Mount Rainier - D.C. Attempt 8/17/2008
Trip: Mount Rainier - D.C. Attempt
Date: 8/17/2008
Trip Report:Went up to Camp Muir yesterday and the DC this morning. Turned around just below the top of the cleaver due to a lightning storm on the other side. In retrospect we could have kept going since the weather blew over, but it was a good decision at the time. To make up for it we did some crevasse training on the way down.
Many of the wands are gone, but the bootpack was pretty obvious across the Cowlitz and Ingraham. On the Cowlitz it ran between two medium sized crevasses and across a few smaller ones. We had some trouble routfinding on the first part of the cleaver.
Gear Notes:Usual Glacier stuff
Approach Notes:Just about everything below pebble creek has melted out, and the wildflowers are in bloom. Having to take the trails made the trip from Paradise to pebble creek much longer than on snow in June. Much of the Muir snowfield has melted out, and there are large patches of ice to the climber's left between 8-9k. Also the last few hundred meters to Camp Muir are running water and water ice. I wouldn't do it without crampons.
