Tacobeh, Tahoma, Tacoma, or if you insist Mt. Rainier. The first known ascent was on 17 August, 1870 by Hazard Stevens and P.B. Van Trump. via the Gibraltar Ledges route. It’s a pretty big mountain that has a lot of peakbaggerish numbers and information associated with it: State High Point 4,394m | Prominence 4,037m | Parent Peak – Pico de Orizaba | Isolation 1,176km | 21st Worlds most prominent peak | 4th North American most prominent peak | 7th most isolated North American peak | Decade Volcano (more on this scary business later)
All the numbers aside, it’s a beautiful mountain, and certainly on almost any North American mountaineers to do list. For some it may be a climb that culminates a career. For others it’s merely a stepping stone at the beginning of a career. And for many it’s a first exposure to altitude. For all of these reasons and more, it’s an insanely popular climb, with 10,000 people, give or take, attempting the summit each year. How many have actually stood on the summit in total is anyone’s guess, but it’s likely to be close to half a million, and there have been over 80 deaths. Apparently close to 7% of American climbing deaths are attributed to the mountain. About 60% of the folks attempting it these days do so as a guided climb. Current fees for this are up to $2,700USD for a highly reputable guide service.
Being as large as it is, it is no surprise that there are quite a number of routes on the mountain. Some are relatively easy, and popular. Others are very challenging and dangerous. There is about a 53% success rate in summiting. The main contributing factor to failure is lack of fitness. People underestimate the physical challenge of the climb. The second factor is weather conditions. Even in summer months temperatures can drop to minus single C degrees, and winds can be extremely high with speeds of over 90kph recorded on the summit.
There are over 60 established routes on the mountain. Even by the easiest routes a prospective climber will need to be relatively fit, have to contend with considerable glacier travel, a high probability of bad weather, and the chance of altitude sickness.
| Route Name | Duration | Alpine Grade | Elevation Gain | Max Steepness | Best Season | Approach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disappointment Cleaver | 2 days | II | 2,743m | 35 degrees | June to Sept. | Paradise |
| Ingraham Glacier Direct | 2 days | II | 2,743m | 35 degrees | January to May | Paradise |
| Ingraham, Gibraltar Rock | 2 days | II | 2,743m | 50 degrees | January to May | Paradise |
| Gibraltar Rock | 2-3 days | V | 2,743m | 80 degrees | January to May | Paradise |
| Gibraltar Ledges | 2 days | II | 2,743m | 50 degrees | January to May | Paradise |
| Gibraltar Chute | 2 days | II | 2,743m | 50 degrees | January to June | Paradise |
| Nisqually Headwall | 2 days | III | 2,743m | 60 degrees | January to June | Paradise |
| Nisqually Ice Cliff | 2 days | III | 2,743m | 55 degrees | January to June | Paradise |
| Nisqually Cleaver | 2 days | III | 2,743m | 60 degrees | January to June | Paradise |
| Nisqually Cleaver Ramp Exit | 2 days | III | 2,743m | 80 degrees | January to June | Paradise |
| Nisqually Icefall | 2 days | III | 2,743m | 60 degrees | January to June | Paradise |
| Furher Finger | 2 days | II | 2,743m | 45 degrees | January to Sept. | Paradise |
| Furher Thumb | 2 days | II | 2,743m | 45 degrees | January to July | Paradise |
| Wilson Cleaver | 2-3 days | IV | 2,743m | 65 degrees | January to June | Paradise |
| Wilson Headwall | 2 days | III | 2,743m | 55 degrees | January to July | Paradise |
| Kautz Ice Cliff | 2-3 days | V | 2,743m | 85 degrees | January to June | Paradise |
