Mt Rainier
Disappointment Cleaver
Chemeketan Club Climb
Trip Report
Date: Wednesday-Friday, June 28-30, 2023
Elevation: 14,410 ft/5,306 m
Leader: Scott Phillips
Assistant: Frosty Gill
Climbers: Theresa Conley, Jedrzej Solecki, Greg Adelman, Jean Hillebrand, Patrick Riley
Link to pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/6T5dtAyaeLfi1MPZ8
I first listed this climb not knowing if I would be able to get up to speed for such a big mountain by the time the climb actually rolled around. I spent the next several months in an uphill battle (literally) with my fitness and tackled many peaks prior to Rainier; two Hood climbs, Adams, Mt St Helens, South Sister, a few Black Butte hikes and a number of back country ski trips that involved a lot of uphill travel. At last, I felt I was ready for Rainier. Now, if the weather window affords us the opportunity to reach the summit.
The first one to sign up was Frosty. Score!!! He asked to be my assistant; well yeah!
Next on the list was Theresa. She’s my positive force on the mountain and I knew she could deliver in any situation. Another Score!!!
Greg, Jean, Patrick and Jedrzej (pronounced Yenjay); I had climbed with all of them at one point or another. All solid in my book.
I did my last training hike up to Camp Muir the week before to see what it was like since I’d had never been there before. Not too bad and kind of a chill hike for almost four and half miles and 4,600-foot gain. I expected a tougher hike that day but I really enjoyed it. The weather was excellent, sunny and there was a mild breeze.
Okay, I’m ready, let’s do this.
The weather was holding for us and actually a bit warm with low wind. Things were looking good.
We previously reserved a couple of camp sites at the Cougar Rock campground in Rainier National Park to meet the day before so we could register our climb with the rangers and get an early start on the trail the next day. Also, Theresa won the Early Bird Lottery to secure a high camp on the mountain. We elected to stay at camp Muir instead of the higher Ingraham Flats. I got no consensus from the team to lug our heavy packs up another 1,000 feet across glacier territory, so Camp Muir it was.
The next morning, packs on the back, we left the Paradise trailhead (5,400 ft) at 5am. The Skyline trail was clear for about 200 feet up and then about 50% snow after that until we got to Panorama Point (7,200 ft). The Muir snowfield was long and arduous compared to the lighter pack I had the week before, but we made good time and reached Camp Muir in about five hours with several breaks along the way. On the snowfield we met up with parties that made the summit the day before and a couple that had to bail for one reason or another. But, in the end, it was a good day on the mountain for them anyway.
At Camp Muir, you will find several rock buildings; Ranger’s hut, RMI hut and client shelter, public shelter and toilets, a nice addition to a big mountain climb.
Tents are set up just on the north side of the rocky ridge that Camp Muir sits on overlooking the Cowlitz Glacier with a view of the start of the route and hearing the sound of rockfall from “The Beehive”.
That afternoon we had plenty of time to set up our camps and melt snow. We baked in the sun and sat in our makeshift lounge chairs we dug out of the snow and watched other climbing parties depart and arrive Camp Muir on the climbing trail.
That evening the ranger gave a talk about route conditions and bid us luck for the next day. He said that eighty climbers were on the schedule to attempt the mountain in the morning, some from Camp Muir and some from Ingraham Flats.
With that information, my team decided to get an early 11pm start to try and beat the crowds. We finally got to bed at 6:45pm for a 10pm wake up call. I was actually able to fall asleep since I brought my sleep blinders.
We woke to a moonlit trail, clear skies and almost no wind.
We were getting ready when Patrick said that he was experiencing some altitude sickness he’d been battling with since Mt Adams a few weeks before, headache, dizziness and poor appetite. He gave himself some time to see if that feeling would pass but he could not shake it off. He thought it best to stay at camp to sleep it off and I agreed barring any other, more serious, symptoms. He planned to hike back down after getting more sleep. Luckily we didn’t stay at Ingraham Flats, he would have had no escape back to the car.
Okay, now we’re down to two-three person rope teams. It was nice to have 30m ropes for this climb. At about two pounds per, you can’t beat it.
On the glacier at 11:15pm, we made our way towards Cathedral gap and then up and over to Ingraham Flats. By this time the moon was over the ridge and darkness befell us and my headlamp was dwindling fast. Mmmm! A quick stop to change out my headlamp and we were traveling again. It was nice to see the trail again. We could see other parties gathering together to get on the trail behind us. A few more were ahead of us. There was one wide crevasse with a ladder with a plank across it. The crevasse looked bottomless in the dark. No fall zone, for sure.
We circled around the Ingraham Glacier bowl and made our way up the Disappointment Cleaver from where we could see the conga line of headlamps in the dark behind us. The cleaver was well flagged (a big thanks to the guides up there) so we didn’t lose our way on the way up. We short-roped and followed the flags to the top of the cleaver after which was snow for the duration of the climb. Except for a few spots of well-traveled snow sections, the cleaver was 95% rock. So much for my nice sharp crampons.
We were on the steep slopes of the trail when the conga line caught up with us and we let them pass. Four rope teams of guided climbers. This delayed us about 20 minutes and my team was cooling down. The guides thanked us and marched on. We were around 13,200 ft then and the bright red sunrise was gorgeous.
And we marched on. One foot in front of the other, steep sections and a couple of two-foot crevasses to cross, but nothing too wild, just eye openers.
We made Columbia Crest at 6am and the true summit at 6:30 after unroping and slogging across the summit bowl. Patrick texted that he was feeling worse and was packing up his gear heading back to the car.
The wind was a bit higher up there, maybe 25mph or so, but no more. In fact, the entire climb was 5-10 mph winds at the most.
We were all feeling the altitude at that point, sluggish and brain dead (speaking for myself here). Forming a complete sentence was challenging but the words coming out of my mouth did have some meaning, so I wasn’t completely gone yet.
By 7am we were roped up and headed back down the mountain. It took less than two hours to reach the top of the cleaver for a well deserved rest for food and hydration. The two narrow crevasses were a bit more difficult to negotiate down than up with the softer snow conditions.
During our rest, Patrick texted that he was heading home.
We packed away the ropes and descended the cleaver. That was a good choice since route finding was more difficult going down than up in the dark with the reflective flags.
Once back to the Bowling Alley, we re-roped and got back to camp by noon or so.
Exhausted, we wandered around for a while, napped and re-energized for the hike back to Paradise. It was 5:30 by the time I got back to the cars.
A big thanks to my team of climbers and their support to make this climb successful. No doubt that Patrick will be back to conquer this mountain in good form.
The weather held for the entire time we were up there and the views were spectacular.
Congratulations to the Summiteers: Scott Phillips, Frosty Gill, Theresa Conley, Jedrzej Solecki, Greg Adelman and Jean Hillebrand
Submitted by Scott Phillips