More than 10,000 individuals attempt to climb to the summit of Mount Rainier (14411') each year. About half succeed. Its popularity is due, in part, to its proximity to Seattle and the other cities of the Puget Sound basin, its dominance as a landmark on the skyline of those same cities, and its position as the highest mountain in the state of Washington. For many climbers, it will be their only high alpine climb. Some of these people have little or no mountaineering experience and pay Rainier Mountaineering, Inc., the better part of $1000 to guide them to the summit.
Occasionally, climbers fly to Seattle to climb Mount Rainier via a popular route. They miss altogether the joy of wilderness mountaineering that Washington offers.
Despite climbing more than one hundred lesser mountains in Washington, I have not been to the summit of Mt. Rainier. I think that the main reason is that I don't find high alpine climbing as rewarding as subalpine and low alpine climbing. I find appealing the contrasts among the rock, subalpine trees, heather, lichen, ice, cascades, lakes, and sky. In the high alpine zone, only ice, rock and sky remain.
Sarah Boomer has thoroughly deglamourized Mount Rainier mountaineering in the Climbing Mt. Rainier section of her web page. It should be required reading for any novice contemplating an ascent.
Someone who is curious about the high alpine zone and wants to visit its lower margins without the impediments of glacier travel may wish to climb Mount Ruth and Steamboat Prow. This can be done as a long day trip and only requires straightforward route-finding and travel on moderate angle snowfields and second class (non-technical) rock.
The route description for Mount Ruth can be found in Adventure Guide to Mount Rainier: Hiking, Climbing and Skiing in Mt. Rainier National Park, Jeff Smoot, 1992. I left the Glacier Basin trail at 5520' at the junction with the Burroughs Mountain trail, about 2.4 miles from the White River campground. This is about 300' lower and 0.4 miles earlier than the route described by Smoot. Crossing the Inter Fork of the White River without wading required a bit of scouting. In times of high water, fording could be hazardous.
South of the river, I encountered little brush or steep terrain and reached parkland at 5800'. I gained the northeast ridge of Mount Ruth just west of point 6735'. The northeast ridge is a pleasant ascent on scree, snowfields and rock. The 2nd class rock at the top of the last snowfield can be avoided by contouring west near 8400' to the gentle north face. From Mount Ruth, Steamboat Prow is a pleasant hike along a volcanic ridge. The only difficulty is a short descent into a notch that requires a bit of care and route-finding that I would rate second class.
The Fryingpan Glacier shrouds the north slope of Whitman Crest (9323'). It ends in an ice cliff up to 200' high. (For other views see Cowlitz Park (Whitman Crest) and Goat Island Mountain (ice cliff). In the foreground is the terminus of the Emmons Glacier. The 1963 rockfall off the north face of Little Tahoma Peak buried most of the lower glacier under 14 million cubic yards of rock debris. Only a small area of the underlying ice is visible in this image. This view is looking south from 5100' on the Glacier Basin trail at 10 AM.
Crevasses and seracs (blocks and towers of ice) cover the Emmons Glacier. In the ablation zone (the lower part of the glacier), melting rapidly rounds sharp edges. This view is near the upper edge of rockfall debris. This was taken at 12:15 PM from 7000' on the northeast ridge of Mount Ruth (8690').
Shear or herring-bone crevasses often form near the edge of a glacier where interactions with underlying or marginal rock impede flow. In this case, the impediment appears to be some distance from the near margin of the glacier. This view is from about 8500' between Mount Ruth and Camp Curtis looking south at 2:15 PM.
Three climbers descend slowly to Emmons Flats Camp (9800') about 3 PM. This camp is about 300' above Camp Schurman. The people and tent provide scale for the crevasses. The crevasses in other images are similar in size. This view is from about 9600' on the east ridge of Steamboat Prow.
Melting is slow near 10,000' and the edges of seracs and crevasses on the Winthrop Glacier show little indication of rounding due to melting. This view is looking west.
The lower Winthrop Glacier descends to its 4800' terminus in the West Fork White River valley. As is the case with the Emmons Glacier, the last mile and a half is almost completely covered with debris from rock falls (right center treeless area). The east peak (7026') of Sluiskin Mountain is just right of center through the clouds. Old Desolate (7137') is below the clouds and left of center. This view is looking north.
The massive 1963 rockfall that blankets the lower Emmons Glacier came off this 1700' high face of Little Tahoma Peak (11138'). The Emmons Glacier is 1.2 miles wide at this point. This view is looking south. This and the two previous images are from the summit of Steamboat Prow at 3:15 PM.
The trail from Sunrise to Glacier Basin passes over the gentle summit of Second Burroughs Mountain (right, 7402') and is faintly visible on the east flank of Third Burroughs (left, 7828') just left of the small snowfield. This view is to the north from 7300' on the northeast ridge of Mount Ruth at 5:15 PM.
A cloud shades Cowlitz Chimney (left of center, 7605') but not the shear North Chimney (left, 7035') or the gentle west slopes of Banshee Peak to its right (7431'). The rounded summit (7421') between Cowlitz Chimney and North Chimney is unnamed. The Wonderland Trail ascends the slope to the left of the large snowfield to broad Panhandle Gap (right of center). The ridge in the left foreground beyond debris-covered lower Emmons Glacier is Goat Island Mountain (7288'). Lateral moraines run along the far side of the glacier. This view is to the southeast from 7300' on the northeast ridge of Mount Ruth at 5:45 PM.
This graph summarizes my trip. The horizontal axis is 24 hour Pacific Daylight Time. These data were logged by an altimeter watch. My fastest hours were 1320 feet at 12:30 PM and -1740 feet at 5:00 PM.
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Date created: 2002.10.04
Last modified: 2004.07.23
Copyright © 2002, 2004, Walter A. Siegmund
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