Changing Seasons

So if you haven't already heard, summer is fully upon us here on the Mountain. Since the beginning of this month we have had thousands of climbers and skiers coming out to play on Rainier. Looking around the mountain last week from the side window of a Chinook helicopter we saw evidence of people climbing and skiing almost everything around. There were ski tracks down all the standard routes, plus a good many down some more technical non-standard routes. This was pretty amazing considering all of it was happening in mid to late July, a time of year people usually put away their skis and stop attempting routes like Mowich Face and Liberty Ridge.

With all of the beautiful weather we have been blessed with over the past few weeks our large snowpack is starting to morph into its usual mid-summer condition. This means that while most routes on the mountain are still in very good shape and holding lots of snow, climbers may start to encounter some ice poking through the snow in steeper areas, and some crevasses opening up forcing climbers to do a little more routefinding and endrunning of large cracks.

Over the past week Climbing Rangers have been out climbing Mowich Face and Ptarmigan Ridge along with all the standards like the Emmons and DC. Reports have been of excellent conditions in all places. Want to get an early August ascent of some steeper west side routes? Now is the time! With great snow-free trail conditions making for fast approaches and snow still clinging to most everything above 10,000' the stage is set for some great climbing. Just be aware that with warm days rockfall and icefall hazard increases, so climb at night when it's cool and be aware of what and who is above you at all times. Ya know, like when to hold 'em, when to fold 'em, when to climb and when to run. Speaking of running check out the fracture on Lib ridge below Thumb Rock! Although not normal at all for this time of year it is a testament to how much snow we have received and how warm the days have been.

Check out the new route updates and photos from the past week of climbing, training (always), and flying. Come on up and enjoy this seasonal transition with us here on Rainier!

Almost Ready!

Anyone remember that flood that happened way back in 2006? There was a little damage to some areas of the park, with roads, trails and even whole campgrounds being damaged or disappearing entirely. The lower part of the Glacier Basin trail was one area that was heavily affected by the flooding, and for the last few years NPS trail crews along with hundreds of volunteers have been working almost nonstop on the new re-route of the trail.

Now to the fun part...

The first mile of the new trail is almost ready to be opened! Trail crews are working on the finishing touches like some beautiful bridges to keep your feet dry crossing creeks, and rock walls that not only look cool but actually add to the stability of the trail. They should have the trail open soon, although the actual opening date has not been set, so until they actually open it please respect the closed area so crews can work uninterrupted to get projects finished. For now enjoy some of these photos that rangers were able to take during our sneak preview the other day. Stop by the White River ranger station for the all the latest information on the Glacier Basin trail, or any other trail for that matter.

If you happen to come across a trail crew out working be sure to thank them for all the hard work they do on our many miles of trails here at Mount Rainier.

As for conditions on the upper mountain these days everything is in spectacular condition. Many groups have been out climbing and skiing all over the mountain from Ptarmigan and Liberty Ridges to the standards such as the DC and Emmons. All reports have been of excellent conditions. The sun has been out, winds have been mild, and fun is being had all over, so check out some of the new route updates get your gear together and come climb with us!

This Summer's Trends

This has been an interesting season so far. The weather has been a challenge, which has made avalanche conditions a challenge, etc...

Well, it finally looks like summer is here and the climbing is in really good shape for this time of year.

This spring was much cooler than normal.  That caused the snow to not melt as fast.  At the end of February, we were hovering at about 75% of normal snowpack at Paradise.  Then the cool weather hit.  By 4th of July weekend, we were at 200% of normal snowpack!

Indeed, the glacier monitoring program found almost 1.5 meters more snow at the upper stake locations than normal for this time of year (7.5 meters instead of 6.0).

Everyone can remember the cycles of snow and avalanche conditions we were getting in June!  Crazy, but not entirely unprecedented.

Summer has arrived.  Temperatures are up.  The snow is consolidating.  The climbing has been great.

But wait, there's more!

There's still a lot more snow than normal for this time of year on the upper mountain.  Typically, each route "peaks" in its usage at a particular time.  The non-standard routes like Liberty Ridge peak mid-June,  while the DC and Emmons peak later in July and even early August. 

The added snow and cooler conditions this spring and early summer has allowed snow to linger on the non-standard routes longer than normal.  This has pushed the good snow/ice conditions we need to climb these routes into a time of year when there's better weather.


Take a look at this graph of this year's Lib Ridge usage:



The one consistent report from last week was that although there has been plenty of snow on the upper mountain, it has been loose and unconsolidated.  This is often the case early season during high freezing levels / temperatures.  Always evaluate your own avalanche conditions.  Many a party has been hit by early summer, loose-snow, sun/heat affected avalanches in Fuhrer Finger, the Turtle, Disappointment Cleaver, etc..

Also, just a few interesting trends.  Here's a graph of the last 3 seasons of climbing use up to mid-July.  You can see that during the snow/avalanche cycle in June that usage this year wavered in mid-June.  However, climbing is strong and we are on track to have one of the biggest years ever.

