911

The Liberty Ridge climbing teams have worked their way off the mountain today (actually, one team is still at Thumb Rock, but OK). As it turns out, two separate teams called 911 this week requesting help and/or information. One team became lost between Liberty Cap and Columbia Crest; the other team was pinned down below Liberty Cap at 13,700 feet (soooo close). FYI, these locations have claimed and threatened the lives of other climbers before, always during bad weather.

In both cases, whiteout and snowfall impeded the teams' progress. This event shouldn't pass without comment. It's very consuming to address emergency 911 and personal calls from family members on issues that, in all respects, could have been avoided or dealt with differently.

Incidents like this occur (particularly on Liberty Ridge) when climbers plan for 2/3/4 day ascents (i.e. light/fast) and then get caught in unsettled weather. It's not as though the climbers weren't technically skilled enough to ascend the route. It was obvious, however, that they became concerned when climbing wasn't the issue and sitting out a prolonged weather event was. Logistics, skills and weather are a hard equation to balance when planning trips. One simple way to provide backup is to carry extra fuel. Extra fuel can ensure water and warmth. As I told one man's wife this week, no one has died of starvation on Mount Rainier, yet plenty have been stressed out by running out of water/fuel. As a good example to follow, one team weathered 9 days of stormy conditions a few years ago. Could you?

Another important point is to NOT MOVE when you're lost or uncertain of your location. If you haven't been caught in a whiteout before, trust me when I say that movement is nearly impossible during such weather. And BTW, finding you is even more challenging. Therefore, calling rescue personnel with GPS coordinates isn't going to work unless you want to make sure we find your tent/equipment/etc after it's all said and done (hint, hint). Also, asking for "directions" isn't really possible either; if you don't know where you are, neither do we. GPS's are a great invention, but they can't guide you on a mountain in a whiteout. The terrain and crevasses are just too much to safely negotiate.

I realize that this information may seem obvious, but it's amazing how many smart and capable people get caught in this situation and then call for help. Also remember that when you call 911, you are really calling for help. When you're climbing Mt. Rainier, or Mt. Baker, or Denali or any other big mountain, do everything you can to be prepared for bad weather that will totally limit your progress. That's part of the climbing game. Climbing isn't always about gear, fitness, skill, aesthetic, it's also about fortitude and your ability to deal when the weather really sets in, which is what happened this week on Rainier. These teams didn't have an emergency, they were just STUCK. Furthermore, rescuers and helicopters are not going to pluck you off in such an event.

OK, enough soap box. The Washington Trails Association is doing more than their fair share to help the Glacier Basin Trail. And the Steven's Canyon Road will reopen much earlier than anticipated (June 22) barring any major catastrophes. Did I just say "major catastrophes"???...

Climbing and skiing, and advice on cell phone use

If you haven't noticed, few posts means lots of work and activity here at Mount Rainier. The weather has remained stellar over much of the past week and things have been busy. During this period, climbers and skiers have been tackling the mountain from all directions. Of particular interest are new and extensive reports for Liberty Ridge, Ptarmigan Ridge and the Fuhrer Finger (photos included).

It seems that a few people are just itching to be rescued or call 911. We've had a number of "alarms" or "callouts" over the past few weeks, thankfully nothing has been serious! That said, one callout is in progress and involves a 2 person team pinned down in a whiteout on Liberty Ridge near 13,700 feet. We suspect that they will be fine, as they are well prepared for 2 more days on the mountain. As a reminder, if you carry a cell phone, make SURE you call 911 during an incident or emergency, not your family members.

On the other hand, two separate teams had somewhat serious accidents but self-rescued. Neither of those teams used a cell phone to alert friends. One incident involved the skier who fell 300 feet on the Emmons Glacier last weekend. A more recent event involved a 2 person team on the Kautz Glacier. One member dislocated his shoulder while descending (balled up crampons). As a reminder, we're still working on that streak of NO NEW MAJOR RESCUES since 2005. We hope to continue this trend...

