July 15-18, 2005, Mt. Rainier via Emmons

This past winter while skinning up past Glacier Vista at Paradise and while Rainier was peeking out from behind a cloud, I commented to my skiing partner Jon, that someday I'd like to climb Rainier to the top.  Then and there, Jon invited me on a summit attempt that he was planning for June or July.<br><br>After months of preparation and a couple weather delays Marketa, Zach, Jon and I decided that this past weekend was the one...  It was!<br><br>We took the Emmons route on the NE side of the mountain, camped one night at Glacier Basin where we arrived just in time to see a helicopter evac an injured glissader with a broken leg.<br><br>Day 2, climbed up the Interglacier to Emmons Flats.<br><br>Day 3, summit day, left camp at 2 a.m.  Enjoyed the northern lights, summit, descent and return to camp.<br><br>Day 4, hiked from Emmons Flats to car.<br><br>This is a pic taken at about 13,000' showing the lower Emmons Route, Interglacier and Glacier Basin in the background:<br>http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0VwDrApkYQRjKbUVWuCweby1!dvmoMyME2bIYPteLBqHch053RwQtVFy0OD!SiSS9a*UuKT8ANpo5Vks!7LDrGULt6TQ8E5x1xsHTkX4IqyshMHLExTmTze8Kian1SxWT/Rainier7.15-1.18.05%20048.jpg?dc=4675531356690714057<br>The route was full and a couple of crevasse induced bottle-necks meant that we, along with a long string of climbers spent some time waiting for the "gravy train" to begin moving again.  That's when I found time to take pics.<br><br>This was my first big summit and it was physically demanding, my stomach got a little turned at about 13,700'.  But other than what I was told were normal symtoms (I had read of the stomach issue several times) it was an excellent climb.<br><br>We saw four skiers descending from the summit.  But in all honesty the snow was nothing I would have wanted to ski on.  It had some strange ice and snow formations that resembled small, frozen white-caps at times.  These were strong, talented skiers though, and my hat goes off to them.<br><br>The best skiing I could see was on the upper Interglacier on NE side of Steamboat Prow.  Things are melting out fast though...so make haste to get the goods.<br><br>Here's link to more pics.  And yes, there are some summit shots on one of the pages to prove that we actually hit the true summit at 14,411:<br><br> groups.msn.com/RandoSkiing/rainier72005.msnw

Great climb, great people and a great experience.  Thank you to all the TAY folks who took me skiing this winter and helped get me prepared for a successful summit trip!

Last time we skied you said you where traing for your climb. Congratulations . It's a long tiring slog ain't it. <br>Always wanted to ski down it but the crevasses scare me.<br>How would you estimate the crevasse danger from what you saw of the skiers who did it?<br><br>PM me about a possible overnighter on the Muir.