[TR] Mt Rainier- Emmons 7/23/2005

[RJB]

Climb: Mt Rainier-Emmons

 

Date of Climb: 7/23/2005

 

Trip Report:

Set out from the white river camp ground parking lot at 9am and headed up for glacier basin. The weather was warm and sunny, just shorts and a t-shirt for modesty:)

The marmots were whistling in the upper basin and a slight breeze made perfect hiking conditions. We stopped at the base of interglacier and swapped out what was left of our stinky city water for some fresh cold glacier run-off. Some pretty big crevasses open in the middle right of the glacier but they are esaly passable either on the far right or straight up the middle.

From the top of inter glacier we got a good view of the emmons route.

The boot track is quite easy to see.

 

We arrived at camp Shurman around 5pm and set up camp on the snow field. Made dinner and water for the morning then hit the rack.

 

Got up at zero hour and had a hot cup of joe and put on the snivle gear. Temps were in the high 20's and not much wind. Left camp at around 1 am roped up with cramps on. My legs kept trying to kick my lazy ass for not training more bettween mountains. My ass just laughed and demanded to be carried on to the summit. With almost a full moon and a clear sky headlamps were optional, but a good idea for the leader. I prefered to leave mine off.

 

The sun started creaping over the horizon in the 5 o'clock hour and painted the sky with the promise of warmth. The jagged outline of the Stuart range brought back memories of my trip there. I have a pic in my photo gallery but can't seem to get the link to work. I'll fix it later.

 

There was not much of a "boot track" more like foot prints spread around at random. Trying to match a track to my stride helped to pass the time. The snow was firm and quite easy to walk on. Route finding was not a problem either. Most of the crevasses still had decent snow bridges over them with only a couple narrow "jumpers".

 

We reached the summit by 8:00. I was ready to head down soon after the summit pictures but the guys wanted to look around some more. The only thing I wanted to look at was the back of the outhouse door back at shurman.

 

The snow got pretty soft on the way down. Around 11,000 feet my cramps were balling every third step so I decided to take them off. We managed to get in a few good glissades on the last 1000 feet down to the camp.

 

After a short sit in the little brown house we packed up and hit the trail back to galcier basin. The last three miles of the trail seemed to take forever and the balls of my feet hurt pretty bad. limped back to the truck by 5:30 pm and swapped the boots for dry cotton socks and my mocks.

 

After a few handshakes and back slaps I jumped in the truck only to find I had left my lights on! Some cool guy on a Mt bike that spoke in broken english found me some jumper cables. Man that guy was a life saver!!!!

 

Managed to drive to packwood without falling asleep. Purchased some highly caffinated beverages at the local am/pm and got back on the road. The drinks did the trick and I landed safely back in Vancouver by 10 pm.

 

All in all a perfect weekend!

 

Gear Notes:

Cramps needed above shurman.

antibott plates a must for decent.

Rope is a good idea but route can be soloed safely (with permit)

 

 

Double Check your LIGHTS before you leave the parking lot!!!

 

Approach Notes:

Road work on WA-123

One lane road with traffic control light.

Edited July 26, 2005 by RJB

[TrailPair]

Nice report. It was an awesome weekend on the mountain. My wife and I were there at the same time. The weather was perfect. The conditions were perfect.

 

You must have taken the left fork at the "Y" at about 13,000 ft. and gone up the shorter steeper route past the bergschrund. We took the right fork and traversed up to the saddle between Liberty Cap and the summit. Then on up to the top.

 

I'm going to take this opportunity to mention the nasty chossy conditons at the "rock wall of doom" where the route descends from Camp Curtis to the glacier. The route has loose rotten rock and gravel wih poor footing and little to use for hand holds. This is undoubtedly the most dangerous part of the climb. That descent is a hazard to life and limb. I wonder if there is anything the park service can do to make it safer....maybe install a cable or something.

 

One more thing....with the warm weather, the crevasses are opening rapidly. The snow bridges will be disappearing soon.

[Kraken]

are you guys on the emmons seeing very many Alpine Ascents International groups up there?

[thelawgoddess]

ha, ha ... nice!

[rhyang]

rock wall of doom ?? Install cables ?? I thought that was basically the only fun part of the approach ! Well, except for the exposed ice on the Inter ...