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Mt. Rainier: Four Day Teams Turned Around at Top of Disappointment Cleaver

The Four Day Climb for August 1 - 4 led by RMI Guides Hannah Smith and Joe Hoch were unable to summit today due to a descending cloud and gusty winds. The teams reached the top of Disappointment Cleaver but were unable to continue due to weather.  As of 7 am the teams were safely back at Camp Muir.  They plan leave Camp Muir around 9 am to make the remaining 4,500' descent to Paradise.  We look forward to seeing the teams at Rainier Basecamp this afternoon.

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Mountaineering Training | Mental Strategies For The Mountains

Mental preparation for mountaineering is just as important as the physical training. Often the mental hurdles of the mountains can be just as intimidating and overwhelming as the physical challenges. You’ll want to have some strategies to rely on when the climbing gets difficult and you can use your training to figure out what works to keep you mentally engaged and focused during the climb. Below are a few ideas we’ve gathered from our guides and climbers over the years:  Break It Up Instead of viewing the climb as single massive undertaking, break the trip into sections, and sub-sections, and sub-sections of sub-sections. If summit day is still days or even weeks away, don’t focus on it when you’re first shouldering your pack. Instead, break the trip in smaller portions: reaching Base Camp, moving to Camp 1, etc. Then segment out the day’s climbing into sections and concentrate on just the stretch you’re on. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the enormity of the climb ahead but by breaking the endeavor into smaller sections of climbing you can separate it out into achievable parts.    Climb Beautifully When the going gets tough and you find yourself struggling, try focusing all of your attention on the physical movements. Dial in your cramponing techniques, concentrate on climbing in perfect balance, focus on  your footwork, pay attention to your rope interval. Turning your attention to these small tasks brings your attention to the immediate actions you are taking and keeps you engaged and focused.  Focus on the Now Much like climbing beautifully, try focusing on the immediate trail ahead and don’t go through the exhausting mental exercises of “what-if”, “maybe”, or “perhaps” of what is over the rise. Instead of worrying about how intimidating the crevasse crossing you heard other climbers mention might be, what the altitude will feel like, how long the descent is going to be, or any other number of possibilities, focus on the route in front of you. By staying focused you won’t burn mental energy exploring unknowns and you’ll stay engaged. When you get to those times of the climb or places on the route, you may just find that they are far more manageable than you led yourself to believe.  Count When the going gets really tough, try counting steps. Many climbers descend from the mountains with tales of putting their heads down and counting a certain number of steps - 20, 50, 100 - before looking up again. Don’t lose focus of what you’re doing and continue to climb safely and in tandem with your team, but counting is another way to give yourself something immediate to focus on to help get through the challenging sections.  Wander On most climbs there are many moments such as the approach or the descent where you’re off of the technical sections of the mountain that require active focus and you’re simply walking up or down a trail. It’s okay to let you your mind wander! Stay engaged with what you’re doing so you don’t stumble, but let your mind think about things other than the trail ahead. Maybe it’s thinking about how to plant the garden, remembering quotes from your favorite movie, solving a nagging problem, or even what meal you’ll treat yourself to after the climb - anything that can give you a little mental escape.  Every climber has different mental strategies that work for them. The trick is finding what works for you. Whether it’s a long weekend hike or a tough interval session, you can use your training routine to experiment with different ways of keeping yourself mentally engaged, even when the training get’s tough.  Did we miss something? Share your suggestions on mental strategies and read past Weekly Mountaineering Training Series on the RMI Blog!
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Awesome advice!  It all makes perfect sense!!!

Posted by: Tammy Doppenberg on 4/28/2014 at 8:50 pm


Mt. Rainier: Five Day Teams Descend from Camp Muir

The Five Day Climb June 9 - 13 enjoyed a beautiful sunrise from Ingraham Flats and Camp Muir this morning.  Route conditions did not allow the teams to ascend above 11,200' yesterday or today but the team got in some good training and enjoyed two nights at Camp Muir.  The teams descended to Paradise arriving around noon today and will conclude their program at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.

Photos: RMI Guide Eric Frank

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We did training ascend on June 11 and went up to 11,000’ around 4 pm. I didn’t see any route conditions that did not allow to go further, I don’t have much experience though. Could you give more details on what route conditions stopped the group?

Posted by: Nick R on 6/15/2022 at 12:55 pm

What were the route conditions that did not allow you to go above 11k? Avalanche? Deep snow? Heading up this weekend and wondering what the current risks are from most recent teams.

