| Report Type | Full |
| Peak(s) |
Mt. Rainier - 14410 |
| Date Posted | 08/18/2013 |
| Modified | 12/10/2014 |
| Date Climbed | 08/09/2013 |
| Author | WarDamnPanic |
| Rainier-Disappointment Cleaver |
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Mount Rainier 14,110 ft. Route: Disappointment Cleaver Dates:August 6-9, 2013 Guides:Thomas Greene, Casey Grom, Steve Gately Climbers: My wife and I, Lena Dukarevich, Aeron Mckie, Ian Smith, Barbora Volovarova, Matthew Ward, Rick Welter,MattYoung "The view we enjoyed from the summit (of Mount Rainier) could hardly be surpassed in sublimity and grandeur; but one feels far from home so high in the sky, so much so that one is inclined to guess that, apart from the acquisition of knowledge and the exhilaration of climbing, more pleasure is to be found at the foot of the mountains than on their tops. Doubly happy, however, is the man to whom lofty mountain tops are within reach, for the lights that shine there illumine all that lies below." John Muir  In my previous three trips to the Pacific Northwest, the possibility of climbing Rainier never entered my mind. But after reading "No Shortcuts To the Top" by Ed Viesturs, I was motivated for the giant glaciated mountain right here in the lower 48. Climbing 14ers in Colorado the past 5 years has sparked my desire for adventure travel and specifically climbing mountains. Our trip to Kilimanjaro last summer was great but burned up a lot of our vacation time and bank account. When our good friends announced their wedding would be this August in Seattle, Rainier was my first thought. After spending several months on the waiting list with RMI and IMG, two spots opened up with RMI that matched our dates. In preparation for Rainier we climbed Little Bear and Little Italy couloir for snow practice and getting used to our crampons. We did the Blanca group in two separate backpack trips, North Maroon, Uncompahgre, Wetterhorn, and Snowmass. This gave us some experience in our crampons, mountaineering boots, an introduction to snow travel, and many miles and elevation gain with packs. Day 1 August 6,2013 We left Denver early Tuesday morning and after an easy two hour flight we flew past Rainier and landed in Seattle. My first impression during the fly-by was, "Wow that is a big mountain." The drive down to Ashford was quick and easy and we had clear skies to stare down Rainier the entire way. The enormous glaciers and vertical rise of the mountain make it an impressive sight. The landscape of huge spruce trees, Mt. Rainier, wild flowers and all the lakes and rivers immediately set the tone for this stunning scenery. Once in Ashford we checked into Alexander's Country Inn and organized our gear for orientation. At orientation at RMI headquarters we met our guides, Casey Grom and Thomas Greene. Casey has several Everest Summits and had just returned from two trips up Elbrus, and over 150 Rainier summits, while Thomas was just as impressive but focuses mainly in the Cascades since returning from New Zealand as a guide. Orientation provided an overview of the program, introduction to the other climbers and gear check. Our team consisted of four Canadian friends who take annual adventure trips and in the past have bicycled across Canada and running of the West Coast Trail. Two physicians, one that had previously attempted Rainier but had to turn around because of a knee issue and one that had just returned from an Anapurna base camp trek, a computer programmer from Tacoma, and my wife and I. It was clear our group came prepared and in shape. Gear check was very educational and here we learned about the layering systems for Rainier, 5 upper/3 lower total, and overall a good experience. That night we ate dinner at Wild Berry, a great Nepalese restaurant situated right next to our B&B. Day 2 On Mountain Training We met at RMI headquarters at 8 am. After the 45 minutes drive up to Paradise, we hiked an additional hour to reach a permanent snowfield around 7000 ft elevation, where we would spend the day practicing kicking steps, self arrest, basic info on avalanche beacon use, rope travel, scrambling in crampons, and the use of hand lines.  This was a great refresher on most things, but also my first time experiencing roped glacier travel. I had read Tyson and Clellands' book Glacier Travel and Crevasse Rescue but walking in sync with others in crampons, ready to arrest takes a little practice. Here we learned that there would be three ladder crossings because the route was more highly crevassed than normal. After a great day of snow skills practice we trekked back to Paradise and the wild flowers were in full bloom. The meadows surrounding Rainier in August are worth the trip.  Arriving back at RMI headquarters, we went back to the hotel to repack our bags in preparation for the next morning and then to Copper Creek restaurant for dinner. This area is known for wild berries and this restaurant for their pies, which are baking every 45 minutes. After some great local Salmon, we finished dinner with Huckleberry Pie and Shakes.  