| Kautz Glacier Direct | 2 days | III | 2,743m | 70 degrees | January to July | Paradise |
| Kautz Glacier Chute | 2 days | III | 2,743m | 60 degrees | January to July | Paradise |
| Kautz Headwall | 2-4 days | III | 2,743m | 55 degrees | January to July | Paradise |
| Kautz Cleaver | 2-4 days | II | 2,743m | 35 degrees | January to July | Paradise |
| Eastern Success Couloir | 2-4 days | II | 3,505m | 45 degrees | January to July | West Road |
| Central Success Couloir | 2-4 days | II | 3,505m | 45 degrees | January to July | West Road |
| Fickle Finger of Success | 2-4 days | II | 3,505m | 50 degrees | January to July | West Road |
| Success Cleaver | 2-4 days | II | 3,505m | 45 degrees | January to July | West Road |
| South Tahoma Headwall, Cleaver Exit | 2-4 days | III | 3,505m | 65 degrees | January to July | West Road |
| South Tahoma Headwall | 2-4 days | III | 3,505m | 55 degrees | January to July | West Road |
| Tahoma Cleaver, Buttress Entry | 2-4 days | III | 3,505m | 50 degrees | January to July | West Road |
| Tahoma Cleaver, Lower Buttress | 2-4 days | II | 3,505m | 45 degrees | January to July | West Road |
| Tahoma Cleaver | 2-4 days | IV | 3,505m | 75 degrees | January to July | West Road |
| Tahoma Glacier | 2-4 days | II | 3,505m | 45 degrees | January to July | West Road |
| Tahoma Glacier, The Sickle | 2-4 days | II | 3,505m | 45 degrees | January to August | West Road |
| Sunset Amphitheater Ice Cap | 2-4 days | III | 3,505m | 50 degrees | January to July | West Road |
| Sunset Amphitheater Headwall | 2-4 days | V | 3,505m | 80 degrees | January to June | West Road |
| Sunset Amphitheater Headwall Couloir | 2-4 days | III | 3,505m | 55 degrees | January to July | West Road |
| Sunset Ridge | 2-4 days | III | 3,505m | 55 degrees | January to August | West Road |
| Edmunds Headwall | 2 days | III | 2,865m | 55 degrees | Jan-July Sep-Oct | Mowich |
| Central Mowich Face, Shelf Exit | 2 days | IV | 2,865m | 65 degrees | Jan-July Sep-Oct | Mowich |
| Central Mowich Face | 2 days | III | 2,865m | 55 degrees | Jan-July Sep-Oct | Mowich |
| North Mowich Headwall | 2 days | IV | 2,865m | 55 degrees | Jan-July Sep-Oct | Mowich |
| North Mowich Ice Cliff | 2 days | V | 2,865m | 85 degrees | Jan-July Sep-Oct | Mowich |
| North Mowich Icefall | 2 days | IV | 2,865m | 55 degrees | Jan-July Sep-Oct | Mowich |
| Ptarmigan Ridge, Lower Shelf | 2 days | IV | 2,865m | 55 degrees | January to July | Mowich |
| Ptarmigan Ridge, Upper Shelf | 2 days | IV | 2,865m | 55 degrees | January to July | Mowich |
| South Ptarmigan Ice Cliff | 2 days | IV | 2,865m | 55 degrees | January to July | Mowich |
| North Ptarmigan Ice Cliff | 2 days | IV | 2,865m | 55 degrees | January to July | Mowich |
| Liberty Wall Ice Cap | 2-4 days | IV | 3,485m | 50 degrees | Jan-July Sep-Oct | White River |
| Liberty Wall Ice Cliff | 2-4 days | V | 3,485m | 80 degrees | Jan-July Sep-Oct | White River |
| Liberty Wall Direct | 2-4 days | IV+ | 3,485m | 50 degrees | Jan-July Sep-Oct | White River |
| Liberty Ridge | 2-4 days | III+ | 3,485m | 55 degrees | January to July | White River |
| Willis Wall, Thermogenesis | 2-4 days | IV | 3,485m | 60 degrees | January to June | White River |
| Willis Wall, West Rib | 2-4 days | IV+ | 3,485m | 60 degrees | January to June | White River |
| Willis Wall, Ice Cliff | 2-4 days | V | 3,485m | 85 degrees | January to June | White River |
| Willis Wall, Central Rib | 2-4 days | IV+ | 3,485m | 60 degrees | January to June | White River |
| Willis Wall, East Rib | 2-4 days | IV+ | 3,485m | 60 degrees | January to June | White River |
| Willis Wall East | 2-4 days | IV | 3,485m | 55 degrees | January to June | White River |
| Curtis Ridge | 2-4 days | IV | 3,485m | 55 degrees | January to June | White River |
