Autumn started last week with a heat wave. High freezing levels and cloudless skies brought the temps up and the climbers out. Plenty of guided parties and independent climbers summitted last week. As the snow continues to melt, interesting objects around the mountain have been appearing. [...] 
Last week was warm on the mountain - and the forecast is for record temps early next week. Climbing on the mountain has been heating up too. A former climbing ranger, Chad Kellogg, was seen mashing up and down the mountain - three times in a [...] 
A small break of warm and clear weather, after the major storm cycle, let multiple teams summit early this week. A climbing ranger climbed on Saturday morning and reported 'great-for the end of the season-conditions' on the DC. Climbing rangers at Camp Schurman had a similar [...] 
Post Labor Day weekend storms have delivered new powder to the mountain. Big swings in freezing levels and large volumes of precipitation will bring dynamic conditions to the mountain. Come prepared for a variety of challenges. 
The Mount Rainier climbing rangers at both Camp Schurman and Camp Muir were honored to have a special guest volunteer with us over the past two weeks in Phu Nuru Sherpa. Not only is Phu Nuru a strong, talented climber with an extensive climbing resume, he's' [...] 
With July moving right along, the mountain is seeing some of the best weather of the season right now and fantastic climbing conditions. Climbers are getting out and making the best of it. There's plenty of fun climbing to still be had all over the mountain.' [...] 
The first couple of weeks in June of higher pressure and mild temperatures enabled many climbers to reach the summit. The climbing season has reached its full swing and it looks to be a great one.
With the great weather and long weekend lots of climbers have been summitting. We've had successful summits via the following routes: Kautz Glacier, Tahoma Glacier, Liberty Ridge, Fuhrer Finger, Ingraham Direct, Emmons Glacier, and Gibraltar Ledges. The daytime sunshine has also been turning icy glaciers into' [...] 
Good news for climbing this year at Mt. Rainier!
Move the map around, zoom in and zoom out, click on the routes for information. 
March is ending with a bang! Lots of snow (over 40 inches) has fallen at Paradise over the last week. A few definite layers remain in the snowpack, but it's consolidating quickly. The road crew has been working hard to keep the road from Longmire to' [...] 
All right folks, this is it! You can ski 7,500 feet of vertical this weekend at Paradise!
In mid-September, one of our lead climbing rangers, David Gottlieb, took off for Kathmandu on a climbing trip through the Himalayas. David's climbing partner, Joe Puryear, is a previous Mt. Rainier climbing ranger and friend. Their goal was a first ascent of Kang Nachugo (6,735 meters),' [...] 
Fall is officially here and winter is not far on its tail. Mother nature has already brought rain, snow and high winds to the Mountain -Paradise received about 4 inches of snow over the past 24 hours and we're expecting both significant rain and snow over' [...] 
On Friday, October 10th, the second reincarnation of the Henry M. Jackson Visitor Center was opened to the public and dedicated to the highly regarded and revered Washington State Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson. Funding for the original saucer-shaped visitor center (check out the image to [...] 
I'm going to reveal a little about myself to you all in this here blogpost. . . . I Love Fall! 
Without too much fanfare, the Jackson Visitor Center closed its doors to the public today, September 28th, 2008. The NPS is replacing the facility with a new Jackson Visitor Center, scheduled to open (with much fanfare) on October 10th.
Yup, the Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center (JVC), whose design has been loved, hated, and debated since its opening in 1966, will welcome its last visitor on Sunday, September 28. It is closing to prepare for the demolition and move to the new JVC, which [...] 
For those anxious readers interested in yet another story of a climber who has set yet another new 'unofficial' round trip summit speed record, please read on. For the rest of you who are tired of hearing of such drivel, we suggest you continue reading anyway [...] 
The topic of climate change took exceptional relevance here at Mount Rainier after the floods and wind in November of 2006 caused significant damage throughout the park(check out the Mt. Rainier N.P. report documenting the flood's damage), forcing our gates to close. This was' [...] 
I swear summer just arrived in the park about a month or so ago and now it already feels like fall. Sure, it isn't fall YET, as the equinox isn't until Sept. 22, but those folks who have spent a day or two up on the [...] 
What do you get when you combine an unsatiable hunger for ski and snowboard "turns all year" (TAY), a slushy snow slope, a pond and some folks dressed up to the nines in costumes resembling some of Stan Lee's worst superhero nightmares? Give up?...You get' [...] 
Less than a month after Justin Merle broke the speed summit record of Mount Rainier from Paradise to Columbia Crest and back, Liam O'Sullivan, a mountain guide employed by International Mountain Guides (IMG), raised the bar once again, beating Merle's time by 3 minutes with [...] 
Pilots Richard Bovey, Bryan Campbell and Scott Salkovics from the 159th alpha Company Army Reserve, accompanied by two climbing rangers, spent four days at Mount Rainier training and climbing to the summit via the Emmons Winthrop Route. All three men have trained at Mount Rainier [...] 
The motto for Camp Patriot, “giving back to those that have given” effectively states their mission: to provide disabled veterans opportunities to continue enjoying outdoor adventures. In this spirit, three disabled veterans were chosen to join professional climbing guides on a summit climb of Mount Rainier, [...] 
