Mt. Rainier-Disappointment Cleaver Route

Route Map

• Destination: Mt. Rainier Summit
• Date: July 29-39, 2001
• Difficulty: 6+
• Payoff: 9
• Starting Point: Paradise Parking Lot (5460')
• High Point: Columbia Crest (14,411')
• Round Trip Distance: 18 miles
• Equipment: The ten essentials, overnight gear, glacier travel
• Mountain Skills: route finding, glacier travel

Yes, again! The route is in such good shape that I put together another trip. This team consisted of Andy Johnson, Mia Wadleigh, John Mefford and myself.

This was a FAST group. We left Camp Muir just before midnight and reached the crater rim in five and a half hours. We certainly could have left later, but we had no one above or below us on the cleaver on the ascent and descent which is always a plus. This was the earliest I had been on the summit. We were alone and as walked across the crater we caught glimpses between the rocks of the crater of the sunrise filtered through high clouds,  

We were of course all happy to have reached the summit. This was my eighth summit, Andy's fifth, John's second and more importantly it was Mia's first.