Trip Reports - Mount Rainier, Washington
June, 2003

Submitted by Leon Watts

In early June of 2001 I found myself clinging to an icy slab at 13,200ft on the Emmons Glacier route of Mt. Rainier. I was spent and it was only 7:00am! It was my second attempt on the route and at the time a personal high point. But it was over, I yelled above the wind to my climbing partner that I was going home. We turned our backs to the last 1200 feet and front pointed down the ice, broke camp, and in two days I was back in Tampa at the grand opening of my store Adventure Outfitters.

For two years the spector of Rainier has hung over me, it seems EVERYONE has climbed Rainier! Since then I have traveled and climbed some much higher peaks, but it was always there, waiting like a big cold monster under my bed.

On June 13th 2003 I faced the monster again. Three friends, Isaac Shaffer and John Hansen of Tampa, Minot Maser of Seattle and I planned to do the "Standard Route", Disappointment Cleaver. We had applied for special permits to allow us to make a casual climb in three days rather than the brutal two that the guiding companies do.

The first day we hiked up the Muir Snowfield and set up a "low" camp at 8000ft. The weather was standard, clouds and snow. We never saw the mountain on the approach. The next morning the weather had changed for the better. Rainier's massive south side stood above us. We broke camp and headed for our next destination, a "high camp" on Ingraham Flats at 11,000ft, about a thousand feet above camp Muir. The sun was becoming brutal, it reflected off the snow and made traveling a bear except when a breeze blew then the temperature would plummet to 40 degrees!

View larger photo of Isaac and Leon

Once at Ingraham Flats we took over a small ruin of snow walls and dug out pits to set up camp. As the evening approached the winds picked up. It was an incredible view from our little camp above the clouds.

We had planned a rest day so we spent the next day watching the long rope teams from RMI get dragged down the Cleaver. It was hot! At one point a thermometer in my unvented tent read 114 degrees! We opened up the vents and doors and sweltered in the tents sleeping and eating all day.

Watching the other teams descend we noticed a few were taking the more straight forward "Ingraham Direct" route that ran straight up the face of the Ingraham Glacier rather than skirting the side on a rock buttress, the Cleaver route. The face was a horrible jumble of ice blocks and crevasses but if we timed our accent correctly we could be above the worst of it before the sun melted out the snow bridges. We decided to attempt the Ingraham Direct.

We slept a few hours that evening then quietly rose at 11:30pm and were on the route by 12:30am. As we made our way up the glacier the lights from teams approaching from Camp Muir began fill the flats below us; we were almost 2 hours ahead of the "crowds". The climbing ranged from low angle switchbacks to steep exposed ledges requiring front pointing or french technique. On a couple of small steep snow bridges over huge crevasses we set running belays and moved fast to keep our exposure down. Rest stops were rare as the cold wind picked up just before dawn. It was possible to travel without a headlamp in the moonlight. As the sun broke we found ourselves making an end run around a large crevasse at just over 13,000ft. We went far to our left and as the valley opened up below us I recognized the terrain. I was back on the Emmons Glacier! After two years the mountain had forced me to return to the spot were I had failed before. I felt good. We moved up and at about 6:30am we reached the crater rim. The altitude and pace had taking its toll on a team member so we rested lying in the morning sun at over 14,000ft on a scree ledge.

After 15 minutes we walked across the crater to the summit. I took several minutes before I could go up, it was an emotional chapter closing for me. Four years, two previous attempts, doubts, a return trip with great company to share it with and there we stood at 7:00am Monday June 16th at 14,410ft. My life has changed tremendously since the last attempt, personally and professionally, this is what I do now, and this is my life. It couldn't be better than moments like that.

Cheers!

View large photo of summit team

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