Rainier in a day 5/21/18

Topics related to peak bagging, rock climbing and bouldering in the foothills and high country of the Sierra Nevada. Be sure to also check out the Information Booth forum category to learn from / see if you can contribute to a profile for High Sierra 13'ers, 14'ers and cross country passes.
Post Reply
User avatar
Gazelle
Topix Expert
Posts: 429
Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2012 11:01 am
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: almost holbrook junction nv

Rainier in a day 5/21/18

Post by Gazelle »

16miles 9082 elevation gain/loss 14 hours.
Was up in Washington for my nephews wedding so I talked a fellow Sierra challenge participant to meet me to do Rainier. We met up at the visitors center at 3:30 he had already gotten our climbing permit so we went down to the overnight parking area which was all fogged in/in a cloud went through and packed our gear and tried to get some sleep, which for me didn’t happen very well.

Got up 11:15 pm and were hiking by midnight headlamps on and still in a cloud but the forecast was for good weather. Did have to use the GPS a couple times as could not see well and lots of tracks.

Made it to the Muir hut to eat, change clothes, crampons on and rope up. A group of 3 left before us after having stayed at the hut. We soon passed them.

Made it to the gap and onto the Ingraham glacier, which we got to take the Ingraham direct route. A great trail in the snow with some wands here and there from the guide companies, which were ahead of us. We did not need to use any of there protection. We passed a couple groups ahead of us carefully.
9FE3DFE6-D797-4FED-83F5-7A223A86CD7D.jpeg
FC4FF1F8-502F-4DC2-8958-914AC8BA8D8B.jpeg
6CB66AAF-5D42-4D08-BCA2-32278DAB90E6.jpeg
2697A5C7-46BB-4DA1-9AF6-68974C370BB4.jpeg
Crossed some snow bridges and 1 open crevasse with either a big jump (my friend) or a weird maneuver (me). Weren’t moving super fast as he had done Mt Hood the day before and I had maybe too much alcohol from the wedding.

Made it to the top at 8:30am getting passed on there way down by 4 guided groups.
CE278B96-DD7E-4AEC-8CF8-F985F9515464.jpeg
Took pictures on the top and started down, caught up to the guided groups which asked us if we could wait to pass until they took their break further down, of course we agreed, we did use some of their protection on the way down (why not).
CEE8B6E5-F194-4FEE-A6AC-1EA3D43FFC71.jpeg
ED70F727-278A-4F25-9BF7-CD85B583635E.jpeg
Back to Muir hut packed up gear and slogged down the soft snow back to the visitors center to check out, back to the cars by 2pm. He going to another peak me to Mt Hood.
DC95A052-16C8-43A0-9EB7-6CBD59C689F1.jpeg
Great trip, spectacular weather, sunny no wind, almost too hot!

Kristine
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before. Albert Einstein
User avatar
srb
Topix Novice
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun May 25, 2014 6:28 am
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Orange County, CA
Contact:

Re: Rainier in a day 5/21/18

Post by srb »

Well that looks like a lot more fun than work. Thanks for the write-up!
User avatar
SNOOOOW
Topix Regular
Posts: 223
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:45 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Gville

Re: Rainier in a day 5/21/18

Post by SNOOOOW »

Awesome! I love sneaking off on an adventure like this when traveling to meet family or for some occasion (wedding). I will be in Seattle in Sept but no chance of me sneaking off on that trip.
Without a People's army, the people have nothing.
User avatar
Vaca Russ
Topix Expert
Posts: 809
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 3:12 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: The Nut Tree

Re: Rainier in a day 5/21/18

Post by Vaca Russ »

Kristine,

Thanks for this report. It reminds me of how much I want to summit Rainier again!

Thanks,

-Russ
"...Or have you only comfort, and the lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and then becomes a host and then a master?"

Kahil Gibran.
User avatar
Gazelle
Topix Expert
Posts: 429
Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2012 11:01 am
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: almost holbrook junction nv

Re: Rainier in a day 5/21/18

Post by Gazelle »

Very fun mountain! Serious ass kicker to do in a day, but perfect weather. See you might be going up middle palisade? A Very fun mountain with lots of class 3, you should come to the meetup this year?
The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before. Albert Einstein
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests