Rainier search

[ScaredSilly]

Two stuck at Muir - one unknown:

 

http://www.opb.org/news/article/mount-rainier-washington-rescue-snow/

 

[Peter Way]

I wonder if any of them bothered to check the weather forecast before going up there. Last weeks forecast screamed out "don't go up there"

[Water]

I'm not sure the dates but did it? For the weekend at least Saturday showed promise all week then the limited window it was collapsed smaller on late Thursday and Friday's forecasts. That said there is a TR here of someone successfully climbing Adams on Saturday in bluebird conditions...

[ScaredSilly]

Article updated: 2 Airlifted Off Mount Rainier, 1 Presumed Dead

[JasonG]

The weather that came in Saturday night was well-forecasted. I would agree with Peter. Anyone who knows Rainier knows you don't want to be on the upper mountain when a front goes through, especially this time of year.

 

So many of the Rainier accidents could have been prevented with just a simple check of the forecast. Your margin of safety is nil during a storm on the upper mountain. If anything goes wrong you're dead, and you may still be dead if nothing goes wrong. Why stack the deck against you and your partners?

 

I know it is bad form to comment on a death so soon after the fact, but I get tired of history repeating itself.

[sugiyama_ss]

I was at Camp Muir this weekend. The weather on Saturday was pretty much as forecast: beautiful and sunny during the day but turning poor in the mid-afternoon. It was a good day to summit but the climbers were late in descending. I don't know why.

 

Saturday night was nasty, with gusting winds, low temperatures, and snow. I'm surprised that anyone survived and open bivy.

 

The two climbers were very experienced mountaineers. Both had climbed multiple 8000 m. peaks before. But they weren't from the area any maybe the speed at which the weather can change on Rainier was a surprise.

 

[DPS]

The two climbers were very experienced mountaineers. Both had climbed multiple 8000 m. peaks before. But they weren't from the area any maybe the speed at which the weather can change on Rainier was a surprise.

 

In January or 2000, Nick Strait and myself attempted Gib Ledges. We ran into Loren and Sarah on the approach. We all stayed in the Muir shelter along with two Euros, both of whom spoke very loudly about the many 8,000 meter peaks they had climbed.

 

The next day we started at about 3 AM, crossed Gib Ledges without incident and started the long hike to the summit crater. At about 13k, I fell into a crevasse. By the time I prussiked out, the weather had turned foul. Nick and I called it and headed down, running into Loren and Sarah, who turned around as well.

 

Shortly, the four of us ran into the Euros on their way up. We told them it was a very bad idea to head up into a storm. They ignored the advice and ended up spending something like 5 days pinned down in the summit crater. I heard that once on the summit, they call the rangers with their radio and asked for a helo ride off the summit.

 

I think that even very experienced climbers who have not climbing in the PNW underestimate the storms in this area.