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Mt. Rainier, Disappointment Cleaver 7/26/20

Climbing a dog route in July is normally an "easy" summit for a well prepared team, but not in 2020. MRNP was closed to car traffic for most of the spring. Disappointment Cleaver was more like an intermediate route and not even climbed until about a month before our trip. There were a lot of changes and restrictions in place. Everything came together nicely in the last few weeks before the climb. The weather was perfect. It was warmer than normal, but not too hot and it was unusually calm, even on the summit.

Alex, Nate, Ross, Nathan and Doug ready to take on the mountain.

We camped at 11,100' Ingraham Flats with a great view of our route up Disappointment Cleaver and the Ingraham Glacier.

House sized blocks of teetering ice near our camp.

Sunrise from 14,000'!

Doug, Nathan, Ross, Nate and Alex on the summit.

Locomotive sized seracs ready to topple at any moment!

Checking out the view from the spine of DC. Little Tahoma in the background.

A few hours later, we were in the parking lot barbecuing hot dogs and then home in time for dinner!

Chikamin Peak 7/11/20

If you have ever driven over Snoqualmie Pass, you have probably seen Chikamin Peak. It is NE of Hyak at the end of the Gold Creek Valley.

There are a couple of challenging creek crossings on the way. The Mineral Creek Trail is really overgrown. There are long sections where you can't even see the trail and you get wet from the dew on the plants.

Glacier Lake was amazing! It will probably look even better after the ice finishes melting off.

Crossing a small stream and heading up to Chikamin Ridge.

Joe Lake and the Gold Creek Valley.

Ross, Nathan, Doug and Alex on top of 7,000' Chikamin Peak. Chikamin Lake below.

Camp Muir 7/4/20

We went for a training hike up to Camp Muir and found a good spot to practice our ice arrest skills.

Alex performing an excellent "head first, belly up" ice arrest.

The snow drifts near Pebble Creek were higher and steeper than normal.

Mt. Rainier is always such an amazing sight!

Mt. Rainier, Emmons Glacier 7/20/19

This "memorial climb" was dedicated to a very dear friend of ours. We were given dire warnings about icy conditions and cold/windy weather...

Our first good view of the mountain.

Sunrise from high on the Emmons Glacier.

Chris overcoming one of the challenges. Our base camp is in the lower left corner of the picture.

Other climbers working their way to the top.

Brian by a wall of ice in Liberty Saddle. A recent storm left amazing rime ice deposits all over the upper mountain.

Brian, Joe, Ron, Chris and Doug on top of Rainier.

Mt. Adams 7/13/19

We day hiked Mt. Adams this year, instead of camping half way up. It felt really good to carry a light pack up and down the mountain!

Checking out the view from Lunch Counter

Heading up the South Face

Almost to the false summit

The last 600'

Everyone made it to the summit!

The glissade back down is the best part. We like to call this one Widowmaker!

Ingalls Lake 6/1/19

The weather was perfect for our hike up to one of the most beautiful places in the Northwest.

Ron, Brian, James (and Doug) nearing the lake.

Eating some lunch and enjoying the view.

A hole in the ice.

Mt. Stuart from Ingalls Pass.

Mt. Rainier, Emmons Glacier (attempt) 8/12/18

Our summer climb on the Emmons Glacier ended up being more like a fall climb. It was icy, heavily crevassed and we were treated to 2 hours of snow and freezing rain at high camp. Our tents got covered in ice.

We started for the top at 1:30 am and wasted a lot of time looking for a way through a giant maze of crevasses in the dark. We were way behind a safe schedule and still had a lot of route finding between us and the top, so we decided to turn around at about 11,000'.

That's the way it goes. Spending a couple of days with friends in an amazing part of creation is never a total loss.

Jim, Dan, Chris, Joe, Ron and Doug setting out on our adventure.

A lenticular dome over the mountain as we approached Camp Schurman.

An alpine sunrise

Not many people get the chance to watch the sunrise from a point above the clouds and surrounded by huge crevasses!

Working our way back down the icy glacier through the maze of crevasses.

Doug, Ron, Dan, Joe and Chris almost back down to high camp.

A steep snowfield and ice cave near the Inter Glacier.

Mt. Adams 7/14/18

The weather for our climb was great, except for the tent shaking wind on Friday night.

Dennis, Dan, Ron and Chris going up the slope that we call Widowmaker.

Heading up the South Face on Saturday morning.

On the False Summit, looking down at Lunch Counter, with Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson in the distance.

Doug, Dan, Chris and Ron on the summit.

Mt. Rainier and the Goat Rocks.

Chair Peak 6/23/18

We made another attempt on Chair Peak and got close to the summit, but did not get to stand on top of it. I think that it is time to throw away the route description and go on a clear day! We did get to see a black bear on the hike in! No picture though, it was running too fast.