The Climbing Information Center (CIC) is opening Saturday morning, the 28th of April at 08:00 am. The ranger station will be open Saturday and Sunday until full-time operations begins Friday, May 25. The opening hours will generally be 7:00 am to 4:00 pm, however this weekend (4/28), we will open at 8:00 am close at 3:00 pm each day.
Permits and Fees
To climb Mount Rainier, you must register and pay the annual climbing cost recovery fee.
When the station is open, you'll have to come inside to get a climbing permit. When the station is closed (Mon-Fri until May 25), self-registration will be in effect in the foyer outside the main entrance to the CIC (inside the door in the picture above).
Although there are self-payment kiosks to pay the climbing fee inside the CIC, we recommend paying the fee online before you leave home for the park. Pay it here: https://www.pay.gov/public/form/start/79997374. The climbing fee, once paid, is good for multiple climbs in the calendar year in which you buy it.
Climbing and Route Information
Although the entire climbing ranger team is on duty, they are all in several weeks of training that include mountaineering, EMS, technical rope rescue, aviation, avalanche, skiing, wilderness, and other skills. None of the rangers have climbed the mountain yet. However they have flown around the mountain during aviation training and have taken some good pictures during clear weather. Be sure and check out the pictures in the posts below.
In the upper right hand corner of this page are links to two documents called, "In Depth Route Briefs." They are 20-30 page documents that should answer all your questions about climbing Mount Rainier. Please download and read them and keep them on your device for reference. We have also produced two more in the last few months concerning Liberty Ridge and the Kautz Glacier routes. We'll post those here and blog it when we do.
Changing Names
As a minor side note, the name of this ranger station is changing to the Paradise Wilderness Information Center. The change in names should be of little notice to you in the function that the station provides, however, the change is being made to make it more clear to other users in the park that more types of information can be obtained there than just climbing.
Good luck and we'll see you here!