Mission Accomplished

Its been ten days now since we got off the summit of Mt Rainier and it is almost sad that its over. Six months of training and buying gear, countless hours on the internet gathering information and blogging is all over now. What a great trip!

The actual summit trip started with gear check at Alpine Ascents International (AAI) in Seattle. We met the other five members of the team that would be going up with us as well as the lead guide. It turns out, Cyrus, Pat and I were the members of the team with the least experience. Two of the other members had already climbed Rainier, 2 more had tried at least once and one guy had even spent a month on Denali and summited! Our lead guide, Matt came off exactly like a mountain guide should... total badass yet very calm and collective. My intuition would later be proven true.

After pulling out all of our gear one by one and getting the ok to climb, we left AAI and went to get groceris. Our menu for the trip would consist of bagels with ham, turkey and cream cheese, cold pizza and random snacks such as chocolate covered almonds and sour patch kids. We assembled our food and went through our packs for the next six hours, making sure everything was perfect. The next morning came and we took a cab to AAI where our gear was loaded into a van and we were shuttled down to Paradise.

After a quick introduction of ourselves and the other guides we started up for Camp Muir. The weather was wet but from rain. The guides kept a steady pace and would stop after every 1000 vertical feet which would take about an hour and fifteen. At every break the packs came off, we drank and ate. Around 8500 feet the clouds broke and the mountain started to come into view. Gorgeous! Soon after we would arrive at Camp Muir where we made camp for the night. The guides told us to relax and get settled in while they made dinner.

Muir Snowfield

The mountain coming out

When we were told that the guides made breakfasts and dinner I figured it was freeze dried meals... Wrong. The dinner call was made and we hoofed it to the AAI kitchen tent where hot chicken quesadillas were waiting with rice and beans and fresh guacamole. After dinner we enjoyed the views, snapped some photos and tried to get some sleep. Excitement kept me from getting a good nights rest. As did the ear plugs in my ears.

The next morning brought a completely clear sky with gorgeous views. Breakfast call was made and we were greeted with hot coffee and chocolate, bacon, scrambled eggs and blueberry pancakes. Awesome. We enjoyed our hot breakfast, told dirty jokes and just enjoyed ourselves at 10,000 feet. We were told after breakfast to pack our stuff up and meet by the AAI tent for some snow school.

June 19, 2012

June 20, 2012

Snow school was about two hours and consisted of learned to walk in steep terrain with crampons, self arrest and belay, rope skills and tag lines, avalanche transceivers and glacial safety. It wasn't very in depth but was enough to get us to the top and back safely. After school we saddled up and tagged into each other and started for high camp at 11,300 feet. We traveled across the Cowlitz Glacier, up Cathedral Rocks and onto the Ingraham Glacier where high camp was waiting. We were told to get a couple hours rest at high camp, then we would eat dinner and go back to bed. We were waking up at midnight to summit...

AAI tent next to Cowlitz Glacier. Notice the team crossing under the rocks in the distance

Crossing the Cowlitz

Top of Cathedral Rocks

Ingraham Glacier with high camp in distance. Disappointment Cleaner is to the upper right.

The guides at AAI took excellent care of us. While the team was sleeping they were cooking and even managed to fill everyones water bottle. Dinner consisted of pasta with cream sauce and of course bacon (awesome). We had a summit talk and were back in bed.

The alarm went off at midnight and hot water was waiting for us. Some coffee, a bagel and water was all I needed. My gear was packed and only consisted of food, water and clothing; everything else stayed at high camp. We tagged in to each other and set off in the dark towards what we hoped was the summit. Our path took us up the Ingraham Glacier and across the "flats", then up Disappointment Cleaver. We had our first break there which was brief and cold. We continued up at the same steady pace. The excited kept me going without any problems. My fear of being stricken down in my tracks by altitude wasn't happening. I didnt want to stop for breaks even; Get me to the top!

