Mt Rainier Climb July 4th-6th, 2001

Mt. Rainier (near Seattle Washington), Most glaciated mountain in the lower 48 states

To see a list of gear used on this climb click HERE

To see a topograghical map of the mountain click HERE

The ascent route we took is marked in red on the photo. Over night camp (Camp Muir, 10,000ft) is also marked.

I entered the park on July 3rd, 2001 and made camp at the Cougar campground

On July 4th our group was trained in survival and self rescue techniques by the last living "Tiger Sherpa", Nawang Gombu (shown in the picture to the right), he was also the first person to summit Everest twice.

On July 5th at 10:00AM our group lead by main guide Phil Ershler begins the climb starting at the Paradise parking lot (5,500 ft). At this point the clouds are too thick to see the 14,410 ft summit.

I brought the following food with me on the two day climb.

4 Crunchy Granolla bars
6 Chewy Granolla bars
1 Banana
2 Cinnemon rolls
3 Packs of hot choco mix
4 Peanut Butter sandwiches
1 Pack of Trail mix

At 6,500ft, we have broken through the low lying clouds (Mt. Adams, 12,300ft in the distance).

Me with our main guide Phil Ershler on his 400th summit of Rainier. Camp Muir, where we stayed overnight is located at the center of the picture where the blue sky meets the end of the snow field (the pictuer looks bad because it is a scan).

We reached Camp Muir (10,000 ft) at 2:30PM. Large house to the left is where the climbers sleeped the night, guides stayed in the house on the right, outhouse is in the middle.

Im standing in front of the bunkhouse which sleeps about 25.

With such cramped quarters, there was no need for sleeping bags, it was hot! I chose the middle level, left most bunk.

A lone climber heads down from 10,000ft

Before going to sleep, the other main guide, George Dunn briefs us on tomorrows summit attempt.

We went to sleep at 6:30PM and were woke up at 11:30PM to prepare for our summit attempt (I did not sleep at all). By 1:00AM we were on our way.

We reached the summit (14,410 ft) at 8:00AM ! The summit of rainier is not a sharp peak, instead its a bowl that is aprox. 1/4 mile across.

My rope team on the summit 9:00AM moments before retreating down the mountain: Myself, Angela, Mark and Jim (another scanned picture).

Picture from summit with Mt. Adams in distance. Was a little windy on the rim of the summit (25 mph) but the view was extraordinary.

Picture of Mt. St. Helens in distance.

On the way down we ran into and were introduced to Jim Whittaker, the first american to summit Everest (pictured at right).

Certificate I received from RMI for a successful summit of Mt. Rainier.