ScaredSilly Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 Two stuck at Muir - one unknown: http://www.opb.org/news/article/mount-rainier-washington-rescue-snow/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Way Posted March 29, 2016 Share Posted March 29, 2016 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" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Water Posted March 29, 2016 Share Posted March 29, 2016 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... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScaredSilly Posted March 29, 2016 Author Share Posted March 29, 2016 Article updated: 2 Airlifted Off Mount Rainier, 1 Presumed Dead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonG Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sugiyama_ss Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPS Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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