www.summitpost.org/so-you-want-to-climb-mt-rainier/507227
So you think you want to climb Rainier... (Information on the climb and its requirements)
Wasn't sure if you were serious or not until I got to "How much oxygen should I bring?" at which point I laughed out loud.
Thanks for the relief!
You might be surprised. I worked on a Reality TV Pilot in Aspen and they bought those tiny little cute bottles for everyone because the LA producers were having a really hard time breathing at 8,000 feet and didn't think any of us would be able to make it carrying cameras.
Tbh those are like smoking a cigarette at high altitude, they hit hard, it’s a treat when some techy trekker bust one out at summit. 😅
For me it was the yak tracks
For me it was that he was taking “the family”
Kinda want to do Rainier now with oxygen just to look like a kook to everyone else on the mountain. It'd be funny af.
Same😭😭😭
Haha oh no! I was looking into getting into the sport because I want to summit Mt Kilimanjaro when I go to Tanzania in two years and I’m fairly close to Mt Rainier and thought that would be excellent training grounds.
I thought OP sounded informed but now I’m super lost on how to get started 🙊😳
During my rainier trip we followed an uncle and his nephew up the Muir snowfields and bunked next to each other in the shelter. The entire time this guy was railing on his nephew to move faster and mansplaining everything. The kid couldn't even tighten his own pack correctly without some sort of beratement. The uncle boasted he'd climbed rainier at least 5 times and he's a pro etc. Etc. Etc.
We start our second day summit bid around midnight and of course the guy and his nephew had already left the shelter at an even ungodlier hour. Not too long after we catch up to them and the uncle is doubled over literally shitting his pants! He caught pretty bad altitude sickness and they both had to immediately descend. The poor nephew looked so pissed!!! They must have only been an hour or so into the summit bid. We felt pretty bad for the kid, but honestly it was straight up karma.
In any case even some dude who claims he's a pro is at the mercy of the mountains. Altitude sickness, cramps, injuries, whatever can strike at literally any moment. Always climb with a group, be extra prepared, but most of all be ready to turn around. That's my number one rule. Make peace with the mountains and listen to what they tell you. Too much ice fall... Turn around. Start feeling a bit dizzy... Turn around. Never push your luck. Then hopefully you never run out of it..
I really hope no one has ever asked those questions.
A guide in chamonix told me some tourists asked him if the touristy train would take them up to Mont blanc
Never underestimate tourists out of their depth
To be fair, there’s a billion cable cars in Switzerland and several of them do go to mountain peaks. One train even go through a mountain and you can get off, open a door, and start climbing up the mountain
thats a tram or as you call it a cable car. not a train
Ok but there’s a train that literally goes THROUGH the eiger, nothing is sacred in the Alps 🤣
Someone probably has.
1000% people ask these evey year, I work in the park sometimes
I know this is an old comment but what are some of your oddest stories or experiences working in the park?
Hah! not sure I have any good ones really, I working earth sciences data collection thats off grid so I don't really get to interact with people much.
But I think I'd say it's funny how unprepared some people are on the way up to camp Muir, above 10,000ft if elevation. Muir is certainly not a technical climb, but it dang sure isn't just a casual stroll out of Paradise. So people get frighteningly far up the snow field with no food or extra water, trail runners and just a t shirt on a day where the weather isn't even that great. Dangerous stuff!
Yo I know this is old. But I'd be curious to learn about your earth sciences data collection work. What exactly do you do? How did you get into it? I am an engineer and have been considering getting a graduate degree and a career change. Have been looking into earth science fields lately.
I’m a hydrogeologist working in environmental consulting. Feel free to message me, would love to chat!
