It had been years since my last attempt on Rainer, but with
a weather forecast matching up perfectly with my schedule, I thought; “What the
hell, I’ll try it again, but this time ski down.”
Camp Muir
With all the success I’ve had around the world climbing, Rainer’s
summit has always eluded me. Several
attempts ended with poor weather and I never really gave the mountain much
thought afterwards. Yeah it would be
cool to stand on top, but it really didn’t matter much to me. Last week when the weather forecast looked
great, Ben suggested we try to ski Rainer.
It sounded like a fine idea. Even
if it didn’t happen we would still have a good time.
Sunset and sunrise from camp
Our friend Blake joined us and after a quick pack job
Sunday, we were on the road. We spent
the night at Rimrock Lake then drove into the park the next morning. Neither Ben nor Blake had been to Rainer
before and both were psyched at the magnitude of the mountain. We got the necessary permits and casually
packed for the ascent. It was around
noon when we finally left the car and began the slow climb to Camp Muir.
Blake working his way up
It’s a casual ascent up the Muir snowfields to camp at
around 10,000ft. We got up there with
plenty of time to relax, cooking dinner and watching the sunset from above the
clouds. Since we were planning to ski
down, it wasn’t necessary for an early ascent so we set our alarms for 5am and
hit the bags.
Summit pic
In the morning we watched the sunrise and casually had
breakfast while getting our gear together.
It was 7am when we left camp and the day was looking amazing. Light winds and blue skies. The snow was still firm so we put our crampon
on and started up. One foot in front of
the other, we slowly made out was up.
Sections of the climb were steep and the guide services had fixed ropes,
but overall it was pretty chill hiking.
After many small steps, and a few crevasse crossings, we found ourselves
at the summit crater. It was a short
distance to the summit and soon we were standing on top. The slight breeze on top had a bite to it so
we quickly clicked into our skies and dropped it to a more sheltered position. After a quick bite, the fun began.
Blake skiing the top of the cleaver
The snow up high was a bit icy, but still soft enough to get
an edge in. Since the slopes weren’t too
steep, it made for some really fun skiing.
We worked our way down the variable snow, crossing crevasses and
following our ascent trail. Icy sections
gave way to soft snow and we occasionally got some excellent turns in. Eventually we made it to a spot where we felt
it safer to boot down towards a more mellow section. Once near the Ingram flats, we clicked back
in and continued our ski descent back to camp.
Ben sneaking through the rocks
Once at camp we all refueled with some food, water and took
a nap. Eventually we broke down camp and
started the next section back to the car.
The Muir snowfields were a blast.
We casually made turns having a blast all the way back to the car and the
warm temps. We got back down in the
early evening and enjoyed some cold beers before beginning the journey home.
It was nice to finally stand on top of that mountain and
wonderful to have descended on skies.
After being shut down by weather so many times, it was nice to finally
get a break. 5th time’s a
charm….
