All In Good Time
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Mt. Rainier from the air.
I flew out to Washington state to attempt the mountain over three days with Brett Nipps, with whom I had climbed Mt. Hood the year before, and Brett's brother, Chris. We had initially planned to do the Kautz Glacier route, which is generally regarded as a bit more challenging than the more standard routes on Rainier. It is an aesthetic line and offers about 1,500 feet of technical ice climbing at altitude. But in the end, logistics, conditions and good, old-fashioned fear helped me to decide that for my first trip to the Big Hill a more traditional approach probably made the most sense. I discussed options with Brett and we decided to do the traditional approach to the Ingraham Glacier, then attempt either the Ingraham Direct up the headwall if it was in shape, or the Disappointment Cleaver, the most popular route on the mountain. Brett picked the food, I picked the dates. We decided to take three days, which would give us adequate time to acclimatize and is a much more relaxed pace than the two-day cattle drives many people attempt. The mountain can be climbed in a day by an acclimatized, extrardinarily fit, very experienced climber. But the less time one gives oneself to acclimatize, the lower the chances of success on the mountain. It was a long way for me to fly, so we tried to stack the odds. At the end of the day, however, the mountain always has the last word. |
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