Here's a story from the 1960's that persisted for a long time. In the early 1960's, my family climbed up to the Paradise Ice Caves where were under the Paradise glacier, and explored around. The next year, they were permanently closed, due to the danger of ice fall within the caves. But I have a close friend who was hiking above Panorama Point with his wife and a friend on a sunny day in July. They got hit by a freak snow storm. Even though they were dressed reasonably, and built a snow cave, the wife died of hypothermia. My friend, who was a member of the Cascade Grotto of the National Speleological Society (cavers) became obsessed with the Paradise Ice Caves, and he was also an expert cave mapper. So with the blessing of the park service, he went into the Paradise Ice Caves every year for decades, and drew current maps, and gave them to the park service. Although it was very dangerous, they gave him permission. I think this was his way of honoring his wife and giving meaning to her death. He never remarried. He is still about, but I don't think he maps the caves any more. But interesting and true story.
Youd be surprised. Getting on the palm springs tram at 8000' I had someone ask me if the hose from my camelback was for Oxygen after I told them I'd just been at the top of Mt San Jacinto (10,900').
10/10, great work here
Wow I posted this 7 years ago lol. Life man. Seriously these are all questions I received in some variation or another while working in the rental shop of a guide service on Rainier. Many or most of them were asked daily, weekly. People would show up to visit the park and had absolutely no idea what it means to climb Rainier. I once got reemed for taking pity and processing a refund of a guy who rented parkas for his family of four. He was like “yeah we had no idea what this was, we don’t want these” and returned them after a day.
Oh but the rope around the waist one. That actually happened. I forget what these two dudes rented from us (you can’t rent ropes, to many a-customers dismay) but they returned to the shop and said they skied off the summit w a rope around their waists. I didn’t witness it, but these guys were not kidding.
Man as a newbie I’m confused by this post
This posts comments made me laugh. However, admittedly, I'm one of the noobs with zero mountaineering experience that wants to climb Rainier in 2022. What do I need to do to succeed in this quest? Besides obtaining a significant fitness level, is there a great gear list for this type of expedition? Are there any guides you guys would recommend that I can look up?
Moderator removed comment
2.4y
This - plus take a guided climb up Baker. In my crevasse course three climbers punched through over the span of an hour during a simple glacier crossing. Set me straight to make sure I was climbing with the right people and within all of our technical and more importantly crisis response abilities
I did a baker course and it was awesome. Did another course in Alaska and fell 7 ft into a glacier.
I’m very set straight. Basically when on a glacier in snowy conditions you should ALWAYS behave as if you’re on belay and belaying someone and assume max exposure.
Alright.. I just typed a very long question with lots of explaining my reasoning, but did not want to bombard you.
In short: I am also a newbie to mountaineering with extensive outdoor experience (including snow / ice camping and several traverses but no technical summits of note). I would like to acquire the skills I am lacking to safely summit Rainier without a guide. In addition to the crevasse rescue course (which I am hoping to find even amidst the seeming COVID scarcity..) are there any other specific skill courses which I would need?
And second, are there any popular ways to connect with other mountaineers in the area? Would love to start meeting people, although obviously that can be difficult right now.
Maybe just read the article linked in the post that is explicitly about the requirements of the climb?
Any ideas on where to find a crevasse rescue course? They seems to be all dried up
Alpine Ascents International
Where do you recommend finding mentor groups, other than sifting through the Google search? Facebook groups, State/City Subreddits..?
I also plan a 22 Rainier climb. Doing st helens, Adams, hood, and many others this year before though. I have zero experience as well other than hiking.
Same boat here as far as only having hiking experience. What's your plan?
Would really like to take a couple day classes on mountaineering. Currently trying to get in shape. Did a solo 8.4 mile hike in snow with 3400' elevation gain in Montana yesterday. Felt really good, I'm ready for Helens.
I bought crampons and a straight ice axe. Going to get some practice in on St Helens and Adams this spring.
I want to get more friends to come along with my brother and I, but most don't take big plans seriously, and i know they won't train for it and will back out when the time gets closer.
Definitely hire a guide if you do plan to go this year, to go unguided would be a big mistake IMHO. To give some perspective here I’ve been ski mountaineering every spring in the cascades the past 4 years and am just now considering rainier, albeit unguided. I’ve climbed St. Helens, Lassen x4, Shasta x3, a week of skiing Canadian glaciers plus a crevasse rescue course.
