Mt Rainier 2024
May 29 - We returned almost a year to the day to Mount Rainier to try again. Our plan this time included an extra night, staying at the Ingraham Flats to help with the acclimation and general rest. We arrived Wednesday evening in Paradise, checked into our room and spent the evening packing for the next three days in the wilderness.
June 5 - We set out from Paradise at roughly 6:30 AM with a light drizzle and gray, overcast skies. It was a little bit earlier in the season and the snow was significant compared to the previous year. The snow was fairly slushy on the way up as we gained elevation to the base of the Muir snowfield.
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Once on the Muir snowfield, we encountered white out conditions the entire way up to the Camp Muir. We used our multiple navigation GPS tools to make sure we stayed on course and occasionally past groups coming down from previous attempts; climbers would suddenly appear from the mist like apparitions. You could hear people yelling over the wind 20 yards away but couldn’t see them. After 6 to 7 hours of hiking we arrived at Camp; a climber who had already been there came up to me and said, “Hey! You made it to Camp Muir in a whiteout!” We had read several trip reports of experiencing a whiteout on the snowfields and they are legit.
When we arrived at Camp Muir, we found the public shelter to be fairly empty and decided we’d spend our first night there. As we settled in, we were joined by another small group of four or five guys who were also attempting Rainier after a stop at Ingraham. We made water ate and rested for the night.
May 31 - We woke to crystal clear skies and an amazing, inverted cloud layer at probably 8-9K feet. You could perfectly see Adams and St Helens in the distance, and the sun was bright and warm with no wind. After leisurely breakfast, we repacked our gear and shed a few items that we left in the shelter. We roped up and headed up to the Ingraham glacier through Cathedral rocks which was entirely snow covered, totally different conditions than the previous year. After brief and uneventful trip to the Ingram glacier, we established a campsite by midday fairly close to the guide’s tents. The group that was in the shelter with us the night before came up and pushed past us by about 30-40 mins to the base of the Ingraham direct route. Smart move, as this would save that amount of time as they started off on their summit push. We made water, ate, did some crevasses rescue practice, and rested for our summit attempt that evening.
Our alarms went off at 11:00 pm and we headed out around midnight. It was clear and cold with slight wind, as we worked our way up to the base of the Cleaver. Using the fixed ropes, we made our way up the snow covered cleaver. We had some difficulty spotting a few of the wands, but in general the path as well as established and easy to follow. Eventually we were passed by the group that had traveled with us to Ingraham. They helped break trail as some of the snow from the previous days had obscured the path. Along the way, guides had placed protection in the form of pickets with carabiners at several points that were more exposed, so we clipped our rope through the carabiners as we passed.
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As we reached our previous high point from the year before arounf 13K, the traffic behind us began to build as more climbers began to come up. At that point we switched positions on the rope team and we headed up the final switchback pushes to the edge of the crater.
Unbelievable to think that we had actually made it this time! Such an absolutely perfect morning when we arrived around 7 AM with beautifully clear skies. We spent about half an hour photographing and enjoying the views and chatting with a few other climbers who had come up, but then, as always, we began to focus on the task of getting back down to camp. We drank, snacked and roped back up to begin our descent. We got caught between climbers coming up the narrow boot track as we descended a tricky section at a switchback where we had to temporary step to the side of the trail while they belayed each other up. Once the climbers passed us, the descent was picture perfect. We arrived at Ingraham Flats in the afternoon, stripped off our boots, climbed into the tents and relaxed, planning to spend the night at the Flats versus continuing to Camp Muir.
June 1 - We woke on the final morning of our trip to a healthy snowstorm on the Flats so we pulled on our boots, broke down the tent, packed our gear and headed down to Camp Muir. At Camp Muir we picked up what we had left behind and, in an incredibly glorious mood, we moved down the snowfield below the storm into another beautiful day. We glissaded a few sections to save to speed on our descent and arrived on Saturday afternoon to a swarm of tourists, who were enjoying the weather and walking on the lower trails. Arriving at Paradise, we headed inside to get a big meal and celebrate conquering one of our long dreamed of summits.
