On 7/3 and 7/4 of 2009, a team of 5 of us climbed Mt Rainier via Emmons Glacier Route, 3 of whom haven’t climbed Rainier before. It’s quite a nice experience for each of us. Here is a brief account of the climb.

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This is almost an epic climb. We have experienced almost all four seasons in 15 hours.

We started from the trailhead at about 5:15. The trail disappears in snow after about 1000 vertical feet. We arrived Long Pass before 8 and cut across to the base of E Ridge. We found a boulder where we dropped our packs and continued scrambling on rock and snow to the base of the first pitch. Time was about 10. By 11 we were on the top of first pitch. We can see clouds from northeast of Stuart. They don’t seem to be moving fast so we pressed on.

All 6 of us topped out at around  3 and began rappeling the south ridge. We did a double rope rap from the top. The clouds were moving in but we still had time to get to the base. However, Murphy’s Law applied at this worst time. Our rope got stuck on the top! We put a couple of people’s weight on it and still can’t get it move. Now it started drizzling. We decided that the only way to get the damn thing down is to climb it. Liang and I quickly put on our rock shoes and took out our rack. Doug flaked the rope while we were doing all this. Liang led out the first pitch placing only 3 pieces. The rock was now totally wet and it was hailing and the wind was blowing. Thunder and lightening were hitting around us.

I followed the first pitch and led the second pitch placing another 3 pieces. The rope was stuck on a very small edge. I literally shook it with two fingers and freed the rope. I was surprised a little by myself how calm I was leading the second pitch. I even took a note what gear is needed for the route for future reference (for anyone who is interested, it’s a Metolius #6 cam and a set of nuts). I then rapped back down to where Liang was and we did another double rope rap (this pitch is longer than 30 metres and we needed to do a double rope rap) down. Now everyone was soaked and cold. We did another two raps down and started to traverse to where we dropped the pack.

Shit always happens twice. The last rap station is behind a big rock so the rope is running on the surface of the rock, plus the rope is now wet and heavy. It got caught again! Now everyone has left for their packs, it was just Steve and me. I didn’t hesitate for a second and climbed up while prusiked on both strands of the rope. I freed the roped and downclimbed it (it’s mostly a class 4 scramble, maybe a couple low class 5 moves). Finally we were back to where we dropped the packs. 40 minutes later, we were back to Long Pass. Time was about 6:30. Although still cold and wet, but we knew we got through all this.

The hike out thankfully was smooth. We were back to trailhead at 8pm. Everyone was tired. It was a tough climb. However, I think I have learned more than what an uneventful climb could offer.

After getting soaked on Ingalls on Saturday, we decided to do some cragging at Vantage on Sunday. We went to Feathers area again, explored a couple new routes in addition to the old ones.

• Shin Smasher 5.9
• Uprising 5.8. This is really a fun one despite the first bolt being too high. The crux is the traverse on the small ledge to the right. It really fits my style.

I climbed this route again with Tom Nims, but as a rope lead this time. I was signing up assuming we were climbing Adams. But I wouldn’t mind climbing Baker again since it’s such a nice and pleasant climb. It was a fun and uneventful climb. If you have read my last year’s TR, there isn’t really much excitement. We had pretty much the same weather this time, only a bit nicer. It drizzled a little on Saturday but didn’t really rain. We were astonished to find out how many cars were there at the trail head. It’s really crazy.

We took off at around 2:10 from the camp (~6000′, about 500′ lower than where we camped last year). Tom decided to go with only three ropes because everyone was obviously very strong and we didn’t see any reason anyone would be turned back. So I led the first rope and Tom followed me, since I am the only one except Tom who has done this route before. I kept a moderate pace of ~1100′/hour and we took three 5-min short breaks. We summitted at 7:15. We were above the clouds (pretty much the same as last year) and couldn’t see any peaks around us. It was however not very windy on the top, at least to Baker’s standard. We were back to camp at about 10 and took our time to break camp and left at 12. We were back to trail head before 3.

