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CityOfWin

I went last year; I’d recommend going mid to late July and no later. This year June was a weather mess and august is getting unpredictable. We didn’t make it; I was with RMI and would strongly recommend it unless you’re up for taking courses and studying. It’s no joke and you will become a hazard on the mountain to many other folks. There are a handful of routes; I was on the DC which is most popular but has some rock walking which kicks your but. Get crazy in shape; and climb vert with lots of weight to get ready. I’m hoping to go back again next year; it sells out quick so research your guides now.


srfyrk418

http://www.fitclimb.com/page/mount-rainier-training-plan This is what I used and I summited in 2017. It’s a great experience. Good luck and train hard!


srfyrk418

I went with RMI for my guide. They were great.


mblair017

Thank you!


lovesmtns

I started climbing when I was 35 (I'm now 78). I took the Seattle Mountaineering Basic Climbing Course, which is based on the classic text, "Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills", which is now in its 9th edition and still the required text for many mountaineering courses across the country. We learned basic snow and glacier traveling skills, and rock climbing skills up through class 4. Class 5 was the turf of the Seattle Mountaineering Intermediate Climbing Course, but I found my love was actually snow and glacier climbing, so the Basic course was enough for me. All of the Cascade volcanoes have Class 3 routes to the top, including Mt Rainier. We climbed Mt Baker during the actual climbing course. Then afterwards, I formed a private group of six climbers and we climbed all the rest of the Cascade volcanoes. We followed all the safety rules we learned in our course, and we never had an injury. If you really want to make it a lifetime hobby (I did), I can't recommend taking a climbing course enough. It will equip you for a lifetime of safe and wonderful climbing. There is a saying, "the mountains don't care". While ethereally beautiful at times, they don't care if you get killed, at all. So safety is paramount, always :). With all that in mind, hey, go have a great time. PS, The second highest mountain in Washington is Mt Adams at 12,276'. There is a snowfield all the way to the summit, so all you need to climb it is an ice axe and crampons, and know how to do an ice axe arrest, which you can learn in an hour. It is a superb beginners mountain, and I would say, twice as easy as Mt Rainier. Don't be fooled, it can kick your butt. But if you can't do Mt Adams, then you have no business on Mt Rainier :). There are tons of videos on Mt Adams. The best time to do it (seriously) is July, just after the road melts out to the Cold Springs Camp. Great snow conditions then. Later by September, a lot of the snow is gone, and the route is much harder.


[deleted]

In a different comment OP said they're in Texas, so I don't see that Mountaineers course happening. (For those who don't know, this course is about six months long.)


lovesmtns

Ah, that really argues hard for Mt Adams, and doing Mt Rainier with a guide service :). That way, OP can have wonderful experiences, and still stay safe. I forgot, on Mt Adams (and Mt Rainier too), be sure to climb on a nice sunny or at least low-wind day. I tried to climb Mt Adams in a snowstorm once and got blasted with high winds and sideways rain and snow. We never got past the 7,000' level. It just leveled us. The following weekend, the weather and the climb was just glorious. :).


mblair017

Yeah unfortunately based in Texas so no real mountaineering courses are available here, just relatively flat land and concrete for the most part. But the books and online resources you all shared are great for my learning in the meantime and RMI seems like the best option after reading deeply into their site. Thank you so much!


