For our 4th Annual climbing week EJ and I decided to check out the Pacific Northwest. Naturally, our first goal was to climb Mt. Rainier. We had toyed with the idea of the Liberty Ridge but ultimately decided on the safer standard route, the Disappointment Cleaver. Because we elected to go with the standard route Mike decided to make the climb as well.

We arrived in Seattle in the late morning, picked up a rental car and headed towards the Whittaker’s Bunkhouse. The accommodations at the Bunkhouse were basic but fit our needs perfectly. The next morning we checked in at the Rangers Station in Paradise and made our way to Camp Muir.  With low visability and no GPS coordinates we stumbled into Camp Muir in just under 5 hours. For most of the climb visibility was less than 100 feet but once we got above 9,000’ we had a clear views of the Nisqually Ice Fall, Mount Adams and the summit of Rainier. After arriving at Muir we set up our tents, melted 3 gallons of snow and turned in early for a 1:00 A.M. departure.

The alarm went off 12:00 A.M. and we were fed, roped up and on the trail by 1:15 A.M. We made good progress over the Cathedral Rocks and past Ingrahm Flats. A bit past the Flats we had a minor route finding issue but righted the ship quickly without too much backtracking required. We ascended the Disappointment Cleaver and took a short break to eat and rehydrate. From the top of the Cleaver we swung to the right until we reached the Emmon’s Glacier and ascended the last 2,000’ of a 30 degree snow slopes to the Columbia Crest. After reaching the Crater Rim we rested for 5 minutes before we climbed to the summit proper which was 300’ higher. Our luck with the weather continued on the summit, with clear views in all directions. After snapping photos and getting something to eat we headed back down to Muir which took just under 3 hours.

After resting in camp for a couple of hours we packed up and headed back to Paradise. The weather had taken a turn for the worst and our descent back to the cars was in periods of snow and rain. By the time we arrived back to the cars (2 hours from Muir to Paradise) we were all soaked, hungry and tired.

Overall, we really enjoyed the climb. It was very straight forward and gave us an opportunity to experience a completely different mountain environment then can be found in Colorado. We were very fortunate with our summit day weather and were surprised to be up and down this massive mountain in 2 days. EJ and I agreed that we’d both like to come back and try another route in the future.