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We scored an amazing weekend a few years ago where we Skied Rainier on a Saturday and then skied St. Helens two days later, with perfect weather the whole time. Here's an image from the top of St. Helens looking at Rainier and Adams.

Had a pretty spectacular view heading back from Seatac a few weeks ago...not my first time seeing it from the plane, but by far the closest and clearest. (the flight sucked, but the trip was absolutely amazing)

Standing on the summit, several years ago, I had a sense of the view seeming like it was out of an airplane window, to an extent I've experienced on no other peak except maybe Orizaba.

A bit blurry, but it was a great shot nonetheless. When are you planning to reach its peak again, ChrisinAZ?

I would like to get back up there and climb Liberty Cap. No idea on time frame right now though...

Is it a fairly big side trip to include Liberty Cap before/after summiting Rainier? On LoJ, it looks like most people have done only Rainier vs doing both.

bdloftin77 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 12:09 pm Is it a fairly big side trip to include Liberty Cap before/after summiting Rainier? On LoJ, it looks like most people have done only Rainier vs doing both.

LC is not as high a priority for two reasons: 1) due to the Bulger rule. The Bulger criteria exclude volcano subpeaks under a certain prominence threshold. 2) the degree of difficulty to climb LC, as it is much more technically demanding than the DC route.

bdloftin77 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 12:09 pm Is it a fairly big side trip to include Liberty Cap before/after summiting Rainier? On LoJ, it looks like most people have done only Rainier vs doing both.

I think the easiest way to do it is from the Emmons Glacier route where I think you can get to the saddle between the two. It's about 1300' of extra gain for the out and back from Columbia Crest otherwise. On my summit day, my climbing partner and I were so beat that we didn't even consider it by the time we got up there.

I recall that even by the Bulger list criteria, LC should be considered a summit. But Rainier is simply so massive of a mountain that LC looks insignificant from below, as a separate summit. I think that's the main reason...