This is honestly the bare base of skills for rainier
I have to ask, St. Helens is on my list for 23, as my name suggests, I'm from WV, and the only large mountain out here is Mt. Mitchell, which is a much different hike than Helens.
When you hiked Helens, did you take the Ptarmigan? (that's the route I'm planning on taking), If so, would you have any suggestions on prep/gear?
Ast 1 very minimum. You are in no way prepared to solo Ranyay. Get a guide on a cheaper mountain to get skills. Then do a bunch of trips. Then do Ranyay with a group a few times. Then do it naked. Then you're ready
so howd it go?
Ed Viesters, look him up
Also start walking up shit with a heavy bag, and get good with knots and anchors
So, a perfect mountain to climb for a first time mountaineering experience. I'll probably also take my wife and kids /s
Moderator removed comment
2.4y
Well fuck, now I feel even more humiliated.
Yeah we're thinking we may put the kid in a Baby Bjorn and pack a power bar or two and an aquafina. We'll be fine!
Feelin cute, might go climb Rainier
Could somebody possibly eli5 why Rainier is so much more technical than Whitney?
Granted I haven't done Whitney, however I know that it can be done with "basic" backpacking gear.
Whitney being taller I would assume it should be more difficult if not the same. Is the difference because of latitude?
One has a glacier on it, the other doesn’t.
Mt Rainier has 36 glaciers on it, and there is no route up that avoids them. You will spend hours on glaciers with large deep crevasses, often covered with snow so you don't know they are there.
Rainer has a big glacier, and Whitney doesn't... That's because Whitney is far enough South that it doesn't even have permanent snowfields anymore, let alone glaciers. There are still a few small glaciers in the Sierra Nevada of California, but they're shrinking every decade. Some of them, like the Palisades Glacier, may not even have enough mass anymore to creep under gravity, which would mean that they're not really glaciers anymore.
Being further South means two things... First, the PNW gets less thermal energy from from the sun than the Sierra Nevada. But on the West Coast, this also places the PNW in a much higher precipitation zone than the Sierras. Southern California has an extremely dry climate, compared to the coastal PNW.
I love snow climbs, and I live in LA, AND I AM AWFULLY SALTY ABOUT IT RIGHT NOW.
Inadvertently implies rainer has only one glacier
The height difference is tiny, only a couple hundred feet... There are dozens of US peaks shorter than both (~12-14k) that are way, WAY more technically challenging.
Just curious, which ones? All the 14ers in Colorado are non-technical
I assume some of those peaks have multiple routes, right? Here in Cali, most everything has more than one approach, and plenty of those routes were deliberately intended to be difficult and/or technical. And there's always the infinity of lines you could pick, willy nilly, to get up anything.
Also, I suppose there's a seasonal component. We have plenty of steep slopes that are merely strenuous hiking/scrambling, in Spring/Summer/Fall.... But in Winter, they turn into icy death machines for people who don't rope up.
Amongst the Cali 14ers specifically, I guess it's mostly the Palisades Crest peaks that don't have trails to the top? Shasta is debatable... Whitney and Williamson have well established trails... White even has a damn fire road to the top, if you brought a Jeep and keys to the gates.
Sorry, I kinda misread your post... I was specifically thinking of Thunderbolt/Starlight in the Palisades... Whitney's East Buttress... Mithral Dihedral on Russell. I could probably list another dozen, but those are the main ones I was thinking of.
Ever done any West Coast mountaineering? I haven't spent much time in CO, yet, but I'm looking forward to changing that sometime in the near future.
Hole in ice make climber go down
Whoa whoa let’s avoid all the technical jargon
Went does Whitney, the larger mountain, not simply eat Rainier
I've seen people climbing Rainier in exactly this manner. A team of 5 Russians with a person on each end tied into the rope, with the 3 people in the middle simply holding onto the rope in between. No sunglasses, no harnesses, no worries!!
Good style 👌
Alpine style 😂
I know this is an old post but had to share this info.
So I just climbed Rainier last month. Summited May 13th, incredible conditions both in terms of the ID route and the weather.
