Mount Rainier

Most prominent mountain in the contiguous US (prominence is greater than K2!) and the 21st most prominent mountain in the world
Huge, active stratovolcano with 2 craters on top, last eruption 1894
26 major glaciers, it’s the most heavily glaciated peak in lower 48 states
Centerpiece of Mount Rainier National Park, only 54 miles from Seattle
Thousands attempt to summit each year, but only about half of attempts succeed mostly due to weather or conditioning

Latest summits

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"Unguided 2-day summit. DC route was quite circuitous with several ladder crossings, rapidly deteriorating due to high temperatures all summer. Also pretty hazy due to a very serious fire burning in the Olympic Mountains. Clear sky on the summit, but 35 mph winds. An epic 2 days I will always look back on with a big smile." — jodola • Aug 9, 2018

"Summit attempt with RMI. Set off for the DC route at midnight from Camp Muir, setting off across the Cowlitz glacier, a relatively flat and straightforward traverse with little to no crevasse danger. It was dark and we followed our guide, along with many other rope teams. We then ascended a rock route up through Cathedral Rocks, a total messy kitty litter like affair - soft sandy gravelly type rock. Not much fun. We crossed the rocks and gained the Ingram Glacier, walking past the IMG camp and other independent tent parties, we sat down for our first of three scheduled breaks. It was dark and cold, and we ate some foods for fuel. After 10-15 minutes, we continued on a path, traversing the Ingram Glacier to gain the base of the Disappointment Cleaver. About 5 minutes in we crossed a ladder spanning a deep crevasse. It was so deep it was black. The ladder had a 6inchh span of plywood on which to walk and a fixed hand line from which to create tension by pulling upwards, hence creating some stability. Best not to look down, expect to ensure your boots and crampon are securely finding purchase and footing. We crossed the glacier and met with the base of the DC, walking throu..." — markhadland • Jul 26, 2018

"Climbed the Emmons Glacier the weekend of July 21 and July 22. Freeze thaw has created pretty tough snow conditions (sun cups) up high above 13,500 feet. Route is starting to fall apart and route finding was a challenge in the morning especially with paths meandering through the glacier. First time up this side, which is longer and more elevation gain than the DC, but a beautiful approach. Was able to glissade a good part of the Inner Glacier coming down." — BryHong8 • Jul 22, 2018

"Second ascent of Mount Rainier within the last year. Susie was turned back before the summit last year, so we came back to finish the job! Amber, Susie, Erica and I drove up from Vegas and ascended the DC route unguided. The GPS batteries died somewhere on the way up & I didn't notice until we were headed down out of the crater, so the track isn't quite complete. We hiked up in clouds, rain and snow on Tuesday morning, then hiked back down to Paradise through much of the same on Wednesday after summitting. At least we had nice (but cold) weather during our summit bid!" — Kevin • Jun 27, 2018

"Trip of a lifetime. Went with a guided IMG trip. 3 days. Day 1 left Paradise up the Muir Snowfields to Camp Muir. Arrived late afternoon. A few hours to get setup for the night and enjoy the day. Day 2 did ice axe, self arrest, rope work training on the top of the Cowlitz Glacier. Then hiked up to Ingraham flats for a short 1.5hrs. Got set up and enjoyed the sunshine and had a briefing on whats to be expected the next morning. Went to 'bed' at 5pm ish. Slept for 3 hours. Then up at midnight to get ready for the summit push. Departed at 1:26am up through the Dissapointment Cleaver, across the Ingraham Glacier all the way to the west side of Columbia Crest. Reached the summit as the sun was peaking through. 5mins on the summit and then quickly back down to the flats. Packed up and hiked back down to paradise by about 5pm. Drove straight back to SeaTac. Had been awake for about 23hrs by the time I hit the hay. Amazing trip in every way. Weather was perfect, great timing for sunrise. First mountaineering experience was incredible. Summited and felt great, no altitude issues. " — MarkJPerkins • Sep 16, 2017

"Climbed with Alpine Ascents via the Disappointment Cleaver. Route had collapsed the previous week so we were the first to head up the new route. It was a bit dicey moving through the seracs in a very circuitous route avoiding the very wide late season crevasses. We were the first group to the top and began our descent when it was still dark. " — GlacierSmith • Sep 1, 2017

