SummitPost.org

Scott wrote:

When was the last time a 1000' vertical rock face was encountered on Rainier?

There are rock faces higher than that on Rainier, even if they aren't dead vertical (but neither are Little Bear or Capitol). For example, the upper 1000 feet of the Willis Headwall on Rainier is as steep (or steeper) as the faces on Capitol and Little Bear, but the face itself is much higher (3X's as high as the faces on Capitol or Little Bear).

Lionel wrote: I always find it irritating when "experienced" people start to espouse the dangers of it and tell others to do an easier mountain, or, "they don't belong there", never mind what they themselves might have experience with, or for that matter know about the other person's experience level.

Lionel wrote:Be that as it may, your original response was that Rainier is just another 14er, expressing a view which indicates your measuring a mountain only by it's altitude and not for the other characteristics, such as technical difficulty, as was being implied in the first post about it. The finest alpine flower displays that I have seen have been in Colorado. I think people would be less likely to slam CO mountains if CO people had a slightly less arrogant view of them, and one which is almost entirely based on them being high.