Rainier has been one of those mountains that's eluded me over the past few spring summer volcano seasons. It was always weather or altitude or something that we couldnt control that would shut us down. This week-end however it would happen! I watched the weather all week before hand and decided on Thursday it would be a go. Danielle, Jordin and Tobin were keen to get up there as well as none of them had ever summited either. So after an exciting traffic bout with the border and I-5, 10 hours later we found ourselves at the White River trailhead. Realizing this would probably be a race from the summit Tobin prepared his secret wax formula. 

After the 5km of dirt trail to Glacier Basin we arrived at the inter Glacier and finally prepared the skins. It was now past noon and the full heat of the day was upon us with no shade in site. After a few more hours we finally got our first full view of the route and the final approach to Camp Schurman.

As always Schurman was a little full but everyone was stoked with the great summer weather.

 Everything seemed to be lining up prefectly for a summit! The sunset was amazing from camp as Rainier cast her shadow over the Cascades.

After a few hours in the tents we awoke and prepared breakfast. Most mountaineers had left at around 1:00 am and their LED's dotted the route almost to the top. We on the other hand were timing the climb to allow the corn to set up. The ranger had suggested a 3:00 pm decsent.

At 5:30 am we were roped up and on our way up.

The route to the summit was in perfect shape with very little traversing. We spent the next few hours weaving our way around the seracs and icefall to the final 4 summit bergshrunds.

At 1:30pm we arrived on the summit! A little windy and hazy but we all felt pretty good and were pumped to be on Columbia Crest at 14411ft.

It looked like we would be in for a perfect run all the way down to camp! No blue ice!

After our 6000ft and still another 3500ft one to come we only one thing left to do. Enjoy a cold crisp Rainier Beer!

Pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/patmulrooney/sets/72157605929961357/