more Mount Rainier .

Click photos to enlarge

Descending Rainier in mid-morning, the sky heavy with haze from nearby Seattle.

Gaping crevasses on the route ready to eat the unwary (or the unroped, perhaps!) When they are this wide it is easy to avoid them, which we did.

More crevasses. We did this ascent in late September and all crevasses were wide open and visible. Normally, everyone ropes up as these crevasses are usually hidden by snowbridges that may not support you. Many people have died after falling in.

Just below Disappointment Cleaver, in the danger zone. Parties should be back down here by 10 a.m. as increasing sun releases rockfall from the Cleaver every few minutes, and this debris falls on the route. Notice the rock debris that has already fallen here. Starting at the edge, you run like hell back across the glacier towards Camp Muir.

From Camp Muir, we packed up then and walked back down to Paradise by about 4 p.m. after a long, tiring day, and celebrated with Rainier Beer at the outdoor patio. The stuff is swill, but what the heck...it was a special occasion and we were thirsty. Then I spent an hour wandering the parking lot looking for my faithful Astrovan. Then I suddenly remembered that I hadn't driven from Calgary, I'd flown down to Seattle and rented a car, a sedan in fact...D'oh! And there it was after all!

Here is a close-up of the mountain. Disappointment Cleaver is actually tucked in behind and can't be properly seen, but you get the idea.  The red line is often drifted over after a storm so take a map and compass.

More info? Jeff Smoot has written a good guidebook for Mount Rainier and also other Cascade Volcanoes including  Mount Hood. Check out Falcon Press @ www.falcon.com

For online info, visit Roger Rowlett's page at http://www.americasroof.com/wa.html

Introduction    Climbs    Home     Scrambles    Ski ascents    Photo Tour    Links    Guidebooks

© all photos copyright by the author 1999.

Rarin' to go