Mount Rainier

Mount Rainier is a volcano in the Cascade Mountains. It is the tallest mountain in Washington State at 14,411 ft., and the 5th tallest in the continental United States. According to the National Parks Service, last year nearly 9,000 attempted to climb Mt. Rainier. Just over half of them were successful. Only 276 of them attempted the route we chose: the Kautz Glacier.

To start the route, Joe, Matt, Mike and I began at 5,400 ft. where the NPS has a very nice visitor center. We started hiking around 7 AM on Monday, the 14th. We hiked through some beautiful alpine meadows with an amazing amount of wildfowers in bloom. We hiked until with met the Nisqually Glacier, where we put on our crampons, roped up, and crossed. After crossing the glacier, we ascended a rockfall gully called "The Fan." We had some lunch before heading out onto the Wilson Glacier and up to our first campsite.

The first night we set up our camp on the edge of the Wilson Glacier at about 8,200 ft. When we awoke the next morning we had an awesome view with the clouds a few thousand feet below us. We started out around 7 AM again and went the rest of the way up the glacier. We reached a rock band where we unroped and climbed up to "The Turtle," which is a large, steep snowfield. We spent the rest of the day ascending this and set up camp at around 11,200 ft.

The following morning we got an "alpine start," meaning that we awoke at 2 AM and started off by 3AM when the snow was still very cold and hard, making ice and rockfall less likely. The cold conditions at this time also make snowbridges more stable and allows for quicker travel. The first obstacle we had to overcome was a 30 to 40 foot cliff that needed to be descended. We rappeled down this and then continued on through an icefall area to some technical ice climbing sections on the Kautz Glacier. There was far more vertical ice than we had expected, and we ended up behind schedule.

Once we topped-out on the ice, we still had some glacier travel to go. By this time the sun had some out and we were slowed down by hidden crevasses. We ended up finding a suitable campsite at around 13,000 ft. after 9 hours of climbing and glacier navigation. We ate some dinner and went to bed around 6 PM that evening to get enough rest for another alpine start the next morning.

The fourth day on the mountain was summit day. We spent about 3 and 1/2 hours navigating more crevasses before making it to the summit at 6:30 AM. We spent the rest of the day descdending the 9000 feet we'd climbed. By the end of the day we were all beat. We headed back to Tacoma and had some beer and pizza as a reward and crashed out for the night.

I had a great time on this trip and was treated to some awesome views. The sights were absolutely amazing. "Thank you" to Mike, Matt, and Joe. I can't wait for the next one...

If you look closely you can see a general route overview in red dashed lines. Our campsites are marked with green circles. (You may have to click on the picture and enlarge it to see the route.) 

Still on solid ground and moving quickly. 

The Niqually Glacier was the first glacier that we crossed. 

Taking a stop for some rest and some lunch. 

This is the view we awoke to after our first night on the mountain. 

Joe and Matt are taking a break after a particularly steep section of a snowfield known as "The Turtle." 

Here I am rappeling down to the beginning of the steepest section of the climb at about 3:30 AM, 

You can see Joe down the ice wall a little ways making his way up. This section was sometimes as steep as 70 degrees. To give you a little perspective: the "U" shaped snowfield on the left side of the picture is about 250 vertical feet down. The clouds are several (4 to 5, perhaps) thousand feet down.  

Here I am belaying Joe from a ledge on the ice wall. The "ice" at this altitude is not like ice that forms when water freezes. It is formed by the weight of the glaciers compressing snow and fusing the crystals together. It may look like its just really hard snow, but when you whack at it with an ice pick, it quickly becomes apparent that acending without crampons and ice tools would be impossible.  

Just one of the many crevasses that we had to find a way over or around.  

Mike took this pictures of us walking along the crater rim to the summit. We had just navigated some crevassed terrain (hence the rope). 

From left to right: Mike, Matt, myself, and Joe. At the summit and ready to head down to beer and pizza. 

Standing at 14,411 ft. Behind me you can see the crater of the volcano. The summit is just the highest point on the crater.