[TR] Mt Rainier - Ingraham Direct 6/20/2010

[saxybrian]

Trip: Mt Rainier - Ingraham Direct

 

Date: 6/20/2010

 

Trip Report:

So we had our trip to Mt Rainier this year. Friend and I flew in from TX and 2 buddies from CO drive to Mt Rainier and had our trip.

 

On the way up from the parking lot it was a bit cloudy, visibility was probably bout 1-2k feet with the mountain coming into view here and there through the clouds. By 7,500ft the mountain was in full view and we were in the sun as we had punched through the clouds.

At this point my friend Curt was getting some pretty bad cramps in his legs, and I told Brenna and Chris to head up to Muir (10,200ft) and I'd take care of him on the way up since he was moving a bit slower. By 8500-9000ft Curt was hurting so bad he couldn't move, I spent time trying to massage his legs but he could only go a few hundred feet then have to sit back down. At this point, I did something I didn't want, but knew was the best thing. I left him there, hiked up to Muir dropped off my pack, got some water and took my empty pack back down the mountain to get him with Chris. We reached him at about 9,000ft, the rangers had dropped off some water for him. We empty his pack into ours and helped carry his stuff up. He made it to Muir, but in some serious pain.

 

We had our tents setup and a nice snow wall around most of our tents.

The next morning Curt woke up was feeling a bit better, however was still hurting bad and decided to head down the mountain and get a hotel for the remainder of the trip. At this point, Brenna, Chris and I decided to head up to 11,200 fet to the Ingraham Flats (through the steep part of the previous picture and around that rock face onto a flat part of the Ingraham Glacier.

On the way we saw a few crevasses and some great picture shots. The tents in the 2nd picture would be our stopping point that day and we would turn around after 20-30 minutes of admiring the view on this beautiful hot day.

 

We headed back down, got our gear ready and were in bed by 7pm. We slept 5 hours, woke up at 12am and were on the ropes and snow by 1am. We didn't really any pictures on the way up as you can't really see much w/o the sun, so the pictures were taken on the way down so just imagine this really dark but with the same background

 

We hiked back to the flats from Muir for our first break. Sat there 10-15 minutes, eating and hydrating and started back up. Up and up we went heading up the Ingraham Glacier were just a few weeks earlier there was an avalanche that burried someone who was never found. As we continued up we could smell a sulfer vent which had a horrid oder and this lasted for about 800 veritical feet.

We peaked out around that large rock on the left side but about 3/4th the way to the right on this picture.

 

At this point we treverrsed the mountain to the right headed up a bit to navigate some crevasses that were too large to cross, we started the switch backs to the summit. Around 12,500ft we hit a team that was slower than snails and they would ignore us all the way to 13,800ish feet. They wouldn't let us pass, ignored us when we talked to them. All in all were complete assholes and cost us about an hour of time on the way up. They finally breaked at 13,800ish, we took a break there too, but a short one and were out before they were settled down.

 

We continued up another 45 minutes or so and finally hit the crater rim of the mountain.

 

We rested here about 10-15 minutes, drank some water and the question was finally asked. "Do you want to hike across the crater to the true summit?" I was blown away, wanted to sleep and almost out of foot, almost gagged about 5x and just watned to relax, but I knew it would get the best of me if I didn't go. We dropped our packs off, unropped and headed across the crater to the true summit and within 30-45 minutes of hiking we finally made it.

Picture on the true summit with Mt St Helens in the background.

 

Once we got there, we turned around and started down the mountain. We finally hit Camp Muir by about 10:30-11am and were greeted with a Helicopter dropping off supplies for the Rangers.

We headed down the mountain later that day and were post holing in the snow up to our waist at times but were left with a awesome shot.

 

So all in all, a great trip, and was very tired when we finished.

 

 

 

Approach Notes:

Be prepared for some serious post holing if you leave in the heat of the day.

[saxybrian]

PS to those who suggested I get new boots from my last trip report with the ginormous blisters on my feet, thank you. Only a tiny blister on the side of my toe this time and I can actually walk normally the moment I took my boots off!

[BirdDog]

Nice, way to go. Great pics, love the summit hand stand.

[cbcbd]

Nice, way to go. Great pics, love the summit hand stand.

Ditto! Nice work!

[Mike F]

I enjoyed your report. So which boots did you end up getting?

 

Mike

[Lisa_D]

Beautiful. Looks like you had good luck with the weather!

[saxybrian]

I enjoyed your report. So which boots did you end up getting?

 

Mike

La Sportiva Trango's! They are awesome!