High Break

Final push

Two more breaks and the final push led us to the east side of the crater. What a desolate world up there. The crater provided a little protection from the elements. We shed our packs and tag lines, through on some warm clothes and grabbed a snack; then we made the 15 minute walk across the crater to Columbia Crest. The only word I can use to describe sitting on the summit of Mt Rainier at dawn is amazing. It was the most amazing thing I have ever done.

Summit with Mt Adams to our back

The trip down went in the exact reverse order and at a much faster pace. We stopped at high camp to get our stuff and fuel up as well as pick up the one team member that had to turn around at the Cleaver. A jog to Camp Muir (literally a jog), some quick lunch and we were off down the mountain. The weather was much warmer so the trip down went slower because the Muir Snowfield was very soft. Each step created a new post hole on already sore legs. After a few hours the lodge at Paradise came into view. I know why they call it Paradise: after descending off the mountain there is no greater site!

The boots and three day old gear came off, fresh clothes went on, the packs were loaded and we were off. Burgers and beers were enjoyed by all after leaving the park and a toast to our trip was made by lead guide Matt. His trip prior to ours brought rain, the forecast for the group going up after us is rain with high winds... We hit the perfect three days for a summit.

Although our trip was perfect for us tragedy did strike the mountain. While we were coming down from high camp to Muir, there was a group that went missing and fell into the Emmons Glacier. We saw the Chinook helicopter get launched but didn't know what was going on. Later we found out that a Park Ranger fell to his death trying to rescue the stranded climbers. RIP Ranger Nick Hall.

Weather moving in

If anyone wants to climb Mt Rainier I recommend getting a guide. I never once felt that I was in danger and the guides at AAI couldnt have made our trip any more enjoyable. It was worth every penny, and the experience is one that I will never forget. We are already looking at our next course with AAI next year; The 6 day Cascades training course. While we were on the summit, we also were able to see our next project in the world of mountaineering and climbing: Mt Baker.

Dreaming of the summit

The lead guide for our trip next week, Matt Hegeman, led a group of climbers up the Emmons glacier to the summit yesterday. The Alpine Ascents website said that they did so in adverse conditions. This has me excited because I'm glad we're going to have a guide with the cojones to make a strong go at it.

We should make a Build A Sign with just the word "Cajones" on it for the summit. Badass.

Found this link awhile back, it shows all the Mt. Rainier Paradise webcams in one convenient page. Plus, you can link out to all sorts of other webcams from Stevens Pass to Old Faithful in Yellowstone. Unfortunately the Muir cam is still out, but it sure is interesting seeing Paradise now compared to when Cody and I went snowshoeing in the winter.


-Patrick

One Week Out

This time next week we will be spending our first night at 10,000 at Camp Muir. Last minute details are getting worked out and I know I've personally packed and unpacked my bag at least 5 times already, trying to cram everything in like a puzzle piece.

The weather hasn't been favorable lately but I have faith in the mountain and ourselves...

See you at the top!

Mt. Rainier Snowpack (update)

Looks like the wind and precipitation from last week increased avalanche risk on the upper mountain. Most guides have been reluctant to venture up above 1200'. Recently, however, it's been drier so that top layer of garbage should be either melting or making its way downhill (as I predicted earlier). Hopefully things stay nice and dry through the next two weeks.

--Patrick

Which way we goin' again?

A combination of rain and warmer temperatures early in the week allowed for snow consolidation from Paradise to Muir. This should make for more efficient travel in mountaineering boots. There has been some lighter snow more recently, with temps at Paradise warming up to the mid 30s. It has remained freezing up at Muir.

Although things change quickly on the upper mountain, it appears that over the past few days climbers out of Muir have started to favor the Disappointment Cleaver route versus Ingraham Direct, where a few larger crevasses have opened up around 12,000 feet.

