Private Guide on Rainier?

[GregMiller]

Do the poles really weigh 3.48 for one person? Or is this for the entire tent? Also, I couldn't imagine 1.27 for tent stakes. Since you will likely want to leave your poles in Camp Muir anyway, a few snow tent stakes and the trekking poles buried horizontally as tent anchors should be enough.

The poles were his share. Didn't consider burying the trekking poles, good call!

BCA Snow Saw 0.49

I don't think you would need one in season.

We didn't know if we'd need to cut our own tent platform, after it made cutting one a lot easier on St. Mary's we packed it, but ended up not needing it as a party with the exact same tent left as we were arriving

Climbing Harness, 5 locking carabiners,
4 non-locking carabiners, prusiks and runners 2.81

I might take a few less 'biners myself, at least on the standard route.

Yeah, we probably over did that a little but, but at most to the tune of a pound (and that's with a superlight harness for him)

5 lbs of food seems a bit much as well, if it is mostly dehydrated.

You should have seen this guy go through it though - he ate it all

I probably had about 52 lbs in the pack heading out of Paradise, and probably could have trimmed 5ish lbs if I absolutely needed to, but can't see getting down to 35 without planning on staying in the hut.

[JonW]

... with 50 lb packs during the day followed by the summit attempt with (relatively) light packs in the dark.

50 lbs for the DC! Yikes!! All your gear for the DC should fit in a 45L pack and weigh less than 35lbs.

I'm skeptical that you can shave 15lbs off of this list but I'm open to suggestions:

Item, Weight in lbs
Black Diamond Mission 50L Backpack 3.44
Tent Poles 3.48
Tents Stakes 1.27
Mountain Hardwear Sleeping Bag 2.92
Thermarest 1.32
Canon G16 Camera 0.86
Avalanche Beacon 0.76
Avalanche Probe 0.63
MSR Snow Picket 0.93
Black Diamond Helmet 0.78
Black Diamond Gloves 0.76
BCA Snow Saw 0.49
Ice Axe 1.34
Snow Shovel 1.62
Grivel Crampons 2.84
Climbing Harness, 5 locking carabiners,
4 non-locking carabiners, prusiks and runners 2.81
2 Trekking Poles 1.22
2 Black Diamond Headlamps 0.41
Ipod with Speaker 0.27
Emergency Bivy 0.24
Pocket Knife 0.18
MSR Pillow 0.19
Cooking Pot 0.47
Micro Rocket Stove 0.29
16oz of Isobutane .99
Suunto Ambit2 Watch (GPS, Altimeter, etc) 0.19
3x Mountaineering Socks 0.62
Empty Nalgene with Insulated Case 0.61
MH Blue Shirt 0.54
Patagonia Synthetic Shirt 0.39
Synthetic Sitting Pad 0.13
Black Diamond Liner Gloves 0.14
ArcTeryx Jacket 0.8
Black Diamond Primaloft Jacket 1.75
Black Diamond Primaloft Pants 1.13
Patagonia Down Jacket 0.55
Backpacking Cup 0.22
Gaiters 0.82
Ski Cap 0.16
Camelback (empty) 0.68
Baseball Cap 0.19
Food ~5
2 Liters of Water 4

Total Weight 48.43

The last time I climbed Rainier, I did Gib Ledges in a group of 2 and our packs weighed around 38 lbs. Going with a group of 3, you can reduce your weight. ExcitableBoy on Summitpost is very experienced in the Cascades and I tend to fully agree with his suggestions.

Here are things I'd drop for a summer trip up the DC:

Avalanche Beacon 0.76
Avalanche Probe 0.63
BCA Snow Saw 0.49
1 Black Diamond Headlamps 0.2
Ipod with Speaker 0.27
Emergency Bivy 0.24
MSR Pillow 0.19
1x Mountaineering Socks 0.2
Synthetic Sitting Pad 0.13
Black Diamond Primaloft Pants 1.13
Black Diamond Primaloft Jacket 1.75 (since you have a down jacket)
Backpacking Cup 0.22
Camelback (empty) 0.68

These are being carried/worn and shouldn't be considered pack weight:
2 Trekking Poles 1.22
Baseball Cap 0.19

As others have mentioned, the food and pole weight seems excessive. Plus, you can drop a few biners. Obviously, things can get lighter if you're willing to spend more money, but I think you can at least drop 10 lbs with the gear you have. Remember if "you take care of the ounces, the pounds will take care of themselves". FWIW, I climbed the N. Ridge of Baker last week with one other person. We carried 2 pickets each, a small rack of ice screws, a tent, a shovel, a single rope (as opposed to a half rope), etc. and our packs up to camp weighed around 40 lbs each. Significantly reducing the technical gear for a route like the DC would've brought this down to right around 35.

