Mount Rainier via Dissapointment Cleaver - June 17-19, 2011

My ninja self with Sam and Lee atop the highest, most heavily glaciated volcano in the lower 48!

Summary Recap:
Day 1 (Friday)

• Paradise (5,400 ft) to Camp Muir (10,080 ft)
• Blistering hot ascent on the Muir snowfield

Day 2 (Saturday)

• Camp Muir to High Camp (Ingraham Flats, Ingraham Glacier: 11,200 ft)
• Overnight snowstorm turns back other group summit pushes
• Storm continues throughout morning: 3-4 fresh inches of snow
• High winds continue throughout Saturday night

Day 3 - Summit Day (Sunday / Fathers Day)

• High Camp to Summit (14,411 ft)
• Wake up 12:30 am, breakfast, prep for final climb
• On glacier by 2 am
• Ascend Disappointment Cleaver and traverse the crevasses of Emmons Glacier
• Columbia Crest crater rim at 6:55 am
• Summit at 7:25 am
• Back to high camp by 10 am
• Pack up high camp, head back to Camp Muir at 11 am
• Lunch at Muir, leave at noon
• Descend Muir snowfield to Paradise
• Arrive at Paradise at 2:15 pm

KEEP READING...

Day 1 of the Approach - Bruins win the Stanley Cup!!!
Couldn't have been more unlucky with the timing of my flight occuring throughout the start and the end of game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. Rather than cancel my flight and witness their triumph, I opted to continue on to the great state of Washington. I was handsomely rewarded with dozens of epic views of the hundreds of volcanoes and snow-capped crags that line the nor-western coast.

Passing over Mt. Shasta, CA and Mt. McLoughlin, OR

The epic Crater Lake of Oregon

Mt. Baily, Diamond Lake and Mt. Thielson, OR on left. On right, Mt. Adams!

First glimpse of Rainier at sunset on the final approach into SEA-TAC.

Day 2 of the Approach - Packed, Pack, and more Packing!
Packing to ensure that I didn't leave any vitals at home.

Going through gear, one last time at the hotel room -- or so I thought.

Tomorrow, I'll embark for the legendary Mt. Rainier, a mountain
that has taunted me from desktop for over a year. 

Day 1 of the Climb - 3 hours to drive and 4500 feet to ascend!

We met at the offices in downtown Seattle and set off for Rainier National Park.

"If you have a mountain, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire...
The A-Team. Ba-ba-duh-duhh, duh-duh-dummm... From left to right, myself, Mark, Tom,

Jamie, Felton, Lee, and our two lovely ladies, Moira and Ning. Lee especially takes this title seriously.

Meeting our guides Ben, Sam, Danny, and Victor at Ashford, WA, aka: Rainier Basecamp.

The skies cleared up for an amazing shot of what lie ahead. And of course I had to sneak
a shot of some family admiring the local snow-art carved into the embankment. Go B's!

The south side of Mt. Rainier, with the Kautz ridge and glacier at left, Wilson glacier
at center, Furher routes, the Nisqually ice falls and Gibraltar rock at the far right.

We arrive at our first steep section of the day, taking us up to Panorama point.

At Panorama Point, there is a full 270+ degree view of all the surrounding ranges
and even Mt. Adams off on the horizon.

At each stop, I was overtaken by the epic views in all directions. I'm extremely
grateful the weather cooperated and stayed clear for the trip up to Muir

Throughout the day, the clouds came in went, some obscuring the mountain briefly,
some faintly texturing an otherwise serene blue sky.

As we ascended higher up the Muir Snowfield, the clouds quickly fought to catch up.

We had many opportunities to take in the scenery during our quick carb-loading sessions.

A dense system of clouds moves in over the Nisqually glacier,
which now lies about 500 feet below the rocks guarding the edge there.

Looking climber's left over to the beginnings of the Wilson glacier. At right, looking out over the moon rocks.

Time to consume 100's more calories! Hooray!

The fog rolls in.

...And with it, the mountain is shrouded in mystery once more. Crazy weather systems here!
I couldn't imagine the more-often typical task of climbing in the fog without any glimpse
of the mountain until cresting above the cloud layer.

Some of the alpine flora. We've got one of these shrubs on Humphreys in AZ that's dutifully
protected and reveared as sacred. I guess there's not a lot of alpine environment to go around in AZ.

Still pressing onward. Inklings of how "close" this mountain looks are quickly
dwindled by doubts that we'll ever arrive to the first camp.