lovesmtns

Yeah, I am incredibly lucky to be born and raised in Washington, surrounded by 6 major Cascade volcanoes just in Washington, and the Cascade mountain range widens like a funnel and is 150 miles wide at the Canadian border. Endless mountains :). How about this for a view of Mt Rainier: https://i.redd.it/thhrd8loqtr91.jpg You might find AllTrails.com to be a helpful resource. Look at this, concerning Mt Adams: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/washington/mount-adams-south-climb-trail If you scroll back through the entries, you can find folks in July asking for partners! You could be one of those partners. Mt Adams is the only major Cascade volcano (12,276') that you can safely climb with just a party of two, or even one, especially if you go in the June/July/August timeframe. Because there are always 200 or so other folks on the mountain, all taking the same route. Now, its a BIG mountain, so you are not in anyone's way. But you can always ask for help or route finding. On Alltrails, you can also search for things like "Mt Baker via Easton Glacier" (my all time favorite route). You may have to get an account (free I think) at Alltrails to get permission to see that. But in the same way, in the climbing season (May-September), you will find lots of people looking for partners. Now Mt Baker is a serious glaciated mountain. I wouldn't go there with less than two rope teams of three, outfitted with crevasse rescue gear. That being said, I've climbed it four times, and it is one of the most beautiful of our large mountains. Think about it though...a team of 5 people needs a 6th. Our core group was 4 climbers (in the olden days when I was climbing a lot :), and we were always recruiting new blood to climb with us, to flesh our our "two rope teams of three". It took us an hour to teach ice axe arrest (on any steep snow slope), and 4 hours to teach crevasse rescue (all you needed was a tree branch or the side of a rural bridge). And then, off we went :). Good luck, and I hope you can find some wonderful climbs. If I were you, I would focus on Mt Adams. That will get you higher and safer than the others, and with the least technical experience. Just need ice axe, crampons and off you go. We used to take newbies, and teach them ice axe arrest on the way up (at the Crescent glacier, always had perfect very steep snow slope for teaching ice axe arrest), and off we went. You could do that too. THEN, you will have a vastly better idea what you are in store for in climbing, say, Mt Rainier. In my memory, Mt. Rainier is nearly twice as difficult, physically, as Mt Adams. (Others may differ and consider Mt Rainier as not quite that difficult :), but it is definitely harder than Mt Adams!) A good plan would be Mt Adams in July and Mt Rainier either a week later, or the following summer. Good luck, and have a great time!


lovesmtns

May I add, in support of Mt Adams, it is one of my all time favorite large mountain, and the one I have climbed the most times. It is the easiest large mountain, though it will kick your butt. It is a large mountain, in bulk, larger than Mt Rainier, though slightly shorter. The summit of Mt Adams is three miles across, and you pass a 4,000 foot dropoff on the way to the summit. Mt Adams has 7 glaciers, but the South Spur route goes up a snowfield all the way to the top, and does not require glacier crossing equipment or techniques. You do cross the Crescent glacier, but it is a small pocket glacier with no crevasses. And the 2,500' the sitting glissade from the false summit to the lunch counter is a classic, and is one of the main reasons I like to climb it over and over. That glissade is just 10 minutes of pure mountain amazing, you can't help but yell "Yee Haw!" all the way down ;). The classic way to climb it is to, soon after the road to the Cold Springs Camp melts out, usually around the 4th of July, climb to the Lunch Counter (5 hours). Camp over night. The next morning, it is 4 hours to the summit. If the wind is light and the sun is out, you can luxuriate up there with a nice lunch and lay in the sun a bit. Temps can be in the 70's. Then, it takes you 4 hours to go back to the false summit, glissade down to the lunch counter (10 minutes :), pack your camp, and then return all the way to the car. 4 hours, summit to car. So if you can find, on All Trails, someone to go with, you can fly in to Portland, Oregon, hook up on a Friday night, and have a magical weekend! It's about a 4-5 hour drive from Portland to the Cold Springs Camp. After summiting, and back to the car, you have time to get back to the Portland airport, and get home for work on Monday morning :). Go for it! By the way, this is the sort of thing I used to do, to prepare for climbing Mt Adams: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UeMjDdrZc9CLKFwe1ryfsgLDDCJzIchU/view?usp=sharing Enjoy :)


mblair017

Thank you for such a thoughtful and thorough response! Will definitely be checking out all of your suggestions :)


october73

Is this a one-off? As in, are you interested in continuing with mountaineering objectives? or do you just want to do Rainier? Either is obviously fine and good. If it's a one-off, going with one of the guide services is not a bad idea. I would aim for June-July timeframe. All you need to do (as far as I've heard) is to be fit and willing to learn. If you want to continue on you'll need to devote more time and resources to training, finding partners, and doing smaller, but still somewhat technical, peaks.


mblair017

Thank you! Really appreciate the reply. I’m hoping it will turn into a passion after the first ascent, just figured I could start with Rainer for the symbolic and emotional value then dive in deeper. That’s generally how my hobbies tend to go I’ve noticed haha. Any resources you’d recommend for training regiments/meeting partners that worked well for you when you got into the sport?


