[TR] Mt Rainier - DC 7/20 to 7/21/12

[Eric Anderson]

*Warning, this is a TR of the DC route, nothing epic to be found

 

 

Third time's a charm!

 

After two years of avalanche conditions, bad weather (and probably inadequate conditioning,) things aligned for a successful summit last weekend. Coming off a week of vacation on the beach I intended to fly home the day before I was to drive up to Paradise to meet my group to spend a night at Paradise Inn before heading up. A Rainier trip wouldn't be complete without a few extra hurdles, this time it was 3 mechanical delays on flights in a row followed by a lost bag meaning I got home 30 hours late.

 

We got a nice view of Rainier on the flight home. It was funny flying by and being able to spot where my buddies were enjoying their dinner. I told one of the flight crew I was supposed to be there now getting ready to climb it. He said 'really? what's the weather supposed to be like?' I told him 'iffy' and he kinda laughed and said 'I'll say, iffy!' (They had altered their flight path to avoid lightning.)

 

 

Poor weather was in the forecast so the group decided to leave Paradise in the late morning meaning I got to sleep in my own bed and head out early in the morning after getting at least a little rest. I drove through non-stop thunder and lightning and saw a bolt hit Rainier as I drove up. We sat in the lodge for a couple hours waiting for the rain to clear and when it turned from a downpour to a drizzle we headed up.

 

 

We made ok time to Muir, about 4.5 hours and enjoyed much better weather as melted snow and ate.

 

 

Our original plan called for a rest day at Muir but the forecast told us we'd be leaving that night. We slept for around an hour and woke around midnight to crystal clear skies. Ate, geared up and headed up around 1:30am.

 

 

Skies were clear but the winds were a steady 40mph blowing ice pellets in our face which got pretty old

 

 

We made good time from Muir, just over 5.5 hours from Muir to the true summit

 

 

Shortly after 7am, 7/21/12, I had the highest feet in Washington

 

Way down was slow but uneventful

 

Victory beer in the parking lot was delicious

 

 

I was incredibly happy to summit Rainier but I think I'm done with the DC, the crowds were pretty annoying. Baker and Glacier Peak next year to do all the WA volcanoes and then more technical or ski ascents of Rainier are in my future I think.

[ACK]

Thanks for the pics. Nice night shot.

Looks like a good time.

Did you seen any skiers on the DC?

[CaleHoopes]

Hey, there's a picture just after your comment about "we made it to muir in 4.5 hours".... Is that picture from Muir looking across at Cathedral Gap? Am I really seeing that the Gap is still a lot of snow? Or are my eyes deceiving me?

[saxybrian]

No, that's not the gap. The gap looks like this right now, I took this last Saturday

 

[mtnstoke]

Summitting ANY route on Rainier is a notable accomplishment, don't let anybody tell you otherwise, so congratulations! And kudos for the really nice pictures!

[CaleHoopes]

I thought it looked pretty fishy for the Gap. Thanks for posting an awesome pic of the gap. I'm headed up with a group tomorrow. So, I really appreciate.

[burchey]

Yeah, route is mild, but the pics were great. Thanks for tossin it up

[markwebster]

Sweet photos! That's a good camera, whatever it is.

[Eric Anderson]

Hey, there's a picture just after your comment about "we made it to muir in 4.5 hours".... Is that picture from Muir looking across at Cathedral Gap? Am I really seeing that the Gap is still a lot of snow? Or are my eyes deceiving me?

 

This is the view directly to the right of the gap. The photo above shows the route well, the gap was all pretty straightforward. The section between Ingraham Flats to the toe of the DC was starting to shift pretty high and was re-routed between our ascent and descent so it might be interesting by this weekend.

 

Summitting ANY route on Rainier is a notable accomplishment, don't let anybody tell you otherwise, so congratulations! And kudos for the really nice pictures!

 

Ya, I'm just being self-deprecating so I appear more humble, I'm pretty proud of our group. The climb without any issues in less than stellar weather. But I do want to go up some more challenging routes next, maybe something on the West side.

 

Sweet photos! That's a good camera, whatever it is.

 

Just what every photographer loves to hear

 

It was two different cameras and a cell phone.

[farflung]

Nice photos and congratulations. Always nice to be high on mountain while the rest of western washington languishes below the clouds!