Posted by: Kahlie Gleason on 6/13/2022 at 1:58 pm


Mt. Shuksan: Smith & Expedition Seminar Team Reach Summit

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Shuksan August 26 - 31 reached the summit of Mt. Shuksan via the Sulphide Glacier today around 11 am PT.  RMI Guides Hannah Smith and Evan Sather are leading the six day seminar and reported a beautiful day with a light breeze.  Prior to their summit attempt the team conducted basic mountaineering skills training.  Their training will continue and expand to include anchor placements, various self and team crevasse rescue techniques, belays, rappelling, knots, route finding and fixed rope travel. Thus giving them sufficient skills to continue their mountaineering persuits.

Congratulations to today's climbers!

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Mt. Rainier: July 24th Climb Update

The American Lung Association Climb for Clean Air team attempted their Mt. Rainier summit bid this morning. With an overcrowded route and standstill foot traffic, which would have made continuing on unsafe due to the time of day, the guides turned at 12,500'.  The team is at Camp Muir and will begin their descent around 10:00 a.m.

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Mt. Rainier: Summit Climb Update from Mike King

RMI Guide Mike King called this morning at 7:06 a.m.  The Mt. Rainier Summit Climb team turned at Ingraham Flats due to difficult route conditions.  The teams are planning to begin their descent from Camp Muir between 8:30 - 9:00 a.m.

Leave a Comment For the Team (2)

Beautiful picture! Hope to go there in a few weeks and praying for good weather.

Posted by: Joseph Huang on 8/31/2021 at 10:09 pm

Proud of you team! Great effort!

Posted by: Rachel Zimmerman on 8/30/2021 at 7:49 am


Mt. Rainier: Expeditions Skills Seminar - Muir Wraps up Great Week

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir September 8 - 13, 2022 enjoyed a great week of training at Camp Muir.  RMI Guides Matias Francis and Henry Copolillo led the team with instruction on ice climbing, crevasse rescue, student led glacier navigation, fixed line travel, intro to multi pitch climbing, rappelling, alpine bouldering, nightly talks about altitude and avalanche awareness. The team is doing a bit more training this morning before starting their descent to Paradise later today. They will conclude their program this afternoon at Rainier Base Camp.

Nice work team!

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Mountaineering Training | The Triangle of Training Success

With the start of the a new year now is a good time to step back and take account of your training plan. Training for any sport requires a balance of different activities. Too much of one type of training can lead to over-stressing our bodies; too many different activities can lead to a dilution of focus. While a mountaineering training program will include many facets, it is important to never lose sight of the critical elements: 1. Aerobic Endurance Training: Longer sessions to increase the ability to go for a long time at a steady pace. This builds your training base. 2. Anaerobic Endurance: Shorter intense sessions to increase the ability to go for a short time at higher intensity. This gives you the range of exertion to accommodate different paces and exertion levels. 3. Strength Training: The ability of the muscles to support the pack weight, movement over challenging terrain and other tasks such as digging snow or performing an ice-axe arrest. These are the “meat and potatoes” of preparation for mountaineering. Try to make sure you are exercising all three on a weekly basis. - John Colver John Colver is a longtime climber, former mountain guide, and certified personal trainer with the American Council of Exercise. Colver introduced outdoor fitness classes to athletic clubs throughout the greater Puget Sound region before creating his adventX brand. Currently, adventX leads training programs in Seattle and Colver presents clinics on outdoor fitness at companies such as Microsoft, Boeing, the American Lung Association, and REI. Colver lives in Seattle, and is working on his second book, Fit to Climb - a 16 week Mount Rainier Fitness Program. Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts with John and other readers on the RMI Blog!
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Drawing trend lines is one of the few easy techniques that really WORK. Prices respect a trend line, or break through it resulting in a massive move. Drawing good trend lines is the MOST REWARDING skill.

The problem is, as you may have already experienced, too many false breakouts. You see trend lines everywhere, however not all trend lines should be considered. You have to distinguish between STRONG and WEAK trend lines.

One good guideline is that a strong trend line should have AT LEAST THREE touching points. Trend lines with more than four touching points are MONSTER trend lines and you should be always prepared for the massive breakout!

This sophisticated software automatically draws only the strongest trend lines and recognizes the most reliable chart patterns formed by trend lines…

http://www.forextrendy.com?kdhfhs93874

Chart patterns such as “Triangles, Flags and Wedges” are price formations that will provide you with consistent profits.

