Rainier Trip Report and Pictures

On Monday, May 13, 2012, Seth and I started the 12 hour drive to Mt. Rainier to attempt two routes, the Ingraham Direct and Liberty Ridge.  Unfortunately, I wasn't in good enough shape to handle the Liberty Ridge with as much speed as we needed to climb it so we decided not to attempt it on this trip.  The Ingraham Direct route was blocked by a large crevasse, so the Disappointment Cleaver became our objective.

On Monday night, Seth and I met up with my wife, Kelsey, and my father-in-law, Mark.  Because of other responsibilities, they were not able to drive with us and flew instead.

Left to Right, Kelsey, Seth, and Mark.  We started hiking from the parking lot at about 9am on Tuesday morning.  The weather was already really warm and once we got on the snow, the heat seemed to intensify immensely.

It took us about 6 total hours to get up to Ingraham Flats, 5 hours of total hiking time.  I underestimated the climb up to Ingraham Flats and took too much extra gear and weight.  I probably could've dropped 15-20 pounds of unnecessary weight and made the hike significantly easier.  

On the Muir Snowfield heading up to Camp Muir.  It was super warm on the snowfield.  Kelsey and I didn't do a great job at staying on top of our hydration and nutrition and Kelsey cramped up pretty bad as she was getting close to Camp Muir.  It took Seth and Mark about 20 minutes to hike the last stretch that took Kelsey and I about 60 minutes to hike (because of Kelsey's leg cramp).

Taking a brief break at Camp Muir.  Left to right: Me, Seth, Kelsey.  Kelsey worked her cramp out at Muir and was able to hike the rest of the way to Ingraham Flats pretty quickly.  I, on the other hand, was feeling pretty horrendous heading up and over Cathedral Gap and got way behind the group.  I continued to feel awful throughout the night and didn't sleep much.  Luckily, I started feeling better the next morning and by the top of the Cleaver I was feeling myself again.

Arriving at Ingraham Flats.  IMG guided groups below our camp.

Kelsey hiding in our bathroom hole with her toilet paper and blue bag :)

Kelsey and I.

Seth.

Little Tahoma from our camp at Ingraham Flats.

Mark hanging out at camp.  Mark was nervous that he wouldn't be in good enough shape for this climb, but he ended up doing really well.  He had no problem making it to the top.

Kelsey on the Disappointment Cleaver as the sun was coming up.

Kelsey and I moving up the DC ridge

Sunrise on Rainier.

Part of the Emmons Glacier, I think.  These crevasses are huge!  Last year when we were on Rainier, weather didn't allow us to get higher than Ingraham Flats.  This year really opened my eyes to how big this mountain really is.  In comparison, Rainier has about 3X the prominence that the biggest mountains in Ogden have.  It was an inspiring place.

Mark on the DC.

About half way up Disappointment Cleaver.  To get an idea of the scale, if you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see two tiny people above me on the cleaver and a long chain of people on the snow just right of the rocks.

More sunrise pics

Above the Cleaver

Looking down at a group that is a few hundred yards above the cleaver

Kelsey fueling up on Poptarts

Seth at a rest stop.  This guy is an animal.  At the speed he hikes, he probably could've summited in two hours from Ingraham Flats.  At our speed, it took about four hours.

Getting closer

Kelsey and I on the summit with our backs to the wind.  The Wind was blowing so hard and the temps were cold enough that our noses would turn white pretty quickly if they weren't covered.

Mark on the summit.  He didn't realize until later that the GEAR:30 sticker was upside down.  Nothing photoshop can't fix, I guess.

Descending.  On the way down we had an interesting experience.  Seth decided not to rope up with us so he could move at a more comfortable pace.  He's been up with route three or four other times and felt confident he would be ok.  On the way up the route, we crossed over a crevasse on a snow bridge that was about five feet wide.  On the way back down, the snow bridge had collapsed.  Seth said the bridge was there when he crossed back over (about 10 minutes before we got there), but had collapsed sometime shortly after.  We ended up having to jump over the crevasse which was kind of exciting.

