Mount Rainier: Disappointment Clever

A classic gear splay

As we set out for our two-day rainier mission, it was the end of a 10-day smash & grab corn crusade campaign through the cascades for myself. Now that was a mouthful.

In the previous days I had skied Mount hood’s Newton Clark Headwall, North sister’s E face, Middle Sister’s E face, Mt bachelor, & Mount Shasta. Fatigue not from skiing but driving, on average three and a half hours a day, began to wear on me.

I would end up skiing Hood, driving to Seattle to get the boys, and then pointlessly driving to Bellingham to stay with a friend for just a few hours as we returned south to prep for Tahoma. The fatigue was masked by the stoke of the CO Boys to be in the maritime snowpack.

Rob and I ascending the snowfield field. Training weight!

After our hasty sleep just outside of the park, we slowly collected our things as we waited for fog to pass. With timing and vibrations on our side, we got our rigs together and headed up the snowfield.

Our absurd packs were just what the doctor ordered to ramp up our readiness for our Alaska range trip.

Big packs and fog.

That afternoon we were met with another surprise: the Muir hut. We had no intentions of staying in the hut but once we saw it was vacant, it’s a no brainer. A few smoke breaks, photo op’s and an exploded chicken pho later; we were off the bed.

The next morning. Pad Thai for breakfast

After a crappy sleep and indigestion we set off. I vividly remember having to wait what felt like an eternity for our teams faff to cease and movement to commence. As we rounded our first corner bringing the Ingraham Direct camp into view, we roped up in teams of two: Luke & I and Rob & Chop.

Above the clouds

Rob leading his team with myself & Luke just above ID Camp.

This mountain is a big gal. An unbelievable amount of ski variations are possible up here, conditions permitting. As this was mainly a training exercise for Alaska we thought it’d be rad to ski the Disappointment Clever. This route needs full ladders by mid climbing season so to ski it seemed to hold novelty for me.

Taking a break, soaking it all in

An endless mound of snow & ice.

We had ample map resources so we picked our way through the route. I inherently wanted to route a touch more convoluted, rather, more engaging than what our gps had picked out. After some time poking around down low we put our heads down and went up.

Summit! If you couldn’t tell by our garb, it was cold

A few hours later we stood atop the tallest cascade volcano. Just another cold cascade volcano summit of year. No corn skiing for us this day but still a full value descent.

Luke watching the rest of the team descend.

The Cascades have this absolute serenity about them when they provide inviting weather. Although we faced a biting headwind all day, the beauty of a clear day high in the Cascades is divine. I suggest you try it sometime.

Hey siri play “Dark Thoughts” by Lil Tecca

Our descent was uneventful; in a good way. We returned to the Muir hut and decompressed. After deliberating amongst ourselves with the mediator being the weather forecast, we decided to pack up and ski down the car.

And we’re outta here. Lower snowfield

Just like that we were back in the parking lot. A quick overnighter was just what the team needed. We enjoyed the sun in the parking lot before setting off to town.

In the ski world, the debrief is most important. With a beer in hand of course.

As we are leaving the park Luke recalls seeing a Ukrainian place just outside the park. Within an hour we are having a feast of 100+ pierogies. Our waiter later informed us that we held the title for most pierogies ordered (& consumed) in their restaurant.

Doesn’t look like much here but man they kept coming

We ate, laughed at times past, and found a spot to camp for the night. A perfect little logging scar with a view of Mount Adams capped of my Cascade Crusade perfectly.

After a few days in soup and up high, a low elevation fire was a sight for sore eyes.