Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Mount Rainier, Disappointment Cleaver
Technical Information
- Mountain: Mount Rainier
- Elevation: 14,399ft
- Route: Disappointment Cleaver
- Length: 9,000ft
- Grade: III, Mod Snow
THE PLAN
Trent and I were set to graduate from OSU in June, and wanted to see if we could fit in another adventure before college was over. Scouring the radars, we managed to find a questionable weather window the weekend before commencement. The forecast was calling for high temps, which can lead to many issues in an alpine environment, such as snow bridge failure, icefall, rockfall, and avalanches.
Regardless, we decided to send and just see how the weather panned out. If it was too dangerous, we’d treat it as a visit to the national park and do a hike or something. If it seemed doable, we’d head for the summit.
Heads up, this is a retro report.
PARADISE
We arrived at Paradise around 6pm planning to sleep in Trent’s truck bed. After finding a spot where cars entering the park wouldn’t absolutely blind us with their high beams, we hit the sack. Luckily no precip fell that night!
CAMP MUIR SLOGGIN’
That morning, the lot was pretty dead. Trent and I woke up slowly and even sat down for some coffee and croissants before the ranger station opened. In the station, the ranger gave a talk that reinforced my fears. He said that with the heatwave moving through, overhead hazards could be seriously dangerous, and new crevasses were sure to be opening. Trent and I almost made the call to bail right there, but the ranger mentioned that other rangers at Camp Muir would be climbing that day and would give us even more up to date and accurate info regarding route conditions. With that, we decided to give it a shot.
We started booting at 9am and didn’t need crampons the whole way to muir. The real crux of the day was the heat. Being fully layered in long pants, sun hoody, buff, hat, and glasses to protect from sunburn had me boiling. It was pretty brutal, but much better than suffering glacier sunburns. Yikes…
It took us around four or five hours to reach muir, and when we got there, there was a perfect tent site already dug out for us! Thank goodness because we hadn’t packed a shovel…
LOWER INGRAHAM & DISAPPOINTMENT CLEAVER
After chatting with the Muir rangers, we realized the heat induced dangers were real, and we’d need to leave much earlier than usual for our summit bid. To mitigate the risk of icefall and crevasses, we decided to leave at 10pm and also teamed up with another duo (Rudy and Julian) who we’d met on the way up, creating a four man rope team. With that all decided, Trent and I both hit the pillow, getting any rest we could before the summit push.
9pm, my alarm rang out. It was the most disorienting alpine start of my life. It felt like early morning, but the sun definitely wasn’t rising. So weird. Trent and I kitted up, and Rudy and Julian joined us shortly after. While on the lower Ingraham, we crossed a couple small crevasses before coming to a massive one that spanned most of the glacier. There was a good sized snow bridge for us to walk over, but it was still pretty ominous in the dark. After the crevasse, we got some glimpses of the impossibly large seracs hanging above. Diabolical.
Once on DC, the route was pretty straightforward. Managing rope was the most difficult part, and rock walking in crampons is meh.
UPPER INGRAHAM GLACIER
Besides the massive crossing on the lower Ingraham, the route had been relatively crevasse free so far. This wasn’t the case on the upper Ingraham. We first skirted a seemingly bottomless pit in the snow, and then proceeded to encounter crevasses every few hundred meters for a while. Luckily, they were all small enough that we could step or jump across.
The slope was easy booting, but it had steepened enough to make arresting a fall impossible. Not the most ideal terrain to be roped up for. Luckily, rangers had placed pickets along the steep sections, allowing us to clip in as we went. As we went on, the slope mellowed, and the sun finally broke the horizon. WOW!
SUMMIT
Seven hours after leaving Camp Muir, we reached the summit. Clear skies gave us views of Glacier peak, Baker, Adams, Helens, and Hood. Absolutely incredible. It’s crazy how absolutely gargantuan Rainiers upper reaches are. Looking over a mile away at Liberty Cap and Point Success was surreal.
The descent was smooth but took a long long time. Ended up being a big ol’ 14hr day!
Something interesting about Rainiers summit is that it recently changed. Columbia crest is no longer the true summit having melted down over 20 feet in recent years. Thanks to Eric Gilbertson’s recent surveying efforts, a new high point was discovered on the SW crater rim sitting at 14,399ft.
BETA
While the route is non-technical, it still carries big mountain hazards past Camp Muir. Crevasses are plenty, and climbers should be ready for rock and icefall. Familiarize yourself with the sections of the lower Ingraham known as the Ice Box and Bowling Alley shown below. Altitude sickness is also a possibility due to the big ol’ 9,000ft change in elevation.
Best advice for this route is listen to the rangers. They give route condition and weather reports at the ranger station and Camp Muir. Seriously an invaluable resource.
