[pct-l] Re: Mt. Rainier

[Greg Hummel <ghummel@hydrogenburner.com>]

Kristian wrote: 

"I was wondering if anyone has climbed Mt. Rainier during a
through-hike?"

Dear Kristian,

Three of us climbed Mt. Rainier in a '77 thru-hike.  It was outstanding!  I
recounted my experience here a while back and wont bore the rest of the
list with it again.  If you are interested send me an email.  

To summarize:  We were lucky enough to hook up earlier in the hike with a
guy who worked at the lodge and had climbed it several times before and
offered to equip us and school us on the route.  An ice axe, crampons and
previous experience on ice are a must.  Your conditioning from walking on
the trail is sufficient to make the climb a relative cake walk.  That said,
it is not an easy climb.  A party we passed going up said they had been
blown off the mountain twice before and stormed out once before.  Timing
between Pacific Northwest fronts is critical.  Some summers are better than
others.  

Of all of the peaks along the PCT, this has got to be one of the top three
to climb.  Whitney is a walk up. Baker and Hood are high up there, but
people training for Everest do so on Rainier (and McKinley) most often.
Also at 14,410 it isn't much lower than Whitney.  

IMHO

Stride long,

Greg "Strider" Hummel
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