14,410 feet, WA - Mount Rainier

Ring, ring..."Michael I think the weather is looking good mid-week, think you can get a day or two and we'll take a run on Rainier?" Sure thing Michael said and we met up Wednesday morning to head out for our climb with the plan to have Michael back at home Thursday evening. As you can see from the pictures, the weather was perfect and the climb went without a hitch. We tried to go light but one can never tell on a 14,000+ ft peak what will happen so regardless we still had relatively large packs. The one thing that Michael stressed was taking the most casual pace to the base camp at Ingram Flats ~11,000 ft to minimize lactic acid build-up in the legs and provide us with the best option to summit the next morning. We got our permits from the Paradise Visitor Center Ranger Station (~5,500 ft) and around 11:30am started our slow ascent to high camp. Our first goal would be Camp Muir at ~ 10,000 ft and Michael reeled me in more than once to slow my pace. Every 1000 ft we drank and then alternated having a small snack or bite every other 1000 ft. It worked well and when we reached Camp Muir I was not feeling the least bit tired. We munched a bit more and continued on this time roped up due to the crevasse danger on the Cowlitz Glacier after Camp Muir. We also dawned our helmets to minimize getting pinged by small rock fall from the wall before Ingram Flats.

Wild flowers and ideal weather

Michael ready to roll

"Smallish" packs & a Coke to get stashed in Pebble Creek - cold & refreshing for the way down

Let's get serious

Passing Pebble Creek - we also stashed our approach shoes here and went to plastics

Michael pacing the Muir Snowfield

Boot penetration wasn't too bad but it was hot in the noon sun

Cathedral Gap - below this section sits the Cowlitz Glacier which is just above Camp Muir

Arriving at Ingram Flats ~11,000 ft

Home sweet home and time to get in our bivi sacs

Michael was chef and head water boiler

Looking down at camp from higher up the Ingram

We awoke a couple of times and watched the line of headlamps from the RMI guided group coming up the Ingram like a train of ants. That was about 2am. We got up around 5am with the sun and decided to pack our camp in a hole we dug in the snow in case it got windy. The ascent was event less and we made the summit by 9ish. After a few pictures and exploration we made a fast descent and caught the RMI group before DC. When we reached camp Michael had a bit of a dehydration headache so he built a shade shelter, Tylenol'd up and had a nappy while I prepped food for a refuel and our eventual departure for Paradise.

Sunrise comes early

Not a super early start but we'll move fast!

Getting on to Disappointment Clever

A nice view of Mt. Adams from the top of Disappointment Clever ~12,300 ft

Coming up the trough/climbers path

Feeling strong and keeping up a good pace

Crevasse obstacles and objective dangers - note that snow bridges fail in warm weather

Another party assessing the crevasse

...and on and on it goes...the air thinning all the time

Finally we are in the summit crater and heading to the summit high point ~1/4 mile across the crater

The Columbia Crest on the western rim is the true summit

The highest man in Washington State - 14,410 feet

On the way down we caught up and passed the large RMI party

Back at Ingram - nappy time while I made soup and tea

Our final descent was made all that much better when we recovered those icy cold Cokes from Pebble Creek and swapped our heavy boots for approach shoes. We had gone from Seattle to the summit in under 24 hours and back down to the car in about 27 hours round trip. Great trip, thanks Michael!

Eldorado Peak, WA - Eldorado Glacier

Eldorado Peak from Cascade Pass Trail Head

Another Cartwright and Dabrow adventure into the what is known as the Mother of the Cascades. At 8868' it is far from being a high mountain for the area but what makes the climb challenging is the relief that is experienced. This makes for a very challenging overall elevation gain and some steep going. We decided to camp out by the Cascade River in the Westy and then leave early for a one day climb of the mountain. This would also be training for doing Rainier later in the summer.

A nice camp location for Westy and gang

We woke around 3:00 in the morning, made a quick meal and grabbed our packs for a day of playing. Since we sussed out the crossing of the creek we had no problem locating the main log bridge and getting on our way. After an hour or so of steep but cool hiking we arrived at the 3000' level and had nice views of J'burg and other peaks across the valley behind us. the trail continued and off we went until we broke out into the boulder field at 5200'. After this area one enters into some meadows with nice waterfalls and it was here that we lost the trail by crossing under the waterfall a bit too early. Nonetheless, we recovered our trail higher up.

MC in stroll mode

3000' level and nice views

Boulder field at 5200'

Just about to get lost

Reaching snow line

Time to change over to snow tires

6800' on the Eldorado Glacier

Break for refuel

Inspiration Glacier and the final Eldorado Ridge

After crossing the glacier we headed for a small break on the lower right side of the ridge. This is where we would drop our packs and put us on the ramp to the summit. The snow was well consolidated and allowed for easy kick stepping. Michael motored on for the top and I followed after munching a bit more. The summit is a sharp snow knife edge and we roped up for safety purposes should someone slip. The time invested was approximately 6 hours from the car to the summit. As we took in the view, a small rain squall blew through and just slightly missed us on the west side of the peak.

Chris dropping his pack and getting ready

Michael motors on to the top

Sir Cartwright makes summit at 8868'

Mountain Man! (squall just behind him)

Mountain Man Jr.

Didn't the weatherman call for shorts???

Glacier Peak - the volcano in the distance

A view towards Torment and Forbidden

Everybody say boot ski, boot ski USA! - sing to Beach Boys tune

There are four climbers on the glacier, can you find them? - click on pic to make larger

Giving perspective to how large this area is

Close-up of the last shot...see the climbers now?

End of the day...home tree home