[TR] Mt. Rainier - Emmons Trade Rte. 6/13/2010

[Bigtree]

Trip: Mt. Rainier - Emmons Trade Rte.

 

Date: 6/13/2010

 

Trip Report:

Another fine summit of this beautiful peak. Had planned to climb via Ingraham Direct, but avy hazard/forecast etc. resulted in a change of plans. Route was in fine form and in generally safe condition. Roughly 7 1/2 hrs from White River to Camp Schurman Saturday morning. Napped/hydrated/fed and gabbed with Dave the ranger et al. Left for summit at 1:30 am Sunday and topped out with 4 fellow climbers in just over 6 hrs. Passed a surprising number of teams who bonked/turned around. Great conditions heading up, but windy above 13,000'. No signs from the summit of anyone topping out from the DC or other routes. Freezing level definitely rose throughout the day and the balling crampons started at about 12,500' on descent, but base was deep/solid with no signs of slabbing or instability anywhere nearby. Observed some solo climber who was wandering about and clearly off route on the descent and was generally behaving like he shouldn't be out on his own in a place like this (I wonder how many folks like this climb/attempt to climb Rainier each year?) Napped/hydrated/fed again and then booted out to White River in 3 1/2 hrs.

 

Gear Notes:

Standard glacier travel kit.

[ricko]

great - thanks for the report

[highhatt]

It was a nice day! We must have summited a little before you. We left camp around 11pm on Saturday. I would agree that the route was defintely in and direct. Tried to board down the inter but first time for me with a big pack and really soft snow. It could have been better. In case you didn't know the father daugther team did make it back to camp as we were leaving. Glad to see them make back safely after watching them all day.

Edited June 15, 2010 by highhatt

[Good2Go]

Thanks for the report. I was thinking of skiing the route this weekend. How was the snow looking above the corridor? Nice and smooth or sastrugi-ed out?

[olemissrebel]

I saw the little girl and her dad coming down from Shurman Sunday. What a tough kid!

[Bigtree]

...sastrugi-ed out?

Only for the first couple of thou from the top (still quite manageable). After that it was fabulous spring corn once the sun hit it.

[highhatt]

sastrugi-ed out?

 

As long as you hit it early enough. By the time I got to it, it was a slush pile that probably would have been fine without the extra 50lbs slinging around on my back.