First photo is by Josh Farris near 12k on Ptarmigan Ridge; the second is of a climber on Liberty Ridge by Dmitry Shapvalov.

Perfect Weather for climbing and skiing

Breaking with tradition, as oddly happened also in 2005, there was reasonable weather on the upper mountain over Memorial Day weekend. The normal Pacific NW tradition calls for drippy rain and snowfall. So with the good weather came a whole bunch of skiers and climbers.

At Camp Schurman, the skiers took over. After all was said and done, there were more successful skiers than climbers! Here is an all women's team that ripped down from the summit on Monday afternoon. They reported excellent climbing conditions, and relatively icy ski conditions... But that wasn't a problem for them. On the other hand, I witnessed another skier tumble and fall roughly 200-300 vertical feet near 12,600 feet. It took his teammates a few hours to collect his equipment and get him back to Camp Schurman. He wasn't hurt too badly, but it was awful to watch it play out through the telescope. YIKES!

On an important administrative note, here is a heads up to those who don't think they need to register. There are intensity patrols happening in the backcountry and they are checking to make sure that all teams have permits. This weekend, a few parties were turned around and some were cited for failure to register for a climb. Make sure you get your permit and climbing pass before taking off. If you need help, give us a call 360-569-2211 ext 6009.

Chinooks, aerial images, Brian Massey & Mizuki Takahashi

The U.S. Army has been spending time with the Mt. Rainier climbing rangers over the past few weeks. On May 22nd, we flew to the mountain and performed hoist and other training missions near Echo Rock, Camp Muir and Camp Schurman. While participating, I was able to shoot some aerial images of the climbing routes. Check out the updated route conditions for new information and photos. Chinook cockpit image taken by David Gottlieb.

The New York Times gave their opinion of Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the Interior, and they liked him! The budget outlook for the NPS also sounds good. Of course, time will tell, but it was refreshing to see some positive press.

On a very, very sad and all-too-familiar note, two friends of this blog died climbing on Mt. McKinley last week. Mizuki Takahashi and Brian Massey (both frequented Rainier) fell while traversing high on Denali near the Messner Couloir. The exact details of what caused the accident are unknown; what we do know is that both climbers were well loved in the Pacific Northwest. Mizuki had even contributed reports to our blog last year. I knew her through the solo climbing registration program. Mizuki loved to solo climb the mountain in the winter.

It's been a very rough six months for female alpinists from the Seattle area: Christine Boskoff (owner of Mountain Madness PI), Lara Kellogg (former climbing ranger), and now Mizuki. The loss of these three unique, independent, and amazing women is an emotional setback to many climbers in the region. Our thoughts are with their friends and family. Here is an image that Mizuki contributed to the blog last year.

Seach and Rescue (SAR) callouts

So the park has been open for 15 days and the problems are already starting to roll in for hikers and climbers. I've my fingers crossed that there will be NO serious accidents this summer (like last year), but the callout trend remains alarming. Over the past week, we've had 3 missions launched because of overdue parties. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

One instance involved two reportedly overdue climbers (i.e. example of what not to do) and it required park rangers to respond last Tuesday. It all started as a miscommunication between family members (i.e. parent and climber). The parents thought that the climbers would be home on Sunday night, the climbers planned for Wednesday. This discrepancy led to a 911 call late Monday night and a search that involved two helicopters (one military Chinook) and numerous NPS personnel...

The primary issue was that the two climbers did not register. If they had, there would have been no search, but since the team was reported overdue by 24 hours, something needed to be done. As it turns out, the climbers were prepared to spend the extra time and they did summit too, but one father didn't know those plans and neither did we. The moral of the story, register, OR face the US magistrate to explain why you didn't.

On the brighter side of the things, our friend and former climbing ranger Mimi Allin (goes by AKA Allin too) is getting gobs and gobs of media attention again. Being the POET of Green Lake obviously carries a fair amount of clout in Seattle. KING 5 Evening Magazine visited her recently, and if you live in Seattle, maybe you should too. Hint hint, nudge, nudge...

