Trip: Mt Rainier - Emmons-Winthrop
Date: 6/24/2011
Trip Report:
Mt Rainier, Emmons-Winthrop 6/24-6/26, 2011
Long time lurker and a first time poster.
Friday morning saw us leaving the house at 7am on or way to the White River ranger station. A quick stop for coffee and breakfast burrito’s at Memo’s finally put us on the road. Picking up two other partners along the way in the BL and Claw we finally made it to the trailhead around 9:30. A quick repack of bags and booting up, all 5 of us were on the way up the Glacier Basin trail.
Snow started quickly once on the trail nearly on our own except for a climbing ranger heading down and an the IMG Jansport climb team, all of which warned us of the last 600ft being very steep. We made it up to Glacier Basin quickly and decided to head to the base of the Inter glacier where we would set up camp for the first night. No reason to push it too hard with 5 people on the team, Erin who has climbed numerous peaks around the world including Rainier, Marcus, Brandon, and I who have all tried to summit once only to be turned back, and my wife Cassie who after my attempt last year said she was
coming next time.
javascript:void(0)
Camp was set up quickly and the stove was going to get water collected for dinner and the next days push up to Camp Schurman. A few more climbers followed us up the trail and passed through camp, some heading to Liberty Ridge and others pushing up to Camp Curtis that day. Weather came in and out over St Elmo pass all afternoon and would finally force us into the tents around 7pm, as we started to get hammered with winds and pelting snow.
Saturday morning came to blue bird skies and warm temps, forcing us to pack up quick so we wouldn’t fry to bad heading up the Inter glacier. The trip up the Inter Glacier was uneventful, just long, hot, and steep all while carrying heavy packs as we trekked toward Camp Schurman. We finally made it around
1pm after a leisurely pace and set up camp. With camp set up, and the stove melting water again, we discussed the next day’s plan as we all anticipated our ascent up the Emmons-Winthrop route.
12am came way to fast and we were moving up the Emmons glacier by 1:30 under completely clear skies. Our pace was steady and we made good time up the corridor under perfect conditions and absolutely amazing views off in the distance. Seattle, Yakima, Baker, Glacier Peak, and the Olympics, if it was North, West, or East of us we saw it Sunday morning. As we pushed on the crevasse crossings started appearing more frequently, but all were passed with no trouble except for one that required a jump up in order to cross with little room for error on the steep slope across from it. The whole team safely across and the climb steepened greatly. We were told it was only 600ft of vertical, but I’m pretty damn sure it was a lot more. The climbing continued slowly at this point. Finally one last break with everyone feeling pretty beat up, some skiers next to us said they thought there was only about 500ft left of the climb, we decided to trust them. Thank god they were right, because as soon as we started up again and gained the next up hill battle, the summit was in our faces, we made it to the crater rim, 9 ½ hours later.
After an hour of pictures, food, water, and signing the register, we roped back up and began the long slog of a descent back down the mountain. It was hot, very hot and it seemed like Camp cShurman was never getting any closer. Finally, as we stepped onto the corridor, we saw another team of two ahead of
us making glissade track after glissade track back down to camp. The decision was easily made by all and we sat our butts down and started sliding as a team back to camp. This made the descent fly by, and by 3:30 we rolled into camp exhausted and not looking forward to the hike out.
We leisurely packed our bags and took off about 6pm. We made our way to the top of the Inter glacier and glissaded all the way down to the bottom in nearly one long endless glissade and continued on to to the car. Arrived there about 9 and finally got back home after dropping some of the team off. 12 midnight was back, and my wife and I finally were crawling into bed, 24 hours from the time we woke
Gear Notes:
Lots of sunscreen
Approach Notes:
Glacier Basin trail is snow after about the first mile
