Advice

Hi TAY,

I’m glad, that I found this board, since I need to have some advice on skiing at Mount Rainier.

My name is Michael, I live near Munich (Bavaria; Germany) and one my favorite hobbies is ski touring. We have the Alps of German, Switzerland and Austria more or less near to Munich and in winter season (from Nov. to May) I do ski touring a lot. Sadly (and unusually) we had no snow closer mountains this fall. I.e. I have some experience in ski touring.

The reason I found your web site is, that I’m planning a holiday in Washington State next summer and want to in include a summit descent on touring ski from Mt Rainier, i.e. the same thing one of your members you did last June: www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboardi...ex.php?topic=21086.0

Since I don’t know the terrain and the specific snow conditions in the NW-US and we (a friend and I) are currently only two persons I need a bit help on that project. Maybe you could answer a few of my questions, since I think among you there are experts for skiing the Cascade Mountains:

• I asked the usual suspects (Rangers, RMI, etc.) about guiding services, but the all said, that guiding Mount Rainier summit is only allowed on foot, not using touring ski. Nobody could answer my questions why this is so. Do you know anything about that?
• When is normally the best time for skiing Mt Rainier summit (well covered crevasses with out causing a too big danger of avalanches and nice weather/view)? June or July? I know this depends at least partly on the time of winter that happened to be before, but what is you general recommendation? The problem may be also to find a good compromise to “build” a nice four weeks holiday around this tour. (I have many ideas about what to do in Washington State and don’t want to reduce it on Mount Rainier .
• Since we are only two of us I possibly want to join other people (e.g. group, guide, ...). Do you have any hint where to find such people? (In Germany we have the Alpenverein ( www.dav-otterfing.de/ or www.alpenverein.de/ ) to organize this kind of things, but the AAC doesn’t seem to work this way.) But maybe this posting is already the solution...

Thanks, Michael (mik68).

PS: If you are interested in a tour near Munich look at this pictures: Karwendel Reibn (Austria): fotoalbum.web.de/alben/greulich/KarwendelReibn2011
PPS: I got to know Mount Rainier when I saw him from the plane heading for LA a few years ago. Since then I have in mind to climb it one day using skins…

You have found the right place to get partners for summer skiing in WA.  If you want partners for a Rainier summit, and you have the luxury of up to 4 weeks here (great idea!), I recommend that you post a Partners Wanted for some casual trips soon after you arrive.  It should be easy to test-drive some potential partners for a summit try a week or two later.

By all means don't limit your plans to Rainier.  Mount Baker is an awesome non-technical summit (just regular glacier gear) that gives a 7,000' ski descent if you catch it at just the right time (which is usually early July).  And you know, the July views of the Sisters can be awesome if you are lucky with conditions: www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboardi...ex.php?topic=21562.0

• I asked the usual suspects (Rangers, RMI, etc.) about guiding services, but the all said, that guiding Mount Rainier summit is only allowed on foot, not using touring ski. Nobody could answer my questions why this is so. Do you know anything about that?

There's no inherent reason why ski guiding couldn't occur more often. The Park only allots a very limited number of ski guiding permits; the commercial permitting process is complicated. I bet many of the guides for the bigger services (RMI/IMG/etc) would love to run such a trip if they could.

Pro Guiding has had ski guiding permits for Rainier in the past.
www.proguiding.com/article/view/Skiing-the-Big-One
www.proguiding.com/tripreport/view/mount-rainier-ski-descent
www.proguiding.com/tripreport/view/skiin...is-not-slack-country

Looks like Mountain Madness might have some sort of permits for the park:
www.mountainmadness.com/adventures/schoo...overview/description

Doesn't look like AAI holds a permit.

Non-commercial groups like the Mountaineers are somewhat less compatible with visitors dropping in than I understand some clubs are in Europe.

Good luck! There are tons of other peaks to ski here with a guide (basically everything that's not Rainier), and I think you can find guides that will be willing to ski as challenging a route as you'd like.

That said, the TAY community is a fabulous resource. I'm sure you'll be able to find someone to ski with here.

regarding when to go: provided we get an average amount of snow this year, mid-June to mid-July is probably a good window of time to be out here for a Rainier ski.   The road to access the trailhead for the Emmons route is usually not open before late May and while people certainly do catch good weather and snow conditions in early summer for skiing Rainier, waiting for the snowpack to consolidate and for the weather to get hot enough to have freezing levels near the top of the mountain is going to make for more straightforward/enjoyable ski. 

as for finding partners...if there's a forecast of clear sky and a 14,000ft freezing level, I'd be surprised if you couldn't find any takers in the 'partners wanted' section of the forum.\

good luck and have fun!

Thank you very much for your help!!

I have now the rough period of time. I'm going to watch the winter (snow) at Rainier using webcams and weather forecasts and then decide when exactly  fly to Seattle next year.

I think I will try 4 to 6 weeks before the tour and try to find some partners using the "Planned Trips: partners wanted" section of TAY.

But now I have one more question: I'm not sure if I should bring my touring ski or rent them. I will bring in any case my skiing boots (since the fit my feet) and the rest of the gear. But ski may be expensive and long kind og luggage. Is it possible to rent a pair of touring ski in Seattle (in June) and how much is it? Maybe you could give me some addresses (links). My boots are prepared for normal ski binding (e.g. Fritschi) and for Dynafit bindings.

Michael

Marmot Mountain (marmotmountain.com) definitely rents touring gear all year. I think Second Ascent (secondascent.com) and others may do so as well. I'd be surprised if it's more than $50 each way to bring skis on the plane. Rental will probably run more than $100/week.

Marmot apparently has their prices listed online:
www.marmotmountain.com/rentals-rates-ski.htm