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im gay posted:I'm probably an idiot but how hard is it to summit in the summer? It looked incredibly easy when I got to Muir in August and I felt like I could have kept going if I had better gear. Nah, you're no idiot my good man! Have I got some fun facts: All mountains look deceptively easy. It's especially comical when you have mountains next to each other, if you succeed in climbing one you almost feel like you can jump onto the next even though you put yourself through hell to get where you are. But don't be pessimistic, it's so much fun to think it's easy, find it hard, and then be like pff that was easy lying to yourself when you conquer! Ranier is strange in that it's situated in a temperate climate, and gets teratons or something such of precipitation. This makes for tremendous glaciers that flow fast, which translate to crevasses literally everywhere. Here's a fun challenge for you: open a terrain map of Mt Hood (for example. Beware that not all places have terrain at enough detail). The easiest way up is pretty obvious, eh? The map is suggestive of crevassed areas (cracks in the terrain shading), so you can easily pick a safe and gentle ascent. Not to mention all the steep areas and sheer cliffs that would stop anyone. Now try the same on Mt Ranier and try not to go WTF. The good news is that the easy route is popular (in summer, yes). So if you stick to the beaten path and have a couple friend to haul your rear end out of any cracks you fall into (solo climbing is rare because of this, and you need a special permit in which you argue your mad skillz), you'll do ok. Pretty safe. Another detail you have to worry about is altitude sickness. This one is pretty high. Normal fatass people like me attempting to do lesser climbs in a day are likely to get a nasty headache at least. On Ranier, HAPE isn't that unusual for experienced peeps even. Spending a night or two at moderate elevations (8k - 10k ft) works wonders though. HTH!
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Jan 19, 2016 04:15
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Morbus posted:Do you guys have any mountaineering experience or just backpacking? It's not clear from your post and I think it is very inadvisable to try Rainier without at the very least thoroughly studying mountaineering texts, practicing techniques a lot, and maybe taking some courses. Its good that you are attempting some less technical climbs first, but its 100% possible to shlep your way to the top of Mt Baker without really knowing what you are doing, and then find yourself in a very bad situation on Rainier. I would disagree with this. The beaten path up Rainer has preventable dangers, a large part of prevention is going up as a group. But that beaten path is... beaten. Follow it with common sense, take it easy, acclimate, and you're likely ok (disclaimer: I've only read & heard, not tried). Heck, that beaten path is even groomed and there are bridges across some crevasses, because it's profitable for the guides. Rainier is the Everest of the US in the sense that there's a lot of clueless loons led up by the experienced looking to make a buck. Mt Baker on the other hand, you're very likely to do this without even knowing about it:  It's remote. Noone will hear you scream. That's actually Mt Baker in the picture, if there's any doubt. Hood's popular southern approach is uncomparable to either mountain, because there's only one crevasse (bergschrund actually) near the top which some people choose to cross, but it can be totally avoided. Hood's danger is falling or getting lost, which happens a lot mainly due to its popularity. There's no significant glacier travel, just big, persistent snowfields (Palmer glacier is no longer considered a glacier). meselfs fucked around with this message at 05:08 on Jan 27, 2016 |
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Jan 27, 2016 05:01
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Epitope posted:I haven't done hood but a friend described front pointing up steep icy snow above the bergschrund, and being lucky to find a mountaineering club willing to share their belay for descending the same slope. I did do Rainer, and ya there are icy death pits everywhere, but it felt like just a walk up. I guess they just hit hood in a tougher snowpack? Yes. It sounds like they went up the "pearly gates", which was considered the easiest way until about a decade ago. It's still easy some years/hours, but can also be pure steep ice which most people aren't equipped to handle. The more consistently "easy" way is to go west of that, max slope 40° and no crevasses* or ice. Don't fall still; if you fall, there's much more space to stop**, but if you don't, you might fall into the volcanoe's anus (it has happened). I'd much rather go down a bottomless icy death pit. Props to your friend for doing that (I'd freak out! the bergschrund is right under that section. You fall, you die) and to you for Rainier! *Normally. These last two years are completely whack. **If you use all that space, you've probably accumulated a few broken bones and aren't stopping yourself.
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Jan 27, 2016 06:59
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