Early June Update

Mowich Headwall

This upcoming weekend looks to be a sunny one! Warm but not too warm temperatures should also prevail making for some potentially great climbing conditions. We have started seeing the summer surge of climbers here on Rainier. Weekends at popular spots (Muir and Schurman) have been crowded and lots of people are successfully reaching Columbia Crest (aka the summit).

We've recently crunched some numbers for you folks who are interested in such things and found this: The six year average of registered climbers between January 1 and June 1 is 1,160 and this year during that same time period we have had over 2,000 climbers register. It's hard to tell if this trend will continue through the season but we are happy to see so many folks out enjoying the alpine! Usually somewhere between 10,000 and 11,000 people register to climb Rainier annually, so anyway you look at it the majority of climbing this year is still to come. Also thanks for registering and getting permits. Not only are you following the law, but you are also helping yourself out tremendously in the event of an emergency. The permit system is how we track climbers, figure out if you are overdue, who your emergency contacts are, cell numbers, itinerary, supplies, gear you have, etc. This is very valuable information. One of the first things rangers do if we get any sort of hint that a group might be in trouble is look at their climbing registration. It's Important!

We are playing catch up a little with some of our route updates, but there are now current photos of almost all routes on our conditions page. Climbers rangers have done very thorough updates for the Emmons/Winthrop and Liberty Ridge routes. Stay tuned for updates on the DC (It's great right now). Coverage seems to still be good on all routes and people have definitely been taking advantage. Please be safe out there. Take your time, get good info, watch the weather. Know your and your partners ability. Climb Safe!