June 19, 2004, Summit of Rainier via Emmons
6/19/04
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3207
4
With all this warm and sunny weather, Aaron and I decided to go for a Summit attempt on Rainier via the Emmons/Winthrop Glacier route. We arrive at Mt. Rainier National Park on Friday evening and after registering for the climb we decide to do a one run outing at Chinook pass. We were amazed at how warm it was at even above 5500 feet at 9:45pm. I figure this would be a good way to get ourselves loosened up and ready for our climb on Saturday. We decided to get all of our gear set up and ready to go before getting a couple of hours of sleep.
It's now 3:00am Saturday morning and 10,000 feet vertical climbing is ahead of us. The Glacier Basin trail is pretty much snow free for the first 2.5 miles after that snow patches can be found until you reach the Glacier Basin campground where snow is continuous from around 5800 feet on up. The snow was surprisingly firm on the Interglacier but I new it would soften up in the Afternoon. We hike all the way to the top of the Inter Glacier and due to a slight navigational error we are stuck doing a class 3 with some class 4 moves 200 foot loose scree and rock scramble down to Camp Shermon. Next time I'll know to hike towards left and hike up to Camp Sherman staying to the left to the Prow to avoid that rock scramle. Was not fun doing in Alpine Ski boots with my 195cm Salomon Ak Rockets tagging all the rocks.
Now the fun really begins. It's a straight foward and easy route to follow all the way to the Summit with only a few crevasse crossings. The only thing to watch for was blue ice on the last 500 feet before the Summit. Unfortunately Aaron only made it to around 11,000 feet. Got to give him credit though, it's not easy logging over 10,000 feet of elevation gain. He figured he'd wait at Camp Sherman while I summited. Arriving at the Summit at around 1:00pm I spend little time soaking up the views for thunder clouds were building up. Strapping on my skis I'm treated with a variety of snow conditions from Solid ice to perfect spring corn below around 12,000feet. Above that elevation the snow was very uneven and not easy to make linked and carved turns. Once I reach the Corridor quality of snow is near perfect corn with only a few crevasses to watch for. As for the Inter Glacier I'd recommend to get an earlier start if you want to do a ski outing over there. My GPS only clocked in a sluggish 43mph making only 6 turns for 3000 vertical feet, now that's dissapointing!!! >:( So much for my speed rush of the day. After getting over 8,000 feet of skiing vertical, it's now back to the trail. This is when I wish I had a camera. I encounter a bear walking up the trail. It gets to within 20 or so feet of me. So I did the make my self look big, made noise and slowly walked facing the bare. Once I felt that it wasn't going to charge I decided to walk up the trail slowly. For 15 minutes I walk back up hoping the bare would've veered off. Nope, It's still following me. Finally I come accross two hikers and tell them there's a bear behind me. Now there's 3 of us. The bear then finally decides to head off into the woods. :) Finally, I can now head for the car. 13 hours and 44 minutes round trip. What a day. Serious vertical, calm winds at the Summit, Ice near the summit, sluggish skiing on Inter Glacier, and a bear encounter. 8) My partner got some pics of me skiing. If you go to www.cascadeclimbers.com and check out the trip report there you will find the photos. I myself have not educated my self in uploading photos.
It's now 3:00am Saturday morning and 10,000 feet vertical climbing is ahead of us. The Glacier Basin trail is pretty much snow free for the first 2.5 miles after that snow patches can be found until you reach the Glacier Basin campground where snow is continuous from around 5800 feet on up. The snow was surprisingly firm on the Interglacier but I new it would soften up in the Afternoon. We hike all the way to the top of the Inter Glacier and due to a slight navigational error we are stuck doing a class 3 with some class 4 moves 200 foot loose scree and rock scramble down to Camp Shermon. Next time I'll know to hike towards left and hike up to Camp Sherman staying to the left to the Prow to avoid that rock scramle. Was not fun doing in Alpine Ski boots with my 195cm Salomon Ak Rockets tagging all the rocks.
Now the fun really begins. It's a straight foward and easy route to follow all the way to the Summit with only a few crevasse crossings. The only thing to watch for was blue ice on the last 500 feet before the Summit. Unfortunately Aaron only made it to around 11,000 feet. Got to give him credit though, it's not easy logging over 10,000 feet of elevation gain. He figured he'd wait at Camp Sherman while I summited. Arriving at the Summit at around 1:00pm I spend little time soaking up the views for thunder clouds were building up. Strapping on my skis I'm treated with a variety of snow conditions from Solid ice to perfect spring corn below around 12,000feet. Above that elevation the snow was very uneven and not easy to make linked and carved turns. Once I reach the Corridor quality of snow is near perfect corn with only a few crevasses to watch for. As for the Inter Glacier I'd recommend to get an earlier start if you want to do a ski outing over there. My GPS only clocked in a sluggish 43mph making only 6 turns for 3000 vertical feet, now that's dissapointing!!! >:( So much for my speed rush of the day. After getting over 8,000 feet of skiing vertical, it's now back to the trail. This is when I wish I had a camera. I encounter a bear walking up the trail. It gets to within 20 or so feet of me. So I did the make my self look big, made noise and slowly walked facing the bare. Once I felt that it wasn't going to charge I decided to walk up the trail slowly. For 15 minutes I walk back up hoping the bare would've veered off. Nope, It's still following me. Finally I come accross two hikers and tell them there's a bear behind me. Now there's 3 of us. The bear then finally decides to head off into the woods. :) Finally, I can now head for the car. 13 hours and 44 minutes round trip. What a day. Serious vertical, calm winds at the Summit, Ice near the summit, sluggish skiing on Inter Glacier, and a bear encounter. 8) My partner got some pics of me skiing. If you go to www.cascadeclimbers.com and check out the trip report there you will find the photos. I myself have not educated my self in uploading photos.
Way to go on getting your summit, Donnelly!
Yes, nice work - 10,000vf in a day! It sounds like you went from sea level to 14K+ in less than 24 hours, and I'm curious about whether you experienced any altitude sickness? That sounds like a classic scenario for it, but you don't mention any problems.
Interesting about the bear. Over Memorial Day we saw very fresh bear tracks near Grand Park, and then two days later tracks and then a bear near Sunrise. I wonder if there are there getting to be more bears in the area, or just more people out in the woods to spot the bears?
Interesting about the bear. Over Memorial Day we saw very fresh bear tracks near Grand Park, and then two days later tracks and then a bear near Sunrise. I wonder if there are there getting to be more bears in the area, or just more people out in the woods to spot the bears?
Yeah-Good work Donnelly! Heck of an accomplishment! On the 20th I hiked up to Sunrise and upon my return ran into a guy on the Wonderland Trail that had pictures on his diggy cam of that brown bear on the Glacier Basin trail. It was a big Brown bear.
Joe, did you get a look at any of the northside runs up there - Sourdough Chutes or 1st-2nd Burroughs - as far as coverage? Also, what does the coverage look like in the meadows around the lodge now?
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