Mount Rainier, Washington Cascades

Mount Rainier

Willie Benegas climbed Mount Rainier in 4h40m59s on September 17, 2008.

Mount Rainier (14,411 feet) is the highest peak in Washington, and 5th highest in the conterminous USA. There are many great routes on Rainier, and any ascent is a true classic. The most commonly-climbed route is the Disappointment Cleaver from the Paradise parking lot, via Camp Muir and Ingraham Glacier. The route requires glacier travel and around 9,000 feet of altitude gain.

Speed records on Rainier go back decades, usually done by mountain guides on their days off. The guides know the route and conditions intimately, and know when conditions are ripe for a speed attempt. Climbing legends Lou and Jim Whittaker, with John Day, made the first known speed ascent in 1959, making the ascent in 5h20m and round trip in 7h20m. In 1981, Craig Van Hoy lowered that to 5h25m. The first sub-5 hour trip was August 9, 2004, by Chad Kellogg, in 4h59m01s. Kellogg used ski poles and wore track spikes instead of crampons. His report is here. Kellogg's claims have been questioned by some. Dan Howitt has made it something of a crusade to discredit Kellogg, and has raised some compelling points. Howitt continues to claim the "official" record on Rainier, of 5h59m5s, but of course the idea of any record on Rainier being "official" is entirely specious. In any event, since Kellogg's times have been superceded (see below), the debate appears to be moot.

The summer of 2008 saw a flurry of speed record activity on Rainier. Due to epic winter and spring snow, the DC route remained exceptionally direct even as the snow conditions stabilized late in the summer.

On July 9, 29-year-old IMG guide Justin Merle took about 10 minutes off the record, completing the route in 4h49m35s. Merle's trip report is here. He carried ski poles and wore light-weight boots and Kahtoola crampons.

Less than a month later, on August 5, fellow IMG guide Liam O'Sullivan bested Merle's time buy just over 3 minutes, achieving 4h46m29s. O'Sullivan's time to the summit was 3h11m22s. A brief report is here.

AAI guide Michael Horst also made an attempt on August 5, but with 5h15m he was unable to match O'Sullivan. On August 16 former Mount Everest speed record holder and AAI guide Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa attempted the Rainier record, but was hampered by a calf injury. He completed the climb in 5h39m43s.

Finally, on September 17, Mountain Madness guide Willie Benegas made the car-to-car trip in 4h40m59s, as reported here. Benegas took about 3h20m to reach the summit.