new to climbing in pacific northwest. can you answer any of these questions for a july climb?
how cold is it at night at muir and morning at 14,000?
is it reasonable to take a bivy sack?
how crowded is the bunkhouse on Mon or Tu nights? Can you sleep in there more than one night?
do you have to boil snow for all your water at muir?
can i climb in crampon compatible boots or must I have $350 mountaineering boots?

Thanks for any info you can provide me!!

how cold is it at night at muir and morning at 14,000?

It can run the gamut from perfect temps to as cold as you can imagine.

is it reasonable to take a bivy sack?

Reasonable? Yes.

how crowded is the bunkhouse on Mon or Tu nights? Can you sleep in there more than one night?

Bring a tent. I've never slept in the huts at Camp Muir. I've heard they're noisy and smelly.

do you have to boil snow for all your water at muir?

To melt. Yes. Or haul water up.

can i climb in crampon compatible boots or must I have $350 mountaineering boots?

Crampon compatible boots that keep your feet warm would be fine.

Edited for clarity.

tomonmountain wrote:do you have to boil snow for all your water at muir?

Well, I wouldn't say you have to boil snow, but you'll have to melt snow for sure. I've always treated the melted snow or brought a filter and pumped it out of the pot.

tomonmountain wrote:new to climbing in pacific northwest. can you answer any of these questions for a july climb?
how cold is it at night at muir and morning at 14,000?
is it reasonable to take a bivy sack?
how crowded is the bunkhouse on Mon or Tu nights? Can you sleep in there more than one night?
do you have to boil snow for all your water at muir?
can i climb in crampon compatible boots or must I have $350 mountaineering boots?

Thanks for any info you can provide me!!

As stated the weather can very so go prepared. You can take a bivy sack but I've seen it wet around Muir. Yes, you need to melt snow for water. You can sleep at Camp Muir more than one night but it's first come, first served. There are positives and negatives staying there.
Pro - you meet some really nice folks that are also good climbers and have some interesting discussions.
Con -you meet some not so nice folks, mostly just inconsiderate to others, and some dangerous climbers (shouldn't really be there).

Good luck.

I've never measured the temp. at Muir but it's not that cold in July at night. +20 bag works for me. On the summit with 50mph wind it's bloody cold. Be prepared with a good parka. A biv sack will work for one night but if your staying a couple nights I say bring a tent for comfort to get out of the sun and wind. We stayed in the Hut one time a few years back to save weight. It's not too bad. A little noisy because the floor is wood so everytime someone gets up to pee they bang around in their boots. Some guys aren't going for the summit next day so they don't hit the sack early and make a lot of noise. Bring earplugs. Can't remember how many can fit in there, maybe 12 or 14. Weekday should be plenty of room. When you get your permit the rangers will tell you how many are using it. See ya up there.

We camped in the summit crater at 14K' after climbing Rainier's Liberty Ridge last June. The route doesn't go past Camp Muir, but the coldest temps I read on my thermometer on the summit were low teens F. My 15F bag was more than warm enough inside a tent, though I sleep warm. Parkas were definitely called for outside the tent.

If you have not read it yet, this article may be helpful: http://www.summitpost.org/article/50722 ... nier-.html

Is it reasonable to take a bivy sack? You mean, you plan to stay in the hut and have a bivy sack for emergencies, or you plan to bivy in a bivy sack?

I did a 4-day traverse of Rainier with bivy sacks in July. If the weather is fine, you're okay. But let me tell you, we got hit with bad storm. We were electrocuted repeatedly by lightning while coming down off the crater rim, and finally pinned down in really bad weather descending Disappointment Cleaver. Bivy sacks would not have saved us. We tried hunkering down in bivy sacks and were almost blown off the mountain.

We pulled up camp and in a bad storm made our way down the the hut, got there on the verge of hypothermia. The surrounding area was clear, but Rainier was making it's own weather that day. It was a fierce storm.

And that was in July.

Bivy on Rainier - in good weather