Jason Snyder
WKR
I had the opportunity to climb Mount Rainier with some very good friends, how can one turn that down?
We left Paradise on Monday at 0600 and climbed from there to a site at 9200 feet. Nothing very technical, standard glacier and snowfield travel with some loose rock. The sun was very intense, and as we were on the southwest side of the mountain there was no reprieve at all from sunup to sundown.
Day two, we moved camp up the mountain to 11,200 feet and staged for our summit attempt. The smoke was incredible and we couldn't see Mt. Adams at all that day. We rested, rehydrated, and went to bed early.
Day three, we departed at 0100 hours. We had a to a short rock repel and then start our ascent. We climbed two ice chutes that required ice screws, and cleared those at sunrise. It was very cold with a strong downslope wind. The push to the summit was very steep, and we reached the top at 1030.
Day four we woke up to gale force winds. A guided party was camped right below us, and they lost two tents down the mountain. It took us five hours to descend from our high camp.
I bought a pair of Sitka Ascent pants for this trip, and could not be happier with them. They are VERY functional. I wore my Sitka Jetstream on the summit ascent. The more I wear this coat the more I'm impressed with it. Lowa boots are simply bomb proof.
I really learned some stuff about alpine camping, of which I have little experience with. I tried out some dehydrated foods I made up, and will use on my Nevada deer hunt in a few weeks. I also learned the importance of lip balm with SPF in it. I went through copious amounts of sunscreen and didn't burn anything, but my lips are burned and chapped pretty badly.
This was a good gear shakedown and physical test leading into the Rubies hunt. I plan on hunting some of the most remote portions of the Rubies, and was a little concerned that I was biting off more than I could chew. This gave me a big boost in confidence in terms of where my conditioning and preparation is at.
We left Paradise on Monday at 0600 and climbed from there to a site at 9200 feet. Nothing very technical, standard glacier and snowfield travel with some loose rock. The sun was very intense, and as we were on the southwest side of the mountain there was no reprieve at all from sunup to sundown.
Day two, we moved camp up the mountain to 11,200 feet and staged for our summit attempt. The smoke was incredible and we couldn't see Mt. Adams at all that day. We rested, rehydrated, and went to bed early.
Day three, we departed at 0100 hours. We had a to a short rock repel and then start our ascent. We climbed two ice chutes that required ice screws, and cleared those at sunrise. It was very cold with a strong downslope wind. The push to the summit was very steep, and we reached the top at 1030.
Day four we woke up to gale force winds. A guided party was camped right below us, and they lost two tents down the mountain. It took us five hours to descend from our high camp.
I bought a pair of Sitka Ascent pants for this trip, and could not be happier with them. They are VERY functional. I wore my Sitka Jetstream on the summit ascent. The more I wear this coat the more I'm impressed with it. Lowa boots are simply bomb proof.
I really learned some stuff about alpine camping, of which I have little experience with. I tried out some dehydrated foods I made up, and will use on my Nevada deer hunt in a few weeks. I also learned the importance of lip balm with SPF in it. I went through copious amounts of sunscreen and didn't burn anything, but my lips are burned and chapped pretty badly.
This was a good gear shakedown and physical test leading into the Rubies hunt. I plan on hunting some of the most remote portions of the Rubies, and was a little concerned that I was biting off more than I could chew. This gave me a big boost in confidence in terms of where my conditioning and preparation is at.
. The last pic in the second set has a Glasgow scotties flag, is there a story behind that? Glasgow,MT is my hometown.