One other point to remember is that even though it may be cloudy down in the Puget Sound, it often may be clear up at high camp with beautiful climbing conditions.  Look at the NWS forecast discussions for Paradise (http://www.weather.gov/ and type in Paradise, WA).  At the bottom, you'll find the link to the forecast discussions.  If they are mentioning things like on-shore flow and marine layer / push, then it is likely that the cloud tops are 7-10 thousand feet.  These are usually stable conditions that indicate great climbing.

Don't let those clouds keep you from climbing!

Going International

Looks like summertime is finally going to be with us for awhile. With nothing but sunny days in the forecast, now is the time to come out and crush the mountain! Conditions on the upper mountain are as good as they get for early July. Routes such as Liberty Ridge and the Fuhrer Finger that normally get a little thin this time of year are still holding lots of snow and should really be climbed a lot in the coming weeks.

Climbing rangers have been fairly busy over the past weeks with a number of tasks including climbing the mountain, training with the military, doing a couple of searches and rescues, and in our spare time trying to keep the toilets clean. One of the most special things that has happened in our world lately is that we have been able to host Ang Tshering Lama, a Nepalese climber, who was here as a guest ranger for three weeks in June. Ang spent time at both Camp Muir and Camp Schurman, patrolling climbing routes with rangers, taking part in our various trainings, and assisting in multiple rescues. If you were at Camp Muir or Schurman in the past few weeks you might have even caught a smell of the delicious food he cooked up for us during his stay. This is the third year in a row we have hosted Nepalese climbers in our program and we are very proud of our close relationship with their climbing community. Later this summer we will be hosting the Korean Alpine Rescue Team, so stay tuned...

Be sure to come by the Guide House up at Paradise, or one of the other ranger stations around the park, and say "hello."

Unusual Seismic Recordings from Mount Rainier Glaciers

This is Steve Malone with the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network located at the University of Washington in Seattle. We operate seismographs throughout the Pacific Northwest and have three located high on Mount Rainier. We often record seismic events from all of our glacier-clad volcanoes that we associate with glacier motion, i.e. "ice-quakes." However, since about May 20, 2010 we have detected a strange set of these events coming from the upper Winthrop Glacier. We are calling these small events "clones" because the seismic waveforms from one event are near-duplicates of those from other events indicating a repeating source. They also seem to occur at very regular intervals.


The interval between events is often as short as every 3 minutes but changes from time to time and has been as much as 15 minutes between events. We think that their magnitude (on the Richter scale) is about M = -1 (i.e., 8 orders of magnitude smaller than the Nisqually earthquake of 2001).

So, what are these puppies? We think they represent small periodic slips at the bed of the glacier. Perhaps there is a large rock embedded in the bottom of the glacier and as the glacier moves it scrapes this rock along the bed, only a few mm in each slip. But why are they so regular in time? Maybe water pools up-hill of the rock until it slightly lifts the glacier allowing the rock to more easily slip and this then drains that small pool of water starting the process over. We think that water has an important influence on glacier sliding but don't understand the mechanism very well.


How can you help? Anyone climbing Rainier on the east side (upper Emmons or Winthrop Glacier routes) may see or hear things that would help us pin these suckers down. Please let me know of anything you think may be out of the ordinary (sounds, sights, feelings???). Particularly those of you who have been in this area before and can compare what may be different from previous climbs. Our best guess where these originate (based on stacking 4000 individual events to get the best relative seismic wave arrival times at six seismic stations and using a 1-D seismic velocity model with station elevation corrections, blah blah blah, other scientific mumbo-jumbo) puts the location at 46.85950 north 121.7610 west (i.e., 2.5 km WSW of Camp Schurman or 3.4 km NNW of Camp Muir or about 600 meters up from the top of Russell Cliffs).

To see these suckers yourself check out our "webicorders" at: http://www.pnsn.org/WEBICORDER/VOLC
and click on the date-time for one of the high Rainier stations (RCS, RCM, STAR). The small blips that have about the same size and shape are our "clones".

Send email to: steve@ess.washington.edu or give me a call (206-685-3811)


Steve Malone

SPECIAL AVALANCHE STATEMENT ~ June 7, 2010

View of Saturday's Avalanche Path from the Rescue Helicopter

Significant avalanche danger at higher elevations on the volcanoes, mainly above 7 to 8000 ft.

Several strong storm systems moving through the region last week produced increased accumulations of new snowfall at higher elevations on the NW volcanoes from Mt. Hood northward through Mt. Baker and in the Olympics. Water equivalents during this period ranged from an inch to over 3 inches, the storm likely produced new snow amounts of 1 to more than 3 feet above about the 7 to 8000 ft. level, greater at higher elevations and on southeast through northeast exposures where intermittently strong winds produced deep drifting. These new snow amounts taper quickly below 6000 to 7000 ft. with only minor amounts of a trace to an inch or so of snow recorded at the 5000 ft. level.

