Mt. Rainier 7.19.11 via Disappointment Cleaver + other adventures

I apologize in advance for the abundance of photos but between 4 friends we took over 1200 photos on our trip and it was quite difficult to not showcase some of the better ones!

Part 1: miscellaneous adventures
Mt. Adams (attempt) 7.11.11 - 7.12.11
The four of us had tentatively planned on doing Adams as a warm up for Rainier and lacking a large enough good weather window for Rainier this idea was further reinforced. So on the 11th we made the long drive down from Seattle and headed up to Trout Lake to get our permits. We found the forest roads still weren't cleared of snow so we'd be adding an extra few miles and a decent chunk of elevation to our hike. Coupled with our late start from the long drive we elected to make camp around 7500 feet, below lunch counter, where we had a little more protection and some fine views to Mt. Hood to our south as dusk approached.


Mt. Adams from near Trout Lake


The 4 jokers head out for Adams: myself, Sean, Ted, and Andy.


Mount Hood


Zoomed Mount Hood shot. No complaints from us about not having any views...

We awoke to howling winds, rain, sleet, and < 100 ft visibility so we waited around for the better part of the day. By mid-afternoon when it was clear we wouldn't be summiting on the 12th and a poor weather forecast for the following day we elected to bail and head north for the Olympics where the forecast looked a little better. Ah...but this was the Pacific Northwest afterall and naturally the forecast changed and the wet weather followed us up to Olympic NP. We still were able to get a few views here and there:


Multnomah Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon


Crescent Lake, Olympic NP

We were all itching to get up high but in the end the prospect of getting soaked in 30/40 degree sleet/rain at 6k feet and drenching our gear before rainier sounded like a miserable idea so we made lemonade out of lemons and did some backpacking along the beach northwest of Forks near the far corner of the peninsula. We kept our cold weather gear dry, didn't have to pay for a hotel, and got to hike along the beach--it was an easy sell. Plus we got some awesome views along the way:


Hole in the Wall, Olympic NP


Sea-scapes in Olympic NP

After 2 days on the beach the forecast for Rainier looked to be improving so we packed up and made the trek to Tacoma/Rainier NP and geared up for Rainier.
<continued>

Part 2: Mt. Rainier 7.17.11 - 7.19.11 via Disappointment Cleaver (DC)

7.17.11 day 1
We awoke to cloudy skies on the 17th at Cougar Campground and by the time we arrived at Paradise we were being treated to a nice steady rain. We lingered in the car since it was in the upper 30's and rather nasty outside and checked the updated forecast. It didn't sound pleasant but we'd need to hike up to Camp Muir to have a chance to summit if and when the weather improved in a few days. So we headed out in the rain and within the hour the showers stopped, the clouds got lighter, and eventually that bright light in the sky even showed up for a little while. We were a little disheartened to hear from every group we passed that they didn't summit and later in the day we were told no groups were able to summit. Eventually we ascended into the clouds and re-entered the whiteout but conditions were still pleasant enough until we arrived at Camp Muir. The wind picked up and freezing rain/sleet/snow began to fall as we set up camp. The storm only lasted an hour or two but the wind would remain fierce for nearly 24 hours, even lifting our tents into the air when unoccupied. There's abundant rockfall in the area so we used rocks to make deadman anchors to prevent the tents from blowing down Cowlitz Glacier just below us.


Mt. Rainier from the Nisqually River basin by Cougar Campground.


Heading out from Paradise. Tons of late spring snow has the legendary alpine meadows of Paradise buried beneath feet of snow.


Ascending the Muir Snowfields.


Whiteout on the upper Muir Snowfields.


Dusk at Camp Muir overlooking the Cowlitz Glacier.


Moonrise from 10,000 feet.



7.18.11 day 2
Improving conditions marked our second day on Rainier. There was a gorgeous undercast beneath us and by the afternoon the overcast burned off and the wind finally died down. However word still trickled between groups that none of the groups that set off the night before were able to summit. We'd have better conditions on our side though. We passed the time practicing self-rescue and shooting the s*&t with the groups camping out next to us. The adjacent group featured 3 pleasant guides that had summited Everest including Lakpa Sherpa (Alpine Ascents). Andy and I had the terrible idea of having a double dose of chili for both lunch and dinner that day; one of the meals would seek its revenge on us but more on that later. We all laid down for a few hours before gearing up for the summit climb. We topped off water bottles and left camp at 12:30 am.


Rainbow and an undercast looking out to the SE from Camp Muir.


A group of hikers heads up Cathedral Gap to make camp at Ingraham Flats.


Beautiful late afternoon conditions at Camp Muir.

