Schurman Side Conditions

Here are some pictures of the Inter Glacier and the Emmons/Winthrop route.  Camp Schurman was VERY quiet over the weekend. Rangers encountered one party of two between Friday and Monday.  That party of two was able to get to the bergschrund at 13,800 (where the DC and Emmons merge) on Monday morning but turned around due to time. 

View from Camp Schurman. 

With the DC route falling apart, the Emmons is probably the best route up Rainier right now (or the Kautz Glacier).  Be aware, however, that with so few climbers on the Emmons/Winthrop and late summer conditions, routefinding could be challenging and will require a higher level of skill than in the early season.  Certain sections are quite broken with many exposed crevasses. There probably won't be a boot track to follow and if there is, it could dead-end at an impassable crevasse.  And because of fewer climbers and the dwindling staffing of rangers at Camp Schurman, a climb on this side will require more self-sufficiency than in the height of the climbing season.  

Looking up toward the Inter Glacier. 

That being said, it's a great time of year to enjoy a quieter experience on the mountain.  The hike to Camp Schurman is currently very pleasant.   There are some deeper crevasses on the Inter Glacier but they are easy to avoid.  Just be cognizant on the way up and remember to watch out for them on the way down!  Be cautious descending the Inter.  Glissading is not recommended. Enjoy!

There are large crevasses on skiers right in this picture but they are difficult to see until right on top of them.  Beware!

Crevasses on the Inter.

-686

Disappointing Cleaver- The Latest

Word from the upper mountain is that the DC route has once again become too sketchy for the guide services to use.  The problem area is just off the top of the cleaver as the route works its way north towards the Emmons.  A crew will be working on an alternative route on Tuesday.  If your planning on a DC climb later this week or next weekend- you might want to give some serious consideration to the Emmons-Winthrop route (see the latest post).  Stay tuned for updates as they occur.

Emmons/Winthrop 8/16 GPS Track

It sounds like the crux is between Camp Schurman and Emmons Flats at the moment due to many crevasses.  It's been described as 'swiss cheese.'  The rest of the route appears to be pretty direct, but always assess the route as you go, don't just blindly follow the bootpack.  Climbing rangers are headed to Schurman Friday and will be there through the weekend.  We will post a more in-depth route description after our summit climb.

Image taken from a GPS track log of an 8/16 ascent by a former ranger.  

DC Is Back In!

It's not a groomed trail all the way yet and it's a little longer than it was a week ago, but after several days of hard work, the guides have the route going to the crater rim again. Be sure to thank them for all they've done when you come up.

It's important to note, it still passes over a number of large plugs and descends after reaching the top of the DC, and with the warm weather returning again we will see how long this version lasts, along with climbers' morale. The climbing rangers will go up on Wednesday to get a better update on the route, but for now, here at least is the kmz for those who are up to the challenge.

* Map: Google Earth representation of the tracklog of the route taken by the guides from Camp Muir to the summit today (8/15/2017).  Download the Google Earth KML file.

Climbing Ranger Updates on 8/16/17: The route still goes to the top and matches the above map. Be ready for it to feel exceptionally long with a number of switchbacks and small descents while trying to ascend. Guided groups are leaving around 11 PM to give themselves a little extra time.

Also, things are really starting to hollow out, so watchout for less than obvious holes, especially on the tight switchback after you descended 300ft from the top of the cleaver. Below are a couple of pictures of cruxes on the route. Watch out for the large crevasse near 13900 ft-there is a fixed line with a falling apart step to the left and an easier, thicker ramp up and over a wave on the right-climbing rangers chose the right option.

 

 

Always assess bridges before crossing them, especially as things soften up on your way down.

In Depth Route Descriptions

Hey, everyone!

We wanted to take a moment and orient everyone to two documents we worked on this winter.  These two 20-30 page documents detail what we want you to know about climbing the Disappointment Cleaver and the Emmons-Winthrop Glacier.

• Disappointment Cleaver route brief
• Emmons-Winthrop route brief

Each route guide contains details on:

• Route History
• Route Use and Statistics
• Case Studies in Rescues
• SAR Occurrences and Statistics
• Weather Statistics, Forecasting and Resources
• Guiding
• Assessing and Managing Risk
• How to Train
• What to Bring
• Search and Rescue Program
• Explanation of Climbing Fees
• Leave No Trace and Wilderness Protection
• Navigation & Bearing Sheet
• Permitting and Reservations
• Ski Mountaineering
• PreClimb Briefing
• Physical Route Descriptions
• Checking Out
• Further Reading

Please use these route briefs.  They are in PDF format and meant to be used digitally.  However, there are useful pieces here and there to print.

