Settled on Climb Date & Expedition Group!

I have been considering a few different guide groups to climb Rainier with including Rainier Mountaineering Inc (RMI), Alpine Ascents International (AAI), and International Mountain Guides (IMG), to name a few. I believe I have narrowed my final choice down to Alpine Ascents. I spoke with one of their reps yesterday over the phone and had an awesome conversation. One of the biggest sellers about their group is that on the second day, they go beyond the usual camping spot of Camp Muir and pitch tents higher up at Ingraham Flats (a flatter section before the last 5-hour ascent up Ingraham Glacier. This means that on summit day, even though the start time is just past midnight, they start about 2 hours in front of the other groups, essentially ensuring the first shot at the summit at sunrise.

In the mean time, I have been keeping track of some data for next summer regarding sun and moon phases. For anyone who can't nerd out for a few minutes, I implore you to skip over this lil' entry. Without really knowing how to best narrow down my choices for the climb date, I reached inside my inner-geek self and got down to the minutes, start and end times of the moon and sun patterns for next year. Behold, my plot of sun and moon patterns for Paradise, WA, Summer 2011:

Sun and Moon Patterns - Summer 2011

Now in selecting a date, I figured I would want to climb mid-season when there is still a good amount of snow and the days are longer. Next, I factored in the phase of the moon. Since the final summit day begins at midnight, I am looking for a date when the moon is near full. Now I'm sure we'll still use headlamps, but hiking in full-moonlight is something to be treasured -- In my past endeavors, I've usually gotten by with only the bright moonlight illuminating the trail and the experience is nothing short of awesome! Now comes the trade off. Being out on the south-east side of the mountain, shielded from the major cities, how awesome would it be to have a pitch-black sky so that all the painted clusters of stars can be seen in their complex beauty? That narrows it down to selecting a date that has a waning moon, so that it rises later in the night, allowing for some stargazing just after sunset (which would likely only be possible on the first night, since the sun sets at about 9pm. Now I'm looking for a waning gibbous moon that rises at about 11pm... May 18, June 17, and July 19. Of those dates, June 17 actually occurs on Friday, which works out perfect for a weekend trip that minimizes the deep cut into my two weeks of allotted vacation time for work (ugh).

With that, I think I'm all set to shoot for a June 17-19th climb date. I submitted my paperwork last night to AAI and hopefully I hear back soon :-).

Cheers!


Oct 4, 2010 Update: 
 Yep! Just got my approval packet via email! I shall officially be climbing with Alpine Ascents next June. Hooray :-D. I know I'm foolish in even trying but... any takers?? ::::crickets::::... Didn't think so. I'll have to go bug my cubemate at work ;-) Cheers!