Here's the full report on the Ingraham Direct route: http://mountrainierconditions.blogspot.com/2012/04/ingraham-direct-2012.html

And the Disapointment Cleaver route:
http://mountrainierconditions.blogspot.com/2012/04/disappointment-cleaver-2012.html

-Patrick

Summit reports

Rediscovered the Alpine Ascents Rainier blog today. It provides updates on all the teams making summit runs up the mountain.

http://www.alpineascents.com/rainier-blog.asp

June has brought brutal weather, but four teams made it up in May!

Holy Moses it's getting close. Time to start praying for good weather!! Come on baby!!!

-Patrick

Mt. Rainier Snow Pack

As the climb approaches, I've been trying to learn more about snow packs in general and the Mt. Rainier snow pack specifically. 


Here's what I know:

--Year to date snowfall at Paradise is definitely less than last year (530 vs 913 inches), but not terrible (http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMONtsnf.pl?wa6898)

--Here is an excellent blog written by one of Intern Ranger Carrie Tomlinson (http://mountrainierclimbing.blogspot.com/). It ROCKS!! It has a ton of great info, including why the Muir camera has been out of commission. Her lastest snow pack analysis actually on the mountain - that I could find - is located here (http://mountrainierclimbing.blogspot.com/2012/03/friday-pit-profile.htmll). It comes from a pit dug part way up the face of Panorama point. Good news! It was completely stable with no failures (fractures) in either the Compression Test or the Extended Compression Test (MORE INFO BELOW ON THE CT AND ECT).

Speaking of Panorama point, here is a picture that Carrie took (on a clear day!) showing the route that Cody and I took. 

The route Cody and I took was past the second bunch of trees on the upper left side of the image, where the upslope moves L--> R. 

--All Paradise trails are under snow (http://www.localsnow.org/trailra.htm), although there has been some daytime high temps in the 30s-50s so some of this should be melting... i.e. we shouldn't need snowshoes, thank the fuck Christ (http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/nwcc/sntl-datarpt.jsp?site=679&days=7&state=WA). This site has the snow pack at Paradise in inches (http://www.skitiger.com/weather/osopvca.htm)

--Specific avalanche updates are no longer occurring but here is an excellent spring avalanche safety synopsis (http://www.nwac.us/forecast/avalanche/current/zone/7/)

--Above 7,000 feet there's been 1-3 feet of snow in the past weekish. Some of this likely melted with higher temps over the weekend with warmer temps and a bit of precipitation. I think this is a good thing in that the higher temps will melt away the looser, more recent snow, leaving the winter snowpack stable underneath. That said, if it starts getting real warm and wet, the water will start seeping down into the deeper layers and create instability in the stable snowpack beneath (http://www.localsnow.org/aval.php?area=crosscou)

--Camp Muir has been cold and there hasn't been much wind in the past coupla days, meaning the snowpack should be pretty stable up there too (http://www.localsnow.org/aval.php?area=muir). 

--Above Muir, all bets are off... 

Here is a link explaining the Compression Test: http://www.fsavalanche.org/Default.aspx?ContentId=22&LinkId=27&ParentLinkId=3

Introduction to the Extended Column Test (ECT):

Purpose is to test the likelihood of both fracture initiation and propagation. In many situations, slabs are initiated by a load (i.e. skier, mountaineer) but do not propagate, the latter of which is necessary to form an avalanche. A compression test is used to evaluate fracture initiation. In other words, the stability of the snow pack. There have been numerous attempts by researchers to test the likelihood of propagation, including testing the shear stability of a column of snow or fracture quality after a compression test. On Rainier, the Intern Ranger has been reporting measurements of propagation with results of the ECT. 