Big crevasses above Disappointment Cleaver.  I didn't get any other pictures of our descent, but it took a little less than two hours for us to get down to Ingraham Flats from the summit.  It took about an 1h 15min for Seth, and that was including him waiting for us a few times.  It took us about 2h 15min to get from Ingraham Flats to the Paradise parking lot.  It took seth about 1h 30min.  That was the theme of the trip.  Seth's comfortable pace was significantly faster than ours.

When we got back to the parking lot, the summit was covered in a big lenticular cloud.  When we were on the summit, wind gusts were probably around 70mph.  According to a climbing ranger, the winds were supposed to intensify on the summit and stay high for a couple days.

It was a very enjoyable trip, except for the sunburns.  I'm excited to get back there and do the Liberty Ridge, hopefully later this summer after I get a bit more training in.

Metamucil Therapy

Without going into too much detail about my own digestive system, I want to share something that makes my multi-day outdoor outings much more enjoyable.  One of the many great outdoor innovations (debatable) of our time is the freeze-dried, just-add-boiling water backpacking food.  It is light, easy to prepare, pretty tasty, etc.  But like most food you find today, one thing freeze-dried food lacks is fiber.  Most people get the majority of their fiber from vegetables and some fresh fruits.  In the mountains, however, it is difficult to take fresh fruits and vegetables.  Vegetables generally don't have enough calories to be worth their weight and bulk to carry.  Fruits are usually heavy and sometimes hard to keep from spoiling or getting smashed.  Combine this with the fact that many foods that are great for the mountains, especially during winter (proteins and fats, like cheese, meats, etc), often have the opposite effect of the fruits and veggies, and you have a recipe for, at the least, discomfort, and at the most, digestive disaster (which isn't pretty on multiple levels).

Last year, while camping at Ingraham Flats on Mt. Rainier, our group was sharing a camping area with a guided group of about 15 people.  Of course, while camping on a glacier, there aren't too many places (one, to be exact) to go to do your business.  That one place is right out in front of everybody.  So, when you walk over to, well, you know, you simply inform everybody that you're dropping your pants and everybody else turns around (hopefully).  I don't know about you, but I enjoy my privacy while #2ing.  So, I hope, when I get over to take care of business, it goes quick and clean and nobody sees anything.  Well, imagine (figure of speech, probably not worth really imagining) you just hiked up to Ingraham Flats (or 14 camp, or any other glacier with other people), you have to go to the bathroom, you've eaten a lot of cheese and other calorie-rich, fiber-poor foods, you haven't been able to eat many fruits or vegetables, and there are people around.  In your head you're praying that the whole process takes less than 30 seconds, but you know that's not likely.  Bad situation.  You'd probably almost rather hike back down to Camp Muir to use the solar toilets.

Ok, so when you're in the mountains and not on a glacier and it's time to find some privacy, maybe it's not as big of a deal to keep it under 30 seconds, or a minute.  It is, however, much more enjoyable when the process is clean and comfortable.  It makes hiking more comfortable, cleaning up leftover bathroom supplies easier, etc.  A nice, comfortable two-zy can be quite an enjoyable process, especially if the view is good.  It's a nice change from staring at the wall of a bathroom.

A poo with a view, Avalanche Canyon, Tetons

Digestive health is simply a small detail that nobody talks about that can make a trip more or much less enjoyable.

In order to minimize my bad outdoor bathroom experiences and take full advantage of potential good experiences (i.e. good views), I do what I call, "Metamucil Therapy."  The idea is simple.  About a week before the trip, start taking metamucil.  Don't go overboard, but be consistent.  Make sure your digestive system is working well.  Then, when you get into the mountains, keep taking it.  You may need to up the dosage a little to get the same desired effect as you did at home with a healthier diet.  Metamucil is not like most other laxatives on the market.  It doesn't cause diarrhea (at least it shouldn't).  It's bulk-forming and softening.  That's why I use it instead of other fiber supplements while in the mountains.  And it tastes better than a lot of other fiber options, in my opinion.

It's a good idea to try it out before your trip.  It may take some time for your body to get used to it and there's a small chance that it just won't work well for you.  But if it does work, what a great outdoor skill to improve.  I use this system on pretty much every trip I go on that is over more than about 2 days.  It has allowed for consistent sub-30 second bm's, which is key when other people are around and there's no escape to seclusion.