Climbers strive to push the boundary of their sport to new limits every day – faster ascent times (see the recent post about Justin Merle’s new unofficial speed summit record), more difficult routes, and even multi-sport athletic events. In the case of Randall Nordfors, he [...] 
On Wednesday morning, July 11, Justin Merle, an avid climber, international mountaineer and current employee as a guide with International Mountain Guides (IMG), broke the Mount Rainier summit speed record with a time of 4 hours, 49 minutes and 35 seconds. Here is a link [...] 
Kautz Glacier, Mount Rainier 
For the first time this season the freezing level is rising above 14,500 feet. This means earlier starts for summit attempts. Get up and out of high camp so you're back before the mid-afternoon heat. The high pressure should be around all weekend and into' [...] 
Two hikers suffering from hypothermia and [...] 
The weather this week was ugly. What was supposed to be a chance of rain, turned into 20 plus inches of new snow at Paradise! That's doing little to help with the road opening operations. We've updated the road access information, but please be forewarned, [...] A major change in the weather pattern is underway in the Northwest Thursday and should persist through this weekend. Bluebird skies and high temperatures will significantly raise avalanche hazard Friday through the weekend on Mt Rainier.
[...]
The Paradise Inn is reopening on May 16 after a two-year $22 million dollar renovation. Whoohoo! The renovation--completed by Watts Korsmo Joint Venture--stabilized the 92-year-old building and corrected structural issues while preserving its historic ambiance. One example is that the inn is now wheelchair-accessible, but there [...] 
Get ready, get set...the climbing ranger season has begun! We thought you devoted readers of the Mount Rainier Climbing blog would enjoy reading a 2007 Year in Review. We know, this should have been posted in December, but I was busy. Anyway, better late than never, right?
So, without further ado, my talented assistant Rebecca Agiewich and I present: Mount [...]
Being a "Mount Rainier VIP" (did you realize that volunteers are labeled "VIPs" because they are "Volunteers In Parks?") allowed me to recently take a private tour of the new Jackson Visitor Center and remodeled Paradise Inn. 
This winter has delivered some rather amazing weather and snow conditions. As we've noted, Mount Rainier has seen its fair share of extended snowstorms and extreme avalanche conditions. But lately, that trend hasn’t been the case. Over the past few weeks, the mountain has largely been [...] 
As hoped, the road to Paradise opened on Sunday. A predictable onslaught of tourists and backcountry skiers (and even a few climbers) overflowed the parking lot and packed the adjacent slopes this weekend. In all, over 975 cars entered the park on Sunday alone, with an [...] 
Here is the updated situation on the road to Paradise, infused with a fresh supply of images for your consumption. As it stands today (Valentines Day) the NPS hopes that public access to Paradise will be restored by Sunday. The Deputy Superintendent, Randy King (i.e. bigwig), [...] 
The bombing operation referred to last week went by without a hitch (i.e. no one was blown up). However, it didn't solve all of the threats to the road. Unlike a typical ski patrol operation where they mitigate the hazard regularly, the snowpack [...] 
Here is some cool historical data collected from the Longmire weather station. It was gleaned from the National Weather Services by NPS employee Bret Christoe and graphed by Crystal Raymond. 
It certainly is snowy here at Longmire. Check out the image of my government issue house. It's almost a snowcave, and those are some serious icicles too. Don't mess with them. 
Near record amounts of snow fell at Paradise in December and early January. The weather station there recorded over 360 inches (over 30 feet) of the white stuff so far this fall and winter. At that rate, the mountain is on track to break the previous [...] 
As you can see, we have "Pickles." Pickles is a Cascade Fox. And [...] 
Quite a bit of snow has fallen over the past week leaving plenty at Paradise (a solid 2 feet). As you can see in this John Piastuck image, skiers and boarders (32 ants by my count) are "chomping at the bit" to climb Panorama Point for [...] 
What is your preferred operating system and browser? I've been using PC products (i.e. MSFT) for most of this blog, but have recently been forced to rely on Apple... and as the faithful to this blog will note, my updates have been few and far between. [...] 
Camp Muir was a popular place this weekend, perhaps because the weather was so good and all of the extra promotion on this blog. On Saturday, there was a steady cadence of day hikers, climbers and skiers/boarders ascending the snowfield to give mountain-type praise to Rainier. [...] 
Watch out for rockfall between Camp Muir and Ingraham Flats! Lately, the weather has been less than ideal... I.e. rain, wind, clouds, rain, wind, clouds, rain, wind, clouds... Yuck, and more is expected for the next few days...
The temperatures at Paradise hovered in the high 70's all day today while Camp Muir fixated in the mid-50's. For the past couple of days it's been VERY warm, and those trends are going to continue. This sort of news is great for sunbathing but not [...] 
Maria wasn't there to climb, she came to check things out and "train" with other friends (word was, she's in great shape)! Well, we certainly [...] 
I added some thorough updates to our route condition page. Dan Aylward, Chad Kellogg and Tim Matsui climbed Ptarmigan Ridge last week. Meanwhile, climbing rangers Paul Charlton and Tom "house of" Payne climbed Liberty Ridge, Kautz Glacier and Little Tahoma (all in in [...] 
There are a number of climbing conditions updates now that the mountaineering rangers are regularly patrolling the standard routes. The Gibraltar Ledges, Emmons, DC, and Kautz were all climbed last week and we still welcome your reports if you're out and [...] 