To perform the test (according to the paper I'm reading with other permutations possible), one first cuts out a column of snow roughly 90cm wide by 30 cm downslope (see image on original document: http://www.fsavalanche.org/NAC/techPages/articles/06_ISSW_Simenhois.pdf). One side of the column is loaded like the compression test with 30 taps with increasing force from a shovel, recording the number of taps it takes to both initiate a fracture and subsequently propagate the fracture across the entire cut out column of snow. Also recorded is the depth of the fracture itself. For example, if a fracture initiates at 25 cm deep on the 13th tap and propagates across the column on the 14th tap, the test would be recorded as: ECT 13/14@25. NP indicates that a fracture did not propagate after 30 taps and PP indicates that it only partially propagated, but not across the entire column. Clear as mud? 

The differences between initiation (ECTI) and propagation (ECTP) is important is the key to interpreting the stability of the snow pack. If, for example, a fracture initiates at 15 taps (ECTI =15) and propagates at 28 taps (ECTP = 28) then the column is stable. On the other hand, if ECTI = 13 and ECTI  14, then only a couple additional loading steps (or mountaineering steps) are required to propagate the initial fracture across the entire column. One step fracture, second step slab avalanche. No beuno. 

Of course, the ECT only test one column of snow, not the entire mountain. Plus, these tests - at least in the winter and early spring - are rarely performed at higher altitudes where the risk of avalanche is greater. There are some other limitations, especially when the top layer of snow is lighter, etc. that is beyond the scope of this introduction. 

Hope this helps,

-Patrick

Making out your gear check

Yes, the title comes from the category "Before and After" from Wheel of fortune... So how much does a trip to the summit of Mount Rainier cost?

While going through my gear check list and seeing what items I had left to purchase (because I hadn't already spent enough), I started wondering how much I ended up spending on all this shit that I had to buy.

At first, I thought I made off pretty good. I had accumulated a lot of items from the service and through the years (See prior post "Thanks USAF") and with the help of Craigslist, ebay, REI coupons and Backcountry.com, had managed to find good deals and closeouts on many of the items I did have to purchase.

Still, looking at this list of gear I was required to have I was curious how much I did spend. Luckily, I save all my receipts; both digitally and a hard copy. I was able to make an itemized list of all the things I purchased with their price next to it:

Gloves – 58.95

Crampons – 170.00

Ice Ax – 67.00

Helmet – 50.00

Mountaineering Boots – 53.00

Harness – 80.00

Trekking Poles – 66.00

Snow Shoes – 63.73

Caribbeaners – 15.00

Compass – 37.42

Hiking Pants – 50.00

Lightweight Pants – 68.00

Full Zip Pants – 35.18

Down Coat – 76.00

Hat – 20.00

Baclava – 24.00

Gaiters – 35.00

Nalgene Bottles – 16.00

Stuff Sack – 37.00

Cup/Bowl – 8.00

Spork – 9.00

Rainier NP Pass – 30.00

Freedom of The Hills – 20.00

Rainier Climbing Guide – 14.00

Challenge of Rainier – 15.00

Transceiver Rental - 6.00

Add all that up and it comes to a grand total of 1134 and some change. This doesn't include the price of the guide/course which is 1355.00

I asked my two climbing partners if they had an itemized list of their gear as well. Cyrus immediately replied back with an itemized list that included the item, the brand and the cost. Looking over it I realized he had included all the gear he had collected over the years. He did later tell me "this is my life's investment in gear that will be in some way used for the trip". I added up everything he sent me. Talk about sticker shock: $4616. However, there was 700 dollars of travel related expenditures in his list because he decided to move to Minnesota. 

There are still a few more small items that I will need to buy such as ear plugs, duct tape,, sun screen and some other random essentials like toiletries. I also am responsible for my lunches and snacks but whether or not I'm on the summit of Rainier, or sitting in Lake Stevens, a guy has to eat. At most the rest of my random items will be under 50 dollars. On a good note, my REI dividend should be awesome next year!

So, total price for Cody to summit Rainier: 2539.00

Cost of spending three days hiking through Mt Rainier National Park and hanging out on the highest Volcano in the lower 48 with two badass friends: Priceless