Day 3 Hike from Paradise (5400')to Camp Muir (10,080') We met up at RMI's Base Camp at 8 am again and all loaded into their shuttle for the drive up to Paradise. Everyone was excited to finally start the climb.  Once arriving at Paradise around 9 am, we donned our backpacks, trekking poles and began the ascent up the nice paved national park paths toward the upper mountain.  After reading several threads on this site about gear, I went with a Capilene 4 hoody as both my base layer and a sun shade for the upper Muir snowfield. It worked perfect as both. We took a break once before the Muir snowfield to change into boots for those that brought tennis shoes to this point. I decided to just do the whole climb in boots and in retrospect I wish I had brought some flip flops to change into at Camp Muir.  We took two more breaks on the Muir snowfield and reached Camp Muir at 3 pm. Our goal was to cover the 4.5 miles and 4500 gain at a pace that would allow us to reach Camp Muir feeling great.  After picking out sleeping spots and organizing gear for the next day's climb, we had a quick orientation about Camp Muir, the climb tomorrow, and which rope teams we would be on. They didn't tell us our wake up time but said it would be ridiculously early. They provided boiling water for backcountry meals around 4:30 pm and soon after dinner we climbed into the bunkhouse for the earliest bedtime since I was 8 years old. I chose the top bunk and this proved to be to hot during the night, I slept on top of my bag as the temp never dropped below 40 degrees that night. Day 4 Camp Muir(10,080') to Summit(14,410') to Paradise(5400') 11:15 pm on Day 3 is where this day would start. Our lead guide Thomas walked into the bunk house and turned on the lights. As promised, it was ridiculously early, still the previous day actually. He states that for mountaineering purposes we could not ask for more ideal weather, no wind, clouds, and relatively warm at 45 degrees.  We geared and roped up, on my rope team was my wife, our lead guide Thomas, and the programmer from Tacoma, Ian. Because of the warm temps I went with my Capilene 4 top, leg thermals, and lightweight trekking pants. I brought my softshell jackets, goretex shell for both top and bottom, down sweater, and large down parka. My pack weight was probably 15 lbs leaving Camp Muir with water, food and the camera.  We left Camp Muir at 12:30 am and stepped onto the Cowlitz Glacier. The first few steps felt great then the possibility of a crevasse fall entered my mind and did not leave for 12 hours. Although unlikely, the ability to fall into a 150 foot deep crevasse, even attached to a rope team, brought sighs with each step. After crossing the Cowlitz Glacier, we ascended Cathedral Gap and onto the Ingraham Flats, where there were climbers camped and preparing their rope teams. The mixture of volcanic rock/dirt and heavy Pacific NW snow, made a great surface for crampooning. We soon reached Disappointment Cleaver, which was named because early climbers thought this might be a easy rock scramble to the summit, but were disappointed to discover this cleaver ends several thousand feet below the top. The climb up the Cleaver was Class II and we shortened our rope intervals but kept the crampons on. We soon reached the top of the cleaver and back on the Ingraham Glacier. After 15 minutes back on the glacier, our guide announced we would soon reach the final two ladders and the crux of the route. The first was a vertical ladder with little exposure but the second was probably 20 feet across and the deepest, darkest, coldest abyss lying beneath. Exposure doesn't define this crossing. Attached to the rope team left no time to hesitate and after a few treacherous steps I was across, with my wife behind me on the rope I was ready to arrest but thankfully she crossed with ease.     After that break the last hour to the summit was very pleasant with temps hovering around 30, great snow conditions, clear skies, and a perfect sunrise. Before long we reached the summit crater.  After dropping our packs and un-roping we walked across the summit crater and up the final hundred feet to Columbia Crest.   We spent an hour on the summit and soon after the second RMI group reached the summit which included a team of transplant surgeons and their patients, one with a heart transplant that reached the summit. Truly impressive.  The descent down was smooth until the first ladder crossing where several groups were still trying to ascend, a group descending in front of us was held up for over an hour waiting for some of these groups to ascend. They informed us that there were 3 rope teams trying to ascend on the other side of the ladder. The bottleneck occurs because the two ladders and hand lines only allow for one rope team at a time to pass at a time. Our guide had me ask the ascending rope teams if we could trade 1 team coming up for one team coming down. We had 3 other rope teams behind us and waiting for all three to come up could delay our group for hours. The ascending teams denied that request which did not please our guides.  