Me and three others are shooting for the R sometime in January. This will be my 5th time up the thing, first time in winter. Plan is to stay at Muir up to 5 days for a window and go for it. We're taking the Gib Ledges. A lot of the clothing in my summer kit will be coming along plus a few extras, I'd like to hear from some who have made the winter ascent about how well this setup will work:

Invernos w/ standard liners + Crocs gaiters

Extra change of socks, balaclava, buff

Costco top and bottom long underwear

Grid fleece top and bottoms (happened upon at my local surplus store.)

Windbreaker type hoodie shirt. Was meant for running, weighs about 4 oz and I got it from Helly Hansen.

PreCip

SS pants

Liners, fleece gloves, and large ski gloves

I have an old 100g MH Compressor parka and a MH Sub Zero. The 100g hoodie is primo during summer/shoulder seasons, but I'm not sure how it would fare if faced with piercing winds. The Sub Zero is effectively bombproof until I get it wet, and weighs more than my down bag. Thoughts on which parka to roll with are appreciated.

Again, this will be my first time up in winter. Earliest I've been on the mountain was in mid-April for 4 days, screwing around with mountain school stuff on the Cowlitz and below Muir, so I'm trying to gauge what to expect and pack accordingly.

-Thanks all

First off, I recommend this article as it has a few tips for Rainier in Winter: http://www.summitpost.org/so-you-want-t ... ier/507227

Second, January is a really hard time to climb Rainier. The weather is extremely unstable, the days are very short, and the prevailing winds from the SW strip the snow off the upper portion of Gib Ledges, making for extremely delicate snow bridges that are effectivevly hidden by Sastrugi. (I've climbed Gib Ledges in January, March, and April).

Late February, especially if you can make the trip around the President's Day weekend, is a much better choice. The PNW typically enjoys a ridge of high pressure around that time period and the days are longer.

Regarding your clothing, I think your layers are pretty spot on. I would not personally go with a down belay jacket on Rainier in winter, I prefer the security of Primaloft. I use a Wild Things Belay jacket for Rainier in winter, which is roughly equivalent in warmth to the Patagonia DAS.

If you do take the 100g MH Compressor (I have the MH Super Compressor and would only consider it for Rainier in winter with a 60g Primaloft layer underneath). I would recommend having something like a Patagonia Nano puff jacket or perhaps one of the new Polartec Alpha layers underneath. 100g for a belay parka is not much of a safety margin and in my experience when you need your insulation the most (e.g. shitty weather) down craps out as you probably already know.

I recall having to take shelter in a brick trailhead shithouse one winter with my partners, after an overnight blizzard buried my pickup truck windows-deep while we were gone climbing, and watching as my down sweater slowly went flat in the humid privvy. I, too, am now a Primaloft guy (most of the time).

Good advice and killer article. I think the re-hatched plan is to just wait for a promising window a bit later on and go for it. We all live withing spitting distance of MRNP so travel isn't an issue. It will give me more time to double up on my stair stepper sessions.

staringcontest wrote:Good advice and killer article. I think the re-hatched plan is to just wait for a promising window a bit later on and go for it. We all live withing spitting distance of MRNP so travel isn't an issue.

Thanks, and good thinking. I think waiting for a window beats making plans for a specific time frame and hoping the weather cooperates, which in January puts the odds against you. I could tell you stories about Rainier in January. I love it in winter, but I always wait until February now to try for a summit, especially the more committing North side routes.

ExcitableBoy wrote: I use a Wild Things Belay jacket for Rainier in winter, which is roughly equivalent in warmth to the Patagonia DAS.

Wild Things appears to have their sights set on the military community. I have a buddy in the service who was showing me the cold weather kit issued to him by 'Uncle. An olive drab W.T. parka was included as the final Oh Shit layer. I'd like to get my hands on one of those. eBay surplus style stores usually have that stuff cheap.

ExcitableBoy wrote:I could tell you stories about Rainier in January. I love it in winter, but I always wait until February now to try for a summit, especially the more committing North side routes.

I'd love to hear one (or two). "Climb-gone-wrong"/contingency stories seem to stick and make me think hard when making big choices in the mountains.

Here's my "Climb-gone-wrong" story from a January winter ascent in Idaho.

Bob

http://www.summitpost.org/frostbite/856321

You are correct, WT went the military route sometime after John Bouchard left the company to Marie. They are currently trying to get back into the climbing market. If you could score a WT Belay Jacket at an Army/Navy surplus store, that would be the ticket. Serious warmth. It was -30 F at 17 k overnight on Denali and it was too warm to wear while moving on summit day.

As for stories, when I attempted Gib Ledges in January, there were three friends of mine in the Muir Hut and two Euros wearing full down suits speaking very audibly about the various 8,000 meter peaks they had climbed. The next morning my partner and I were quite a bit a head of the other four climbers. The wind was picking up and I was switch backing up open slopes above Gib Rock, perhaps around 13k - 13.5k. I had inadvertently walked lengthwise along a snow bridge, which ran at an odd angle in relation to the slope. I broke through the snow bridge, the rope breaking the bridge behind me. By the time I had stopped falling, I was in the middle of a giant crevasse.

I prussiked up the rope and found my partner in self arrest position at the very edge of the crevasse. I had fallen the entire rope length between us. Had we taken two more steps we both would have ended up in the bottom of the crevasse and would have never been heard from again. When I poked my head above ground, the storm had intensified considerably, so we turned around, passing our friends Sarah and Loren who decided to follow us down. Finally, we descended to the Euros, still heading up into the storm.

I strongly advised them to head down, and indicated that storms on Rainier in winter last a long time. They ignored me. We made it down to Muir, then beat feet (actually skied) back to Paradise. I heard from a friend that the Euros summited, then radioed to be picked up by a helicopter. The NPS informed them that no helicopters would be flying in this weather, and they would send a climbing ranger party for them after the had storm died out. They spent FIVE days on the summit, surviving by hunkering down in a steam vent, then hiked down with the rangers.

Wowza. That must be one heck of a feeling, hoping that rope finally goes taught and catches. Full length too.

Now there's a solid mentality. Keep going up and just let the NPS take care of you when you can't unscrew yourselves. Gosh, I bet that was an awkward hike down with the rangers. Good on you guys for getting everyone else to head down in the storm.

staringcontest wrote:Now there's a solid mentality. Keep going up and just let the NPS take care of you when you can't unscrew yourselves. Gosh, I bet that was an awkward hike down with the rangers. Good on you guys for getting everyone else to head down in the storm.

They were from Europe, they did not understand that there is no professional rescue agency waiting to get a call. The Loren I mentioned has climbed Rainer 30+ times and in every month of the year, so he clearly understood that the shit was hitting the fan.