Training for Rainier

The season is not over, but the end is approaching fast. As I am sure you've read from previous blog posts, the Emmons/Winthrop and DC are much more challenging than they were earlier in the season, with massive crevasses opening wider and the bridges getting thinner. Bummed that you didn't make it to Rainier this summer? Life just got in the way, but next summer is the one?

Here's some tips to help set you up for success for next summer.

1. Physical training. It's rather obvious it's not just a walk in the park going up Rainier, but you would be amazed at how many come up ill prepared for 10,000 ft of vertical gain with a heavy pack. Running is good for your cardio, but that alone doesn't cut it. Mountain/road biking, hiking with a heavy pack, and getting up to altitude to exercise are excellent training. Stefan, a Climbing Ranger at Rainier for many years, swears by skate skiing. He says it made those early season hikes to Muir and Schurman so much easier than running every did. A less adventurous training method, but time efficient, would be the occasional squat routine with weights to strengthen your legs and core.
If you live in smaller mountain ranges like the Appalachians, link a couple peaks up in a day. If there's barely a foothill near you, get on that stair master (or skate skis) or better yet, tell your boss you need some more vacation time to travel to other mountain ranges to train. Get in some 10 to 12 hour days climbing, hiking, biking or skiing. Think longer slower workouts, not intense short ones.

2. Practice your rope skills. You would be amazed how much you can forget in a winter, let alone a couple of years without using them. They are perishable skills and it's good to be dialed before you come up the mountain.  Make sure your whole team knows these skills.  It might be the person with the least experience who needs to save you. By all means when you come, have a layover day to practice the skills with your team while you acclimatize, but you shouldn't need to completely learn them from scratch while you are up there. The gear you carry does you no good if you don't know how to use it.

3. Get out in the cold and snow. Dial your layering systems, test your equipment. It's a red flag when you see someone taking their gear out of the packaging at the high camps. Practice walking in varying conditions/slopes of snow and ice with crampons on. Lots of injuries are caused by people with little experience walking with crampons. Practice navigating on snow in white-outs in the alpine (using some sort of GPS system).

4. Take a Wilderness First Aid/Responder course. If you haven't already taken a first aid course, you definitely should jump on board if you want to know how to care for yourself or peers in the wilderness. Good risk management is first and foremost, but sometimes things happen despite your best preparations and decision making-you need to be ready to deal when the hospital is hours away.  Self-rescue is the best form of rescue.

5. Take an avalanche awareness course like an AIARE 1. Especially if you are looking to travel to Rainier early season (March, April, May, and even June), you need to be able to assess the snow stability (or lack there of) yourself. Avalanches are real up there. Know how to rescue your partners if they get buried.  There's no avalanche forecast for the top zones of Mount Rainier.


6. Give yourself and your team more than two days to summit. Weather can be unreliable in the PNW. Don't force yourself to try and summit when the conditions aren't right, just because you have to catch a flight.

These are tips that will help make your attempt at the summit of Rainier a successful, safe, and enjoyable one, that wasn't just a suffer-fest where you simply ticked something off your bucket list.

Emmons-Winthrop Route -- August 10

Emmons-Winthrop route. August 10, 2017.

Summary: Prolonged warm temperatures have led to rapid changes in the Emmons-Winthrop Glacier route.

The Glacier Basin Trail is snow-free until the base of the Inter Glacier around 7000’. The Inter remains fully snow covered with no skeletal glacial ice exposed. Multiple bootpacks and glissade tracks lead past a handful of crevasses en route to Camp Curtis. As always, give these cracks a wide berth and roping up is recommended.

Upper Inter & Emmons Glaciers from Mount Ruth.

From Camp Schurman, the route is in late season conditions. Access to Emmons Flats is criss-crossed with crevasses running in nearly every direction—many of which have thin, cathedral-roof ceilings over very deep and dark chasms. Although many folks camp and travel unroped in this area during the early season, travel currently requires a full suite of glacier travel skills and experience doing complex glacier navigation. Camping at Emmons Flats is not recommended in its current condition.

Camp Schurman and Emmons Flats. August 10, 2017.

The numerous crevasses that we have been tracking all season above the Corridor have begun to open in earnest. Although there is a pronounced bootpack up this stretch (from 11,800’ to 13,000’), it often leads to dead-end crevasse crossings spanning 40 feet or more! Any teams attempting this route in it’s dwindling days should expect to do all of their own navigation above Camp Schurman. Warm temperatures and thin snowbridges have also led to multiple over-head crevasse falls in recent weeks. Conservative route selection and diligence managing rope tension can help reduce the depth and severity of crevasse falls.

Overall, the Emmons-Winthrop has seen better days. Although it is still passable, most climbers will find it more enjoyable next season.

--687

Emmons-Winthrop Route Update 8/5/17

Little Tahoma from the Corridor on 8/5

The Emmons-Winthrop route is beginning to change as warm weather wilts away the snow bridges spanning crevasses climbers have been crossing since May.  The trail/trough is still well defined from Camp Schurman all the way to the summit.  However, in a few places that trail is not the easiest way to the top.  Rangers at Schurman explored new route options on Saturday.  Some variations were purely to make the cramponing easier, and other variations cross crevasses in better spots.

