Well folks, here it is! Probably my final serious climb of the season, and what a memorable one! It’s Mt. Rainier again!

This time, however, we’re looking at the Disappointment Cleaver route. This is the most popular route on the mountain. I was signed up with the fine folks at Alpine Ascents for this one. Well, what are we waiting for, let’s get started! After loading up the van, our group of 8 climbers and 4 guides drove up to Paradise, a popular destination for spending the day outdoors at the foot of Mt. Rainier. It’s also the starting point for the trail up to Camp Muir, which was our base camp for this expedition.

As usual, Paradise didn’t disappoint, offering a breathtaking view of what was ahead for us.

Ok, no more messing around, let’s get to the good stuff.

Day 1 - Climb To Camp Muir

The DC route is a standard route going through Camp Muir, where I’ve been multiple times (never spent the night before). This hike gains roughly 5,000 ft of elevation, reaching just over 10,000 ft at Camp Muir. As I came to find out, Alpine Ascents actually has what is effectively a permanent camp set up at Camp Muir. Park rules don’t allow permanent camps, so technically, they share it with another company (IMG) and rotate, using each site on alternate days. But for all intents and purposes, it’s a permanent camp that lasts all season hehe.

This means that unlike the usual trips I’ve been taking, we didn’t have to carry up any group gear. No tents, no stoves, no food (well, a tiny bag not worth talking about). It was a nice, pleasant surprise. Amusingly, when I told the other climbers how surprised I was, and how we normally all chip in on carrying tents, food, fuel, stoves, etc. people were shocked, like “whoa, you have to carry stuff?” Haha yeah, I felt pretty spoiled. :p

Needless to say, the climb to Camp Muir was fairly simple. I had done this hike several times before, and this instance was the best I’ve ever felt on it. I thought back to the first time doing this climb, last year. I was dead tired, having used everything I had to get up there with a regular pack (no added weight). By the time we came back down that day, it was dark. This, by contrast, felt like an easy stroll.

Upon arrival at camp, we got to their private hut (shared with IMG). This is a big room, with bunk beds all around the sides, and foam pads ready to use. I took one of the top bunks, just for the hell of it.

You’ll notice an empty Gatorade bottle next to my bed. This was my “pee bottle” that they recommended everyone to bring. At first I thought it was kind of stupid, but it turns out it was a great idea. It would have sucked to climb over someone, climb down the ladder, put on my boots, and go outside to the toilet if I needed to go. Putting on my headlamp and awkwardly peeing in a bottle was a lot more pleasant! I was hoping I wouldn’t need to do it, but I was taking Diamox (for altitude, just in case - I would have been fine without it, most likely), and Diamox makes you pee. So yeah, achievement unlocked! It goes well with pooping in a bag. :D

That evening, we walked over to the guides’ tent, which doubles as a dining tent. It’s one of those bigger, sturdier tents, which has an actual door (with a knob and everything). I hit my head on the top of the doorway just about every time I walked into our out of that tent.

Anyway, they had some serious stoves in there, and were able to cook some awesome food. They made really tasty burritos for everyone. I must have eaten at least 3 of them. Oh man, SO good!

The rest of the evening was spent chilling out outside in the perfect weather, taking pictures and getting to know each other. We only had to get up at around 6am, so we had lots of downtime. Normally, we’re always very busy on these trips, but when you have permanent camp setup, you can actually relax a bit. Sadly, there were a few bush fires going on far away, and so the air was a bit smoky, which really reduced visibility.

Eventually, it was time for sleeping. And peeing in a bottle, yay!

Day 2 - Snow School, and Climbing To Ingraham Flats

After waking up, we got packed up and headed over to the guide tent for breakfast. HOLY SHIT!!! THERE WAS BACON!!! Bacon and scrambled eggs and pancakes! This was a LEGIT breakfast!!!

After breakfast, it was time for snow school, where we went over all the basics we were going to need: Footwork with crampons, self-arrest, and basic rope management. We also got our avalanche beacons up and running.

With all that out of the way, we got into four rope teams of three (2 climbers, 1 guide), and started the real part of the climb! Let’s talk about the route for a moment. From Camp Muir, the DC route looks something like this:

Our mission on this day was a short hike: Traverse Cowliz Glacier, climb up Cathedral Gap, and get to Ingraham Flats, at 11,200 ft, where we setup camp. Of course, AA has a permanent camp there as well! It’s a much simpler affair, however; there were two-person tents, and a bathroom area (privacy wall). Still, not having to carry all the group gear was pretty awesome. This is also the point where we started getting up close and personal with crevasses. The landscape changes drastically from here on out.

Eventually, we reached camp, and were greeted with a familiar sight.

Well hello there, snowy top part of Mt. Rainier, it’s nice to see you again! Get ready, cause I’m comin’ for ya!

What we’re looking at here is the Ingraham Glacier. This late in the season, it has a LOT of wide, open crevasses. Earlier on, there is a lot more snow pack covering it, so it isn’t uncommon for climbers to climb it all the way to the summit. That route is known as the “Ingraham Glacier Direct” route. Needless to say, we won’t be doing that at this point. Instead, we’ll climb the feature to the right. This is Disappointment Cleaver:

The route climbs the rocky portion on the right, makes its way onto the snow, and climbs all the way to the top of the cleaver. It then switchbacks to the summit in a fairly straightforward manner.

Anyway, for the rest of the day, the guides worked hard to create a nice dining tent, while the rest of us moved into the tents and relaxed as much as possible. Wake up time was going to be 11 pm for summit day…

Day 3 - Summit Day

We woke up at 11 pm, with the goal of getting moving by 12:30 am. My, how I love these alpine starts! :)

Wake up, boots on, go poop in a bag, get ready, eat some quick oatmeal, and go wait by the ropes… I was ON IT! It was time to go finish what I had started. Just a few minutes after 12:30 am, the rope teams were on the move. With basically perfect weather (cold enough, but clear skies and low winds), this has been a setup for success the whole way.

