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Hey all, I was hoping some of you could provide some feedback to me. I'm climbing Mt. Rainier in late June with a guide service and then was planning on doing Mt. Shasta (also guided) a couple of days after the Rainier climb. I guess I'm wondering if I'm being overly optimistic. Part of reason is that I live in the midwest and don't really have the opportunity to get out west multiple times and do a bunch of mountaineering, so when I can, I'd like to take advantage of it. I did Mt. Whitney via Mountaineer's Route last year and caught the mountaineering bug, really enjoyed it. In terms of fitness, I'm training for a marathon here in May and then I'll be doing about a month of 40-50lb backpack hikes/backpacking excursions as often as I can to train. Let me know your thoughts. Thank you.

-Richard

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain

Go for it! If your training for a marathon and doing back packing trips like that, you'll be fine. When starting out mountaineering it was difficult for me considering my exercise educed asthma and such. But running has helped push me a long ways. But keep in mind that June can sometimes have some pretty nasty weather. Last year we called it June-uary. If you went for it last year you would have had crummy weather on your attempt. Make sure your crampons fit your boots. A partner of mine learned the hard way. (literally, his hands were bloody by the time he got them on)

Now had you not been going with a guide service I would have thrown in more cation. But they know what they are doing. But don't expect it to be drama free. I've seen rocks fall a lot on that mountain.

You'll be fine. With your fitness level neither climb will really be all that taxing. And having a guide service lets you just worry about rolling into bed and getting as rested as possible. No camp duties to worry about.

You'll probably be tired and ready for a full day of lazing about. But honestly the worst/most tiring part of your trip sounds more like the drive down I-5 than the climbs themselves.

Have fun.

Thanks for your responses.

Have done both.....a day or so off between and you will be fine. Good sleep, hydration and eating would be good too. I would say Rainier is the harder of the two. If you are driving down from Rainier.....stop by Crater Lake....worth the side trip...it really is Tidy Bowl blue.

Hope you get good weather. That's been the bane of my PNW trips.
You'll probably be sore and tired. On your Rainier summit day if you stay at Muir it's something like 4k ascent and 8k descent in one day, so your legs will be tired.
When you start up Shasta you'll probably have a bit of trouble getting your legs in gear at the beginning, but once you're walking and warmed up it gets easier. Should be a great trip.

I'm doing Hood+Rainier with 1day in between this Memorial Day weekend, I'm in ok shape, but I'm going to do it.

sm0421 wrote:I'm in ok shape, but I'm going to do it.

Now I sounded pretty enthusiastic to the OP, but if your only in okay shape it's going to be a toughy. How many days for Rainier? It took me a lot of training to feel comfortable climbing Rainier (physically). Yeah it's a glacier walk, popular, and "established". But just remember "don't under estimate the mountain". I say this to everyone including myself. Okay shape means different things to different people.

Hi Josh, I'm going with guides for both trips (1d Hood and 3d Rainier), have about 3 weeks left to bump up more training, I'll let you know after I come back from this adventure~

Don't forget to taper your workouts and show up rested and fresh. I generally don't do anything for the 3 days prior (except walking and stretching). And 4 days before that I dial it back to easy runs. You don't want to show up tired.