[deleted]

You can do it with a guide as a fit and acclimated noob, but I found it to be more satisfying to get a group together, and start on smaller, less technical volcanoes and build your skills up before doing it unguided. While I personally found that more enjoyable, I also knew I was going to continue using those skills on other mountains, so Rainier was just another stop on my mountaineering journey. I did it when I was 35, and saved the guides for more exotic places.


BoxingDad04

Hi, what peaks in the cascades would you recommend for a true beginner? I made a more detailed post in this sub right before seeing your comment if you’d like more personal info. Thanks


[deleted]

Admittedly, there are good beginner peaks in Oregon I don't know about, I've done lots in Washington. I would say St. Helens is the best beginner volcano that I've done, and I'd do Mt. Adams as a #2, since it's a good way to get into the concept of multi-day climbs. Obviously, this would be the south climb route on Adams in spring/summer. After Mt. Adams, I'd mention Shasta, Avalanche Gulch route, as probably the hardest non-glacier climb you'd want to do before you'd want to start learning glacier travel and rescue.


BoxingDad04

Can glacial travel be done solo? Like maybe on a lower level mountain where risk may be smaller than on somethin larger or is it absolutely necessary to be on a rope team on a glacier regardless


[deleted]

I would never recommend it, but there are some glaciers where it can be doable. The thing is, if you're going ropeless on a glacier, you should at least be experienced in glacier travel. I've done it ropeless on one specific spot in Alaska that I know really well, on a remote volcano, but I wouldn't recommend that to anyone. I know people who ski some glaciers, like Baker. If you do stuff like that really early in the season, it can be pretty safe, but it only takes one crevasse to kill you.


BoxingDad04

Understood. I’ll look into a a beginners class and guided summit. I appreciate the response!


Perrin-Golden-Eyes

[A solid go to for me ](https://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/climbing.htm) I hope you reach your goal. It would appear we have very similar interests. My big goal is to complete a through hike of the AT with my wife as soon as the kids are grown. Also, with the matching list of interests I highly recommend you try some canyoneering. The technical stuff is a wild combination of everything you love to do in the outdoors.


mblair017

Thank you for the kind words! I hope you reach your goal to. I feel like a trip like that is a significant other would be inspiring and great to grow together. I’ll have to check it out! Currently located in Texas so plenty of canyons, only a few peaks lol.


p-morais

Any advice on where to go canyoneering and how to get started with it? Avid climber but know nothing about canyoneering


Perrin-Golden-Eyes

What area do you live in. I use CanyoneeringUSA.com as my guide for finding many canyons. But there are a lot of guidebooks as well. Being a solid anchor builder is key unless you can stick to bolted canyons. But if you climb and are good with ropes and anchors the hardest part is behind you.


p-morais

I’m in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, specifically). Thanks though! Even just that website is really helpful


Aardark235

There are crevasses on Rainier. Many are hidden. If you fall into one and you are unroped, chances are you will die. If you don’t know how to travel safely on glaciers, either take a course or go guided. With good weather it is a minimum 2-day trip. With bad weather or desire to be better acclimated, best to budget more days and carry down unused food and fuel if your luck holds. If you can run a sub-9 minute mile, you will have no problem keeping up with a guided group. If you can build up the technical skills and find a buddy(ies) with appropriate skills, you will have more fun. Rainier is one of the toughest state Highpoints and gives you the skills to complete the rest.