• Midway direct
• Sabre
• 5.8 overhand on Jelly Tower

• Midway, swing lead
• Sabre, swing lead

• S, 5.6, LD, Peaceful Warrior
• S, 5.7, TR, Chossmaster
• S, 5.9, LD, Whipsaw
• S, 5.9, TR, Throbbing Gristle
• S, 5.8, LD, Vantage Point
• T, 5.8, TR, Crossing the Threshold
• S, 5.8, LD, Clip’em or Skip’em
• S, 5.10b, TR, Steel Pulse, climbed 2/3 way

Day 1 (12/06/08)

• Bunny face - TR pitch 1, 5.7, LD pitch 2, 5.6 (9 clips)
• Ancylostoma - TR, 5.9
• Rabbit Stew - TR, 5.7 crack
• Unnamed face between Rabbit Stew and Lycopodophyta - TR, 5.9/5.10a, very fun friction climb
• Super Slab - FL, 5.6

Day 2 (12/07/08)

• Five Gallon Bucket - LD, 5.8 (7 clips, one of which cannot be seen from below)
• Super Slab - LD, 5.6, 3 pitches

Super slab

Overall: a 3-pitch 5.6 trad route. Super fun and quite long. With some exposure and quite a few real 5.6 moves. Not a hard climb, but really a fun one.

Pitch 1:
This is a longer than average pitch but pretty easy. Bring a few small to mid sized stoppers or cams. At the end of the pitch you reach a wide ledge with two sets of bolts.

Pitch 2:
It’s a low class 5 short traverse to the left. It does have some exposure and it’s pretty much un-protected. There is one very small flake where you can put a small stopper (#3 or #4) and another small pocket for a cam or nut. You definitely do not want to test them though. If you have two followers, it’s probably a good idea to have the second rope clipped in the two pros as the first follower climbs and have the second follower clean the route. The second pitch ends at the bottom of the long crack going up to the top. The platform is only big enough for 3-4 people at most. Bring a few mid sized hex or cams to build an anchor if you have a party bigger than 2.

Pitch 3:
This is a long 40-metre pitch along the crack. You will need a lot of small pros. My suggestion is to bring 2 sets of stoppers in the #3-#8 range. The crack opens up at a few places where you can stick a 3-inch cam. The last 4-5 metres can be either climbed on the face left of the crack or over a big rock over the crack. Either way it’s mostly unprotected. The face is pretty much a friction climb but the friction is very good. The face leads to two bolts on a big rock at the top. You can either belay your follower hanging on the bolts or sitting behind the rock. This pitch is quite exposed for the intimidated.

There is another set of bolts at the top from where you can rappel off. Neither of these bolts have rings on the though. Bring your own rappel ring. We left a brand new one on 12/07/2008 tied on a couple of slings. You need to do two double rope rappels to get to the ground (you might be able to use one 70-metre rope for the second rap, but definitely two ropes for the first one). You can also scramble off the gully if you only have one rope. The first rappel goes pass the beginning of pitch 3 and down to a ledge with some bush. Then you walk 10 metres to the right to the top of pitch 1 and continue rappeling from there.

Spent another day at Frenchman Coulee. This time, we were climbing mostly at Sunshine Wall. 

• T, 5.6, LD, Chapstick, A few 5.6 moves but otherwise low 5. Only set 3 pros.
• T, 5.7, TR, Another Notch in My Lipstick Case, The crux is a hard 5.7 or even 5.8 especially compared with the previous 5.6.
• S, 5.7, LD, The Chossmaster, A fantastic route with 14 clips. Every move is worthwhile.
• S, 5.6, LD, Peaceful Warrior
• T, 5.7, LD, Seven Virgins and a Mule, It’s quite a fun chimney climb. Not a sustaining 5.7, but the chimney is narrow. Girls might have advantage. I had hard time getting through some parts. No anchor on the top. Either walk off and rap from another route or build your own.