And yesterday I was talking to a coworker who does a lot of trail running. He was all "me and my friends are going to climb Rainier in a few weeks!" So we start talking I ask what route he is doing and he is like "on we havent done any planning we are just going to show up and give it a shot"
Conversation goes on and their plan is to do it in their trail running shoes/gear. I ask "so are you thinking micro spikes or crampons or what?"
He says "no we don't like to use those they are extra weight so they just slow us down."
No harnesses. No ropes. No traction devices. No ice axes. Just wants to use their running vests and clothes and some water on his hip belt thing. Whatever it's called.
I ask, "so do you have a lot of experience on glaciers?"
"No I don't like running on ice and snow. So a little bit with like patches of snow. But I have done a 14'er before."
...just wow.
I couldn't in good conscience not remind him of the dangers and that people die every year on Rainier because they attempt it without the proper equipment. I'm worried I came off like a dick. But shit I still don't think he gets the risks he would be taking.
This kind of arrogance is what gets people killed on Rainier. Totally avoidable.
The asinine thing about it was he was all "well we are just going to show up and go for it!"
Like you need to get permits and submit things to the national park service and all that.
There was a thread not long ago where someone said they were denied a permit. And everyone was like "yeah because you don't have the necessary experience."
if you're on this sub and not some hiking one, hopefully you arent asking these questions. Rainier is a sidewalk to the top if you're on the DC, and a slow one if you get stuck behind some massive guided party. Get up early from muir or the flat, get ahead of everyone, dont get caught out for too long when everything is melting out up high, know how to use your gear. Rainier really is pretty easy if you do it in 2 days and luck out with the weather, but like all the big cascade volcanoes, weather can probably make it absolute hell and shit absolutely can get real on these mountains. Know crevasse rescue but also you will likely not be worried about having to use that if you are there peak season on the trade route, its always pretty stomped in, if you get up on time and move at a good pace, chances are the bridges are gonna hold. While the DC isnt hard mountaineering, it is not disney land, and when I was there I was close to tons of rockfall and also below a huge serac when it collapsed, and watched the debris get swallowed by a massive crevasse.
I’m here as a sport climber because of alpine curiosity and I definitely don’t have many (any?) alpine skills but I’m always curious about it. Objective risk scares me away.
I’d recommend just getting out.
The more you see the more you realize where the objective risks are totally avoidable and where you might have to risk some exposure to get your goal. That will help you understand your tolerance and the reality of conditions.
I’m risk averse but spend a lot of time on backcountry snow, climbing couloirs and alpine rock, and just being out. I’ve turned away from probably half of the objectives I’ve started but being out always gives me a good lesson.
I linked this in one of the Rainier threads. I figured it might be worth it to post as a stand-alone.
Been there done that when I was a noob with shit gear and no guide.
If there is anything here that should be stickied, this is it.
I’m new here, why is Rainier a big meme here?
People think they can walk up it like Mt. Whitney with a few bottles of water and tennis shoes, and every year without fail tourists attempt to do so, which then results in full blown heli rescues and guides having to divert their time to dolts that did zero research. People in shorts, hiking boots, no crampons meandering their way past Camp Muir without any permit, costing god knows how many wasted hours of peoples lives.
Then there's people who buy all the correct gear, and think that's all they need to get up, they get the permit, and have no navigation skills, don't rope up, don't realize avalanche conditions are common and are completely physically unfit. Ill never forget the Ed Viesturs story about a solo guy in matching, brand-new, high-end gear ignoring his advice that it was too icy over 12k ft, blowing past his guided group, then shortly after, watching him slowly slide to his death down the Ingraham Glacier because he didnt know how to self-arrest, and he had all the time in the world to do so, generally two people die every year.
One last reason, if you're given basic training, have the right gear, good weather, and you're physically fit, it is an easy climb up the DC route, so people love to make fun of influencers, braggarts, and non-humble folk who make it out to be some huge deal that they summited
If you're climbing Rainier, do it because you love a physical challenge, you love the outdoors, you want to gain experience, and most of all enjoy the scenery.
