Location: Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, USA
Dates: July 3-4, 2025
At 6:28 a.m. on July 4, 2025 (unplanned, but fortuitous date for a group of Canadians to summit and fly our flag…) we finally got a weather window and I stood atop Mount Rainier, after dangerous conditions turned us back in 2024. I climbed independent/unguided with a rope team of four via the Disappointment Cleaver route.
We crossed several glaciers on our summit bid: Cowlitz, Ingraham, and a tiny section of the Emmons Glacier shoulder.
The crevasses on Rainier were otherworldly - the sunrise brought tears to my eyes, which froze instantly on that frigid morning. Being relatively early in the summer season, there was only one ladder installed on the route, but there were many sketchy snow bridges near the summit and several more ladders staged along the route for installation in the following days.
(The one ladder crossing on the Ingraham Glacier)
(Ingraham Flats camp and broken up glacier as seen from the Disappointment Cleaver)
(Looking back at the summit and crossing the dramatic stretch of penitentes just above the Cleaver - Ingraham Glacier on the left / Emmons Glacier on the right shoulder)
(morning of the 4th of July on America’s most iconic mountain)