Rainier Mountaineering Teaches Climbing Skills
Learn Climbing, Alpine Travel on Washington's Highest Peak
Jul 28, 2009
At 14,411 feet, Mt. Rainier is the highest peak in the U.S. state of Washington, the fifth highest in the contiguous 48 states, and one of the most difficult of the "State High Points" to climb. The skills require to summit successfully are skills that can be used in a wide range of alpine travel.
To climb Mt. Rainier safely as an independent climber requires enormous endurance and extensive mountaineering experience. However, climbing Mt. Rainier does not require technical ice-climbing or rock-climbing skills, so even inexperienced climbers can reach the summit if they are strong enough, and if they climb with the assistance of guides.Guides take care of route finding, safety issues, and pacing; all the climber has to do is keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Rainier Mountaineering Inc. Offers Climbing Courses on Rainier, Denali
Rainier Mountaineering Inc. is the official climbing concessioner on Mt. Rainier. The company has 40 years of experience guiding climbers on the mountain. R.M.I. courses range from an introductory summer climb of Mt. Rainier to a heavy-duty week-long winter mountaineering course to a multi-week mountaineering expedition up Alaska’s Mt. Denali (the highest peak in North America), to specialty classes, to trekking and climbing expediitons in South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia, where climbers can tackle such expeditions as Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, and the Himalayas.
To participate successfully (let alone happily) in any of R.M.I.’s courses requires an extremely high level of fitness. It’s not unusual to hear climbers say that climbing Mt. Rainier is as difficult as completing a marathon or a triathlon. Only about 50 percent of prospective climbers succeed in the quest to make the summit; the rest turn back due to exhaustion, weather, or altitude sickness.
Learning to Use Ice Axes, Crampons for Alpine Travel
In addition to a high level of fitness, the other prerequisite for climbing Mt. Rainier with R.M.I. is to complete the company’s class in alpine techniques, The class covers the use of crampons and an ice ax, self-arrest, and moving on a rope with other hikers, as well as techniques such as the rest step and pressure breathing.
Participants first learn how to walk efficiently, getting used to the crampons and handling (and not tripping over) ropes. They learn to hold an ice ax in a walking position (adze forward, in the uphill hand, so it's ready to stop a fall without impaling the user). They also learn the rest step (basically, taking a pause with the weight on the downhill leg with every step) and pressure breathing (deep breaths through the nose followed by almost explosive exhaling through the mouth.
Then they learn how to fall and, hopefully, to stop a fall, by digging in the point of the ax into the slope. They take turns plunging down snowbanks yelling, "Falling!" at the top of their lungs as they practice plummeting head first, feet first, on their stomachs and on their backs, with the goal of digging their ice axes into the snow, flipping into a face-to-snowbank position, and stopping the fall.
Meanwhile, upon hearing the call “Falling!” other team members are expected to drop into a braking self-arrest position to brace themselves and help stop the fallen climber’s descent. When members of the group are deemed competent to climb, they may move on to the actual climb itself.
Safety on Mt. Rainier, “Sometimes the Mountain Says No."
In addition to technical skills, R.M.I. instructors focus on safety issues, such as weather, group accountability, and health issues, including hypothermia and altitude sickness. Climbers hear several slogans during the course, but perhaps none more important than "A successful climb is not measured at the top, but back at the bottom, when everyone is down safely."
And also: “Sometimes, the mountain says no.” Climbers are taught that when the mountain says “no,” there’s no argument. The group turns back.
It is worth noting that the skills learned in an R.M.I. class are applicable to a wide range of alpine travel situations. The correct use of an ice ax is not intuitively obvious, and with sharp points at both ends, the ice ax can be a dangerous instrument unless used knowledgeably. Yet it is an essential tool for crossing steep ice slopes during hikes of high mountains, and far too many hikers carry an ice ax without knowing which end does what. Climbers and hikers at high elevations who plan to use an ice ax or crampons should take a basic skills course, such as the one offered on the slopes of Mt. Rainier.
 |