The climb was split into three legs, each of which lasted a bit over an hour and a half.

The first leg was to get to the top of Disappointment Cleaver. This was the most difficult part of the climb. It was good to get it out of the way early. Getting to the cleaver was easy on the legs and lungs, but also had the scariest terrain of the climb. It wasn’t anything too bad, though. One portion involved moving along a narrow ledge, with a wall of snow/ice on one side, and a steep slope ending in a massive crevasse on another. There was a rope anchored to the wall there, to provide something to hold on to.

There was also a ladder crossing, where we had to cross a crevasse, balancing on a ladder with pieces of wood attached to it. It’s an easy maneuver, but a bit unnerving to do the first time.

After all that, we arrived at the cleaver itself. The first half of ascending the cleaver involved climbing on a steep, rocky trail, with loose rocks, dirt, and narrow passages to squeeze through. After a while of doing that, we eventually made it out onto the snowfield. The snowfield portion of the Cleaver consisted of some of the steeper portions of the climb, but nothing out of the ordinary.

After close to two hours, we were at the top of the Cleaver, taking a break. One of the four rope teams had to turn back. I give that team massive kudos, though. It was an older couple (one of them was 75), who enjoy traveling and climbing things. They had done Kilimanjaro earlier in the year (or the previous year?) but the Cleaver got them. It was really cool to have them on the trip. One rope team from RMI (another company) passed us at this point, but aside from that, we had the mountain to ourselves, since we started 1000 ft up from Camp Muir.

The second leg was more straightforward, technically. It consisted of traversing to the Emmons Shoulder (on the side of the Emmons Glacier), and switchbacking up towards the summit. It was tiring work. If anyone asked, I’d say I was “really tired, but quite functional.” That means I was feeling pretty damn good the whole time.

Before long, we reached the point where we take our second break. At this point, I was getting cold, even sitting in my parka, so I opted to leave it on for the rest of the climb. I find I run pretty cool late in the climbs, where we start moving a bit slower due to altitude, and keeping the parka on never results in me overheating or sweating too much. It’s just perfect for the work.

The third leg consisted of the last 1000 ft to the crater rim. I actually found it really easy. Once the twilight starts taking shape, and the sun starts slowly coming up, I tend to get a bit euphoric. It also helps that I was just excited about being so close to completing this epic climb. This was happening for real this time!

Eventually, we got to the bergschrund. A bergschrund is a crevasse that forms where a moving glacier separates from the stagnant ice/snow near the summit. This can be a big challenge in mountaineering. On this route, it was pretty simple. There was an area where it narrowed enough that we could just step over it. Looking into the mountain while stepping over it, we could see how huge these things can get. The other side was a steep slope, with a big gap mere meters from where we were walking, so for safety, there was a picket there in the snow, with a carabiner we would clip our ropes into while passing by. This provides an extra anchor in the event someone slips.

FINALLY, after all that, at around 5:30 am, we reached the crater rim, and entered the volcano’s giant crater, just as the sun was coming up.

There we were, but this isn’t quite the true summit. Most climbers that make it to the crater turn around at this point, especially if they’ve been here before, but the REAL summit is a bulge on the other side of the crater, known as Columbia Crest. Everyone was feeling great, so we got a party together and headed on over.

There are vents with steam escaping constantly here. I expected the areas around here to smell like sulfur, but it just reeked of ammonia. Anyway, after signing the guest registry, we continued on to the top of Columbia Crest, where the real summit was waiting for us.

Alas, the sad thing about these climbs is, what goes up, must come down. As they say, going up is optional, but coming down is mandatory. That being said, after an alpine start, where you climb all night, the descent is where you get to see all the sights you’ve missed while climbing in the dark!

Those last two pics are two of my favourites. We can see how tiny our high camp on Ingraham Flats really looks, next to the massive crevasses all around. Here’s another kind of nice one. If you look on the right side, the ladder crossing I mentioned earlier is visible. That ladder was damn wobbly on the way back, with the sun hitting it for a few hours!

I think the hardest part of this entire day was descending Disappointment Cleaver. That rocky terrain is tough to navigate, especially when you’re tired, and especially-er when wearing crampons. It was slow-going, and was really messing up my feet.

Back at Ingraham Flats, we took a minute to relax, refilled some water, grabbed some food, packed our bags, and started heading back down towards Camp Muir.

Once back at camp, we had a treat waiting for us. The guide that led the couple that turned around had some extra time, so he quickly went back down to Paradise, bought a watermelon, and hiked it all the way back up to Muir. Few people realize just how luxurious it is to get to eat watermelon at 10,000 ft. It also REALLY hit the spot, after that arduous work. A big thank you to Josh for doing that!

After taking a short break, it was time to descend back to Paradise to finish off this amazing trip. On the way down, the smoke had cleared a bit, so we had a clear view of Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, and a few others.

The last mile of the hike was almost unbearable! My feet were toast, and the paved walkway right at the bottom of the hike was really not the right way to go. Mountaineering boots are great for getting you up the big snow mountain, but they’re really not designed for a death march on pavement after a long hike. :)

Eventually, we made it down to the van, where we could enjoy one of my favourite parts of mountaineering: Removing the boots after a really long day! Look how it shapes my shins!

With that out of the way, we changed, packed things away, and enjoyed some refreshments. My refreshment was in a bottle I kept hidden in a brown paper bag. It was definitely not beer. ;)

Before taking off, I took one last look at the mountain from inside the van, and felt at ease, knowing that I had finally accomplished the big goal I had spent several years just dreaming about.

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