Before the age of computing power, the professionals used to analyze every single chart to search for chart patterns. This kind of analysis was very time consuming, but it was worth it. Now it’s time to use powerful dedicated computers that will do the job for you:

http://www.forextrendy.com?kdhfhs93874

Posted by: dineh7gj on 7/17/2018 at 5:08 am

Drawing trend lines is one of the few easy techniques that really WORK. Prices respect a trend line, or break through it resulting in a massive move. Drawing good trend lines is the MOST REWARDING skill.

The problem is, as you may have already experienced, too many false breakouts. You see trend lines everywhere, however not all trend lines should be considered. You have to distinguish between STRONG and WEAK trend lines.

One good guideline is that a strong trend line should have AT LEAST THREE touching points. Trend lines with more than four touching points are MONSTER trend lines and you should be always prepared for the massive breakout!

This sophisticated software automatically draws only the strongest trend lines and recognizes the most reliable chart patterns formed by trend lines…

http://www.forextrendy.com?kdhfhs93874

Chart patterns such as “Triangles, Flags and Wedges” are price formations that will provide you with consistent profits.

Before the age of computing power, the professionals used to analyze every single chart to search for chart patterns. This kind of analysis was very time consuming, but it was worth it. Now it’s time to use powerful dedicated computers that will do the job for you:

http://www.forextrendy.com?kdhfhs93874

Posted by: dine on 7/16/2018 at 11:47 pm


Mountaineering Training | Getting Out the Door

“Do you train?” A climber recently asked me as we descended the Disappointment Cleaver on Mt. Rainier. My answer: “Well, to be honest, training to most guides is a way of life.” We don’t HAVE TO go for a run, lift weights, and bike all day; we GET TO. Training and performing are both mentally demanding to do and to motivate for. My remedy is to remove the need to motivate and intentionally make training part of who I am. There are two ways to view the 5 A.M. wake up to go to the gym: The first - it’s a choice you make every day and the second - it’s what you do. Consciously removing the decision to get out the door and train makes the process easier. I was suffering from decision making fatigue just the other day as I tried to decide which Tillamook ice cream to buy, but had no problem walking out the door to get in a jog because it wasn’t a choice. On days when it seems harder to get moving, I tell myself; “Well, there is no decision to make. Here we go.” 

What do many of us guides do for training? You name it and guides are doing it: road biking, mountain biking, rock climbing, yoga, HITT, sprinting, jogging, swimming, skiing, weight lifting, sit-ups, bouldering, and on and on. The guiding lifestyle lends itself well to activity and a solid foundation of endurance, and as a result our training may be less structured. We all make choices around what’s important to us. If I am building fitness for a specific climb however, I will be more organized about my approach, dividing my training into specific categories and foci to more efficiently reach the gains that I’m depending on. This is probably more applicable to many of the climbers I work with, for whom their next climb likely is one of the largest athletic feats they have taken on in their life.

Training takes time in what is often a busy schedule. What if we took 5 to 10 minutes from different ways we spend our time each day (time on our computers, socializing, food preparation, tv watching, house cleaning, shopping, sleeping, social media) and put that into fitness?  There is no way I can navigate your personal time management, but it is all a compromise and we can do almost anything but not everything. 

There are lots of good blogs here on types of workout and training preparation routines so I’m not going to outline specific workouts here but instead link to some of my favorite references:

https://www.uphillathlete.com/training-plans/

https://www.redbull.com/us-en/lindsey-vonns-training-regimen-will-wreck-you

https://www.rmiguides.com/resources/fitness-and-training

http://www.fitclimb.com/page/6-week-beginner-mountaineering

_____

Christina Dale has led climbing expeditions all over the world - from Everest Base Camp to the Mexican volcanoes to the summit of Denali. She’s skied from the top of Chilean volcanoes, peaks in Patagonia, and across Mount Cook. During the summer, she’s a regular on Rainier. She spends her winters ski patrolling at Crystal Mountain, with her avalanche search and rescue dog in tow.

Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!

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Five Day Mt. Rainier Climb Turns Due to Hazards

The Five Day Mt. Rainier Climb teams, led by RMI Guides Eric Frank and Jenny Konway, turned at High Crack today due to hearing and seeing a significant amount of rock and icefall. They are back at Camp Muir and will be descending early this morning.

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