[TR] Rainier NP - DC to Emmons 8/19/2007

[111]

Trip: Rainier NP - DC to Emmons

 

Date: 8/19/2007

 

Trip Report:

Myself and 6 others made an attempt this weekend in what turned out to be probably some of the worst weather of the summer. We made it to Camp muir just as snow started to fall on saturday just as the weather forecast said it would and pretty much didnt let up for the rest of the weekend. We made an attempt at climbing at 11pm sat night, followed the tracks of 3 RMI groups due to the whiteout conditions, and turned back 2 hours later when they did before we dropped down below disappointment cleaver. Routefinding with all the new snow would have been a little too exciting for us. In the morning we found that approximately 2-3 inches of new snow had fallen with drifts of up to 1.5 feet deep

 

According to the rangers at Paradise, the route apparently now follows the RMI trail for only a short ways before dropping below their superhighway to avoid crevasses. Then you hike up through Ingram flats and drop below DC, cross about half of the Emmons Glacier and head up from there, traversing around and through lots of crevasses. They said allot an extra hour to the one-way summit time due to all the traversing.

 

The one benefit to this "extreme backpacking trip" was that we spend half of sunday playing with crevasse rescue systems for the newbies to see. All in all, a miserable climbing trip, but a successful backpacking trip.

 

Gear Notes:

mucho pickets

 

Approach Notes:

there is a good trail to Camp Muir and the glissade trail is getting better for the way down.

[billbob]

What he said! We waited Sat and Sun at Muir for a break in the weather, decided not to follow you guys Sat nite and were glad for it. Our megamid got knocked down from that storm, forcing us to drink our last bottle (made sense at the time). Would have enjoyed the whole thing much more if only we had thought to bring more adult beverages etc. Isn't August supposed to have the best weather? Just goes to show ya that 1) Mountain weather is unpredictable, and 2) Bring more consumables than you expect to consume because it's much better to carry back than to run dry. Hope to see you back up there soon.

[Spencer]

Which area are you using for crevasse rescue I also wanted to go over some basics with the group I am going with this week ( weather permitting)

We trodded up to Muir and raced back before the weather hit.

[111]

There is a large ice cave 100 yds NE from camp muir. people had tents set up on all sides of it when we got there and the bridge was wanded.

[CascadeWalker]

I was led by RMI two days later when conditions were great. You can read my trip report at:

 

http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/39809/page/1#Post40647