Our guide instructed me (who was in front) to descend anyways, we descended and after a mini fiasco reached the top of the cleaver. The rope team that was holding everyone up at the ladder crossing ended up turning around after half their party had crossed the ladder, one woman in their group froze halfway across the ladder and turned around. They delayed the other descending teams over 90 minutes. Apparently, other than starting 8 hours later than the park rangers recommended, they were belaying with handlines. After a quick break on the Ingraham flats, we learned of 1981 avalanche that resulted in the worst mountaineering accident in US History.  We stopped just before the flats so the guides go do some tail maintenance and find an alternate way around the first ladder as the snow had soften up and our guide could place his axe straight though the snow revealing a large crevasse about to open. Time to find an alternative route.  The crevasses on the Ingraham flats were stunning.  After a short break on the Flats we arrived back at Camp Muir just after noon. Back at Camp Muir was a relief to unrope and take off the crampons.  We repacked our gear, clothing, and picked up our sleeping bags and trekking poles to start the descent down the Muir snowfield. This was pure fun, the afternoon sun had baked the snowfield to a nice soft consistency to allow a mixture of plunge running/boot skiing down the snowfield. Our entire group made it down the snowfield in less than 30 minutes.   After some fun glissading near the bottom we reached the end of the snowfield and took a quick break to take off our gaiters and boots. The remaining hour down to Paradise was pure bliss with the wildflowers and hundreds of tourist enjoying this stunning landscape and National Park.  The 45 minute shuttle back down to Ashford and RMI Headquarters was bittersweet as the climb was coming to end. Back at RMI Basecamp we celebrated with Rainier Beer and pizza with a our team. Our guides informed us that unlike most groups, we came in shape, prepared, and that was the first time in guiding with RMI, they had a group make Point Success, and then Columbia Crest, with no hesitation, issue, and no break. He stated our group was unique and we should stay in touch for future climbs.  I will admit I was dreading this trip in the months leading up to it, after recently starting a dental practice and not being able to take long or extended vacations, a Rainier climb combined with a wedding would have to suffice for 2013. In the weeks leading up to the climb, I was craving a nice relaxing tropical vacation. I also dreaded the thought of having slow or out of shape climbers in our group. I had heard horror stories of RMI climbs with slow pace, many breaks, and the thought of potentially not making the summit because someone in my group did not prepare. But I was wrong. RMI was first class, and I learned so much about glacier travel, crevasse rescue, mountaineering, snow conditions, history of Rainier, and had the opportunity to discuss big mountains in Himalaya, South America, and Europe with guides that had just returned from all of these areas. After this climb, I find myself checking the RMI website to sign up for my next climb. Maybe Ecuador or Mexico? After our summit celebration we said our goodbyes to our fellow climbers and guides and left Ashford for Seattle at 5 pm. We had a rehearsal dinner that night in Seattle, so had to rush back to Seattle, check in our hotel, shower and we arrived at the dinner only 15 minutes late.  Some things I learned during the climb that might help future Rainier climbers are : Get some synthetic climbing pants that are not gore-tex. Gore-tex is a very slick and not recommended as the layer to leave Camp Muir in. Buy a big down parka jacket, at every break high on the mountain, the first thing I did was put on my parka. I'll admit I was completely opposed to carrying this monstrosity up the mountain, after all I didn't need it on Kilimanjaro, but it was instrumental in keeping me warm at each break and quite cozy high on the upper mountain. Rainier is a serious mountain, nothing in CO compares with its huge glaciers and crevasses. It is a great training ground for other peaks and the town of Ashford is very cool with some great restaurants, huge spruce tress, and massive rivers that flow off of Rainier. I have hopes to get into ice climbing and learn more about glacier travel and crevasse rescue and maybe attempt Liberty Ridge one day. Thank you RMI, those 4 hilarious Canadians, and my wife for letting me choose our one and only vacation this year. I would not have spent it any other way. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow): 
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