Trip Report
Mount Rainier/Emmons Glacier
4-day climb of the Emmons route. Summit on day 3 (Saturday) and leisurely hike out Sunday morning. Some thunder and lightning Saturday night and fog and brief snow storm Sunday morning added some interest. The glissade of the Inter Glacier is not to be missed!
Jerry Logan
- Thu, Jun 30, 2022 — Sun, Jul 3, 2022
- Mount Rainier/Emmons Glacier
- Climbing
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Route was in fine condition with some post holing on the Inter Glacier Thursday afternoon and on the corridor on Saturday late morning. Snow bridges deteriorated on the lower corridor by Saturday late morning added a few extra minutes of route finding on the way down.
We made a fairly large move to climber's right around the bergschrund onto the saddle. Crossed a bridge on the way up and went further around on the way down.
Weather was near-perfect with light winds and around 20F at the summit.
Finalize permits at White River at 0730 Thursday. Depart trailhead at 0900. Snow-free trail to around 5200' then intermittent to Glacier Basin. Some weakening snow bridges and transition points from trail-snow-trail requiring attention.
Group looks pretty happy at this point. And stayed that way!
Glacier Basin to Inter Glacier was mixed trail and snow. Some melting snow bridges worth paying attention to here, especially at the moraine-snow interface where water undercuts the snow. The Inter Glacier had three small cracks developing that were easily stepped over.
We did not rope up until the top of the ridge prior to dropping down onto the Emmons Glacier for the walk to Camp Schurman.
A crevasse was open and growing just prior to Camp Schurman. A second crevasse opened in this area during our stay requiring a bigger arc to/from Schurman. These were visible and easily negotiable.
We shifted camp to Emmons Flats on Friday morning as there were not enough spots at Schurman for our party of 9. We had Emmons Flats to ourselves and still largely used the latrine at Schurman.
For summit day, departed Emmons Flats at 2345. Summit at 0845. 7 of 9 summited. One turned around at 11,000' with one escort back to camp. Snow was nice and firm during the night's climb and routefinding was straight forward with several well placed wands helping to guide the climb. Aurora Borealis a huge bonus an hour or so before sunrise!
We routed fairly significantly to climber's right to cross the bergschrund and onto the saddle and then left back to Columbia Crest. 9 hours up.
Return trip was essentially the reverse of the climbing route with a little wider swing around the bergschrund for an easier crossing and bypassing a deteriorated snow bridge near the bottom of the corridor. 4 hours down.
Thunder and lightning Saturday night and white out/rain/snow Sunday morning added some interest to the hike out.
Rain and snow storm for a few minutes Sunday morning added some interest...
The glissade of the Inter Glacier changed my mind about glissading - maybe the highlight of the trip!
Back at the trailhead, all were ready for Sunday bbq at the Naches Tavern to complete the trip-which did not disappoint!
