We previously tried climbing Mount Rainier, learned a lot, and came back much better prepared. We were hoping to climb unguided, so we trained on steep snow techniques and crevasse rescue. We also recruited three adventure racing friends to share our rope - thank you Jason, Leslie, and Shaun! It was a real pleasure training and climbing with you.

We climbed up to Camp Muir in the morning, rested there until just before midnight, and set out on rope to follow wands up the Disappointment Cleaver route. It was an amazing experience, skirting crevasses of all sizes, climbing the dirt paths up the Cleaver, doing some interesting route finding, clipping in and crossing ladders, and then walking...walking...walking uphill. All the way to the top!

Sunrise was obscured by wildfire smoke, which perhaps kept the air temperature a little cooler (a good thing for ice stability). We wandered around the rim just a bit trying to verify the exact summit location. We had worked too hard to get here to miss that! Turns out our first spot was correct anyway. The only thing we really missed was a good selfie of all five of us together at the top.

Then the long walk back down, with stunning views of glacier formations along the way. We rested again at Camp Muir, then descended the snow slope back to the truck. What a wonderful adventure! Thank you friends for sharing it with us!

(Here's a link to my blog post with full report)

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