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7.19.11 day 3
Within half an hour we caught up to a large non-commercially guided group as we ascended Cathedral Gap(10.6k). We patiently waited back and they let us pass at the top of the Gap. By Ingraham Flats (11k), however, we had to hold up as Andy was beginning to get bad stomach cramps. That was great news for me since we had shared the same meals leading up to the climb...NOT! The other group and another passed us on the Flats and we traversed around what seemed like a small crevasse and looped around to the far base of Disappointment Cleaver (DC). We worked our way up the endless switchbacks as snow and ice fell from the groups above us. The snow was frozen and glazed in ice; coupled with the huge open crevasses that lay beneath us at the base of the DC this was certainly the most unnerving section of our climb. A fall would have been...well we aimed to not fall and we didn't. After the long climb we topped out (~12.5k) and took a quick break to settle down.

We made a long traverse across the Emmons Glacier on a rather steep sidesloped path. The groups ahead elected to break here under overhanging ice and seracs aplenty. We thanked them for allowing us to pass and quickly moved along and began the arduous switchback section to the summit crater. The Mountain House Revenge took its turn with Andy and myself but at 9:30 am we reached the summit. Being the only one in the group that had never been at altitude before (lil' Mount Washington was the highest I had been), I wasn't surprised that I was the only one in the group with mild AMS but that didn't ease my pounding headache and racing pulse.

We pushed down the switchbacks baking in the late morning sun and by the time we hit the top of the DC I felt like my old cantankerous self again The morning sun softened the snow/ice on the DC and we slowly and carefully made our way down safely. A quick race across the icefall hazard areas and we were back at Muir by 1:30 pm to break down camp and descend another 5k to the car. The wind picked up, we descended in drizzle/whiteout but hey it didn't matter. The Pacific Northwest gave us 24 hours of good weather and we made the most of it! A huge thanks to my climbing partners Andy, and especially Sean and Ted for agreeing to rope up and teach two novices--you guys rock! Can't wait for the next one!

Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo.com


"The 13th Warrior" came to mind as we made a long switchback above Emmons Glacier.


Dawn approaches as we traverse the Emmons Glacier.


Switchbacks above the Emmons Glacier.


Rising far above Little Tahoma.


Mt. Rainier crater from the summit.


Mt. Rainier summit. Ted, Sean, Andy, and myself.


Descending. Little Tahoma climbing out of the clouds in front of me.


"Snowbridge to Heaven" just above the top of the DC.


Crevasse, looking out from the big turn on the DC.


Ingraham Flats from the DC.


Paradise. Rain at the start; rain at the finish. Awesome trip guys!

Great report and really phenomenal pictures. It's awesome all 4 of you summitted.

great stuff!
Petch

oy! The crevasse pics make me shiver. And the dawn pics are insanely gorgeous. Awesome report. The rain at start/end is a nice touch - how cute of that to happen.

Great pics and sounds like an awesome vacation. Nice pictures of Mt Hood too...

Jay

Nice! A few weeks ago, the stairs were still buried at Paradise and the rangers were still shoveling out the main building!

Great job, Congrats!

Very impressinve, well done!

Awesome! Thanks for sharing your adventures.

fantastic pics and awesome report. nice job, guys!

Those are some fantastic photos!

Amazingly beautiful pictures!! What an accomplisment!

Amazing! Can't believe that you're apologizing for the number of pics. I'd be more than happy to look at all 1200 The sunrise shots with the glow below the undercast are spectacular!

Congrats on everyone getting to the summit!

Really excellent. Great job guys!

Great pictures! What a trip it must have been. Thanks for sharing!!

Superb TR. Congrats

Amazing pics, I also could of looked through many more!!

Congrats on a sucessfull summit!!

Wow ! Thanks for sharing, those are spectacular photos ! Great shot of Multnomah Falls, too (the only one of your incredible scenes that I've been fortunate enough to witness myself). I really hope I can get back to the NW some day.

Thanks everyone for the kind words and praise! We were ecstatic that we got a window to make an attempt for the summit and that we were able to push through some adversity (food poisoning due to some questionable food storage) to all reach the summit. It's pretty easy to see why the summit rate is what it is for Rainier. To boot we got breathtaking views every step of the way; with 4 cameras clicking we recorded different aspects to capture the journey. Thanks everyone and can't wait for the next big one!

Per a few requests I've uploaded more photos onto Picasa:
https://picasaweb.google.com/pcushing21/Rainier2011

There's also a more complete collection of pics/videos via the following links:
a) Mt. Adams: http://www.spotadventures.com/trip/view?trip_id=267730
b) Olympic NP: http://www.spotadventures.com/trip/view/?trip_id=267552
c) Mt. Rainier: http://www.spotadventures.com/trip/view?trip_id=267604