[SurfNTurf]

This is just for fun, Nick. Most of these subtractions are based on personal preferences, but I wanted to see how light I could get your pack if I was humping it, haha.

I'd remove and/or save weight on:

Tent Poles 3.48 - These tent poles alone weigh more than my entire tent. Granted, mine only fits two people.
Canon G16 Camera 0.86
Avalanche Beacon 0.76
Avalanche Probe 0.63 - Would take on most glacier routes, but not the DC in the summer. At most I would carry one per rope team.
BCA Snow Saw 0.49
Snow Shovel 1.62 - Would take on most glacier routes, but not the DC in the summer.
2 Trekking Poles 1.22 - Would only bring one.
Ipod with Speaker 0.27
MSR Pillow 0.19 - Puffy in a stuff sack.
3x Mountaineering Socks 0.62 - Would only bring two pairs.
Synthetic Sitting Pad 0.13
Black Diamond Primaloft Jacket 1.75 - Would carry a pullover fleece as a midlayer instead (13oz).
Backpacking Cup 0.22 - Seems superfluous with a Nalgene.
Food ~5 - I live on GU gels, Balance Bars, Snickers, powdered meal replacement shakes, ramen and dehydrated mashed potatoes on overnight trips. I'd be surprised if my food for the DC would be more than 3-4lbs.

Even allowing for you to keep your camera, that's 8-10 pounds. Granted, my first time up the DC -- which was my first big mountain trip -- I also carried a bunch of stuff (all the way to the damn Flats) that I now consider superfluous. You learn over time what you want/need and what you never use. Removing many of those items would sacrifice comfort for sure, but I'd have a hard time believing it would add much risk. Again, we're talking about a very specific route.

[MonGoose]

Thanks for the suggestions. As for the tent, we took my FA Katabatic 3-person tent which weighs ~12 lbs, roughly half of which I carried (including the footprint). We made a choice to take a big tent and be comfortable at Camp Muir for the price of a few extra pounds a piece. In the end, I think it was worth it because we had the best setup in camp, aside from the Ranger hut.

The weight of the tent stakes was a bit overstated in my estimate because I weighted both the the summer and winter stakes. I ended up carrying only the winter stakes on the trip. We had heard a lot of stories of peoples tents blowing away in Camp Muir while they were summiting, so we wanted to be on the safe side. I must admit, using trekking poles as replacements is a brilliant idea (thanks Scott P). I also didn't realize that rocks were available at Camp Muir for anchoring.

In the future I might consider sacrificing luxury to save weight and continue to buy lighter gear but I won't sacrifice safety gear. I felt we were prepared for just about any situation that we might encounter on the mountain. It was an awesome trip!

Edit: We did have 3 people in the tent, I just carried half to offset another person carrying the rope.

[Monster5]

... which weighs ~12 lbs...

That thing is equal to the combined weight of all 4 of my tents* or ~5 trimmed BD first lights sharing stakes on the inside . You could have each partied in your own tent and had a spare left over as a summer retreat.

Shaving Ounces Rule #1 a.k.a. "How to ditch the Nalgenes and Camelbacks and Alienate People":
1) Ditch the Nalgenes and Camelbacks.
2) Refuse to carry your girlfriend's Nalgene/Camelback/gear because she did not listen to 1).
3) Tell your girlfriend she is fat and out of shape because it will motivate her to move faster and get lighter.
4) Go home alone and cry clutching your autographed Fred Becky wooden ice ax.

*Awesome 2 lb 4 season courtesy of TomPierce's generosity. The heaviest tent I have is a modified/trimmed down $60 2 second Quechua tent for car camping only. It is also, as one might say, awesome. Takes me closer to 6 seconds though, even after learning the technique.

[Climbdent]

First, just an FYI. You do not have to only go with the three approved commercial guide services. If you refer to page 13 of 18 (http://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/u ... t-2012.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) the graphic list approved single trip guide services. Thus, if you wanted to use your local guides you could but I would suspect you might pay considerably more.

Second, I just did Liberty ridge about a week ago and with 3 days food, fuel for five, 8 screws, 8 alpine draws, 2 pickets, a 60m, and technical tools and was carrying about 37lbs in a two person party. Thus, if you are climbing DC you don't need anymore than 40lbs. However, if you want to be comfortable or maybe eat really well I could see bringing around 45 to base camp. But let's face it - it's not like you are carrying all your gear up and over the mountain so does it matter?

Third, some folks on here suggest just following the hordes, the wands, the boot track, and perhaps reading up will suffice. And they are probably right 98% of the time, however, knowing what to do when weather quickly comes in and you can't see the wand 50ft away and much less 3 feet in front of you or if the trench is no longer a trench or many other scenarios which happen more frequently than you might think on what many consider an "easy" route then you are not ready to go it alone.