountaineer. My last hiking trip was 2 months ago and I (we) covered 34 miles in the smoky mountains over the course of 2 (well technically 1.5) days with about 15,000 feet of total elevation change according to my GPS (including all up and down). Nice weather, very little snow/ice, and a maximum elevation of about 6,600 feet with a starting elevation of 2500. Some bush whacking involved and probably a maximum incline of 30-35 degrees (estimated but we were on hands and knees and pulling ourselves along with trees for much of it, to give you an example) for a total of only about a mile. Pack weight was very light at 25-30 pounds since we had a shelter to stay in at night. I was completely torn up at the end of the trip... couldn't even walk right. In fact our original plan was to be out there for another night and walk 5 miles back to the car but we were in too much pain. Turns out my buddy separated his glute muscle from his hip bone during the high incline bushwhack portion of the trip. Any help is much appreciated, even if it's just guess work or approximating... it's better than what I have to go on now, which is nothing. Thanks Kyle