"We planned on leaving Camp Muir at 11:00 PM, as this was our first full attempt at the summit and we were unsure of our pace as a rope team. We ended up leaving at 12:10 AM--Jeremy came down with an illness and the three remaining people adjusted the plan and redistributed group gear. Saw the Northern Lights from Cathedral Gap. Made it Ingraham Flats at 1:10 and the summit at 6:40. We were treated to a glorious sunrise on the way up while resting and allowing a team member to recover from some altitude-related light-headedness. Headed down at 8:00 AM and returned to Camp Muir at 11:30. Disappointment Cleaver is about 3/4's melted out right now, so there's a lot of loose rock to deal with. We short-roped to minimize rock fall. The "Tsunami" ice formation on the upper mountain was pretty sketchy and we heard afterwords that the route was to be changed the next day. All in all, the summit bid was much more challenging than I'd previously given it credit for. The Diagon Alley worth of chatter and noise at Camp Muir the night before certainly did not help matters. " — TynanRammGranberg • Jul 17, 2017

"We did it!!! There were some trials and tribulations along the way, but we made the summit! Started from Paradise and took the DC route. Camped at Muir Camp the first day and set out a bit after 11pm. 2 members of our rope team were not being team players, so we ended up almost having to turn back at the top of the cleaver. Luckily, that wasn't the case & we made the summit around 8am after Jose joined our rope team. The route was in good condition and weather held out until we got back to Muir Camp, when a big lenticular cloud engulfed the summit. We rested for a little bit, then packed up camp and headed all the way down. Those last couple of miles felt like they dragged on forever. " — Kevin • Jul 10, 2017

"Did a one day/single push summit of Mount Rainier via Disappointment Cleaver Friday Night/Saturday Morning. The route is continuing to open up fast. A good 1/3 of the Cleaver is melted out now, and there are 10 or 12 crevasse/snow bridge crossings (most small). The giant "Tsunami" cornice is still overhanging the route on the big traverse from the Cleaver to the Emmons Glacier, with some ice fall from it already evident. When that thing goes, it's going to cover the path (which has been moved lower down the mountain) - hopefully no one is on it. We had winds of about 30 MPH, but overall conditions were good. With the good weather we were able to go very light weight wise, which was the best thing about this endeavor - no heavy packs to slog up the snowfield and no camps to set up or break down. None of us had ever had issues with altitude sickness, but going from 0 to 14,410 feet in 12 hours, 9,000 of that on foot was pretty tough on the body. We were very well hydrated well fed and in strong climbing shape, but all suffered from altitude. Fatigue, some dizziness and even an slowness in processing information and performing routine tasks was evident. Did not spend any t..." — BryHong8 • Jul 7, 2017

"Overnight ascent of Disappointment Cleaver staying at Camp Muir - This was a training/beta summit bid as we're going to do a one-day climb Friday the 7th. Camp Muir was the usual madhouse - zero sleeping due to the noise. The route was great this weekend - very few crevasses and the DC still 95% snow covered. First time there where there were hand-lines attached to the route, mainly on the lower DC. The problem was people were clipping in and causing huge traffic jams in the worst possible spot - standing at the bottom of the cleaver.....Once up on the DC proper and beyond we passed 15 to 20 rope teams to be the 5th people on the summit, which was great. Very little wind and crystal clear views. Coming down, the other groups were coming up slowly. We made it down quickly ahead of everyone else and before it got too hot. Hate to think of the traffic jams later from people trying to come down the cleaver and clip back into those hand lines. There is a giant cornice overhanging the trail on the traverse over to the Emmons. It'll be pretty epic when that thing breaks off...." — BryHong8 • Jun 24, 2017

"Winter-esque storm on a rain crust, followed by a rapid warming, made for dangerous avalanche conditions. We'll try again another day. Still had a beautiful day hike to Camp Muir." — TynanRammGranberg • Jun 18, 2017

"17:30 hour day, one single push. Started at 12:40am, finished at 6:10pm. Took a bit longer than expected due to some waiting on the slope, very soft and slushy snow on the way down and a minor health issue. A summary: 12:37am - start, 1683m 3:57am - Camp Muir, 3110m 4:21am - left the Camp 5:01-5:37am - roping up on Muir Fileds, 3335m 6:05am - IGD / DC junction, 3490m 7:48am - IGD / DC junction, 3795m 8:43am - 3900m (33 mins rest +waiting) 9:46am - 4000m (10 +7 mins stops, +detour) 10:12am - 4100m 10:45am - 4200m 11:13am - 4300m 11:30am - crater (stops: 25 and 15 mins) 12:19pm - summit (5 mins) 3:32pm - Camp Muir 4:07pm - left the Camp 4:28pm - Anvil Rock, 2996m (2921) 5:28pm - McClure Rock, 2327m (2243) 6:13pm - finish " — alexp • Jun 4, 2017

