On Sunday (Anne’s B-day!), we left camp just after 1am, for our summit bid of Rainier. There was one other team who left before us, so we were 2nd in line. Or at least we were momentarily…
We were traveling really slow as a group, so we were continually being passed by other parties. By the time we got to the crux section, there were 10 other parties waiting to go through that section.
It was a huge back-up. Sigh.
I got quite cold standing around, so I’d layer up. Then, we’d move a little bit and I’d get warm, so I’d shed the layers. It was a frustrating experience. It probably took us about 2 hours to get to the crux and get past it. If it’s this bad on Rainier, I couldn’t help but think how horrible it must be on Everest, where the stakes are so much higher!
The crux itself was really not that hard. It was a very steep section of vertical compacted snow. Probably 20-30 feet in height. I stuck my ice ax in the holes left by previous parties and pulled with my right hand, and shoved two fingers in holes with my left hand for balance. I used the front points of my crampons for a little bit, until I was able to switch to the bottoms. I was happy for the belay as it was pitch black outside, but had it been in daylight, I would have felt fine soloing.
Sunrise at 12,000 ft on Mt. Rainier!
Eventually, we all made it through the crux and reconvened our slow and steady rhthym. I’ve never climbed a 14’er that slow in all my years climbing. The nice thing about going that pace was that I could snack and kick back. I was never out of breath.
The bad thing about our molasses in January pace was fighting off the cold. Also, it took forever to get to the summit, leaving us exposed to afternoon storms. In the picture below, you can see how the wind started howling and conditions became more troublesome starting around 8am.
I was jealous of the sherpas who were climbing with the Ranger. They were trucking up the slope at a very fast clip and whistling along the way. Not to say I could have kept up with them…but going faster than 2 hours and 15 minutes every 1,000 feet would have been nice!
Here’s Kevin Pointing to the Summit (and TONS OF CROWDS!) around 9:15am
Here I am Having a Blast Climbing Rainier, around 9:30am
We all finally did reach the summit around 10:50am. This is Laurie and Wyatt. Mother and Son Standing Proud.
Anne and Kevin Descending Mt. Rainier
When we got back to the crux, there was a huge crowd of climbers waiting to go down. A party had fixed lines as there was now a small gap over a crevace which opened up. People needed to jump over this small gap (which was really just a couple of feet). It wasn’t hard but it was a bit intimidating for some people. Again, it wasn’t necessary to have a rope, but it did afford a certain amount of protection if something dreadful happened.
This delay cost us about 2 hours of time on the descent, so it was about the same amount of annoyance going down as going up.
Danger Zone on Mt. Rainier
Anne and Wyatt just after the crux.
We made it back to camp at 4:30pm. After 15+ hours of being out on the mountain, I was really looking forward to dinner. I was very happy when Bruce made the announcement that we would spend another night on the mountain and go down in the morning. Thank goodness!
That night, I took a half a sleeping pill and finally got an entire nights worth of awesome sleep. Sue was happy, too!
Tags: Camp Schurman, Emmons Glacier, Mt. Rainier, Summit