Muir Snowfield.

Felton and son Jamie survey the route.

More Cascade volcanoes come into view with Adams and Hood.

Hey what happened to your peak, man?

Some of the crevasse character of Nisqually glacier, just below camp.

Welcome to Camp Muir at 10,080 ft! Home to... nearly everyone on the mountain! Busy, busy place.

Mt. Adams, another stratovolcano in the Cascade Range towers above the landscape at 12,281 ft.

LEFT: Off in the distant southern horizon lies Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson to it's right.
RIGHT: And to the south-southwest lies the remnant crater of Mt. St. Helens.

First orders of business:  a lil' "me-time", and then off to hang up gear to dry.

Some good, good digs in the cabins. Room with a view directly down the Muir Snowfield.

Gibraltar Rock, looming over Camp Muir and Cowlitz glacier.

LEFT: On the other side of camp, many found solace atop the nearby peak.
RIGHT: Looking out east, down the Cowlitz glacier.

  Looking out across Cowlitz Glacier towards Cathedral ridge. At right, Cathedral gap
provides a small bit of access to the neighboring glacier and the first views of Lil' Tahoma peak.

Gibraltar Rock looms over Camp Muir. Lots of rock and icefall action from this puppy!

This is likely my favorite shot of Adams to the south and the Tatoosh range nestled below Rainier. Ah!

More epic shots of the Tatoosh!

"I don't always drink hot cocoa, but when I do, I prefer to do it from 10,080 ft above the sea level datum."

LEFT: Last shots of the evening with Mount St. Helens in distance with some ripples of lenticulars passing over 'er.
RIGHT: Climbers make their descents back down the Muir snowfield to end the day

Day 2 of the Climb - Snow storm blows in overnight!
Only 1000 ft to ascend on this rest day as we move from Camp Muir to Ingraham Flats.

Snow storm rolled in Friday night, early Saturday morning, providing a nice dusting
to the surroundings. Clouds held captive by fierce winds whipped by overhead.

Several groups had to abandon their summit attempt midway during the early morning hours
due to the whiteout. So grateful we had an extra day to spend at altitude before our attempt.

For a couple hours that morning, we enjoyed some hot breakfast in the kitchen tent and waited out the storm. Sam, did his share of carb loading and polished off a victory pancake, which took the entire size of the griddle to make. What a champ!

Nothing to do but wait out the weather... which could be 15 minutes, or 15 hours.
You just never know what lurks beyond the features of the mountain.

You shall not pass!

Impossible to tell where the snow ends and the clouds begin.

I've never experienced such "sticky", wet snow. The water content was incredible up here in the
Cascades. This also meant that no porous item was safe from eventually becoming soaked. Argh.

To wait out the storm, we walked through some good glacier crossing techniques and other good footwork. I never really believed in the whole "rest-step" technique, but once you get the hang of it and put it into good use, holy cow does it actually save energy and stamina -- it's always the little stuff! I am now a believer. Boy was I inefficient in the past!

We also practiced our "Thriller" walk.

The winds would whip-up over the Cowlitz and bombard camp every
so often. I think I actually caught Lee being caught off guard by a decent gust!

Every now and then, when it just seemed to begin to clear up...

...it didn't.

I hope heaven has a lot of these, hehe

Sunlight! Time to hit it and move to the next spot to camp! Throwin' on crampons and organizing ropes...

And before long, we're off onto the Cowlitz, headed for Cathedral Gap. We've got a nice window of clear-ish weather, despite the gusting wind. Only about at thousand feet in elevation to high camp over on the Ingraham Glacier.

Looking back down the Cowlitz glacier at Danny, Moira and Ning. Crevasses up high.

Nearing Cathedral gap, bringing up the rear with my rope partners Lee and Sam at lead.

If you look carefully you can see Danny's team rounding the gap and entering Ingraham. Lil' Tahoma
peak disappears and reappears every few minutes as the wind stirs the clouds around the mountain.

Lee is all smiles. Having a blast up here!

Forging ahead despite the wind. Just a few more minutes to the Flats.

Finally at high camp on the Ingraham glacier, immersed in the intense weather.
The tents left up from the trip two nights ago are somewhat buried and need to be dug out.

The tents left up from the trip two nights ago are somewhat buried and need to be dug out.

And the picturesque view is gone.

All smiles with the other side of Cathedral ridge behind me. 

Gibraltar rock still looms over us, with Cadaver Gap to its left.

