Disappointment Cleaver Route
Our route begins with a rising traverse across the Cowlitz Glacier, and ascends the steepening switchbacks of Cathedral Gap. This allows us to gain the Ingraham Glacier; one of the mountain’s largest and longest glaciers. We then climb onto the steep ridge known as Disappointment Cleaver, the namesake and physical crux of the route. The remaining slopes and hours are whittled away as we zig and zag through the many crevasses of the upper mountain. It is truly a spectacular climb, and one that you are likely to remember for a while to come.

Click here for RMI's Disappointment Cleaver Programs:
4 Day Summit Climb or 5 Day Summit Climb

Emmons Glacier Route
The Emmons-Winthrop Glacier route climbs the northern edge of the largest glacier in the lower 48 states, the Emmons Glacier. The spectacular 35-degree central ramp of the glacier offers a corridor by which we are able to access the crevassed slopes of the upper mountain. We skillfully thread our way through these immense crevasses toward Columbia Crest, the true summit of Mount Rainier!

Click here for RMI's Emmons Programs:
5 Day Summit Climb or Expedition Skills Seminar

Kautz Glacier Route
We begin our climb at Paradise (5,400’) and cross the Nisqually Glacier to a spectacular first mountain camp at 6,000’. The following day we move to our high camp at the western edge of the Turtle Snowfield between 9,400’ – 10,500’. Finally, the 35- to 50- degree Kautz ice chute, pouring through the ring of icecliffs above 11,000 feet, is enjoyable and challenging climbing. There, the route climbs steeply for several hundred feet to access the crevasses of the upper Kautz and Nisqually glaciers leading to the summit.

Click here for RMI's Kautz Programs:
5 Day Summit Climb or Expedition Skills Seminar