YPO Climbs Mount Rainier

Peter Whittaker leads members of YPO to the top of Mount Rainier. Here is a short montage of the climb.

Camp Muir, Mount Rainier

Whittaker Mountaineering owner, Peter Whittaker gives you a quick tour of Camp Muir.

Down Jackets on Mount Rainier

When it's super hot down here at Basecamp, people often wonder if they really need to bring a down jacket on Rainier.  In the wee hours of the morning before the sun comes up, and you're on the upper mountain, you'll be glad you brought your puffy... Trust us, (and these guys) it's cold!

Dave Hahn's August 14 - 15 Summit Climb

Dave Hahn leading the climbers up the Muir Snowfield.

August 14-15 Summit Climb

Forecasts were calling for perfect weather and that is pretty much what we got.  Our climbing team began to expect such perfection after three fine days during training and the approach to high camp.  At 11:45 PM, when we brought  boiling breakfast water to nine lucky climbers at Camp Muir, winds were calm and skies were clear, allowing nice views of the odd shooting star.  The team was up and out just before 1 AM, crunching crampons across the Cowlitz Glacier.  We seemed to have the climbing route to ourselves until we crested Cathedral Gap and saw  headlights sprinkled all up and down Disappointment Cleaver and the upper Emmons Glacier.  This didn't surprise us, it was the weekend after all, and we still had plenty of peace and quiet while taking our rest break in the dark of Ingraham Flats at 11,000 ft.  One of our climbers was dealing with a pulled leg muscle and took the opportunity to head back toward Muir with a couple of RMI guides who'd come up for just such eventualities.  The remaining climbers got busy toiling with the Cleaver.  Thankfully, the many climbers above us were careful and we didn't experience any rockfall as we traversed onto the ridge.  The team cruised to 12,300 ft where we took another break before venturing out onto glacial ice once again.  One more climber chose descent at this point and RMI guide Mike Hinckley did the honors, keeping the main team updated by radio of their downward progress.  Sunrise caught us at 13,500 ft as we took a final rest break.  By then we'd caught up to the "crowd" of weekend climbers on the upper mountain, but traffic jams were minor and easy to deal with as the perfect conditions put everyone at their ease.  There was the sporty ladder crossing to negotiate over a crevasse at 13,900 ft, but no-one seemed to have particular difficulty with it.

Our nine climbers on two ropes rolled into the summit crater just before 7 AM and ambled through suncups and past steam caves toward "register rocks."   The summit register happened to be chock full and we were lucky to be able to squeeze names into the final two inches of paper in the book.  All on the team were stunned just a hundred feet beyond the register to top the rim and see just how clear the morning was turning out to be.  Puget Sound was visible in its entirety and it was easy to see the big buildings of Tacoma, Seattle and Bellevue.  Nothing obstructed the views of the Olympic Range and the North Cascades and we could look south to see individual crevasses on Mount Adams and seemingly every lava rock in the crater of St. Helens.  After a rest back down in our own crater, the team got going on a safe descent.  We chose the "new" route down the Emmons Glacier shoulder and were rewarded with very straightforward and easy, uncrowded conditions.  Then came a careful reversal of our route down the Cleaver.  We witnessed a few washing-machine sized rocks bouncing down the mountain as things began to heat up, but nothing came close to our team and before too long we'd safely reached Muir.  Re-united with those who'd descended early, we all now headed for Paradise, reaching it at 3:30 PM to complete and safe and enjoyable summer climb.
-Dave Hahn

Windy Rainier Summit With Peter Whittaker

Whittaker Mountaineering owner, Peter Whittaker on the windy summit of Rainier on August 12th. 


... Earlier this season on the summit.

Photos From Rainier

Take a look at some awesome photos taken by RMI guide, Jason Thompson on his summit climb early this week.

Ed Viesturs: Risk on Mount Rainier

Whittaker Mountaineering Guide Team member, Ed Viesturs talks about risk management on Mount Rainier. 

On top (and inside ) of Mount Rainier

Take a look inside Mount Rainier! Whittaker Mountaineering owner, Peter Whittaker takes you inside the steam vents on the summit of this active volcano...

Mount Rainier Route Conditions August 5, 2010

Head down Rainier with Whittaker Mountaineering owner, Peter Whittaker as he takes you from the summit back to Camp Muir on August 5th.

Dave Hahn - Rainier, July 31 - August 1

The moon was blood red, coming up through forest fire smoke, at 11:45 PM when the climbing team woke at Camp Muir.  There wasn't any wind and the stars were spectacular overhead.  There were surprisingly few climbing teams around us as we set out across the Cowlitz Glacier at 1 AM.  Conditions on the Cowlitz are still excellent and uncomplicated and so we quickly reached Cathedral Rocks and then the Ingraham Glacier.  With just six climbers and three guides, we took a quiet rest-break in the dark at Ingraham Flats.  Getting on Disappointment Cleaver was a snap and although we were on our guard for falling rock, nothing moved.  Twenty minutes of careful steps on the boulders and busted lava of the lower part of the Cleaver brought us up to a good track in the snow along the southern flank.  Around 4 AM we were sitting on our packs at 12,300 ft talking about how smoothly the Cleaver had gone.  We set out on the the steep switchbacks of the upper Ingraham Glacier and, as expected, came to a difficult crevasse with a rickety ladder.  It took perhaps twenty minutes of chopping and hammering to get the ladder level and safely anchored to the mountain.  With that chore being done, the team was anxious to climb hard in order to build up heat in the pre-dawn shadows.  During the 13,500 ft rest break, the sun came through the smoke layers and life got a little easier.  We made it into the summit crater five hours and forty-five minutes after leaving Camp Muir, took a few minutes to eat and drink and then trudged on up to Columbia Crest.  There we found our only breeze of the day... about ten miles-per-hour... and a view of low clouds smothering Tacoma and Seattle.  We still got big views of Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens, despite all of the forest fire smoke (reportedly drifting in from BC)  Our descent was smooth and easy -even the ladder with its deep crevasse- and we made it back to Camp Muir by 12:30 PM.  At around 3:45 we were gulping ice-water as we boarded the shuttle in Paradise and an hour later we were gulping tastier beverages in the summer heat down in Ashford.

-Dave Hahn