Looking up towards the summit with the Ingraham direct route ahead... Yeah, not happening,
with all of those exposed crevasses. Instead, we'll head to the cleaver at the right to ascend to the summit.

In the morning we'll ascend up Disappointment Cleaver, entering the nose, just above
the last tent to the right. Plenty of snow on the cleaver.

Taking a break in the tent. We start prepping our summit packs for the morning.

Can't beat these views from the room!

The wind continues throughout the entire night. We eat a quick pasta dinner and discuss our plan for the morning. We'll use the alpine start at midnight to get our best shot at cold, solid, firm snow and safe crevasse crossings. We hit the tents early. It's difficult to go to sleep when the sun is still out -- even for the east side of the mountain there is still a glow that lingers well into the night.

Day 3 of the Climb - Summit Day! 
We climb the remaining 3,200 feet to the summit, ascending the cleaver under the guise of night.

Wake up call is at 12:30am. Sunday. We are on the glacier by 2am.
We ascend the Cleaver in total darkness (aside from the moon)

Sunrise finally erupts above the clouds of eastern WA. My favorite shot of Lil' Tahoma peak.

Mount Adams is the only other distinguishable feature on the cloud horizon.

Chilling (read: "literally chilling") on a break, somewhere on the Emmons glacier.
We had to traverse far to the north to cross one of the very prominent crevasses.

LEFT: Packing up and prepping for our final push to the crater. The moon lingers in the distance.
RIGHT: Looking down the beautifully stunning Emmons Glacier
with the White River runout curving left around Mount Ruth.

SUMMIT at last! With a quick break at the entrance to the crater, we traverse across the east crater to the highpoint across to the northwest. Once atop the Columbia Crest, the stunning Liberty Cap comes into full view, with Seattle lying just beyond its tip. Amazing views. By the grace of God, we had the perfect window to summit, especially after seeing how foul the mountain can turn in an instant, the day prior.

LEFT: Looking southwest towards Mt St Helens
RIGHT: The view out west over the west crater towards the Pacific

Looking back towards the east entrance to the crater. You can see other
climbers taking their final break before crossing the crater to the high point.

For you, Abuelo! Para los Santa Cruz! The Family Crest at 14,411 feet!
Love you Madre, Pops and Matteo...

For my Kenyan brother, Kiragu, I'm sponsoring through high school!

Finally for my beautiful girlfriend who loves her ninja mountaineer. Love you Krystal :-D
Thank you for supporting and believing in me throughout the years.

Ascending is only half the battle! And knowing that, counts for maybe a quarter?
Looking back at the route across Ingraham to the Cleaver.

A closer look at Cadaver Gap. Mmmm, just by the name alone, no thanks.

Ingraham ice falls and seracs under Gibraltar rock.

After traversing up Ingraham high to cross a large crevasse, it's back to the downhill as we approach camp at the Flats.

Back at high camp and it's time to break down. Goin' home. Tom contemplates "pressing matters".

Clear view back up towards the summit, with remaining groups descending from their bids.

More shots of the route: entrance to the DC and climbers exiting Ingraham glacier towards Cathedral Gap.

Resting and enjoying the incredible day.

As we pass through Cathedral Gap, we finally run into the rush hour traffic. Not bad, considering this is the first time we experienced any bottle necks on the route. Gotta love the extra day on the mountain and starting from Ingraham Flats, ahead of all the Camp Muir residents!

On the way down the Muir snowfield, conditions were beyond sloppy. Knee-high post-holing the
entire way, with crazy sun and NO wind / breeze anything. What happened to the wind from 3 hours ago???

So sloppy wet that Mark developed a "glacier" in his instep of his boot. Yes, that is a
small block of condensed snow that made its way into his boot during the downhill slog.

Once we were below the cloud cover, we entered a thick fog layer that soaked everything -- a welcome relief from the burning sun! From just walking in this (no glissading, mind you!) my hat, thermal shirt and backpack were sopping wet by the time  we got down.

Mark and I lost Lee and Tom (pictured here) at some point in the fog on the way down. Apparently, they
wandered off-trail onto the roof of a building from a snow bank, while looking for the correct route down? Haha, classic.

Choking on some thick, dense fog. Once back at the visitor center, I was
pleasantly surprised to find everything on me and in my pack soaked.

Approaching Mt. Rainier for the last time as I head back to Phoenix.

The epic Liberty Cap, Tahoma glacier and Kautz ridge surround the Columbia Crest crater.
Ah, really going to miss this mountain. So epic!