People think they can walk up it like Mt. Whitney with a few bottles of water and tennis shoes, and every year without fail tourists attempt to do so, which then results in full blown heli rescues and guides having to divert their time to dolts that did zero research. People in shorts, hiking boots, no crampons meandering their way past Camp Muir without any permit
I feel like you're referring directly to this dude, whether intentionally or not: https://youtu.be/YVNE75lMdWY
This links to a MySQL error page.
Kautz route was a good challenge. Almost 15 hours from high camp to summit back. Hope the mountain has healed up a bit since 2015!
Nice
Best podcast on training for mountaineers https://uphillathlete.com/podcast/fundamentals-of-training-for-mountaineering-part-1/
User deleted comment
8.2y
Stickied!
Agreed. It should be.
Are summit attempts ever called off because of high wind? Even when there isn't much snow? I understand stability of the snow probably changes but, I have zero experience and was curious what is tolerable over 10,000ft
Yes, frequently
Im coming back to this comment 8 months later because I just remembered it, I did Rainier with RMI in May, a few weeks after this comment, we had to turn around at the base of the snowfield, the wind was 60mph with gusts up to 90, I should have never cursed the trip with the question, even the guides were looking at each other like "what the fuck is this shit", multiple people were knocked over when we started descending, it was strong enough that pebbles were being launched at our faces and we had to walk sideways back to panorama lmao
Fuck, sorry man, that's the mountains, bastards
My boyfriend and his 2 partners bailed off rainier literally 2 days ago because of 70mph winds.
Climbing in June! So excited
I’d be interested to see what everyone here thinks of kings fkt from 2021 given how strict everyone here is on the need for full mountaineering boots rope harnesses axes guides etc
Extraordinary people taking extraordinary risks do extraordinary things.
That being said, I can totally imagine someone running up DC without any crevasse gear or a partner. It's a weird situation that the act of climbing DC is entirely non-technical as long as it goes right. It's just left foot, right foot. You hardly ever use your ice axe. DC typically has well-marked hazards.
But when something goes wrong, you better have all the gear to sort yourself.
Also, the chances of things going wrong are far higher for people who aren't elite-level fit. There's some truth to "speed is safety".
Rainier or Rum Doodle? Frankly, both require multiple cases of Champagne.
Do you have a preference on double boots for early season 8 day expedition on rainier?
Early in the season every guide I saw had Scarpa Phantoms or La Sportiva G5 EVOs, the rentals are generally a clunkier Scarpa double that I can't remember the name of. You can get away with La Sportiva Nepal Cubes or Scarpa Mont Blancs if you want to save some money, but they're all going to recommend that you don't, it can be brutally cold in May
I wanted to get there. Thank you for the information
Climbing Rainer is no hike, I'm 21 but I grew up in Washington and it's always been a dream to climb it. What skills would I need to focus on training and what progression would y'all recommend I try?
7 missing replies
I'll just get a few common questions out of the way:
I understand you obviously need a rope in case someone falls from the upper mountain. Do you really need a harness though? I've heard with the dynamic nature of modern ropes, you can just tie around your waist.
I just bought new yak tracks for my trail runners. Are these sufficient crampons?
Is it true you really need a heavy parka? I'll be going with my family in July and don't want to rent one. It seems overkill for mid-summer.
How much oxygen should I bring?
The guide services seem quite expensive, and they're all booked up. What's the best route to take my family up?
Do you need a rope to get to Muir?
I'll be driving through Seattle from Vegas with some buddies and thought we'd try to hit adams, hood or rainier on the way. Rainier being the tallest, I want to climb that one. How? We're all experienced hikers and I've heard it's non-technical.
I apologize in advance for contributing to the elitism of the sport and potentially scaring off well-meaning-middle-age-crisis-men but I just need to reminisce and get this off my chest. In all truth, my dear middle-aged-men looking to ramp it up, climbing Rainier is a life changing experience for all who climb it and I can't recommend it enough.