Mt. Rainier Trip Day #7 (Curtis Ridge)

Day #7 starts early in the morning checking out of the hotel and driving to the White River rangers station to check in.

At the rangers station we are asked what previous climbs we have done comparable to the north side route and how many times we have climbed and successfully summited Mt. Rainier. They also asked us to list out our gear including how many ice screws, pickets, radios, ropes, etc. After reviewing our list of gear, previous climbing history and our proposed itinerary for the climb they gave us the permit to climb and list of each camp that we could stay.

After getting the necessary paperwork out of the way and getting on the climbing rangers radar, we start off for the White River campground and trail-head to start the next adventure.

Here I am somewhat well rested and ready for the 8 mile hike and climb to our first campsite on Curtis Ridge.



And a view of all the junk crammed into my 55L pack, I am not a big fan of strapping lots of stuff to the outside of my packs other than axes and crampons.



The hike starts out in the woods and then moves out of the tree line into the snow.









After about 4 miles of hiking we start the climb over Elmo's Pass and look at the Winthrop glacier 3.5 square miles of ice and fun.





Which way to go? So many snow bridges to cross.









Finally we reach the campsite on Curtis Ridge and get a good view of the route we will be taking.



After setting up camp a few minutes later I hear a sound come from the mountain and I catch this avalanche ripping right next to the route that we will be on in 12 hours.

Mt. Rainier Trip Day #6 (Rest Day)

Not much happened today other than trying to get my pack from 55lbs down to 35lbs. We took all of our gear and spread it out on the floor and divvied up the group gear according to weight. In the end my pack weighed in around 47lbs.

This is a bummer because on this particular route we climb up on the north side, and then come down another route on the north-east side. We have to carry our full pack the whole time for over 23 miles round trip. Usually, if one is coming back from the summit the same way that they climbed up, they can setup a base camp and then on summit day only take the things that are needed to summit, leaving the tent and other heavy items behind.

I go to bed one last time in the hotel and nice clean roomy bed with the alarm set for 5AM.

Mt. Rainier Trip Day #5 (Rest Day)

One climb down and one more to go. We climbed the 'Disappointment Cleaver' route and figured that we would rest for two full days before we headed back to climb the north face of Mt. Rainier.

Because the park service only gives out around 100 permits per year to climb the north face it is not uncommon to not see any other climbers en route to the summit. This is due to the very technical nature of this side of the mountain and it is important to be well rested and prepared.

Here is the view of Mt. Rainier from my Tacoma city hotel room.



I was looking forward to a good rest day today, something like a movie and eating a lot of food that wasn't freeze dried. Instead, we ended up going for a short hike to climb a local crag in North Bend.









Although not the rest day I had in mind we did have a lot of fun. Here I am climbing one of many routes that day.







This day ended at 10PM, and I go to bed just as exhausted as the day before. We all agree that tomorrow we will sleep in until 12PM.

Mt. Rainier Trip Day #4

Early in the morning I woke up and found the following view, it was awesome. I sat here and watched it for over 30 minutes before I was interrupted by others.





After a somewhat decent nights sleep we decided to head down to the Paradise parking lot.



Almost there, a little more to go.



One last view of the mountain before heading to Tacoma for a few rest days and a hot shower.

And the Not-As-Exciting...

While J was in the Pacific Northwest being Mountain Man, I took the boys to New Mexico to see my parents. Here are the Monkeys and Grandma Kim. So happy to be there...


Grandma, H, and O built this awesome ranch in the family room. H didn't want me to take his picture.


We drove to Albuquerque and visited with my friend Rita and her husband Sne.


We went to Explora Children's Museum. It is the coolest place. I highly recommend that you go there the next time you are in Albuquerque. S put together this gear system, complete with elastic and handles.


O worked on this one by himself,


and H made a friend who helped him with his.


In addition to our Albuquerque trip, we went to church in Gallup, played with the coolest toy ever invented -- namely Legos -- splashed in G Kim's kiddie pool, ate our fill of yummy homemade Korean food, read lots of books, and watched "Toy Story 2," "Night at the Museum," "The Sound of Music," "Mary Poppins," and "7 Brides for 7 Brothers." I was reminded of my mom's crushes on Captain Von Trapp, Howard Keel (Adam Pontipee), and Frank (you know, Frankincense, 'cause he smelled so sweet) and my own crush on Gideon (ah, Russ Tamblyn, you cutie!)

This is summer to me:




And the partying isn't over yet. We have G & G Kim coming into town on Thursday and my wonderful friend Emilia coming on Friday. Ahh summer!

Mt. Rainier Trip Day #3

At roughly 3AM we start for the summit from camp Muir.



After an hour or so of climbing we start to see some crevasses, ice fall, and seracs.









We are about 1/2 way there from this photo:









Once on top we now have to cross the crater to get over to the highest peak 14,411 ft.



Here is a cave that vents some of the volcanic gases, it is about 76 degrees inside. On the way back we saw three people that were going down into the cave to camp the night.



On top it was very windy and freezing cold, I left my down jacket about 100 yards back with my pack, I was wishing I had it for the 10 minutes I spent on top.







After a little break and hanging out in the crater we start down the mountain and head for camp before things warm up too much.

Mt. Rainier Trip Day #2

The day started by getting our permits to climb higher than 10,000 feet at the climbing rangers office.



With our permits in hand we start the climb from the Paradise parking lot (elevation 5400 ft.) to camp Muir (elevation 10,188 ft.), a 4700' vertical climb in about 4.5 miles. This is the view of Mt. Rainier from the start of the Skyline Trail.



Along the way we saw some little critters.





As we climbed higher we could start to see some other prominent volcanoes in the area. In this picture you can see from left to right Mt. Adams (snowy), Mt. Hood (very faint), Mt. St. Helens.



A closer view of the Nisqually Glacier that we climbed near.



While we were climbing, the mountain started to make some of its own clouds.



Climbing the last section before reaching camp Muir.



Me at camp Muir.



We setup camp and prepare for our summit climb at 3AM.



Here are a few pictures from camp Muir: