Home > Trip Reports > May 30-31 Mt. Rainier

May 30-31 Mt. Rainier

5/15/09
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3141
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Posted by Stewie on 6/1/09 7:27am
This weekend my dad, Scotsman, Pnwbrit and I decided that we would give climbing Mt. Rainier a go in hope that we would be able to summit and then ski all the way down. We decided that we would go up the Emmons route. We woke up early Saturday morning to get to the ranger station at 7 to register right away and then start hiking up to Camp Sherman. Although it did take us 8 hours to get to camp, it was a bright blue day and the views were beautiful! Still extremely snowy up there. 
We arrived at camp tired but excited to start the climb tomorrow and hopefully get a nice ski down. Unfortunately, when we arrived the wind started blowing and didn't stop all night. We ate, drank, rested and passed time by telling jokes and making sarcastic comments.
The alarm to start climbing went off at 2:30, we got up, made coffee, and then started up the mountain. To our dismay the wind was still blowing hard and there were clouds on the distance but we thought that we would go up anyways and see how the conditions progressed. We got up to 12,800ft after about 3 hours of climbing. After a rest there we decided that we should turn around. The conditions on the mountain were only getting worse, the wind had picked up and clouds were over the sun so the snow was not softening. We decided to turn around because we still had another 4 hours of climbing to the summit and it seemed like the snow wouldn't soften up.
We down climbed back to the corridor and sat there for about half an hour till it got a bit lighter and the snow softened a bit. From there we got a beautiful ski down to camp Sherman. We packed up camp quick to get some good skiing in Glacier Basin. We hit it a bit late, the snow was a little slushy but we still had a great time skiing down. We made it back to the car about 3pm.
The trip was great fun. Good company and good skiing, even if we didn't make it to the summit we still had a great time.
I will try to post some photos and i know Pnwbrit will.
Nice work
She will always let you know when she's willing to be climbed

Thanks again boys

Edited for pictures of:

Alpenglow rope team, waiting for some sunshine, father and son getting some turns




Nice trip guys.
Great TR Stewie.

Glad you guys got some good turns in at least!  Good write up Stewie.  We heard from others that the E side was rather firm and the wind was not helping any.  Nice work and way to drag your dad up that beast! 

Good work guys.  We were up on Muir and the Paradise Glacier on Saturday and thought about you when the wind came up in the afternoon.

Thanks for a great trip Stewart and Rob.
We took bivvy bags instead of a tent and it was incredible watching the stars during the night  while lying in my bivvy listening to music on my ipod.
At one point a lenticular had formed directly overhead and was being illuminated by the crescent moon and was glowing and I thought the mothership had finally come to take me back to my home planet. ;D

During the ascent, just after dawn, the whole mountain was illuminated in deep pink alpenglow and it was truly marvellous to be there at that instant with my son and friend Rob.

The snow was absolutely frozen hard but edgable.

FYI the ranger at Shurman said the present bootpack up the Emmons was not the best as it had been set by a couple of climbers coming down from a Liberty Ridge ascent so they had set the route from the top and hadn't been able to set the best path.

It's very filled in on and above the " corridor" and should offer great ski descents for a while .
The initial 1.5 miles where the trail is washed out is as brutal as ever and we couldn't put skins on until fairly near the basin proper.

There's also some confusing paths into Glacier basin. The "winter Route" that goes up the left ( climbers left) involves a wicked river crossing. We stayed on the right which involved a climb up then down to re-access the right bank.
We saw some parties go down the left bank on the way out and have to back track back up to find a suitable crossing.


Thanks for the great write up Stewie and the additional trail details Scotty. Ed and I were just discussing this afternoon what this route might entail from trailhead to summit... as for the lenticulars, I was watching them throughout our ascent of Baker late Sat/Sunday, at one time noting how they seemed to be blocking the sun and casting an ominous shadow over much of the north side. Not sure if that was true or not, but it looked that way from our vantage. Thanks again.

author=Teleskichica link=topic=13509.msg56349#msg56349 date=1243920338]
Thanks for the great write up Stewie and the additional trail details Scotty. Ed and I were just discussing this afternoon what this route might entail from trailhead to summit... as for the lenticulars, I was watching them throughout our ascent of Baker late Sat/Sunday, at one time noting how they seemed to be blocking the sun and casting an ominous shadow over much of the north side. Not sure if that was true or not, but it looked that way from our vantage. Thanks again.


You are dead on Holly, as we where climbing they just kept forming and blocking the sun and there was a constant 20-30 mph wind which is why we bagged it. Of course as soon as we got near the TH we could see the route basked in sunshine.
Beautiful route. We left at 4.00 am . In present conditions an ever later start might have been better.
Hope you do it but wear nylons like Stugie( See his Tahoma TR)as all of us got hamburger feet. ;)


author=Scotsman link=topic=13509.msg56351#msg56351 date=1243920983]
Hope you do it but wear nylons like Stugie


Eh, Chris?  Are you going to become a crossdresser too?  :D

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may-30-31-mt-rainier
Stewie
2009-06-01 14:27:41