A little bit o sunshine

After walking to camp Muir in a white out the team is enjoying a beautiful day up here. The team is practicing their snow travel skills with Tom before roping up to head to high camp. Meanwhile the other guides are busy preparing the teams supplies for the move.

May 28-30 3day climb

The three day Muir route climbers are back down safely this afternoon. Yesterday the team spent the morning working on snow school and rope-travel skills, and then proceeded up to Cathedral Gap on the way to the high camp at Ingraham Flats. After digging a snow pit to assess the snow layers and potential avalanche hazard, the guides decided the risk was too great given the amount of new snow on the upper mountain and descended back to Muir for the second night.

5-28 Muir climb

Better than expected conditions on the approach to Camp Muir today made for a rather comfortable day. Now it's time to go to Burrito-ville!

May 26th 3-day Muir Climb

The May 26-28th 3-day Muir climb is down off the mountain and heading back to Seattle after a snowy adventure! The team made it to Muir on Day one but decided against moving up to Ingraham Flats on Day 2 due to snow conditions. The team was able to adapt and practice skills instead on a calm day 3 down at Paradise.

Heading down from Camp Muir in the snow

Snow walls at Paradise make for a great training ground

6-day Mountaineering Course

The May 26-31st 6-day mountaineering course checked in from Boston Basin this morning. Lead guide Jonathon Spitzer reported that the group had a long first day getting up to 5000' to camp on snow, but the team is doing well. They are learning mountaineering skills and looking at a possible summit attempt on Thursday, depending on the weather and conditions. The focus of the next couple days will be acquiring the skills needed to become safe mountaineers including rope team travel, navigation, efficient movement on snow, and self-care in early season mountain weather and conditions.

May 25, Muir Climb

Deep snow and iffy weather couldn't deter us from reaching Camp Muir. Pretty nice up here. 

10-day Mountaineering Course

Guide Peter Moore called from the May 22-31 10-day mountaineering course to check in this morning. The team is camped at 4,600' below the Easton Glacier, and everyone is doing really well. The team is motivated to learn and practice skills that will enable them to make a summit attempt on Baker, and the on the Kautz route on Mt. Rainier next week. Although the forecast was pretty grim, Peter says the weather is somewhat better than expected with a mix of snow, rain, and some sum breaks at times. The group will come back to Seattle on Monday to shower and rest before heading down to Mt. Rainier early Tuesday morning.

May 22-24 3-day Rainier climb

The May 22-24th 3-day Rainier climbed was given a first-hand look at how long winter conditions can remain on the mountain. The May 20-22 team descending the mountain reported 18 inches of new snow in places around Panorama Point, with snow continuing to fall. The May 22-24 ascending team made a great effort, but eventually turned around when calculations showed the group would not reach Camp Muir until 9pm at the absolute earliest. This was deemed potentially unsafe given the continuing snowfall, and the group returned to Paradise, and then returned to Seattle late last night. A good resource for weather and route conditions is the  Mount Rainier Climbing Blog, maintained by the NPS climbing rangers: http://www.mountrainierclimbing.blogspot.com/. 

May 20--22 3-day Muir climb

A unseasonably cold winter storm dumped significant snow on Mt. Rainier the past 3 days. The team was forced to turn around at Ingraham Flats, and faced an exciting descent back to Paradise. It was a safe trip and a lot of fun was had, despite the lack of a successful summit.

First 6-day course summits Mt. Baker!

On Friday, the first 6-day mountaineering course returned after a great week on Mt. Baker. The climbers were able to apply new skills on their successful summit attempt Thursday, and came back to Seattle tired but happy. Congratulations everyone!

DC climb may 18-20

Climbers after a successful summit climb. Good job guys!

Muir 5/18-20

Climbers enjoying snow school at camp Muir

Team at high camp

The team cruised up to Ingraham Flats in a whiteout today. Just has we were enjoying dinner, the weather cleared and everyone enjoyed the stellar views. We are hoping the weather holds for the summit attempt tomorrow!
-seth

Chlillin' at Club Muir

Everyone did well yesterday getting to Camp Muir yesterday. Currently, we're having a big breakfast, then it's on to some training and our move to High Camp.  It's pretty wintry up here. Snow falling straight down and no wind. 

May 14-16 3-day

Pete Moore and Stuart Robertson cooking up burritos in the Alpine Ascents weather port!

All is well with the group and they made their summit attempt early this morning. Above, Stuart giving a pre-summit attempt briefing.

May 12- 17 6-day Mountaineering Course doing great on Baker

Lead guide Lee Lazzara called in yesterday and reported that the whole group is doing well. They got about 4" of snow on Sunday-Monday, followed by thunderstorms and then a sunny afternoon. Welcome to the Cascades in May! The team is on the lower Coleman glacier and spent time yesterday working on crampon practice and rope team travel. They expect to move up to a higher camp today and hope for enough of a weather window to make a summit attempt on Thursday.

First climb of the season

After a vicious storm, the weather decided to cooperate. 

Success!

Climbing up the cleaver on our way to the summit. 

Mt Rainier. aka Mt Windier, aka Mt Snowiier

Breakfast at 10080 feet.