In other good news, the Glacier Basin Trail is looking better now that the rangers flagged it extensively. Recent rangerly type activities also included helicopter training. In these David Gottlieb images, a Chinook is inserting personnel at Camp Schurman. Every year, the pilots and rangers need to be recertified in hoist operations. Over at Camp Muir, the guide services are setting up weatherports on the Cowlitz Glacier while most climbing teams are ascending the Ingraham Glacier. Everyone is looking forward to Memorial Day weekend. Now the big question, what will the weather bring??

Way too long, lots of climbing

All is good on Mount Rainier these days (despite my inability to update this blog!) Climbers have been scaling up and down the mountain by a variety of different routes over the past two weeks. One of the most impressive ascents was by a team of climbers who pushed their way up Ptarmigan Ridge after a long march.

The May 5th opening went by without issue. Yeah, the parking lot filled and U.S. Rep Norm Dicks and U.S Rep Dave Reichart showed up to help swing the gate (TNT). But most folks seemed more focused on getting to the mountain... which brings us to the important topic at hand, what's been going on above 6K on Mt Rainier?

Recently, there has been a lot of skiing, boarding and climbing. Here is a pretty awesome shot by Rainier ski-fan Sky Sjue... These images are from his recent descent down the Fuhrer Thumb with climbing/ski partner Christophe. I think, btw, that this is a first ski descent of the Fuhrer Thumb. I bet Lowell Skoog will be interested. Anyway, the Fuhrer's Thumb is the "climber's left" variation on the Fuhrer Finger route, OR "climber's right" of the Wilson Headwall, i.e. STEEP!

There is quite a bit of snow to carve between 5K-10K for the skier/boarder. Keep in mind that the recent weather has been great which means that the snow is melting fast! More than snowmelt, however, make sure you consider the avalanche conditions if you're headed out into the backcountry. You should personally check the snow conditions and snowpack before jumping into anything hairy. There have been numerous reports of slide activity between 5K-11K on 30-45 degree slopes. Of course, bring your avalanche equipment (beacon, shovel, probe, etc) and reliable partners.

Not to be outdone, the climbers have been having a great time on Mt. Rainier too. Our Updated Route Conditions page is getting filled with all sorts of cool reports... So far, folks have successfully ascended Liberty Ridge, the Ingraham Glacier, Gibralter Ledges, Emmons Glacier, the Tahoma Glacier (more on those two later) and a few other lines to boot. As stated, we have a FANTASTIC report about Ptarmigan Ridge!

Lahars, 9:15 Opening and Paradise Parking

If you live near Mt. Rainier, take note that there is a problem with the lahar emergency warning system (TNT). Speaking of early warnings, check out the forecasted weather for "re-opening" weekend (NOAA):

Saturday Through Monday: Variable high clouds otherwise mostly sunny days and mostly clear at night. Freezing level rising to 9000 feet...then falling to 7500 feet Monday.

They've pushed forward the opening time 45 minutes; now the gates will swing at 9:15 a.m.! U.S. Congressman Norm Dicks and Superintendent Dave Uberuaga will be there to cut ribbons and welcome visitors. If you're headed to Paradise, be forewarned that there is a limited amount of parking (I suspect that the parking lots will fill really fast). Why?

• The park is expecting a lot of visitors this weekend.
• The Paradise construction project continues, and most of the upper lot is fenced off.
• The overflow parking (i.e., the one way road out of Paradise) remains closed.

Therefore, get up there and grab a spot early. If you're parking overnight, use the Paradise picnic area just below the Jackson Visitor Center. There is a good chance for that parking lot filling up too, so park first and then get your permits at the Jackson Visitor Center. As mentioned in the previous post, save yourself time by printing the climbing permit from this website, filling it out, and bringing it with you.