Climbing on this side of the mountain puts more responsibility on the climber as there are no wands, ladders, or other work done on the route by guide services.  It's up to you to make route finding decisions on the climb when the old trail is no longer the best route.

The track below shows the trail (red) and some new variations taken by climbing rangers on 8/5/17 (blue).  Right out of Camp Schurman, climbers can avoid almost all the large crevasses at the Emmons Flatts by kicking out climbers right (rejoining the trail at about 9,850 ft.)

Red: old trail from June still being followed.  Blue: variations taken by rangers on 8/5 (bold contour lines 200 ft apart)

In the photo above, notice the blue track splits from the red one above 10,200 ft after gaining the corridor.  Rangers found much nicer cramponing out here on the climbers left side of the corridor.  100-200 feet from the current trail, the snow surface was much smoother, and not a trough flanked by penitente; as the current trial is.  Rangers rejoined the trail at the top of the corridor, and followed it until about 11,900 ft.  Here, if you climb out of the trough and ascend straight up, you can avoid many of the more challenging crevasse crossings on the route.  There is no trail here (see photo below).

If leaving the trail here, ascend until you reach about 12,300 ft in elevation, then traverse hard right (neither gaining nor loosing elevation) about 200 yards until you reach the main trail.  You will intersect the main trail right where it crosses the big crevasse at 12, 300 ft.  On this variation, you will have to negotiate some smaller penitente once you leave the trough.  Pay careful attention on the way up if you plan on taking this variation on the descent as well.

Looking uphill at the variation from 11,900 ft to 12,300 ft.  Switchback straight up, then traverse hard right at 12,300 ft

The crossing at 12,300 ft is still pretty solid.  The plug climbers are traveling over to cross the crevasse is big, but it won't last forever.  Think about putting in running protection at this crossing if your team needs it; especially on the way down.  A fall from a team member descending here could pull an uphill teammate over a big edge.  Don't forget to keep the rope tight between climbers when crossing crevasses like this one.  Slack = Acceleration in the event of a fall.

Ranger Hasebe descending the plug at 12,300 ft

After crossing the plug at 12,300 ft, the route ascends the same path it has for some time.  Just before the bergschrund at 13,800 ft, the Emmons-Wintrop meets the DC.  Expect to see wands here marking the trail to the top.  Don't forget to take a left on the way down so you end up back at Camp Schurman.

Key Points:  The well worn trail out of Camp Schurman is still a viable climbing route.  Better variations do exist, but they require more decision making.  Jumping over large crevasses is dangerous, and you should find a different way across if you think you need to jump.  Start early to avoid being in the hot sun for many hours.  Climb safely, make conservative decisions, and have fun. -691

Disappointment Cleaver 8/5/17

Two climbing rangers climbed the DC on 8/5.  Travel conditions were generally easy with a well maintained and mostly low angle trail.  The route hasn't changed much since the last blog post - it is still quite long due to its traverse onto the Emmons route so be prepared for a bigger day than in the early season.  We've noticed parties taking a very long time on the route in the past few days.  Be prepared to turn around if your pace is so slow that you won't make it back to Muir by early afternoon.  Descending in the evening after being on route for more than 12 hours doesn't leave you much room to deal with unexpected events.  There is one ladder crossing just before you descend toward the Emmons from the top of the Cleaver.

Ladder crossing around 12,300'.

The Cleaver itself is in good shape and still climbs over snow on the upper half.  Navigation on the Cleaver is straightforward.  Rockfall is always a potential so make sure to shorten your rope so it's not dragging through the rocks and wear a helmet!  Be aware of parties above and below you while on the Cleaver.

Upper Cleaver and Little Tahoma. 

Rangers have been observing a disturbing amount of climbers unroping while on the upper mountain.  While it may seem easier to travel without a rope, it is much more dangerous and is discouraged.  Not only are you subjecting yourself to an unroped crevasse fall (many of which end up being fatal) groups tend to get spread out and party members separated when unroped. This is also undesirable for obvious reasons.  Solo glacier climbing on Mount Rainier requires a special permit - PLEASE, ROPE UP WHILE ON THE UPPER MOUNTAIN AND STAY ROPED UP.

Trash that rangers collected at a break spot at the top of the Cleaver.  

Another issue that rangers observed yesterday is an abundance of trash and even a few piles of feces along the route on the upper mountain.  THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE.  Be a good steward of the mountain and pack out all of your trash.  If you need to defecate, do so away from the trail and PACK IT OUT.  Plan ahead for your trip and take an adequate number of blue bags (provided by the NPS).   If you don't pack it out, guess who does?  When you're busting out your Power Bar or GU, make sure to pack out the corner of the wrapper you tear off.  Blow your nose with some TP?  Pack it out!  If you see someone else's trash, feel free to pick it up and pack it out.  Come on people.  Do the right thing.

