The crew for this trip was G$, Wildman, CC, One Stroke and myself. G$, CC and myself were just involved in the VT 100 extravaganza and now it was Rainier. The plan was 3-4 days on the mountain with a bad weather day baked into the plan. Pray for good weather and let whatever happens, happen.
Wildman and One Stroke had some early flights out West and were assigned the room check in and the provisions for the trip. G$, CC and myself flew in late and arrived at the hotel to meet Wildman and One Stroke.
Basically it was a crash landing at the hotel, get up the next day and figure it all out. Things went smooth the next morning we had the Suburban packed and rolled out 5 minutes ahead of schedule. We stopped for some breakfast/lunch/snacks and headed for White River Campground. We arrived at White River Campground, signed in at the ranger station, did some final details in packing, loaded up the 60lbs of gear and began the march to Camp Schurman. The trail to the Interglacier is nothing but butter, pure single/double track. Navigation was easy and once on Interglacier it was all for broke until Camp Schurman.
We crossed the Emmons glacier un-ropped to get to our high camp around 9400 feet where we would stay the next 3 nights. There were a lot of tents set up but we found two good spots, flattened out some spots and presto we had home.
The next day was a planned down day to acclimate, hydrate, eat and get to get early. We spent most of the day melting water, resting, sorting gear as well as eating. Dinner camp early around 4pm and I think by 6-7pm it was lights out. I awoke at 11:47pm and decided to just get up, get the stoves going and get the game face on for summit bid. Conditions were perfect for all days on the mountain proper, not a cloud. The snow had hardened as temps at night fell below freezing.
We had two rope teams. Rope team 1 was myself, CC and Wildman. CC being the rookie was in the middle, myself in the lead and Wildman, the anchor, in the back. Rope team 2 was G$ on point and One Stroke in the back.
I would have to say the ascent up the Emmons glacier was straight forward. There was maybe one or two navigational ?'s but that was because the snow gets so punched out and frozen during the night it is tough to find the route. The easiest was is look for ice axe punctures and just follow them up. There was an amazing sunrise in the east while around 12k feet on the mountain.
There was nothing technical about the climb, so quasi steep stuff around the 30-40% but nothing puckering.
The summit was in sight around 7-8am, can't completely remember, but we definitely made good time. Altitude was was fine until around 14k feet, head started pounding and was just really cold. I did a shitty job hydrating, tough to do when getting chased by the crowds, on lead and just trying to deal with everything, but I learned my lesson to drink more on the ascent.
The summit was great, was a small village up there with people coming across the crater from the Muir side and people just hanging out. We got some great group shots on the summit that as of writing this Wildman still has on his camera.
The descent off the summit cone was straight forward. Temperatures did rise and we baked like eggs on the glacier. We ran into one big party that had a women on the rope with a blown out ankle. It made things slow and until we were able to pass them there was a lot of stop and go.
Our round trip was 12 hours everyone hit the summit and greatly successful.
G$ - thanks again for your mountain wisdom and instilling confidence in me to lead the ascent and descent and being there if I needed a reference point. I'm slowly getting there and feeling more confident on each trip, heck anything is better than Gannett Part I.
Wildman - thanks for being the cornerstone of the group always calm, always knowing what to say and when to say it. Have learned tons from you over the years from camp leadership to mountain side patience.
One Stroke - always the constant charger and a continuous reference point for backcountry wisdom.
CC / the one armed glissader - there could be a separate blog entry just of you! Not bad for you first rodeo, I have a lot to polish.
Bottom line this trip was the BALLZ....
I think the last pic sums it up nicely. Awesome trip!
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