Enjoy!

Leave No Trace In The Alpine

LNT is a term almost all backpackers and climbers are familiar with (if you have yet to hear of it, you have now and I recommend doing some further research to dial your systems to meet its principles). It is a set of seven principles that people follow in the backcountry to leave where they go looking as untouched as possible for future generations to enjoy the same wilderness experience. A number of the principles relate to your personal safety as well and will help you enjoy your experience in the wilderness.

From the impacts we have been seeing on Rainier lately however, it seems as though many are not familiar with how to adapt their LNT practices to the alpine environment, or they don't know LNT principles at all. Here's a run down of how to apply the seven principles on Rainier and other alpine areas.

1. Plan and Prepare

• Do your research on the route, climbing permits, and climbing fees a head of time.
• Know and practice your skills before you get on the mountain (from your layering system to navigating in whiteouts to crevasse rescue). Skills are perishable.
• Bring a GPS unit or have it on your smartphone with the maps of the area already downloaded. Have extra batteries.

 

2. Hike and Camp On Durable Surfaces

• Please don't hike on our beautiful alpine meadows, or camp on them. The flowers are beautiful and easily destroyed. Stick to dirt, rocks (though watch out for the lichen too), or better yet, snow (the least impactful surface).
• Please don't camp next to water sources or go the bathroom near them! How would you feel if someone peed in your water source?

3. Dispose of Your Waste Appropriately

• Pack it in and then Pack it out. This includes your food scraps, gum, and dental floss. We've been picking up piles of rice, granola, noodles, and chewed gum at Camp Muir and Camp Schurman. We have thousands of people passing through both camps every summer. How gross do you think camping there would be if even half the people left a small pile of food? Would you ever want to come back here if you saw that? It does NOT biodegrade up that high and in the snow. It just melts out and rots. We rangers work hard to keep that mountain clean, but we need your help.
• Human waste: If you are not going in our toilets at the high camps, then you should be packing it out. You can't dig a cat-hole and bury it in a glacier and expect it to disappear forever. Guess what, it just melts out for others to see and accidently step on, and the rangers have to clean iit up. Again, thousands of people climb the routes on Rainier every year. Do you want to dodge piles of poop as well as crevasses? I doubt it. Rainier would become a biohazard in no time if people didn't carry their waste out.  Bring your blue bag or wag-bag and aim for the bag or pick it up after like you would your dogs' poop.  Bring extra blue bags so that you have enough.  There's no excuse not to pack out your waste. 

4. Take Nothing But Pictures

• Millions of people pass through our National Parks every summer. It's so awesome to have people coming out and showing their support of our wilderness areas by enjoying them. But if even a quarter of those people took a souveigner from the mountains, meadows, or woods we would have less flowers, awesome small rocks/fossils, or pinecones for future generations to enjoy (and wildlife to eat!!). Snap a photo of those awesome things you see so that you can remember them later.

 

5. Minimize your campfire impacts

• This one is simple in the alpine. No fires are allowed in the alpine. And good luck finding something to burn while you are up there.
• That being said people sometimes do find things to burn in the subalpine and that is no good either. It destroys nutrients deep in the soil and it takes a long time to replenish for vegetation to grow there.
• Do we also need to mention the fire hazard in many areas this year? Do you want to be the one responsible for starting a forest fire? Have fires only in officially designated areas and check if there is a fireban first.

6. Respect Wildlife

• We want wildlife to live as they should in the wild and to be dependent on themselves. If they habituate to people, they become dependent on us, eat what they should not (get sick), and then starve in the winter months when no people are around and they didn't build their own stashes of food or forgot how to forage for themselves. Bears become agressive when they are habituated to people. They are then considered a "problem bear" and are sometimes killed because of it, even though it was really the fault of "problem people."
• Moral of the story? Don't feed wildlife, whether it is directly from the nuts in your hand or the food scraps you left at camp.

7. Respect Other Visitors
Super important, especially when climbing in the alpine and here's some tips to make your climb (and others') more enjoyable.

• Watch out for bottle necks on routes-try to space yourself out from other parties when leaving camp on busy nights.
• Be careful when traveling on loose rock (keep your rope short) so you don't knock rocks off onto other people or knock rocks onto yourselves.
• Be self-sufficient and prepared when you come on Rainier so you can prevent an incident. If things do go south, have the skills and equipment to care for yourself and teammates so you don't pull other people into your incident and endanger them.
• Parties late into the night at the high camps? This is inconsiderate to those who need to get up early for their climb.

Please, help us keep our mountains looking pristine to provide an awesome climbing experience for all to have.