Solstice!

Soon the longest day of the year will be upon us. For climbers this is significant not only because there are a lot of festivals, parties and music happenings throughout the area, but also because this is the time of the year when the long daylight hours allow us to climb headlamp free for many, many hours.

This year the actual Solstice is on June 20 at 23:09, however its effects will be noticed for a much longer period of time and are in fact currently being observed. Since the 20th is a weekday you can actually make it to the Fremont Fair and the associated parties going on this weekend, get down, recover and STILL get out in the wilderness or wherever else you enjoy being for the actual day of Solstice. (Just assuming wilderness is your thing since this is a blog about climbing Mount Rainier.)

The forecast for the upcoming week looks like a mixed bag with some sun and clouds, but no major storm events are on the horizon. Hopefully we are done with those for a while. Climbers have recently been summitting via all the standard routes, so check out the updates for the DC, Emmons, and Liberty Ridge among others. Don't forget your sunblock and stay hydrated out there!