Anyone ever hike to Camp Muir or to the Summit of Mt. Rainier?

[netcoyote]

While I was reading all the input on this thread I was forming a response but smokepole and several others mentioned the important points I was going to bring up. I summited Rainier 7 times by 5 different routes including my favorite, Liberty Ridge. Before that final trip I had spent many hours in training and multiple summits on other peaks to perfect the techniques and physical conditioning it took to make that trip a success.

Not to be derogatory, smossy, but you don't know what you don't know about climbing. Mountains can kill you. They don't care. And no one ever "conquers" a mountain. Mountains only reveal themselves briefly to those who take the time to educate themselves and prepare both physically, mentally and use the right equipment or....... those who just summit by shear dumb luck. Even prepared climbers die. I have lost a few friends that way myself.

If your goal is just to summit Rainier, your best and safest way is to use the guides. You have to do your part by getting in physical condition. They will make sure you have the right equipment and use safe techniques. They will be a lot better at judging weather conditions which can kill even experienced climbers.

I got bit by the climbing "bug" and spent about 15 years climbing glaciers and rock climbs. It was some of the most satisfying activities that I've done. The views are unforgettable and the physical exhaustion is exhilarating.

Good luck with your climb if you decide to follow through with this. You won't regret it...and....remember, be safe out there.

[Special T]

 
Isn't liberty ridge the snow blown ridge that has 70deg slopes on each side? I think thats the one that if your partner slipps and falls your supposted to yell Left or right so that they know which side to jump off to save you both... If that is the rout i'm thinking of anyways, which means you speak from experience...

[Smokepole]

 

What Netcoyote says is true.  If the Coyote climbed Liberty Ridge, he's a stud.  Better listen to him, then.

[netcoyote]

Liberty Ridge is the steep ridge on the north side of Rainier just to the west of Willis Wall. We did it in May 1992 with a team of four experienced climbers. We had two teams getting in condition and ready to go on alternate weekends. We figured the team with the weekend that had the best weather in May or June would get the route.
We picked that time frame because of ics/snow conditions and odds of having better weather. It looked like we had a weather window when our team was up so we headed out. Weather looked iffy but cleared and we knew that high pressure was approaching.

Our route was by the old Carbon River trail and up the Ptarmigan Ridge for our first camp. When we saw the weather was in our favor we headed up the next day to camp at Thumb Rock at about 11,000ft for our second camp. Watching the ice avalanches coming off Willis Wall all day and night was an experience I'll never forget. Next morning our two rope teams headed up the steep pitches using snow pickets and ice screws for protection and worked up to the bergschrund  below Liberty Cap at the summit. More pro and front pointing got us up and over that and to the summit. We dug out a cave in a steam vent on the summit for a camp to spend the night before heading down the Emmons glacier the next day.

I've got some pictures but I was using slide film back then before digital cameras. If I run across them, I'll convert 'em and post em. It was a helluva a trip!

[Smokepole]

If you can post the pics, I would love to see them.  Did you use two tools or just one?

We tried Gib Ledges one year, but got blown off at 13,500.  The wind was freakin' howling & we had planned to descend the Ingraham Glacier route.  We couldn't stay on our feet, so we decided to descend the ledges.  We were knocked down quite a bit and dislodged some sizely rocks.  We were thankful there were no other climbers below.  For a few hours, we were in peril, down climbing steep ice in crampons, with huge gusts of wind. When we finally made it to Camp Muir, it felt like a sauna in there.  We spent the night inside, and slept it off.  I'll never forget how windy it was.

One year we had wind like that on Shasta, but we were so close to the summit we finished on all fours to make the peak.  Those were the good ol' days!   

[netcoyote]

I needed a reason to dig through my old slide trays, so I'll start looking for those Lib Ridge pics.

We used two tools; ice axe and a short ice tool. Anchored with pickets mostly. I think we took ice screws but never used them. I would definitely take them, conditions can change from snow to ice in a short time.

Yep, the wind on Rainier can be vicious. I was at Camp Muir one day during a 100 mph (recorded) wind. Crawled on hands and knees to the hut. The hut is normally the LAST place I prefer to be up there. Haven't been up there in years but I remember it being dark, damp, smelly and had a resident population of mice. On one summit trip I reached in my pocket for some gorp and felt something furry. A mouse had camped in my parka pocket and froze to death during my climb. I decided I really wasn't that hungry...

[Smossy]

Epic stories netcoyote. Ill definetly be shooting you a PM when and IF I decide to do Mt Rainier. Just want to live a life worth living. Ive screwed up the first 23 years. Time to start making up for it.

[netcoyote]

Epic stories netcoyote. Ill definetly be shooting you a PM when and IF I decide to do Mt Rainier. Just want to live a life worth living. Ive screwed up the first 23 years. Time to start making up for it.

Glad to help. If you want a life worth living, in my opinion, nothing makes you feel more alive than standing on a peak at the break of dawn after climbing most of the night. It's a different world up there, unlike anything you've experienced up to this point in your life. It's not for everybody, but it was a favorite part of my life.