| Russell Cliff Gully | 2 days | II+ | 3,048m | 50 degrees | January to July | White River |
| Russell Cliff Central Bowl | 2 days | II+ | 3,048m | 50 degrees | January to July | White River |
| Russell Cliff Upper Headwall | 2 days | II+ | 3,048m | 50 degrees | January to July | White River |
| Winthrop Glacier | 2 days | II | 3,048m | 40 degrees | January to Sept. | White River |
| Emmons Glacier | 2 days | II | 3,048m | 40 degrees | January to Sept. | White River |
By now after reading some of the other stories here on PGH you probably realise that ascent times and seasons are wide open, and can be taken with a grain of salt. There are some ridiculously fast times out there such as 4hrs 14min on foot round trip on the Disappointment Cleaver route. That shrinks to 3hrs 24min on skis. Starting and finishing at Paradise.
My first go at the mountain was in 1977. I was with the good ol’ Desert Mountaineer, and a couple of other cats named Ron, and Jon. Come to think of it, I’m not sure if they were the dudes behind RonJon Surf shops or not. Anyway… this was way back in the day. You had to get a permit, present a sort of climbing resume, and have a gear check at the ranger station. The DM and I were obviously going to be good, but I wasn’t so sure about RonJon. The appointed time came, and we somehow all passed muster. The rest of that story can be found elsewhere on this site.
My second go around was with my good mates Backhoe Billy, and KK. We turned back about half way between camp Muir and the summit due to altitude issues.
My third trip in 1982 is also captured here in the piece entitled the ‘furher and ice cream’.
And although there are still some routes I would like to try, it’s unlikely that I’ll go back just due to red tape and crowding on the mountain. To be fair however, 75% of the traffic occurs on the Disappointment Cleaver route, so never say never I guess. That being said if you do ever want to climb it you might think about doing it sooner rather than later. As you all probably know this mountain is what’s known as a Stratovolcano. As recently as 5,000 years ago it stood about 900m taller than it is today. Not only that, it is also on the list of the aforementioned Decade Volcanoes. What’s that now? Well, you see, those smart fellows like volcanologists and the like, have a list of sixteen of the worlds most deadly volcanoes. This is mostly due to the very high probability of eruption in the near future. There is a surprising amount of seismic activity on the mountain, with 2 to 5 earthquakes being recorded per month near the summit. The fact that it also is the home of a very large glacier mass consisting of 29 named glaciers covering 96 km2 is a contributing property to its dangerousness. That and it’s proximity to a large population centre… Seattle and environs. The most recent eruption was in the mid 1800’s. Statistics tell us that we should expect an eruption rate of 2 to 3 per century in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. This includes from south to north mountains such as: Shasta, Lassen, Crater Lake, Three Sisters, Hood, Adams, Rainier, Glacier, Baker, Cayley, Garibaldi, Meager, and the Silverthrone Caldera.
Remember Mt. Saint Helens…
Ground she’s movin’ under me
Tidal waves out on the sea
Sulphur smoke up in the sky
Pretty soon we learn to fly
Let me hear ya now I don’t know
I don’t know
I don’t know where I’m a gonna go
When the volcano blow
Now my girl quickly say to me
Mon you better watch your feet
Lava come down soft and hot
You better lava me now or lava me not
Let me say now I don’t know
I don’t know
I don’t know where I’m a gonna go
When the volcano blow
– Thompson / Clarke