"All or our climbing, training, studying and practicing finally culminated in our first summit attempt of Mount Rainier. I think that sometimes we take the mountain for granted: We see it almost daily, and for many of us, it's been a part of our lives, constantly in the background, for many years. While reviewing our crevasse rescue technique, we watched a video from a class at the Sierra Mountaineering club out of California. The video starts with the instructor asking the class why they were there and what mountain was their goal: One said Mount Shasta - everyone else said Mount Rainier. The death on the mountain earlier this year was a world class climber from Norway who had summited Mount Everest twice in one year, and came here specifically to climb Mount Rainier. Ask people on the mountain where they are from and you will get locales far and wide. What the rest of the country knows, and we sometimes forget, is that Mount Rainier is the most glaciated peak in the contiguous United States and is considered the premier alpine climb in the country. A training ground for the massive peaks of Alaska and the Himalaya. The last weekend of July provided us with a great weather windo..." — BryHong8 • Jul 31, 2016

"U.S. Highpoint #15 - crater rim only, guides would not let us continue to Columbia Crest because of weather/fatigue in some of the climbers in our party. I want to return to go to the true highest point!" — Quinn-and-Phyllis-McCutchen • Jul 5, 2016

"Me and my wife got an early start and managed to climb up to Camp Schurman before the snow got too soft. We decided to take an extra day to help us acclimatize and got a midnight start up the Emmons glacier. We reached the summit around 8:00 AM and took a break before making the trek to Liberty Cap. Great conditions and good weather for our second to last 14er in the lower 48." — Yosemike • Jul 1, 2016

"Five day expedition seminar on the Paradise Glacier ended with the summit climb up the Cleaver. Perfect weather until we got hit with a cap at the top and had zero visibility. Full story here: http://www.mrjerz.org/goals/climbing-mount-rainier" — mrjerz • Jul 10, 2015

"Wow...this was quite the trip. I organized this climb with my AZPeakBaggers group. There was a total of 6 climbers. We stayed at the Whittaker Bunkhouse the first night. It gave us a chance to all meet and get to know each other. Ashford is such a fun place. Friday morning we drove to the TH. We hiked to Camp Shurman on Friday having to rope up once we found snow. The climb up the snow field felt good. It was nice to be on snow. There was actually a fairly sketchy section close to Camp Shurman that a fall would result in very bad news. When roped in and climbing with new partners, it's always a thrill not fully knowing their skill and abilities. We spent a pleasant night in Camp Shurman. There were probably 30 climbers in camp. The weather was cold but very nice. Saturday we spent the day at Camp Shurman resting and acclimatizing. Saturday was a successful day for other climbers coming off the mountain. The weather wasn't bad but was improving for our summit attempt. There was was a lot of communication and discussion on Saturday during our down time. One of our group told me that he had probably found his high point for the trip. I was glad he had decided to stay a..." — darinwilson • Jun 21, 2015

"Great trip. Awesome conditions. On the way up we met a seven year boy named Axel that summited with his mom. On the way down helped a guy having a seizure on the Muir snowfield. " — chrisfiamengo • Jul 11, 2014

"A standard-issue aborted summit attempt with RMI. Atypically strong 100-mph wind gusts pounded the Muir Camp hut all night; it felt like the hut was going to blow off the mountain. Our guide told us that his tent had almost been swept down the glacier with him inside... he had almost been forced to self arrest through the tent wall! See the photo of his tent remains. Unfortunately the winds were too intense for a normal alpine start time of 1-2am and by the time we were finally off it was 5am. As is well known, RMI is EXTREMELY formulaic in its ascent schedule so with a super late 5am start the writing was on the wall... we wouldn't be summiting. Still, we went through the motions, roped up in the dark, and made it up to Ingraham Flats at 11,100 ft at the base of the DC. By that time, even though winds had chilled out and it had turned into a blueby day, RMI turned us around due to a policy of not guiding through an the icefall danger zone too late in the day. Totally support that decision. Not summiting was a good reminder that 99% of what brings me to the mountains is the journey spending time with friends in the outdoors. But yeah, I wish we’d made it. Will we be back?..." — scott • Aug 27, 2012

"Date is an estimate. My cousin Daniel and I took an evening map at Camp Muir before taking the Dissappointment Cleaver Route to the summit and back down. Estimated time on the mountain was approx 30 hours." — evanmillsap • Aug 1, 2012