This weather has resulted in significant unstable snow accumulations at higher elevations on the volcanoes, especially on lee slopes where unstable slabs of 3 to 5 ft. or more may have developed over either previous crusts or some wet weak snow layers, depending on elevation and aspect. Most recent information from Mt. Rainier indicates that Camp Muir has received about 2 feet of snow, with 3 to 5 ft. drifts...especially on east exposures. Although only preliminary information on the recent avalanche accident on Mt. Rainier has yet been received, it appears that the avalanche was a human triggered 3 to 6 ft. deep hard slab, approximately 1 to 200 yards wide, and running about 1,200 vertical feet. Latest information indicates that the slide caught 11, fully burying or partially burying 4, one of whom remains unacccounted for at this time and is presumed dead. Mountain guides from other climbing parties in the area were able to recover three of those who were buried or partially buried, two of whom suffered injuries necessitating airlift rescue from the site with the third able to walk out with minor injuries.

This serious incident underscores the fact that the weather, not the calendar, dictates avalanche danger on higher elevations in any mountainous terrain.

Currently, a storm system moving through the Northwest should deposit an additional 4 to 6 inches or more of snow at elevations above 7 to 8000 feet along with moderate southwest wind transport helping to further load the steeper leeward side terrain. More showery weather anticipated late Sunday should be followed by decreasing showers early to mid Monday, with slowly clearing skies, decreasing clouds and brief warming likely later Monday and early Tuesday before another moderate storm system affects the area and brings another surge of precipitation and winds late Tuesday and Wednesday along with lowering freezing levels. As a result of both current and expected weather and avalanche conditions, travelers venturing into higher elevation terrain in the Cascades and Olympics should be conservative in their decision making, cautious in their route finding, and factor avalanche danger into their goals and route selection for the upcoming week...as very few goals or routes are worth injury or death.

Finally, extended range forecast models indicate that a strongly building upper ridge may begin to move over the region late next week. If models are correct, the associated sunshine and freezing levels of 10-12,000 ft. or more should make the storm snow that has accumulated in late May through early June increasingly wet and weak, with further significant avalanche activity likely. Please stay aware of expected weather over this time of transition toward a gradually more stable snowpack at higher elevations, and ratchet back both goals and expectations to help minimize potential avalanche involvement.

Please note that NWAC forecasts normally apply to elevations below 7000 feet outside of ski areas and adjacent to highways. However, owing to the recent avalanche accident on Mt Rainier, some additional snowpack information at higher elevations, combined with the unusually strong late spring storms buffeting the region, this statement has been issued to alert those venturing into higher elevations of the NW mountains that there is, in fact, an increased level of avalanche danger.

This statement will be updated as conditions warrant.

Mark Moore
NWAC Director/Avalanche Meteorologist

US Senate Honors Search and Rescue Personnel

May 27th-Memorial Day Weekend

Winter still rules at Mt Rainier!!

We hope to see folks on the mountain psyched to climb and camp but please be prepared! GPS, map and compass, cell phone and a completed wilderness permit are all great tools that allow both climbers and rescuers a greater safety margin when the weather turns poor. Pack your Gore-tex and skis and have a good time with great winter conditions this weekend.


On Friday May 14, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed Resolution 526, which honors the men and women who perform Search and Rescue (SAR) throughout the United States. The Resolution specifically acknowledges the role that professionals and volunteers provide to our country, and sets aside the week of May 16 to May 22, 2010 as National Search and Rescue week. Also, it encourages the people of the United States to observe and hold ceremonies and activities that promote awareness and appreciation of the role SAR personnel provide for their communities.

The Mount Rainier climbing community had a hand in making this possible, as our former Mountaineering and SAR Program Manager, Mike Gauthier, was one of the driving forces behind the Resolution. As you may recall, Mike left Mount Rainier to work in the US Senate last year. While at Mount Rainier, he participated in over 200 SAR incidents and had this to say about the Resolution, “This is a very personal story for me as my friends and fellow rangers, Sean Ryan and Phil Otis, died during a mountain rescue high on Mt. Rainier in 1995. Finding them on the glacier that day changed the trajectory of my life and career, and steeled my resolve to change the way we worked as climbing rangers. Being able to help with this resolution is part of my commitment to honor and remember them and their spirit.”

Mike and Central Mountain Rescue Volunteer Marty Lentsch have aspirations to eventually create a National Museum and Memorial for SAR. Said Mike, “some of the hardest, most valuable and rewarding moments of my time as a park ranger have been during search and rescue missions. I worked with many incredible people who gave their time and energy, sometimes risking their lives, in order to help others in emergencies. At Mount Rainier, the volunteers from the Mountain Rescue Association were very notable because they trained and prepared on their own in order to help the climbing, hiking, skiing and outdoor recreation community. So it is very appropriate that the US Senate, through our good friend Senator Maria Cantwell, acknowledge and set aside a week to recognize the work they, and the professionals from local, state and federal agencies, do in order to help people throughout the nation.”

Please pass this good news along and look for more information on how you can help. It will take time to organize and achieve a National Museum and Memorial, but it would be a fitting honor for those who have lost their lives in the line of duty and also for those who unselfishly give so much to help others in need.

More can be found about Sean Ryan and Phil Otis through books, and here is a link to the text of the Senate Resolution. Photo by Mike Gauthier.

~ DG