Busy Busy

Like the previous post stated, it's fully summer. Still. The sun has been out consistently during normal daylight hours and the stars have been seen most of the other time. The cloudy marine layer that covered the Puget Sound area most mornings never even made it close to the park boundary. Summertime and the living is easy!

Saturday Morning, Camp Schurman

The scene up here on Rainier the past couple of weeks has been really busy with climbers making many successful ascents of many routes. The Emmons and the DC are still both in great shape. The Emmons is currently the more direct route of the two, offering stellar glacier climbing from Schurman to the summit. Many people have also been climbing the Kautz, encountering moderate and fun conditions in the ice chutes and moderate glacier travel above. We've even gotten a few reports in from climbers who have made recent ascents of the Tahoma, Sunset Ridge, Ptarmigan Ridge and Mowich Face. The approaches on these more remote west side routes are a bit long and involve more encounters with scree and talus this time of year, but the climbing conditions above 9,000' remain great.

Sunset Ridge,  photo by Paul Cook

The past couple of weeks we have seen what appears to be an increase in the number of climbing parties having mishaps and/or full on accidents. We as the climbing rangers just want to remind everyone to stay vigilant, know and respect their abilities, stay aware of current conditions, and be ready and prepared to deal with whatever emergency may arise on your own. Help is definitely out there for people if it is needed, but that help might be a long way off which means self rescue is always required to some level.

Stay Safe. Climb Hard.

_____________________Nick Hall______________________

It's been one long year since we lost you. 

We won't ever forget your friendship or your style.

Thanks for the inspiration to do more, do it better. 

The mountains are still out there. 

We're still climbing. 

Miss you a ton. 

Mountain Getting Climbed

We just got through a really busy weekend here at Mt. Rainier and thoroughly enjoyed all the people we met. Seems like everyone was in really high spirits. Don't know if it was the $20.00 people saved at the gate due to the fee free weekend, the great weather we had despite a few gusts of high winds, the great climbing and skiing conditions, or just the joy of being on a really cool mountain, but whatever the reason we are glad you enjoyed your time spent in the park.

Check out new route updates on the DC, Gib Ledges, Liberty Ridge and more on our conditions page. The forecast for the next few days looks like it's going to be COLD again with a few showers, but the weekend looks like it should be fairly pleasant, so come on up and enjoy!

Weekend Update

After the past few weeks of stormy weather, the skies have cleared and there is a bunch of new snow on the mountain. During the last storm cycle, waist deep snow drifts were being reported with consistent winds in the 40 mph range. There were significant avalanche hazards with point release and slab avalanches occurring naturally as well as a few that were skier triggered. Thankfully no one was buried or injured. The Nisqually basin especially saw a considerable amount of activity with the rapid warming that came after the storms.

The past week has seen climbing parties being stymied by wintry conditions and increased avalanche potential, but that is changing with more stable weather and snow conditions. The past couple of days have seen successful ascents of the DC, Gib Ledges, Liberty Ridge, the Emmons and more (we'll be putting up info as we get it from some of the more remote areas).

Point release avalanches, rising freezing levels and unsupported snow bridges are still a concern but should not keep interested climbers away. With the recent new snow and rising temperatures, be on the look out for loose snow and rock above you and unsuspecting climbers below. Climbing early and being off route before the solar radiation impacts the snow is critical right now but conditions overnight and early morning could be great for climbing.

Potential hazards aside, its going to a beautiful week, so enjoy the warm weather out there and climb safe!

Speed on Skis

So a couple of our rangers ran into some guys going for a speed record on the summit last week, they were able to get a brief conversation and snap a photo of them before they took off downhill. According to their clocks they made it from Paradise to the summit and back to Paradise in 4 hours and 19 minutes...which if you aren't familiar with that route means they went really really fast! Check out their full story here. There have been a number of speed ascents over the years but as far as we know Nick and Eric were the first to do it with skis.

It's looking like we are at the start of a spell of nice weather. Lots of fresh snow on the mountain should make for some great climbing and skiing conditions, especially if you hit it early before the sun turns everything to mid-day glop. Visit our route conditions page for recent conditions reports and thanks to Dmitry Shapovalov for a great report of their recent climb of Success Cleaver.

Climbers Climbin'

So it seems like we are in the middle of an extraordinary stretch of good weather for late April in the PNW. Some motivated people have been making the best of it and getting out for some really fun looking climbs. Rangers have been mostly in pre-season training and prep work so thanks to those who sent in some conditions updates and photos, we will continue to live vicariously through your reports until we hit the mountain full time in a couple of weeks. Check out recent beta on the Ingraham Direct, Fuhrer Finger, and Muir Snowfield posted in our conditions page.

Climber on the Fuhrer Finger - Photo by the Next Adventure crew

If you are heading up for any overnight stays on the mountain make sure you register for a permit. Self registration is still available all hours at the Paradise Old Station but the Climbing Information Center will be open this coming weekend May 4th and 5th from 8:00am to 3:00pm. Stop by to say hello, talk to a ranger and get any last minute info you need for your trip. Also remember if you are parking overnight at Paradise the overnight parking is in the lower parking lot. Please follow the signs to keep your car and wallet out of trouble.

For those of you wanting to access other areas of the park, it looks like Cayuse Pass (SR 410/123) will be opening this Friday May 3. Chinook pass is still a few weeks out so don't try to go to Yakima this way yet. The road to WR campground is still closed to vehicles but should be mostly clear for those who want to bicycle in for an Emmons climb. 

For those of you who want to know if its sunny at 10,000' the Muir webcam is back in operation!