Road Openings

The weather this week looks great for climbing! Check our updated Access and Road page for the latest beta on how to get where you want to go

The Climbing Information Center (CIC) is now open 7 days a week 6am to 3pm. That means that there is no more self registration out of Paradise. Please stop by the CIC to register for your climb. Self registration is still in effect for White River and Carbon until the ranger stations open full time for those areas.

Also check out the climbing route interface with Google maps to help in your trip planning. Yes, we know it still needs some tweaking to work super smooth, but you might find it to be a help.

Flying High with the 214th

Over the past couple of days, Climbing Rangers had the opportunity to train with the US Army 214th reserve aviation brigade and their CH-47 Chinook helicopter. The 214th and the Rainier climbing rangers have been working closely together for many years and they provide us with an exceptional tool for Search and Rescue missions and we are very proud to have the opportunity to fly with them. 

Throughout the climbing season rangers and the Chinook crew train together so when things get "real" everyone is up to speed with what to do. The 214th's Chinook is specially equipped for working on Rainier, with skis that make soft snow landings possible, special flooring which allows rangers to wear crampons inside the helicopter, and special rigging inside that allow rangers and rescue litters to be lowered and raised safely on the cable hoist. 

Training with these guys also allows us the chance to do some great early season recon of the climbing routes on Rainier. Yesterday we got that opportunity, so check out the Route Updates page...all the major routes have been updated with aerial photos and conditions all around the mountain are looking great! Access to the more remote routes is difficult at this time, since many of the roads into the park are still being plowed out from the winters snow. The road crew has been working very hard lately and most park roads should be opening soon. If you are feeling adventurous there is nothing stopping anyone from getting to and climbing any route at this time, just plan on an extra day or two for the approach. Spring on Rainier can be some of the best climbing and skiing along with a very real wilderness experience.

See you on the Mountain.

CIC Opening

The Climbing Information Center is now OPEN!  Please feel free to come on by and say hello--We've spent the past couple of days de-shuttering the windows, digging out pathways, and just generally shining the place up. The entrance is somewhat hidden due to huge walls of snow, but if you walk toward the Paradies Inn you should see the plowed path to our front door.

We'll be open this weekend from 8AM to 3 PM Saturday and Sunday . The CIC will be closed during the week--and will open full time (6 AM to 3 PM, 7 days a week) for the season on May 12.  Feel free to stop by or give us a call with questions--360.569.6641.

All climbers must register in the CIC if going above 10,000 feet during the hours we're open, otherwise look for the self registration box in the Old Station.  Don't forget to check out from your climb.

May Days

So if you are a Northwest resident it is no secret that we have had our fair share of dreary weather this spring, but that hasn't stopped a lot of motivated people from coming up and having some rather fantastic days playing in the park... I know I've gotten a face tan so the sun has definitely been out. The thing with partly cloudy, partly rainy, partly whatever forecasts is that a lot of the time the sun does in fact shine through. So I guess the take home here is to not let some drizzle get you down, come on out and see what's happening for yourself.

Most of the roads in the park are still being plowed out from under feet of snow and the Paradise road is still under winter management which means it does close every night, but since the weather is staying a little warmer, skiers and climbers can count on access to Paradise being more consistent until the switch to summer management. We will continue to keep our Road and Access page as up to date as we can as roads get plowed and opened.

The Climbing Information Center located at Paradise is going to be opening for weekend operation starting this Saturday at 8:00!  For the next two weekends rangers will be staffing the CIC from 8am-3pm, and then by May 12th the CIC should be open full time 7 days a week 6am - 3pm. Stop by to register for a climb, get some up to date info for your ski tours, or just to sit on our couches and read from our library.

Check out some recent photos and conditions reports from the Muir Snowfield, Gib Ledges, and the Fuhrer Finger. We also welcome reports and photos from climbers, since we can't be everywhere we really enjoy hearing how peoples trips went, especially on the more remote routes.

The Weather, Snow and Avalanche page has been recently updated and includes some new links to weather sites to help with your trip planning.

Admission Free Parks

Just a reminder to everyone that this week is National Park Week, and to celebrate the Park Service is opening up all of its 397 parks for free! That's right, you can come to Mount Rainier or any other National Park from April 21-29 and forgo the entrance fee. Rangers will still be staffing the entrance booths to answer your questions and provide all the services they normally do, but they won't be taking your money.

So come out and take advantage of the beautiful weekend and join us in celebrating all of our great National Parks.

New Season, New Looks

As we quickly approach the time of the year where weather gets nicer and climbing starts to become a priority over more winter-centric sports such as skiing or curling, we here at Mount Rainier are looking forward to a great season on "the mountain".

If you are a blog frequenter, you will notice some slight changes to this site over the next week or so. That's because we are updating this blog, which will allow us to keep you better informed on all of the climbing, skiing, and Rainier related events, as well as making viewing of this page much easier on mobile devices. You may notice some links don't work properly and some pages you have come to enjoy will be inaccessible from time to time. Don't worry...We will have everything working again soon and hopefully better than before!

Hope everyone is getting their stoke on! The mountain is fat with snow and more is falling outside as I type this. See you on the mountain...

What happened to the Camp Muir Webcam?

April 14, 2012

The webcam hasn't worked since a fateful day in late November.

I have it in my office in Longmire. I went up about two months ago with all the tools to fix it, but I was unable to make field repairs, so I dismantled it and brought it down the hill.

I have been able to connect to the on-board server, but the image doesn't come up in the admin tool. I will delegate this repair to one of the climbing rangers over the next few weeks. If we can't repair or make an easy adjustment, then we'll have to order a new one.

How did it get broken? Well, reports have come in from various places, but it appears that the webcam has been consistently been taking a good beating. Not by weather, but by people, well-meaning people, to be more exact. The webcam during storms gets rimed up and it obscures the view. It may stay like this for days. So when avid viewers are actually at Camp Muir and in a position to "fix" the rime on the camera, they either hit or scrape the rime off the camera.

The marks on the camera's protective dome seem to corroborate the circumstantial evidence and the hear-say. It definitely looks like dome has taken some pretty heavy blows with a sharp object.

It will still be a month or more until I can get it working again.

Sorry for the delay.