Above the smoke layer on Saturday 8/5. 

The smoke appears to be dissipating as Sunday morning progresses, so hopefully the air quality will continue to improve over the next few days.  The top level of the smoke has been hovering at the 10,000-11,000 foot level, so the air quality on the upper mountain has been the best in the state as of late.  Even more reason to come to the mountain for a climb!

-686

Kautz Glacier August 3rd

Climbing rangers finish off the 2nd "ice pitch" on the Kautz.

Although the conditions on the Kautz glacier remain nearly the same as was reported on both July 20th and July 23rd, there are still a few things to note. Climbing rangers set out from the Comet Falls trailhead to take advantage of some shade along the approach and to get a glimpse of the wildflowers that are beginning to peak in the alpine meadows. This is a great option for accessing the Kautz as you don't need to rope up or cross a glacier the entire way to the Castle or the upper 11,000 ft. bivies. However, it's important to keep in mind that you start 2,000 ft. below paradise if you choose this trail. 

The wildflowers in Van Trump made for a nice, although longer
 approach for the Kautz Glacier.

 Rangers were glad to take advantage of the trees and shade for the first few miles of the approach, as the August heat has come on strong this year! We were rewarded with prime wildflowers and multiple mountain goat sightings. Paired with the solitude on the trail, this approach makes for a nice change of pace compared to the standard route approaches. Bugs weren't too bad except for some biting flies near treeline that you only noticed when you stopped for breaks. Please remember that the Van Trump meadows are quite fragile and climbers should take extra care to minimize their impact on the area.

Penitentes adjacent to the Wapowetey Clever.

Once off the ridge and onto the Kautz proper, conditions are still quite suncupped along the route. Although visible ice is starting to present itself on both "pitches", the majority of surface conditions are firm, sun cupped snow. Despite bringing two ice tools for the climb, a 2nd tool almost seemed more awkward than helpful. It was more secure to use one tool and one whippet or trekking pole. That being said, rangers were still able to place solid ice screw protection throughout the route. In the early morning conditions, vertical pickets were not an option in the firm snow. As the summer progresses, the climbing will no doubt become more technical.

Visible bootpack that crosses multiple crevasses
on the upper Nisqually glacier. 

After the slope angle backs off and you transition back to glacial travel mode, the bootpack is quite vague and teams may need to do a bit of route finding to end run some crevasses and cross some narrow (but thick) bridges. In general, the route is straight forward up to the Wapowetey Cleaver. From here, there is a visible boot pack that takes many switchbacks and crosses multiple crevasses before reaching the crater rim. Other teams reported quite a bit of ice fall down the ice pitches in the middle of the day. Due to this, rangers are recommending that parties climb earlier than they would otherwise. Record high temperatures are creating unstable upper mountain conditions later in the afternoon and parties should plan to be off route by a reasonable hour. Climbing up/over the mountain and descending the Emmons or DC is a great option to avoid rappelling the ice pitches late in the day. Be sure to check out the blogs on the Emmons or the DC to get the most current conditions before descending these routes.

Muir Snowfield Update

A climber near Pebble Creek makes his way towards the Muir Snowfield.

As the heart of the summer presses on the snowfield continues to melt quickly. New rock outcroppings, cascading waterfalls, and alpine plants are emerging from the winter snow pack. Typical weather this time of year consist of sunny days and warm nights with many hours of daylight. Climbers and Hikers alike are coming and going at all hours of the day and some are feeling the effects of the midday heat. Be sure to bring the essentials (water, sunglasses, sunscreen) before making the trip up. There is no water at Camp Muir so bring enough to stay hydrated on the way back down if you are only out for a day hike.

The Skyline trail starting in Paradise leading up to the Muir Snowfield which begins just past Pebble Creek is nearly 100% snow free. The picture to the left shows one of the two late season snow patches encountered before reaching Pebble Creek.
Please take care and do your best to stay on the designated trail. The Alpine plant life gets trampled continuously by visitors that don't understand the impacts they are making and leaving behind when walking of trail. Take pride in your park and help others to understand and preserve the beauty.


The wind rolls leading out of pebble creek up to the snowfield are becoming steeper and grooved out by the many glissade tracks. Use the climbers lefthand side to get up an over these wind rolls. There is usually an uphill boot track in the snow that will make getting up over these much easier. On a side note, don't be the guy/gal that walks downhill in the uphill track. Doing this ruins the steps for everyone else going uphill.

Current snow conditions at 9'000 feet

The snowfield proper is mostly a combination of sun-cupped snow with a barrage of boot tracks. Random icy layers are beginning to show up on the surface and glide cracks are not far behind. The snow during the day is generally soft but can also become quite hard during the early morning and late afternoon. Having the option for extra traction on your feet (yak track/microspikes) and a walking stick can help prevent the unwanted slip and fall. Expect to see many other visitors on the snow field if visiting over the weekend.

A climber at Camp Muir preps his backpack before hiking down the snowfield.