The climb that summited Rainier yesterday morning has arrived back at Basecamp just in time for the sunny, warm weather to turn into rain. I had a chance to chat with RMI guide Andy Bond about their climb and the conditions on the mountain.
The route to Muir is already kicked in pretty well. Above Muir, the team was able to climb the Ingraham Direct route - heading up the Ingraham headwall with no long traverse over to the Disappointment Cleaver. Andy said they had good snow conditions with no post-holing or icy sections. Since it's early season, most of the crevasses on the upper mountain are still filled in, but he said there were still a few crevasse step-overs along the route. "As it storms, the mountain continues to heal itself...hopefully we can stay on this route for a while," says Andy. It took the team 6 hours to ascend to the summit, taking breaks at the Ingraham Flats, above the Cleaver and at 13,500 feet. At about 12,000 feet and the rest of the way to the summit, the wind picked up a bit but Andy says it was a great day to be on the top! 3 hours after departing the summit they were back at Muir. Today, the team was able to give their knees a break on the way down the Muir Snowfield by glissading on the snow! Congratulaions everyone!
Tomorrow morning an RMI Expedition Skills Seminar heads up to Muir to spend the week training and ultimately climbing the mountain! We'll keep you posted on their trip!
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