jakeblake Posted January 15, 2011 Posted January 15, 2011 Hello! A friend recommended CC, glad to find it! I have a crew of three fit, fun-loving (serious when we need to be), early-40s men looking for an experienced leader for August climb up Rainier. We all have 14er experience and one of the guys successfully summited Rainier ten years ago. We work well together but definitely need an ice/glacier expert in our group. Some flex on exact dates. Email me jakeblakefield@yahoo.com if interested or have contacts. Thank you in advance! J Quote
KirkW Posted January 15, 2011 Posted January 15, 2011 Hello! A friend recommended CC, glad to find it! I have a crew of three fit, fun-loving (serious when we need to be), early-40s men looking for an experienced leader for August climb up Rainier. We all have 14er experience and one of the guys successfully summited Rainier ten years ago. We work well together but definitely need an ice/glacier expert in our group. Some flex on exact dates. Email me jakeblakefield@yahoo.com if interested or have contacts. Thank you in advance! J So in other words you and your buddies are looking for a guide that will work for free? How about either not climbing the mountain until you got the skills or actually paying for a guide to drag your sorry ass up there? Quote
Dane Posted January 15, 2011 Posted January 15, 2011 So in other words you and your buddies are looking for a guide that will work for free? Came across that way to me as well. Of course paying someone to guide you (that doesn't have a permit) would be illegal for both parties. NPS frowns on such antics and happily issues a healthy fine if you are caught. I suspect the original author just wasn't aware of the complication. NPS has a list of guide services available on Rainier. Several of the individual guides post here as well. Quote
jakeblake Posted January 16, 2011 Author Posted January 16, 2011 Wow, sorry if the post offended anyone. Definitely not saying the pro guides aren't great or worth the bucks. I doubt anybody will be dragging us anywhere. As I said, one guy already did the mountain (one attempt) and he's probably the LEAST fit of the bunch. Just looking for a fourth with more local experience. Heck, we may drag his or her sorry ass up! Quote
mtnmitch Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Hello! A friend recommended CC, glad to find it! I have a crew of three fit, fun-loving (serious when we need to be), early-40s men looking for an experienced leader for August climb up Rainier. We all have 14er experience and one of the guys successfully summited Rainier ten years ago. We work well together but definitely need an ice/glacier expert in our group. Some flex on exact dates. Email me jakeblakefield@yahoo.com if interested or have contacts. Thank you in advance! J So in other words you and your buddies are looking for a guide that will work for free? How about either not climbing the mountain until you got the skills or actually paying for a guide to drag your sorry ass up there? KirkW, Not everyone has glaciated peaks out their back door. I could totally see where these folks are coming from. They could be totally capable and have climbed lots of peaks potentially but maybe not much glacier experience, they are not that common in the lower 48 these days. Doesn't seem very welcoming to be a complete ass to someone who is posting on here for the first time, lay off, they didn't need your two cents. Guides are expensive. Playing in the mountains is amazing and not everyone has $1000-$1500 to throw down to have an experience in the mountains. Who knows maybe there is someone out there whose would love to go with these guys. That's my two cents KirkW. Mitch Quote
sean_beanntan Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Jake, in climbing Rainier fitness counts for sure. On good sunny days with a lot of luck that might be all you need, esp climbing with a nice bootpack, maybe even follow behind a guided party....though guided groups may turn back for many reasons and what do you do then?. You could follow other headlamps out in front but now you are following people who you have never even met!!!...believe me folks do this and while there is nothing wrong with doing so, but it does increase your exposure So here are a few ? you should ask answer before looking for a leader Can u navigate through a crevasse field. decide on the integrity of a snow bridge? Feel comfortable navigating through a possible whiteout thro same crevasse field.? Feel that you can arrest a climber that has fallen into a crevasse, then build a system to get him out? How would you feel about giving up so much control to someone that you hardly know, how do you know that you can trust his decision making esp in bad conditions? What is your MO in case of a accident, what are your resources, first aid etc I agree that not everyone has the money to hire a guide service but you are paying for a level of security that if the shit hits the fan is worth every penny. Its kinda like car insurance that you pay every year and never use hopefully. In hiring a guide, figure some of the cost as insurance in case all of the above situations happen. Otherwise maybe you are a dentist or chiropractor, car mechanic etc and some one out there needs their teeth or car fixed....most likely a lot of climbers ha ha There are other beautiful mountains that are not as committing such as Baker, Shuksan, Shasta, Hood. Why not try one of them first as a group, maybe show up a day early and get a guide to teach you some skills that you may not have. Quote
jakeblake Posted January 19, 2011 Author Posted January 19, 2011 Mitch, thanks man! Sean, great advice and I hear you. I think if we can get a partner who's been up and down a bit and feels comfortable route finding then we are good. Hopping around on 14ers in Colorado is child's play compared to Rainier so if conditions are hell we aren't going to be daredevils. We all have kids, no need to be reckless. But it might be nice to have the flexibility to stay another night at Muir or in the flats and wait for favorable conditions--something the guided tours don't do. Thanks again for the feedback guys. Quote
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