Training for Rainier

[Monster5]

In general, late season (Late Jul-Sept) = decreased crevasse fall danger but increased route difficulties and rockfall. Also, better weather. The crevasses have opened up and are easily viewed/avoided, if circuitous. DC is still well-marked and established around then. Yes, as above, some routes are impassable but that is unlikely for DC.

Early season (June/early July) = INcreased crevasse fall danger but easier snow passage. The crevasses are somewhat covered and the bridges not yet collapsed, allowing for easier crossing. However, the fall danger is increased since you can't always see the crevasses or predict when the cover will fail. The weather can be more of a gamble in May/June. Early July seems to have the best compromise between weather and ease of glacier travel.

The CMC offers BMS and HAMS, which I'd recommend if you can deal with the personalities and liability rules. Quite comprehensive on numerous mountaineering aspects. CMS and other guide companies locally offer private instruction at a higher price, though generally worth it. RMI does a good job of teaching actual skills rather than short rope guide crap. Of course, there are always people around willing to teach it for free, but you're likely to get what you (don't) pay for.

This is a good book. Conservative, yes, but how better to start?

[MonGoose]

Colorado Mountain School offers a good crevasse rescue course in Rocky Mountain NP over the winter and spring.
http://coloradomountainschool.com/cours ... se-rescue/

And as Monster5 suggested, you should purchase this book right away.
http://www.amazon.com/Glacier-Mountaine ... 0762748621

[DoctorBreaks]

Too many good one's to quote! Lol I am not sure when would be the best time to climb, still thinking. Maybe just early July like people are saying. Seems to be the most popular time of the year. CMS Crevasse Rescue looks pretty solid. 195 seems like a sweet deal. Monster5 that book looks pretty sweet. I'll be buying one.

[Brandonasmith10]

Too many good one's to quote! Lol I am not sure when would be the best time to climb, still thinking. Maybe just early July like people are saying. Seems to be the most popular time of the year. CMS Crevasse Rescue looks pretty solid. 195 seems like a sweet deal. Monster5 that book looks pretty sweet. I'll be buying one.

I'd recommend late June to mid July. If Rainier has a good snow year, and normal temps, the route should be very direct to the top. July usually has pretty stable weather, but you can never count on that with Rainier.

Monster did a great job at describing the route by time of year.

[climbing_rob]

Climbed it five times, five-for-five on summits, always early July, right around the 4th-8th. Other CMC groups keep trying to climb it in June and run less % on success. Some deity apparently flips a switch in the Pac NW right around the beginning of July, or at least he/she did in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011 (or something like that). On five trips we had one single time that we waited for the second "day" (actually, night) to summit.

Granted, 5 does not a valid statistical sample size make....

[DoctorBreaks]

Yeah I'll probably end up going early July. It seems to be the best time to go. @Rob you mean you climbed Rainier in one day four out of five trips?

[Scott P]

Apparently some people don't like climate graphs, but, here is the probability of precipitation on each given day for Paradise (where the DC route begins) on Rainier:



On average, June is definitely less stable than July.

Early July is a good compromise.

[DoctorBreaks]

Yeah according to the graph even late July looks solid

[climbing_rob]

Yeah I'll probably end up going early July. It seems to be the best time to go. @Rob you mean you climbed Rainier in one day four out of five trips?

No, bad wording on my part; what I meant to say is only one time did we have to wait an extra day to summit (too windy).

[GregMiller]

I did Rainier in mid July with Mongoose this year, and picked that date for the weather, I'd agree that that's your best bet.

Definitely liked the CMS crevasse rescue course that we took, and would definitely recommend it. It's worth taking it with the folks you're climbing with, plus a day practicing skills in the mountains (St Mary's is good for this).

For me, fitness wise, doing lots of hiking was really all I needed. By the last weekend before we went out to Washington, I was able to do two medium length 14er days in a row without feeling like death on the third. And basically, that's what Rainier is, is two 14er length days in a row. Other than that, I could have stood to run more, but it's not like you're moving up the mountain very fast. For the first day up to Camp Muir, we took our time, saving our energy. For summit day, you're speed-limited by the guided groups ahead of you - the best way I could describe it is rest-step the whole way. That being said, we blew past most other groups on the mountain - being able to get to 14k every weekend for months beforehand definitely helped a lot (or at least that's what I told myself).

[RyGuy]

A lot of good info here already. I did it in July with Greg Miller and MonGoose. As they both noted, the crevasse rescue is very important. You'll be glad you know how to get out of them when you get your first look at a decent sized one.

As for training...I did quite a few centennial peaks with my 75L frame-pack and a lot of weight. I tried to have my pack around 50 lbs for each hike. That helped a ton when we actually got to Rainier because my legs and back were already used to the weight you will likely be carrying from Paradise to Camp Muir.

I also highly recommend you spend time with your partners working on rope travel. We spent a day at St. Mary's and I was very glad we did. It meant that we were much more efficient when we got to Rainier.

-Ryan

[ChrisinAZ]

Climbed it with zxbraves last summer, in early July (just after the 4th). Lots of great advice here, few other things I'd add...

Maybe it was just not having been 12k for the 6 months before the climb, but Rainier in two days was a butt-kicker. Straightforward route, but one of the most physically exhausting things I've ever done. I can't remember being even close to that tired on Gannett.

Tried to train by filling my pack with rocks on some 9-10k AZ peaks. Not sure how much it helped. My end advice: just be at 14k a lot for the month leading up to the climb, and be in some of the best shape in your life, and that'll make your trip a lot easier.

I found this a pretty good book overall for learning crevasse rescue, coupled with a few good friends with experience teaching us how to go through the motions up on St. Mary's glacier. http://www.amazon.com/Glacier-Mountaine ... 1893682129" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Water--I thought 2 liters for summit day including chugging beforehand at Camp Muir would be enough. It wasn't. Granted we summitted on a very warm day, but be able to bring at least 3.

Originally set off to go from Ingraham Flats, but in the end it made little sense to get to Muir, rope up for just an hour of easy climbing to IF, and then unrope again. If your climb needs more than 2 days, move to IF on the 2nd day.

Route: I found it got "scary" for me (I dislike steep snow) from above IF to pretty much the crater rim. Crevasse crossings were manageable and didn't freak me out too much. Non-snow portions of the route were class 1+ to 2+ I'd say.

Best of luck!